Should the MCU X-men lean heavily into the minority metophor?

[seanholmes20032003]

In my opinion, most of Fox's X-Men movies never lean fully into the "persecuted minority aspect" of the mutants. A perfect example is X-Men's Last Stand. In Last Stand, Fox misrepresents Marvel's comic book version of Morlocks as angry teenage terrorists while the people being terrorized are depicted as innocent bystanders with the exception of Angel's Father. I think bigotry can be explored in the MCU if it is isolated to large companies and governments hyping up the hate towards mutants. Plus, I think we got a taste of bigotry in MCU's Wakanda Forever following Namor's origin story and him declaring himself first mutant. Why do you think bigotry should be excluded from MCU future movies involving mutants?

[Isaac Lawrence]

In my opinion, most of Fox's X-Men movies never lean fully into the "persecuted minority aspect" of the mutants.

The comics don't even really do it, do they?

And not that they're required to, but they don't really do it just the same.

...I think we got a taste of bigotry in MCU's Wakanda Forever following Namor's origin story and him declaring himself first mutant.

Interesting. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'll look for that when it comes to Disney+.

I'd like to see Namor in an X-Men movie; or a "The Mutants" movie. He seems really cool to me.

Why do you think bigotry should be excluded from MCU future movies involving mutants?

One reason why I think they would exclude it is because you have to choose a side, form an opinion, state a point of view. And some of the audience may not agree with what stance is being taken.

It's rumored that Kevin Feige has a desire to make the MCU X-Men diverse. I hadn't noticed, but all of the original MCU Avengers were white. (The Hulk was green but whatever.) I guess maybe Kevin Feige doesn't want to do that again.

I had a thought that they could play up the whole "fear and hated" angle by using jealousy and envy.

Create a mutant who is an amateur or professional athlete. And have them shatter an Olympic or world record, and not because they're doping, but because they're a mutant.

Have Dazzler as a character. And have her be bigger than someone like Taylor Swift or Beyoncé due to her mutant ability. And have it be like Dazzler, in not that she intentionally used her mutant powers to get to that level, just that it is.

And of course I say go with Dazzler how she was originally pitched, as Black and a Grace Jones-type. I suppose they may upset some Dazzler fans, but it would all be part of the tolerance and understanding and acceptance process. It would be a teaching moment, and learning and growing moment.

Of course, the general audience wouldn't know any different either way.

But no, maybe play with jealousy and envy a little. Which is a very real world thing.

Going with actual bigotry, be it against Blacks, Jews, Gays, Asians, Hispanics; etc.. That would require them to write these movies in a somewhat serious tone. I mentioned it in another thread in a different context, but it would require them to write these movies in a Logan tone and sensibility. Which of course they could do if they wanted to, they just have to have the desire to do so.

Overall though, if they do want to tackle actual bigotry, and lean heavily into the minority metaphor, it's probably best to do that in a Disney+ series where you have the room to explore it better. And multiple Dsiney+ series, because there are a lot of X-Men characters.

Maybe treat it like the comics. There's a lot of X-Men books, so do a lot of X-Men Disney+ shows.

And save the movies to do other things.

An additional thought, just going with a very diverse cast of characters is almost statement enough on its own. Because it forces the audience to deal with it. So it would almost be a little metaphysical in a way.

But of course if a lot of the audience don't show up because there's only a couple of white people in the movie, then you may be in a little trouble.

So they have to figure something out.

[Jack The Tripper]

Unless the team will be largely made up of POC, LGBT, or differently abled characters, then no. I think if the team is largely cis and white, then it should be hard sci fi focussed, with minority characters having any parts of minority themes.

Then again, I don’t know how helpful it is for minority characters just having the same theme to battle against every time they’re put to screen.

Maybe there’s a fine balance between minority commentary and more hard sci fi concepts. I think it has to be a balance

[Kingdom X]

Unless the team will be largely made up of POC, LGBT, or differently abled characters, then no. I think if the team is largely cis and white, then it should be hard sci fi focussed, with minority characters having any parts of minority themes.

