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 Mistress of Magnetism
As is the case with a lot of female characters written in the 60s, 70s and 80s, there are some parts of Lorna Dane’s comic book history that would be better off left in those pages and left out of any adaptation of the character into the MCU; however, Fox made a poor decision by leaving Lorna out of their live-action films entirely. Though not one of the original five members of the X-Men, Lorna was brought on board in the first wave of recruits beyond the five giving her a longer history with the team than Wolverine, Storm, Rogue and Kitty Pryde. Fox may have stayed away from Lorna because of the identity of her father: Magneto. That’s a mistake Marvel Studios should actively seek not to replicate.
While Scott Summers and Jean Grey are the foremost mutant power couple, Alex Summers and Lorna Dane aren’t far behind. Focusing on Alex and Lorna, both individually and as a couple, allows Marvel Studios to explore all sorts of fascinating parallels and differences between them and their more famous family members. Though she’s the daughter of a terrorist and one of Marvel’s most compelling and complex villains, Lorna grew up free of his influence (indeed she didn’t know he was her father until later in life) and is one of the X-Men’s great leaders and heroes.
Lorna and Alex are to X-Factor and Jean and Scott are to the X-Men and Marvel Studios will almost certainly allow multiple mutant teams to exist simultaneously within the MCU. Beyond X-Factor, however, Lorna played a major role on the mutant paradise of Genosha, the House of M and one other part of the X-Men mythology that Fox completely ignored: Shi’ar space! Along with Havok, Lorna had a major arc in The Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire and War of Kings as a new recruit of the Starjammers, led by the father of Scott and Alex Summers and involving the third Summers brother, Gabriel.
Given the scope of Lorna’s history in the comics and the fact that Fox left her sidelined, she seems as good a bet as any to not only join the ranks of the mutants in the MCU, but become a leader and key player as they expand beyond Earth-bound stories. Of course, there’s also plenty to explore with her parentage and plenty of built-in drama once she learns who her father is. Come to think of it, Marvel Studios could probably get a lot of mileage out of the children of Magneto and Xavier, mileage that Fox chose to ignore entirely.
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 X-Factor
One of Fox’s most mysterious decisions in rebooting their own X-Men franchise in 2011’s X-Men: First Class was the choice to make Alex Summers the older brother of Scott and a member of Xavier’s first team of X-Men only to sideline him fairly quickly. Without being able to access the depths of Simon Kinberg’s mind, it’s impossible to know why Alex was underutilized but it really just seemed like Fox didn’t have a long-term plan for him. That’s good news for Marvel Studios because it allows them to make the easy choice to introduce Alex alongside Scott and then set him on his own path; a path that sets him on course to become the leader of his own team: X-Factor.
Telling the best version of Alex’s story means having him separated from Scott. Rather than being given the advantages provided to Scott by Xavier, Alex’s struggles with his self-confidence and his emerging powers result in an alpha-level mutant whose lack of control makes him fairly dangerous. Ultimately though, like Scott, Alex is a born leader and allowing him to grow into his powers and then put together his own team would be a fantastic way to set him apart from Lucas Till’s forgettable version.
Among its many failures, foremost of Fox’s foul-ups was that it never allowed its X-Men universe to grow and evolve beyond the core X-Men teams. The comics are loaded with mutant teams outside of the X-Men: X-Force, Excalibur, Generation X, hell even X-Statix all exist. Other than the brief assemblage of X-Force in Deadpool 2 and the ill-fated New Mutants, Fox stayed away from these teams. That means Marvel Studios can (and almost certainly will) dive headlong into developing them and Havok’s X-Factor should be one of the first and most important. While the team was originally just Scott’s X-Men working with the government, Alex put his own squad together and that squad is among the most memorable and powerful versions of X-Factor to have existed.
