Which X-Books of the 2000’s Will the MCU Adapt?

[H-E-D]

So, anybody who looks at the MCU can tell you it has something of a recency bias when it comes to selection the core source material. Iron Man draws from Warren Ellis’s take. Captain America takes from Ed Brubaker and Civil War. Thor, JMS. Hawkeye takes from the Ultimates, and soon from Fraction’s run. The Avengers take a lot from the Ultimates, used the title Age of Ultron, Hickman’s Black Order shows up. Planet Hulk happened. Black Panther took lots of elements from newer books, Shuri, some visual elements. Captain Marvel. Spider-Man takes a weird amount from Miles Morales. Guardians of the Galaxy is based on the incarnation from 2008.


All this to say, when the MCU finally does do X-Men stuff, it’s pretty likely they’ll be looking at comics from this century, not the 90s, 80s, 70s. Assuming this turns out to be the case, what modern X-book run do you expect to be the main point of inspiration?


As a note, I’m asking for expectation more than desire.

[akiresu_]

So, anybody who looks at the MCU can tell you it has something of a recency bias when it comes to selection the core source material. Iron Man draws from Warren Ellis’s take. Captain America takes from Ed Brubaker and Civil War. Thor, JMS. Hawkeye takes from the Ultimates, and soon from Fraction’s run. The Avengers take a lot from the Ultimates, used the title Age of Ultron, Hickman’s Black Order shows up. Planet Hulk happened. Black Panther took lots of elements from newer books, Shuri, some visual elements. Captain Marvel. Spider-Man takes a weird amount from Miles Morales. Guardians of the Galaxy is based on the incarnation from 2008.


All this to say, when the MCU finally does do X-Men stuff, it’s pretty likely they’ll be looking at comics from this century, not the 90s, 80s, 70s. Assuming this turns out to be the case, what modern X-book run do you expect to be the main point of inspiration?


As a note, I’m asking for expectation more than desire.

I feel like this is somewhat of a misreading. It seems to me less of a recency bias and more one of quality and relevance. Naturally, most the Phase One films are based off stories from the 60s (with IM2 taking Demon in a Bottle). Unlike the lesser tier properties the MCU has been dealing with thus far, X-Men has a much larger breadth of quality, relevant material to choose from. For close-enough 'straight' (as straight as the MCU gets anyway) adaptations, I can imagine stories from the 80s, 90s and 00s all being game.

What I'd expect we'd see is the modern flairs, like those which you acknowledge, rather than directly following something like the Messiah trilogy. So, I'd expect we'd get a Morrison-esque school, if not an adaptation of Riot at Xavier's. And, since these would be flairs and not adaptations, I can't imagine them limiting themselves to just taking flairs from a singular run.

To chart every potential flair and minutia seems an unwieldy, arbitrary task. The potential combinations are so vast, to even come close to the final result would be out of luck, rather than foresight.

[H-E-D]

I think you’re underselling the modern influence on Phase One, personally.

[CRaymond]

Been saying for at least a year that they could put the Master Mold from E is for Extinction ON Krakoa.

[spirit2011]

None of these.

X-men will probably be like captain marvel, a good amalgam of eras. Very possible of having a Ultimate influence just like they did with Avengers movies that took inspiration from Ultimates.

I think you’re underselling the modern influence on Phase One, personally.

I don't think so. Like he said there is a lot of old elements on the movies

[Hybrid]

There's more to X-Men than just the team, as you can apply that one a wide scale due to its size. Example:

If they get to X-23, what about Innocence Lost?

I would like a truer take with her as somewhat older, a martial artist, with a trigger scent, who eventually becomes a superhero of her own. I really did like the Logan one, but they took some liberties for sure, and I'm not sure if that's the ideal take for a definitive superhero shared universe. Might be best to remove the "teen prostitute" element though. Besides, seeing as how X-23 was made in '00s, it's safe to say that's where you can draw from easiest. I'd go with a Disney+ series that distills Innocence Lost, then has her join the Academy. Where they go from there, who knows.

[Electricmastro]

Not necessarily a specific book, but it would be cool to see more mutants from the New X-Men in the films (New X-Men #23, 2006):

[H-E-D]

None of these.

X-men will probably be like captain marvel, a good amalgam of eras. Very possible of having a Ultimate influence just like they did with Avengers movies that took inspiration from Ultimates.