Then again, I don’t know how helpful it is for minority characters just having the same theme to battle against every time they’re put to screen.

Maybe there’s a fine balance between minority commentary and more hard sci fi concepts. I think it has to be a balance

Yup I think that’ll be the key. Some government officials in the MCU already have pretty nasty reactions to superhuman DS (see: Ms. Marvel) so if a bunch of super humans pop up at once I could definitely see the public being generally fearful without beating us over the head w/ the metaphor.

[Jack The Tripper]

Yup I think that’ll be the key. Some government officials in the MCU already have pretty nasty reactions to superhuman DS (see: Ms. Marvel) so if a bunch of super humans pop up at once I could definitely see the public being generally fearful without beating us over the head w/ the metaphor.

Yeah agreed. I think a big problem is that it’s so much more than just “mutants are different to normal people”, the fact that anyone could have superpowers, genetically, would be quite frightening for non-powered civilians. The more the X-men exist, I think they work better as an analogy for people who feel on the fringe or left out in a social aspect. As a minority metaphor it’s difficult, because in the real world minorities don’t possibly possess powers that can kill people if they lose control for a few seconds or don’t know how to control their powers.

It’s a difficult one, but the main thing they have to do is make us care for the core characters, then if they’re being treated unfairly, the audience will be on their side.

[Isaac Lawrence]

Somewhat related to all of this, The Marvels' teaser synopsis I guess is out...

Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe.

When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan, Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team-up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as 'The Marvels.

And this is of course just my opinion, and I of course just want them to skip all of this stuff and just go to the X-Men (so this is why I feel this way), but this teaser synopsis sounds generic as f**k.

So I kind of wonder do the X-Men need to tackle something harder than the usual things that the MCU does. Because that would set them apart, that would give them a distinction.

Otherwise it might be some generic whatever with them. And it would be what I dread. It would not be all-new and all-different, no, it would just be the Fox X-Men only slightly different.

So yeah, give me my United Colors of Benetton of X-Men.

There was a crowd-funded comic a few years back called BLACK.

The synopsis...

In a world that already hates and fears them – what if only Black people had superpowers?

After miraculously surviving being gunned down by police, a young man learns that he is part of the biggest lie in history. Now he must decide whether it’s safer to keep it a secret or if the truth will set him free.

X-Men meets The Wire, BLACK’s Kickstarter blazed through Black History Month 2016 earning $91,973, more than three time its funding goal.

It was optioned a couple of years ago by Warner Bros. to be made into a movie.

And there was an update on it earlier this year, they have a director (and writer) now.

Filmmaker Gerard McMurray, who took audiences to the early days of The Purge franchise with The First Purge, is stepping into a whole new universe. The filmmaker will write and direct an adaptation of Black, the comic book that takes place in a universe in which only Black people possess superpowers.

The adaptation of Black hails from Studio 8 and will be distributed by Warner Bros.

The comic debuted in 2016 from indie publisher Black Mask Studios, with the original series following Kareem Jenkins, who discovered his powers after being shot by police. The series was followed by the graphic novel Black [AF]: America’s Sweetheart, which centered on Eli Franklin, a young girl who becomes a superhero to bridge racial divides in America.

The comic was created by Kwanza Osajyefo and Tim Smith 3, with artists Jamal Igle and Khary Randolph.

The film adaptation will center on a young man who discovers his powers after surviving a violent crime. He soon finds himself in the middle of a war over the future of humanity in a world in which a secret society seeks to control the empowered and their abilities.

So we'll see how that progresses.

And if Kevin Feige gives me the Fox X-Men, only slightly different. And I don't get my United Colors of Benetton of X-Men, then it'll just be BLACK, I guess.

EDIT:

Of course, this update for the BLACK movie is pre-David Zaslav, so this may be dead at this point. Who knows...

So I may be stuck with what Kevin Feige does.

I hope he gives me my United Colors of Benetton of X-Men. I want the flavors.