After several years with little to no movement, Marvel Studios X-Men reboot began to gather some momentum last Fall when Kevin Feige began meeting with writers to discuss pitches for the project. By April, Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes writer Michael Leslie had landed the gig causing fans to wonder if the film might hit theaters far sooner than initially expected.
While there have been mutants aplenty in the Multiverse Saga, Lesslie’s story is reportedly introducing the studio’s own live-action take on the team of mutants rather than dipping back into Fox’s well. To that end, it would be necessary to make efforts to set the new adaptation apart from what’s come before. One way to ensure fans don’t cross the streams would be to put the focus on characters other than Wolverine and Jean Grey and according to a new rumor from a trusted insider, it sounds as though Lesslie’s script does just that.
Daniel RPK is reporting that the MCU’s first X-Men film will feature two fan-favorite characters as the leads: Kitty Pryde and Gambit.
The focus on Pryde lines up with a previous report from the insider that suggested the X-Men reboot would focus on “main characters we all know” and be female-focused. Though Pryde appeared in the Fox films, the studio’s version–like most of the mutants in those films–was a poor interpretation of who the character truly is. It has long been expected that Kitty would be a featured character in Marvel Studios’ new take on the team of mutants heroes and that Feige would elevate her from the “sidekick” status she had in the Fox films.
Equally unsurprising is the news that Remy LeBeau, one of the company’s most popular mutants for over 30 years, will be a central character. Gambit’s star is shining brightly on the heels of his incredible journey in X-Men ’97 and his appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine where Channing Tatum finally got the chance to show off his take on the Cajun.
Putting Shadowcat and Gambit at the center of the reboot provides interesting options to not only build out the rest of the team based on key relationships with those two but also sets the stage for expanding the narrative well beyond what Fox accomplished.
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