The X-Men have existed as a brand since the 1960s, but it took until the 1970s in the Bronze Age of Comics that they really hit their stride. Since then, they’ve been quintessential parts of Marvel Comics lore and branding, and there was no better example of this than their cinematic success that started in the year 2000. Now, Marvel Studios is set to introduce its own version of the merry mutants, bringing all the major Marvel characters under one banner.
Following the events of Avengers: Secret Wars, Marvel Studios will release a new X-Men movie helmed by Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier. This will completely reboot the characters, being totally separate from the previous movies produced before Fox was owned by Disney. This will ensure that all of Marvel’s biggest characters are home in the MCU, all the while putting the X-Men back on top as the true premier team of Marvel.
The X-Men Heralded the Modern Superhero Movie Era
Before the first Fox X-Men movie was released, superhero movies were in dire straits. Batman had his cinematic reputation ruined by the colorful cartoonish camp of Batman & Robin, while Superman hadn’t flown since the 1980s, due to both the paralysis of Christopher Reeve preventing him from returning to the role and various failed attempts to reboot the character. However, New Line Cinema had made a successful R-rated action flick in Blade, which was based on an obscure Marvel horror antihero.
Using elements of this success and movies such as The Matrix, director Bryan Singer reimagined the X-Men and their central concepts to go beyond mere superhero tropes to fully tap into their thematic resonance. Thus, the 2000 movie was a science fiction blockbuster about the dawn of a superhuman race and the coming societal calamity that this species posed, with one faction seeking to dominate humanity while the other aimed to protect a world that hated and feared them.
While fans complained about the black leather costumes and how certain characters were adapted, the live-action X-Men movies were wildly successful, especially given how mainstream audiences weren’t as familiar with them as they were with DC Comics’ World’s Finest. Even as new superhero movie franchises came and went, X-Men was able to “mutate” and reinvent itself as a franchise throughout the years.
This included dark blockbusters such as X-Men: Days of Future Past, the gritty catharsis Logan, and the R-rated Deadpool comedies. As they went on, of course, there were almost as many retcons as in the comic books, though fans were pleased to see elements such as comic book-accurate costumes eventually introduced for certain characters. This speaks to the narrative strength of the brand, which is reflected in the fact that, to this day, it’s neck-and-neck only with Spider-Man in terms of Marvel’s internal stable.
X-Men Best Represents the Marvel Ethos
During the Silver Age of Comics, Marvel’s catalog of comics and characters was seen as being far more developed and nuanced than the comparatively childish fare being published by DC. This was due to the heroes and their villains being layered and flawed, with the superheroes many times having as many relatable everyday struggles as they did fantastic ones. While the X-Men were initially poorly received, their reinvention by writer Chris Claremont put them at the top of the heap for the company, emphasizing the idea of mutants as a minority group facing oppression.
While there were still generic superhero archetypes such as aliens and monsters such as the Brood and Sauron, the X-Men were eventually chiseled away to somewhat eschew these elements and be much more focused on the ever-present mutant dilemma. It’s to the point where, beyond allies such as Spider-Man, other Marvel superheroes are sometimes portrayed in an antagonistic light when encountering the X-Men.
The sociopolitical themes have also allowed the X-Men to evolve further on the printed page, with the popularity of the brand exploding in the 1980s and seeing several spinoffs. The more experimental and youth-oriented book The New Mutants eventually gave way to the gritty thrills of X-Force, with X-Factor going from a somewhat inane and artificial extension of the main title to instead becoming focused on a mutant detective agency.
Likewise, solo characters such as Wolverine and Cable (not to mention the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool) have gone on to receive their own books, with these being an aside from the main X-Men titles and battles against foes such as Apocalypse or Magneto. Even this monthly book never stayed stagnant, with the 2001 relaunch, New X-Men, being a decidedly post-9/11 take that tried to avoid superheroics as much as possible and even ditched the characters’ gaudy costumes.
The relatability and cool factor of the X-Men have given them a definite edge over other Marvel characters, even if that’s almost shocking in a world once saturated by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel’s Avengers were once complete nobodies that even comic book fans cared little about, and to some extent, that remains the case outside the movies.
Grittiness, edginess, and social themes made the X-Men more interesting to many compared to heroes such as Captain America or Iron Man, and it reflected the similar “menace” status of characters like Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk. Each mutant member of the team has their own fanbase, and they can fit into all kinds of different stories and genres. As a result, the brand carries a massive legacy and storytelling potential, which is why it’s such a big deal for Marvel Studios to finally utilize them.
The X-Men are Marvel Studios’ Last Stand
Ever since the heyday of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans have wanted the X-Men to become a part of the shared world, especially if it meant more accurate adaptations than those seen in most of the Fox movies. This was kept from happening due to 20th Century Fox having the rights to the property, having bought them when Marvel declared bankruptcy in the 1990s. Finally, however, the 2010s ended with Disney buying Fox outright, meaning that characters such as the Fantastic Four and especially the X-Men were now “home.”
The irony is that the MCU isn’t exactly at its strongest, with the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday (which includes the universe of the Fox X-Men movies in a proverbial last hurrah) using nostalgia to reinvigorate interest in a brand that’s lost its luster and appeal. Thus, the characters that Marvel Studios once lacked might ultimately become its salvation.
Getting the X-Men right with a great new movie that both honors the comics more closely than the previous films while hitting the same thematic highs is necessary. This will attract hardcore fans and newcomers alike, especially if the potentially rebooted MCU makes it clear that this is a fresh start for the mutants with no ties to the movie continuity that began almost three decades ago. If there truly is a reboot after Secret Wars, there’s also the potential for all of Marvel’s heroes to operate at the same time.
This includes the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man, giving fans the movie universe they’ve wanted to see on the big screen for years. It will also be something of a full circle moment, with Spider-Man and the X-Men once again being the dominant names among Marvel and ushering in another new era of superhero movies. That all depends on Marvel Studios doing right by the mutants, however, and it’s perhaps the brand’s biggest test for survival.
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Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Thor, Loki, Captain Marvel, Falcon, Black Panther, Monica Rambeau, Scarlet Witch