Best introduction to extraterrestrials in the X-Men films

[donpricetag]

With bigger villains like Apocalypse to debut, I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to believe that the X-Men aren’t too far away from dipping into their rich space adventure lore. The Brood, the Phalanx, the entire Shi’Ar Empire with races that number in the dozens or hundreds, the Starjammers; Fox should have access to a large chunk of it, if not all of it, especially combining the Fantastic Four rights to get ahold of the Skrulls even if just to flesh out the galactic landscape.

My question is; What is your preferred route of introducing the X-Men to the idea of aliens? A specific storyline, a combination of ideas, or perhaps an invasion movie focusing around either the Brood or Phalanx? What would you guys like to see put on the screen?

[donpricetag]

Personally, I’d like to see X-Men having to deal with either the Phalanx or Brood invading the earth via mutant-integration (reason why the X-Men are dealing with them and not the entire world). Beating them back sends shockwaves throughout the galaxy and attracts the attention of the Shi’Ar Empire who now wish to add the Earth to their domain. They abduct the ones responsible for the defeat of the Brood or Phalanx and essentially put them through trials to see how far they’ve come. Aboard a massive spaceship traveling back to the Shi’Ar Empire, the X-Men basically become the representatives of the entire Human Race. Eventually they are rescued by Corsair and the Starjammers. The X-Men aid them in overthrowing Shi’Ar’s corrupt monarchy and reinstall Princess Lillandra as supreme leader. The X-Men are then returned to Earth; possibly short a member for emotional effect. Of course this would be way too much for one movie. So the first movie would be the more grounded invasion story, and the second the Shi’Ar abduction. The second movie would be teased during an after credit scene of the first.

[ChildOfTheAtom]

A small Brood attack or intense telepathic visions from Lilandra

[Grimsmack]

Personally, I'd like to see them scale back the films a bit. I mean, every movie is a fight against human domination and/or mutant domination which would result in a bleak future. The great thing about Deadpool was that it showed that the X-Men can just randomly pop up and lend a hand to a more personal issue - as they have so often done in the comics.

BUT, if the films were to introduce extraterrestrials, I think it would have to be the Shi'ar. If they want to do The Dark Phoenix Saga justice, that's the way to go. Plus, with the Shi'ar we would likely get the Imperial Guard: Gladiator vs. Colossus could be incredible! The Imperial Guard would be a great way to expand the franchise into a more Guardians of the Galaxy vibe, too (more likely an offshoot franchise, if they do it right).

The Brood started off as an "homage" to Ridley Scott's "Alien" and "Aliens". They even look and act like them. It would be too much of a rip-off to introduce them on film and I don't think Fox could do it.

[Jdsm24]

Ancient Aliens with the Celestials just like the in comics. Mainstream Audiences are already familiar with the idea that space gods played with human evolution, from at least half a dozen seasons of the History Channel's consistent top-rater. And then from there, expand to cover also the Skrulls and the Kree (and by extension, the Inhumans). Leave the Shiar for last, as mainstream audiences will just go WTFH if ET's suddenly get mixed in with Evolution, unless you do it like what the Aliens franchise did with Prometheus.

[Ricochet Rita]

Personally, I'd like to see them scale back the films a bit. I mean, every movie is a fight against human domination and/or mutant domination which would result in a bleak future. The great thing about Deadpool was that it showed that the X-Men can just randomly pop up and lend a hand to a more personal issue - as they have so often done in the comics.

AB-SO-LU-TE-LY. I endorse this by the book.

Along this lines, my personal bet would be introducing Warlock in The New Mutants movie (I love the whole 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' notion) --i.e., starting with 'Slumber party' (good pretext to introduce Doug, too).

intense telepathic visions from Lilandra

This could be a good idea, too, if it'd go on from a movie to the next one.

[iacobusleo]

Ancient Aliens with the Celestials just like the in comics. Mainstream Audiences are already familiar with the idea that space gods played with human evolution, from at least half a dozen seasons of the History Channel's consistent top-rater. And then from there, expand to cover also the Skrulls and the Kree (and by extension, the Inhumans). Leave the Shiar for last, as mainstream audiences will just go WTFH if ET's suddenly get mixed in with Evolution, unless you do it like what the Aliens franchise did with Prometheus.

This. Tie it into the history of mutants, like how there is going to be an implied connection between Apocalypse and alien technology in the new movie. This makes it easier for people to swallow and make all the space stuff feel less like a random addition to the relatively grounded cinematic universe.

