How should the X-Men fit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? A question that, until recently, seemed unnecessary to ask.
One of my favorite retreats I’ve discovered in my downtime during this pandemic has been pondering the future of the MCU. As utterly bummed as I am with the delays, I think the prolonged wait will make seeing the next installment that much sweeter (I’m looking at you WandaVision) it has also allowed a longer time of speculation post-Endgame, so I wanted to talk about my vision for the MCU X-Family.
Before we begin, let’s agree on some things. A fundamental component of the MCU has been sprinkling in background characters in one thing, to give tease to the next thing. For me, it was Stark walking into the bar at the end of Incredible Hulk that solidified the promise of a shared world. So, from the beginning, this has been a part of the MCU. To think it’s going to slow down at all would be misguided, especially now knowing Disney is kicking it up on Disney+. Which brings me to the next point: there will be more than one Disney+ series, limited and/or ongoing, to boost the X side of the MCU house. Thirdly - and this should be commonly embraced but just to put it out there - the MCU is rarely married to source material. It works because they capture the essence of the source material well but they are not afraid to make changes when it better suits the story. After all, Marvel Comics lore dates back some 80 years, whereas the MCU dates back 12.
There are a lot of options here. Just look to WandaVision. The reverse M-Day scenario is popular. In the comics, she wiped out all but 198 mutants after uttering, “No more mutants.” The reverse of that would be what “No, more mutants.” Seems like a stretch since Wanda doesn’t know what a mutant is yet. That’s a lot to dump into 8 episodes. We know she ties into Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Introduction via multiverse, that’s popular theory. Supposing WandaVision ends in some Multiverse-shattering shenanigans which are also addressed in Spider-Man 3 and then I will be so bold to presume concludes in Doctor Strange 2 resulting in a “realignment” of sorts that merges some planes together. It’s an option. But… the universe is still reeling with the snappening and the un-snappening; that’s a heavy lift to throw merging-multiverses on to boot. So, I don’t think that’s likely either.
Sprinkling in easter eggs and post-credits is a staple. I’m a fan of introducing Rogue separately from X-Men, serving as a Nebula-like foil to Captain Marvel. There are a lot of great opportunities to sprinkle some X in Black Widow (Omega Red?), Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Weapon X anybody?), or WandaVison (who’s your daddy?).
For a lot of people my age, right during the height of X-Men being the marvelous meal ticket, The X-Men Animated Series was the entry point. When I was 6 years old, it popped up on Saturday morning cartoons and that was it. If there is a single reason to subscribe to Disney+, I assure you, it’s to watch that series in its entirety. The pilot “Night of the Sentinels” is exactly the kind of story we need. The X-Men worked in secret, but hidden they can remain no longer. You have a newbie serve as the POV character and you get a core group of X-Men in their prime, who serve as teachers at Xavier’s academy and other roles. Here’s how that can work.
Before Thanos snapped in Wakanda, there were only 198 (for highly important Easter egg purposes) accounted-for mutants. Among those 198 are Charles Xavier, Erik Magnus, Nathaniel Essex, Logan, Hank McCoy, Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Ororo Munroe, Laura Kinney, Bobby Drake and Gabby Kinney.
The snap left the world in tatters. It’s not hard to find a source for trauma. Combined with the energy wave from the snap, mutation accelerated. The Avengers are no more. Ronin is out there, but he’s not exactly doing the lord’s work. Xavier’s efforts only increased with the increased need. Over 5 years, what once was a sort of quaint, small private school is growing. Then Hulk’s snap that brought back everybody, and don’t worry, there’s a massive energy wave for them as a result of Stark’s snap too. This leaves room for so many option without weighing down with Wanda-Magic or Multiverse-shenanigans. The setup seems obvious.
This means a multigenerational cast, diverse with veteran mutants, novice to experienced mutants, and newbies. We get the fan favorites in their prime, who can function in several roles throughout the MCU. Let us have our cake and eat it too. We can have the competent leader Cyclops and warden of the weather Storm finally. MCU proved you can do a boy scout type leader effectively; it’s time my boy Cyclops gets that treatment. No one has to be convinced of Storm leading. She’s the best leader of the X-Men. Cyclops admits as much to her in House of X. Now we’ll see it. I would like Jean to not be consumed by being in someone’s love story. Scott can be a thing, but just call it that let it be. Jean is so much more when she’s not bogged down by Scott and Logan.
Which brings me to a point I feel very strongly about: Logan should not be a part of the X-Men for a while. He’s been out there. He’s the subject of many urban legends all over the world. He will not be our Wolverine for a while. Where was he? For many years preceding the snap, Logan was encased in an adamantium sarcophagus (similar to “Death of Wolverine” by Charles Soule) only able to breathe. In the time between snaps, the sarcophagus was moved; this frees Logan when he’s snapped back, but years of that isolation left him in a feral state. He will be a lingering presence but not a part of the first X-Men movie. I propose a Weapon X series on Disney+ to stage his entrance into the X-Men. It’s very easy for Weapon X to end with the sound of Xavier’s voice saying “Hello, my name is Charles Xavier…”
The MCU Wolverine will be Laura Kinney. I only have to look as far as Tom Taylor’s “All New Wolverine” run for reasoning. She brings a different energy and that’s the point. In some ways I feel this honors a promise made at the end of Logan: that Laura would carry the torch. Before the Disney/Fox deal, Mangold was all in for a film that followed Laura. It’s not for the sake of being a symbolic gesture; it was set up so, so well, and we should take it and use it. This is how we keep X-Men fresh while doing them right. This also will also mitigate “Logan-Overload”.
Xavier’s Academy should function similar to Hogwarts. Unusual, uncommon and unique are celebrated and explored. Most of the students aren’t there to be an X-man. It’s made an option for some but others are there as a place of sanctuary. I would like two of the newbies, the two main newbies, to be Kate Pryde and Jubilee.
Using the general framework of “Night of the Sentinels” to show off the X-Men in the first act in a small encounter which sees the Beast taken captive by Trask. Kitty learns about mutation when taken back to the Academy, which explains that some, like Trask, seek to regulate mutants and apparently devised some robotic mutant hunters. The second act is the jailbreak, which is interrupted by Mr. Sinister who is kidnaps the imprisoned mutants for his experiments. Third act is a showdown with Sinister.
Nathaniel Essex should be the main stepping-off villain. Magneto will always be around in big capacities but I think it’s time we let Mags be less of any film’s villain and more of a philosophical foil to Xavier. Nathaniel Essex, on the other hand, would quickly become the most twisted X-Men villain on screen. Where Xavier could try to reason with Magneto with “We want the same things!” that simply isn’t true with Sinister. There’s no confusion who the bad guy is.
And as far as (mostly) broad strokes go, that’s the pitch.
There are some points that I am specific about, but pulling back and examining the framework, I think this is the best way to introduce the X-Men into the MCU. It offers a chance to see fan favorites already in their prime for a long time, while shining the light on younger characters that will be around for a long time. It builds off of the events of Endgame, using the snap as an accelerant and continuing the promise that the MCU is changed because of it.
What do you think? How do you hope they bring the X-Men to the MCU?
