The X-Men are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel Studios has no small task ahead of them in making sure that the iconic team can lead the franchise in Phase 7 and beyond. Marvel Studios is also sure to make every effort to separate their adaptation of the team(s) from what came before. To celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas, we’ve decided to put together a list of which characters might play a key role and how Marvel Studios can ensure nobody will confuse them with their Fox counterparts.
The First X-Man
No character took it on the chin harder during Fox’s reign of terror with the X-Men than Scott Summers. The original trilogy sideline James Marsden‘s version and the Simon Kinberg films reduced him to a guy who just screamed an awful lot. A properly planned out X-Men franchise within a franchise should take Scott Summers on a 10-year arc from Xavier’s yes-man to a controversial mutant revolutionary. Anything less is doing the character yet another disservice.
One of the easiest ways for Marvel Studios to set their vision for the X-Men apart from Fox’s is to put Scott, in fact, the entire Summers family, at the center of it. One way to ensure the Summers become integral to the future of the X-Men in the MCU is by introducing them and telling their story through a Starjammers trilogy. The first film could introduce Christopher and Katherine Sommers and their two, young sons, Scott and Alex, tell the tragic story of their separation, and tell parallel stories in space and on Earth. On Earth, Scott and Alex end up in an orphanage and come under the care of Doctor Essex, setting up a villain in Mister Sinister that Fox failed to capitalize on.
In the comics, Sinister took a great interest in Scott Sommers and believed that the child of Scott and Jean Grey would perhaps be one of the most powerful mutants to ever live. Starting Scott’s MCU story at a young age and including the connection to Sinister would put the spotlight on the Sommers’ line and set up an ongoing antagonist who could cause all sorts of problems over a decade of X-Men stories. Of course, that’s only a part of Scott’s potential MCU story.
The real work ahead for Kevin Feige and the Marvel Studios Parliament is to find a way to evolve Scott over the course of 6 or so films. Cyclops is a divisive character in the comics and while they certainly won’t go beat for beat in adapting him to the MCU, they should certainly take inspiration from his journey over the years. Introducing Scott as a strong, young leader of the X-Men who whole-heartedly believes in Charles Xavier’s dream and then setting him on a path to develop his own, radical ideas about what Xavier’s dream really should be and ultimately rebel against Xavier would present a compelling character arc. After doing so much to save humanity time and time again, Cyclops became convinced that humanity would never accept them. It’s a lost opportunity for the MCU if at some point in time in Cyclops’ story, they don’t find a way to work in one of the most popular Marvel Comics memes ever: Cyclops was right!