I don't think so. Like he said there is a lot of old elements on the movies

I’m not denying the presence of old elements, but I think they’re filtered through the modern material more than the other way around. The WWII in Cap1 is very much the WWII from Brubaker flashbacks. Iron Man 1 is very much the Warren Ellis era update synthesized with the Iron Monger story. Thor takes so much from JMS’ take, dropping him in middle America, that he gets a “story by” credit in Thor 1. The Avengers takes the whole concept of SHIELD bringing the team together around a Chitauri invasion straight from the Ultimates, subbing in Loki for Herr Kleiser.

Captain Marvel was so influenced by the modern take on the character that Kelly Sue DeConnick was a story consultant and got a cameo in the movie.

I’m not saying they only take influence from modern stories, that would be absurd. But I do think that if you were weigh which era of comics holds the most influence overall, modern stories would win out.

I should have had Ultimate X-Men on the list, you’re right. Skipped my mind.

[H-E-D]

Not necessarily a specific book, but it would be cool to see more mutants from the New X-Men in the films (New X-Men #23, 200

I’d lump those under “Academy X” on this poll, seeing as Surge, Mercury, Hellion, Rockslide and Elixir are all from that period.

[Hybrid]

I felt like Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon would play an important role. The comic was about combining the adventure and sci-fi stories of the past with a modernized take. That sounds like it would fit MCU X-Men like a glove.

[Alex.]

I''d say Morrison, but too many characters to focus, so Whedon. After that, Manifest Destiny.

[spirit2011]

I felt like Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon would play an important role. The comic was about combining the adventure and sci-fi stories of the past with a modernized take. That sounds like it would fit MCU X-Men like a glove.

It was basically a Claremont rehash

[Hybrid]

It was basically a Claremont rehash

You say that like it was bad. I mean, it can be bad, because later writers tried to emulate Claremont and only made things worse (the '10s dork age in general). But the point is: Astonishing X-Men reconstructed X-Men in modern setting while being a throwback to the age of Claremont. I feel like that's what MCU X-Men will want to aim for.

[spirit2011]

I’m not denying the presence of old elements, but I think they’re filtered through the modern material more than the other way around. The WWII in Cap1 is very much the WWII from Brubaker flashbacks. Iron Man 1 is very much the Warren Ellis era update synthesized with the Iron Monger story. Thor takes so much from JMS’ take, dropping him in middle America, that he gets a “story by” credit in Thor 1. The Avengers takes the whole concept of SHIELD bringing the team together around a Chitauri invasion straight from the Ultimates, subbing in Loki for Herr Kleiser.

Captain Marvel was so influenced by the modern take on the character that Kelly Sue DeConnick was a story consultant and got a cameo in the movie.

I’m not saying they only take influence from modern stories, that would be absurd. But I do think that if you were weigh which era of comics holds the most influence overall, modern stories would win out.

I should have had Ultimate X-Men on the list, you’re right. Skipped my mind.

Brubacker was the best captain america run, so it isn't about being the last run;

Iron man had the same design as Warren ellis'run, but they only adapted the story in iron man 3. They clearly mixed many eras.

Captain Marvel mixed at least 3 different Cap Marvels's origins. Sure it was heavy based on Sue run as it was impossible to skip it, isnce it was a basic on Carol as Captain.

The last comics are easier to read and are fresher on people's memory, but I wouldn't say they are th emost important

You say that like it was bad. I mean, it can be bad, because later writers tried to emulate Claremont and only made things worse (the '10s dork age in general). But the point is: Astonishing X-Men reconstructed X-Men in modern setting while being a throwback to the age of Claremont. I feel like that's what MCU X-Men will want to aim for.

I odn't think it did that. It only ever work with a previous shared universe.

[TOTALITY]

So many of these stories, in their own way, are like remixes/subversions/homages to earlier stories, so it would be interesting to see them attempted straight away without a foundation, though they could probably get away with it since the foundation is the basic cultural awareness most of the audience would bring to it.

They could totally go straight into a heavily simplified House of X, though. Spend the first act doing a spin on Giant Size #1, except we get half the team recruited to rescue what ends up being the rest of the movie lineup from Krakoa. Spend the rest of the movie on a Sentinel plot (maybe with an element of God Loves Man Kills.) Then, like the silver age story resolved by convincing the Sentinels to fight the sun because it’s the source of mutations, the climax of this one has them convincing the Sentinels to fight the biggest mutant on earth, Krakoa. Using Xavier and/or Jean’s psychic rapport with the island (hinted at but not fully explored in their earlier visit) the X-Men defeat the Sentinels and decide to plant their flag, while the humans resolve to get serious about this shocking display of power.

The second movie could do a version of the assault on the Orchis orbital base in the first act, leading into a space adventure with the Shi’ar.