Marvel Studios would be wise to let Alex grow into a leader of X-Factor and ultimately come into opposition to his brother and his more authoritarian approach to leadership. Though the brothers can’t harm one another with their powers, they could certainly go toe-to-toe and break out the fisticuffs should Havok still be around long enough to see his brother cause a schism among mutantkind. Marvel Studios certainly loves brother vs. brother drama. Beyond that, a Havok-led X-Factor team provides a fantastic way to grow the mutant-corner of the MCU beyond the adventures of the core and introduce some other incredibly important characters who were criminally underused by Fox: Polaris and Jamie Madrox. Whatever it is Marvel Studios has planned for the mutants, they should certainly make room for a proper portrayal of Alex Summers.
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!
This week, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige teased more mutants in the MCU’s near future. During the Q&A after the CCXP event showcasing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was asked on if we can expect more mutants in the near future and he definitely seemed optimistic: “No, look, we’ve already met a few. There’s a new Mutant named Namor that you might’ve met recently. So, more to come.”
Of course, the head of the production company is not going to give away what we can expect. We do know that Deadpool 3 will give Hugh Jackman one more chance to play Wolverine; hopefully finally wearing his iconic outfit. And, there are many opportunities to slowly introduce various versions of these characters throughout upcoming projects. Now, we just have to wait and see if the X-Men will get their time int he spotlight or if they even existed throughout MCU’s history to begin with.
The Mutants are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While some theories expected a longer wait with the iconic Marvel characters to appear after the Multiverse Saga has come to an end, but Marvel Studios is going at it one step at a time. We first met a familiar face in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with the 90s theme, which was later used to recontextualize a reveal in Ms. Marvel.
Now, we have the word once again spoken by Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; the first to be well-aware of his mutant status in the MCU given how different he is from his own people of Talocan. During the Q&A after the CCXP event showcasing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was asked on if we can expect more mutants in the near future and he definitely seemed optimistic
No, look, we’ve already met a few. There’s a new Mutant named Namor that you might’ve met recently. So, more to come.
Kevin Feige
Of course, the head of the production company is not going to give away what we can expect. We do know that Deadpool 3 will give Hugh Jackman one more chance to play Wolverine; hopefully finally wearing his iconic outfit. And, there are many opportunities to slowly introduce various versions of these characters throughout upcoming projects. Now, we just have to wait and see if the X-Men will get their time int he spotlight or if they even existed throughout MCU’s history to begin with.
20th Century Fox’s era with the X-Men license has been quite unique, as the franchise kicked off the modern superhero craze and also went through its own soft-reboot phase when X-Men: First Class took over. Technically, the project was a prequel to the original, it still added unique elements that were not referenced in the original trilogy. It was a way to get a new group of actors to take on some iconic roles.
James McAvoy famously took on the role of Charles Xavier with Michael Fassbender offering his talent to the role of Magneto. In a recent interview with GQ, McAvoy opened up on the one aspect that he would criticized of the original run as the films moved away further and further from the main dynamic introduced in First Class.
My biggest criticism of what we did throughout the four movies was that after the first movie, we didn’t take advantage of the relationship between [Xavier and Michael Fassbender’s Magneto], which really formed the backbone of the first film. So it was like, why did we just eject that massive weapon.
James McAvoy
When Bryan Singer returned with X-Men: Days of Future Past, the franchise built a stronger focus back to Wolverine that acted as a connective tissue between the past and future. Apocalypse did continue the storyline surrounding Magneto but kept him and Xavier far apart from each other for most of the film before we returned to another attempt at the Dark Phoenix storyline. Perhaps a new generation could further explore this dynamic.
The moment the announcement dropped that Avengers: Secret Wars was on the horizon, many were excited on who may make an appearance. Anyone is possible in the wide multiverse that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has opened, especially after seeing former Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield once again reprise their iconic roles in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Naturally, it also opened up a recurring question for anyone that got a chance to interview a Marvel legacy actor, such as what GQ did when they got a chance to sit down with former Professor X, James McAvoy. The actor had already been asked many times if he might appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
I’m very quick to say, ‘No, I’m done.’ Or ‘I’m not that bothered about coming back.’ Because you move forward. I’ve definitely not got the call. And if I did I would definitely not be telling you.
