Introduce the X-Men to the MCU

[ChildOfTheAtom]

Yeah with movies, there isn't as much time to use as a tv show so a small cast (like 6 people) is for the best

if the X-MEN reboot does what it’s supposed to at the box office it’s pretty much a lock they’ll be some kind of spin off in D+. so i was thinking background characters in the movie could be in like a 6/8 episodes series on D+… just spitballing

[godisawesome]

I think that might be the point, as I believe he's going to crossover and play the OML role through Secret Wars. Then he'll hang it up.

What I'm not sure about, however, is whether we might meet the MCU version prior to that. So it's possible in one of the two upcoming Avengers films that we see him actually passing the torch. That could be cool. I'm just imagining the older, grizzled Hugh in the yellow costume and his younger MCU counterpart in the brown and tan sharing the screen and it gets me pretty excited honestly.

I really like Wolverine and Hugh Jackman but…

I hope they cast most of the X-Men mid 20’s to early 30’s.

And I really really hope they focus on more characters and their team dynamics then on only on Logan. Or Professor or Magneto. I want all of them to shine, specially other team members that were done wrong in the Fox movies like Storm, Rogue, Cyclops, Psylocke, Jubilee and Gambit, like in X-Men 97

See, I've been wondering if it might be more clever and engaging if MCU Logan, whether played by Jackman or a new actor, is actually kept away from the core X-Men team and either treated more as a solo act or a "Hall of Fame" member who only occasionally goes on missions, and instead have the Wolverine on the main MCU X-Men team be X-23's Wolverine.

Anybody who has to just play Logan is going to be fighting an uphill battle against what's now clearly the definitive superhero portrayal ins a merged franchise that has that original portrayal still present - there's a lot of risk of redundancy and being overshadowed inherent to the premise of just being the "new Logan."

... But being the "new Laura," and having a young female Wolverine on the team with Cyclops, Beast, Nightcrawler, etc., would sidestep that risk, still allow Jackman or someone else to play "Classic" Wolverine, and also maybe defuse any chance of "Wolverine takes over the film again" for other X-Men fans.

[yogaflame]

The school never needed to be a giant school(that was Singer's idea, so he could cast tons of kids....). In the comics mutants were very rare, there were only a handful at first. The school should be like that, very private exclusive, small population of actual named characters that we get to know intimately.

I would start with the main squad, go a few movies/D+ series with them, then you can start adding more generations(like the New Mutants). So the X-Men start off as 18-22, by the time their characters are like 22-26, you add in the next crop of students, this time a little younger, 14-18. The main X-Men continue on their adventures, the New Mutants get their shows/movies for a few years, then you have the main X-Men in the 26-30 age range, the New Mutants become X-Force at 18-22, and you can add the Generation X class, again at 14-18.

It's a lot, because the actors will age in real-time, so they'll need their own projects being developed and released pretty closely, but it could work. By the time the main X-Men characters are in the 30-34 age range, you can do the Morrison era stories with the huge class of youngsters being taught by the mature X-Men, but that's honestly the least exciting role for those characters. They thrive as adventurers, not schoolteachers.

[whitecrown]

if the X-MEN reboot does what it’s supposed to at the box office it’s pretty much a lock they’ll be some kind of spin off in D+. so i was thinking background characters in the movie could be in like a 6/8 episodes series on D+… just spitballing

I think Disney is cutting down on those. Most of those shows have not been successful and way too expensive to justify making more. They've said there was an issue of quantity over quality and also how audiences were not happy about needing to watch multiple shows in order to understand a movie.

[Sin Nick]

I feel like the only Wolverine fan who doesn't really care about the upcoming Deadpool/Wolverine flick. I've more than said how I feel about Jackman's portrayal of the character(and it has nothing to do with height). Saw an interview with the creators of X-Men 97 about how they would love to do an animated feature film and definitely feel that's the best direction to go going forward.

[bat39]

Exactly, at the end of X2, there was no reason for him to stick around once Jean died if she was his only motivation. By this point, he's specifically bonded with the X-Men and come to believe in their cause. X3's ending doesn't completely gel with The Wolverine's opening but I think we're supposed to believe that he was too haunted by his actions in killing Jean and it also took some time for him to come to that realization rather than immediately after her death. He may have also stuck around just long enough to see the school still functioning and the rest of the X-Men able to pick up where Xavier left off before heading off again. Apparently Rogue was supposed to appear in early drafts of The Wolverine, so that may also have told us more about the state of the X-Men when Wolverine left them.