And maybe not have the aliens look simply like humans with different skin tones with an unexplained ability to speak English, like how it was in Guardians of the Galaxy. It's comic book accurate but I think it will look quite goofy in this universe. So stuff like the Brood and the Phalanx can work, but maybe there should be slights tweaks to the aesthetics of the Shi'ar to emphasise their avian characteristics, rather than looking like humans with triangular shaped hair.

[WallStreeter]

They cannot scale back the X-Men films. Superhero movies with cosmic implications have done very well. The Avengers, Batman vs Superman (with Wonder Woman) have done well to the point of one billion in global sales. The best selling X-Men film to date was DOFP.

Epic stories like DOFP, Dark Phoenix Saga, etc. made the X-Men comics. Fox scaling back the X-Men films for the first three movies actually cost the franchise money. Once Fox saw Disney make extremely good and profitable films close to Marvel's comics great epics (with global or cosmic stakes), the direction of the X-Men franchise was permanently altered.

As for Deadpool being toned down, it was his origin story and it was a solo film. The next Deadpool movie will have Cable, a cyborg from the FUTURE.

[Ricochet Rita]

In terms of economic benefit, I guess you're right. But what do you want me to say: I myself think it's too bad.

And maybe we shouldn't disregard the element of tedium for audience's part. There's a saying: "A constant guest is never welcome".

[donpricetag]

Ancient Aliens with the Celestials just like the in comics. Mainstream Audiences are already familiar with the idea that space gods played with human evolution, from at least half a dozen seasons of the History Channel's consistent top-rater. And then from there, expand to cover also the Skrulls and the Kree (and by extension, the Inhumans). Leave the Shiar for last, as mainstream audiences will just go WTFH if ET's suddenly get mixed in with Evolution, unless you do it like what the Aliens franchise did with Prometheus.

I don't think Fox has the movie rights to the Celestials as we saw them already in GotG. So that's a no go. If the Brood are too much Camerons Alien's, then why not embrace the Phalanx idea? Not too much like Star Trek's Borg, I would think.

[Grimsmack]

They can certainly scale back the tone. Not every installment of the X-Men has to be so dire. The books themselves constantly switch from world-ending to personal without loss of interest (Loss of interest is due to a bad editor and tedious writing).

For instance, a movie installment could see the X-Men face off against Freedom Force (a random attack/heist, with a villainous Rogue), only to have her join the team (while seeking help after absorbing the persona and powers of a Ms. Marvel-like hero) in the next half of the movie during a jaunt to Japan. Just like in the books, Rogue would team up with a hesitant Wolverine as he settles business in Tokyo. If done right, the movie would make bank.

It's all about the script, the actors and the director, which is true of ANY movie.

Hell, the movie could be a young Kitty joining the team, having the mansion to herself during the Christmas holiday, and fighting off a demon all by her lonesome and fans would go nuts.

[Darth Phoenix]

One of the New Mutants movies could do a Lila Cheney bit with Gosamyr and it draws the attention of the Skrull, and Shair by stealing the M"Kraan crystal
Warlock could join while they are in space. Cypher would be very useful

[WallStreeter]

I don't think Fox has the movie rights to the Celestials as we saw them already in GotG. So that's a no go. If the Brood are too much Camerons Alien's, then why not embrace the Phalanx idea? Not too much like Star Trek's Borg, I would think.

The celestials might be a part of the shared rights between Fox and Disney. Like both Disney and Fox had the rights to the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Fox certainly has the rights to cosmic characters like the Silver Surfer and Galacticus.

[Jdsm24]

Not too much like Star Trek's Borg, I would think

Only if you incorporate the Technarch angle that Phalanx are actually the leftover hybrids of the Technarch like with vampires and ghouls in the Hellsing manga|anime, otherwise they'll just say that the Phalanx copied the Borg (which to be honest, they really did anyway just like how the Externals copied Highlander)...

[donpricetag]

The celestials might be a part of the shared rights between Fox and Disney. Like both Disney and Fox had the rights to the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Fox certainly has the rights to cosmic characters like the Silver Surfer and Galacticus.

I don't know. I've steadily reading X-Men for more than 20 years and I can't remember the Celestials being brought up before the most recent Astonishing X-Men series finale. Even if they have, it'd be negligible. The sharing of the twins is a bit more in-depth. They were introduced in the X-Men as mutants but spent the vast majority of their history as Avengers. Fox and Marvel didn't happily decide to share them, it was a ruling in court. The fact that Marvel has so heavily used the Celestials in GotG tells me they've got exclusive claim over them... On the other hand, how much have they been featured in Fantastic Four? I know very little about them I terms of back issues.