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 Goddess
Fox’s mishandling of Ororo Munroe stands as one of the most egregious mistakes of the X-Men trilogy…and the second X-Men trilogy. In what seems to be a common theme, the Fox X-films chose to focus on the enormity of Storm’s Omega-level powers over delivering an appropriate characterization. The results: some flashy VFX, a line of dialogue that’s on the top of everyone’s “Worst Lines Ever Spoken in a Superhero Film” list and two very forgettable adaptations of one of the X-Men’s greatest leaders. The good news moving forward is those mistakes are simple to remedy.
Marvel Studios’ record of comic-accurate characterization isn’t bulletproof, but it isn’t anywhere near as assailable as Fox’s. MCU Steve Rogers is comic book Steve Rogers. MCU Tony Stark is, in all honesty, a more interesting version of comic book Tony Stark but still comic book Tony Stark. Like these two men, Ororo Munroe has the comic book cachet to lead an entire trilogy of solo films, should Marvel Studios be so inclined. And much like the two mentioned above, Storm could and should find herself in an ideological disagreement with another one of the X-Men’s greatest leaders: Cyclops.
Marvel Studios has time but they don’t have all the time in the world to tell all the great X-Men stories. One that seems right in line with what the studio has done in the past is an adaptation of the Schism arc. While that arc was about an ideological disagreement between Cyclops and Wolverine, Marvel Studios doesn’t adapt one-to-one, instead choosing some snazzy titles and making movies that have something in common with the comics but are also different enough to avoid comic readers being bored. Since the hope is that Marvel Studios does not turn their version of the mutants into Wolverine and the X-Men, a Cyclops vs. Storm schism would be something to see.
Ororo has evolved into an incredibly strong leader in the comics, one not even the gruff soldier Wolverine balks at taking orders from. Allowing Storm to grow into the role of leader over time and then challenging Cyke when he goes off the rails would both be in line with the comics and make for an MCU event film in line with Captain America: Civil War. Whatever the case, Kevin Feige and the Marvel Studios Parliament have a tall order before them to give Ororo the respect she deserves while hopefully making fans forget about the less-than-stellar big screen iterations of the past.