Xavier was still alive and Storm technically could have taken over as the last senior X-Man still available in some capacity.

I guess it also depends on exactly when The Wolverine is set? If its set around 2007/08 (based on Yukio's line that she's been trying to find Logan for "over a year"), then you can argue that Logan didn't stick around at the Mansion for long after The Last Stand, which seemingly negates his ending in that movie. If its set in 2013 however, then its possible that Logan spent years with the team before leaving.

Also, in The Last Stand, Xavier was already seeing Storm as his potential successor, rather than Scott, since the latter was still mourning Jean. But Logan is also viewed as an important member of the team, which is why he's at the meeting where they all discuss the Cure. In fact, arguably, Storm and Logan are the X-men for most of the film, with Scott initially out of commission and then dead. Hank then rejoins the team later in the film, and Bobby, Peter and Kitty are the new recruits who get to step up.

[yogaflame]

I totally get it. That's your Wolverine. Early days Logan, even before we knew his name, was an impetuous little man who clearly had "a Napoloen complex" as you put it or "short man syndrome". He was also initially imagined as a brash teenager, which kind of explains that characterization early on. Claremont and Byrne later revealed his face, his real name, and made it so he was older. Then they went on to flesh him out, and added many layers to the character. To this day he's been portrayed differently in different media (the various cartoons and whatnot), and I'd say has progressed as a character far beyond that point. My Wolverine is probably late 80s and early 90s Wolverine more so than that feisty little punk. I love the world-weary soldier, who tries to keep the beast in its cage but sometimes has to let it out against really bad folks. Who mentors younger team members and does the dark stuff so they won't have to.

There's no wrong or right version. We just see different Wolverines in our head is all. The character has been around for five decades now so there have been lots of interpretations and a lot of development in that time, and sometimes even regression too. Since the MCU will likely look to the early years for inspiration, my guess is you'll get your wish whenever they do reboot. I might love it, I might not. It all depends on whether they get the right actor who can pull it off without being totally unlikable I suppose.

I appreciate your openness.

[ChildOfTheAtom]

The school never needed to be a giant school(that was Singer's idea, so he could cast tons of kids....). In the comics mutants were very rare, there were only a handful at first. The school should be like that, very private exclusive, small population of actual named characters that we get to know intimately. I would start with the main squad, go a few movies/D+ series with them, then you can start adding more generations(like the New Mutants). So the X-Men start off as 18-22, by the time their characters are like 22-26, you add in the next crop of students, this time a little younger, 14-18. The main X-Men continue on their adventures, the New Mutants get their shows/movies for a few years, then you have the main X-Men in the 26-30 age range, the New Mutants become X-Force at 18-22, and you can add the Generation X class, again at 14-18. It's a lot, because the actors will age in real-time, so they'll need their own projects being developed and released pretty closely, but it could work. By the time the main X-Men characters are in the 30-34 age range, you can do the Morrison era stories with the huge class of youngsters being taught by the mature X-Men, but that's honestly the least exciting role for those characters. They thrive as adventurers, not schoolteachers.

i like how this is spaced out… only thing i would add is X-MEN: Unlimited on D+ (as just a name placeholder of a anthology series for characters who most likely never get a solo movie)

[ChildOfTheAtom]

I think Disney is cutting down on those. Most of those shows have not been successful and way too expensive to justify making more. They've said there was an issue of quantity over quality and also how audiences were not happy about needing to watch multiple shows in order to understand a movie.

imo it’s because a lot of marvel chars shouldn’t be in film/d+ and their running out of gas.. X-MEN I think will be different and will get atleast one chance at some kind of spin off on d+ the IP is too big to just be two movie franchises (X-MEN or Wolverine)

[Android 17]

The X-Men aside, I'm just very curious to see how they deliver on the concept of mutants in the MCU. Granted there were there a few here and there like Namor, some of their X-gene's activated through manipulation like Wanda and Pietro, but how do you present them fully into Earth 616?

I just hope they go with Hulk's snap and not make it too hokey.

[yogaflame]

I think Disney is cutting down on those. Most of those shows have not been successful and way too expensive to justify making more. They've said there was an issue of quantity over quality and also how audiences were not happy about needing to watch multiple shows in order to understand a movie.

The movies and Disney+ model is actually genius as it allows for greater character exploration in the shows longer run times, and greater spectacle in the movies. The only problem was after the first group(WandaVision/Falcon&theWinterSoldier/Loki), they starting leaning into completely new characters without the movie connections (and then the shows just had horrible writing and overall were just rushed to fill spots in the new service as dictated by Disney). Given how strong X-Men '97 has been, I think the model is ripe for the picking, they just needed great stories. X-Men has PLENTY of stories, and if you get a good team of creators to mine that IP effectively, the shows could be incredible and tie back in to the movies seamlessly.

[Berry]

I think that might be the point, as I believe he's going to crossover and play the OML role through Secret Wars. Then he'll hang it up.

What I'm not sure about, however, is whether we might meet the MCU version prior to that. So it's possible in one of the two upcoming Avengers films that we see him actually passing the torch. That could be cool. I'm just imagining the older, grizzled Hugh in the yellow costume and his younger MCU counterpart in the brown and tan sharing the screen and it gets me pretty excited honestly.

We could see it as early as a postcredits scene in Deadpool imo

The movies and Disney+ model is actually genius as it allows for greater character exploration in the shows longer run times, and greater spectacle in the movies. The only problem was after the first group(WandaVision/Falcon&theWinterSoldier/Loki), they starting leaning into completely new characters without the movie connections (and then the shows just had horrible writing and overall were just rushed to fill spots in the new service as dictated by Disney). Given how strong X-Men '97 has been, I think the model is ripe for the picking, they just needed great stories. X-Men has PLENTY of stories, and if you get a good team of creators to mine that IP effectively, the shows could be incredible and tie back in to the movies seamlessly.

There was a big issue with the tv shows going severely over budget between covid reshoots/cgi/getting big name actors like Samuel Jackson like 212 million on Secret Invasion. But of course less and/or cheaper Disney+ shows don't mean no Disney+ shows and they'll definitely be a mutant one in the future

[ChildOfTheAtom]

Given how strong X-Men '97 has been, I think the model is ripe for the picking, they just needed great stories. X-Men has PLENTY of stories, and if you get a good team of creators to mine that IP effectively, the shows could be incredible and tie back in to the movies seamlessly.

yea D+ could really take X-MEN to the next level

There was a big issue with the tv shows going severely over budget between covid reshoots/cgi/getting big name actors like Samuel Jackson. like 215 million on Secret Invasion

idky they even made that

[Zero Hunter]

The X-Men aside, I'm just very curious to see how they deliver on the concept of mutants in the MCU. Granted there were there a few here and there like Namor, some of their X-gene's activated through manipulation like Wanda and Pietro, but how do you present them fully into Earth 616?

I just hope they go with Hulk's snap and not make it too hokey.

My prefered way is the x-gene kicks in when nature deems it needed. It has been happening very very rarely through history (so you could still have old mutants like Apocalyps, Selene, Exodus, and such) and groups like SHIELD and other agencies did everything they could to cover it up. With the sheer amount of chaos the Infinity Stones caused and the amount of cosmic power it released on Earth the x-gene kicked into high gear all over the world causing more and more mutants to be activated. That would also give them a good reason why most of the mutants showing up are under 30 because that would make them about the right age (young teens/preteens) when the Infinity Stones were active on Earth.

[godisawesome]

My prefered way is the x-gene kicks in when nature deems it needed. It has been happening very very rarely through history (so you could still have old mutants like Apocalyps, Selene, Exodus, and such) and groups like SHIELD and other agencies did everything they could to cover it up. With the sheer amount of chaos the Infinity Stones caused and the amount of cosmic power it released on Earth the x-gene kicked into high gear all over the world causing more and more mutants to be activated. That would also give them a good reason why most of the mutants showing up are under 30 because that would make them about the right age (young teens/preteens) when the Infinity Stones were active on Earth.

The Snap/Blip could also be used as the main catalyzing event for an "outbreak" of mutants on strictly a stress level, and for conspiracy theories against and about them in the MCU blaming them for the chaos and the trauma.

Plus, with Hydra infiltrating SHIELD for much of the MCU's history, making them hostile to mutants, or controlling of them, gets a lot easier, and could even allow someone like Sinister to be operating already in the background.

I would add, though, that I think there needs to be a clear shift in the MCU towards government forces leaning more antagonistic than before, using stuff like Ross becoming President, and a clear sign that since the MCU humans have experienced so much already, even the little nuance of "Enhanced individuals are the result of programs and forces that someone is in charge of, but mutants are spontaneous and uncontrolled" as the basis for why anti-mutant hysteria could be a thing.