James McAvoy
The last part of the statement is quite funny, especially with how McAvoy has always been rather direct in his response, especially when the Doctor Strange rumors were making the rounds. Of course, it does seem quite early for them to cast anyone for Secret Wars, as the script has yet to be finalized. So, they may not reach out until they know who exactly they want to include, especially with an Avengers film that’ll likely include a wide amount of characters. So, not trying to bind anyone too early, especially if production might get postponed (you never know). It might still be some time until we get a firm grasp of what their plans are for this film.
The moment Marvel Studios unveiled plans for Avengers: Secret Wars, it felt like anything suddenly became possible. The Multiverse Saga was upon us and while we only got a glimpse in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, something that seems entirely on purpose in retrospect to build up what is yet to come, it does seem like the perfect way to slowly bring back some iconic stars from Marvel’s cinematic and TV history.
One of the most hopeful returns has been some of the 20th Century Fox actors, especially from the X-Men franchise. Luckily, it seems that one actor is definitely on board as Kelsey Grammer, who once played Beast in X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Days of Future Past, and gave us quite an iconic incarnation ith very little time on screen. Not only does he want to return but he also makes an ultimatum in an interview with MovieWeb.
If they don’t ask me to return to the role of Beast, I’ll never go to Disneyland again. I’d love for them to do that. I want to do that.
Kelsey Grammer
There’s the possibility that we see this actor return to the role even before Secret Wars; if Marvel Studios even ends up approaching him. Hugh Jackman is already confirmed to take on the role of Wolverine once more in the upcoming Deadpool threequel and they could also reintroduce some familiar faces from the original X-Men franchise. So, we’ll see if he might end up having a role after all.
The mutants are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe…in fact, some are already here. Ms. Marvel made a major change to Kamala Khan’s origins and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which premiered last night in Hollywood, introduced Namor, often known in the comics as The First Mutant, even though that’s a wildly misleading misnomer. But the question that everyone wants answered, including She-Hulk, is when are the X-Men going to join the fray.
Marvel Studios One-Above-All Kevin Feige was asked that very question at the Purple Carpet Premiere of Wakanda Forever and gave an answer all too familiar to this reporter: “No answer.“
Feige did go on to give a little more information about the potential future of mutants in the MCU saying, “Deadpool and Wolverine…we’re getting close” in reference to the news that Hugh Jackman joined the cast of Deadpool 3, if that’s what it ends up being titled, after years of being pursued by co-star Ryan Reynolds.
Even with that little bit of information, Marvel Studios’ plans for the X-Men remain a tightly-guarded secret. Three years after the merger between Disney and Fox that allowed for the characters to be used in the MCU, no live-action X-Men projects have been announced and it’s unclear whether or not the X-Men are expected to play any role at all in Marvel Studios’ ongoing Multiverse Saga. The studio is, however, working on a revival of the classic X-Men: The Animated Series titled X-Men ’97, which is expected to stream on Disney Plus in 2023.
In what has been one of the largest blindsides of major Marvel Studios news, it’s been revealed that Hugh Jackman is returning as Wolverine for the upcoming Deadpool threequel. Naturally, fans are incredibly curious about what this may mean for the upcoming film and with Secret Wars looming, potentially beyond. Arguably the most notable talking point will be what this means for the character of Wolverine as a whole between the Hugh Jackman variant and the hypothetical future version in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the surface-level take would be to assume they’ll bring in a new actor down the road to portray some version of the character, the case can be made for Marvel Studios to actually keep Hugh Jackman in the role for a specific purpose. Let’s take a look at the cases for why and why wouldn’t Jackman become the Earth-616 version of Wolverine.
Hugh Jackman in X-Men: Days of Future Past
Why Hugh Jackman Wouldn’t be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Wolverine
There are ample reasons why Hugh Jackman wouldn’t work as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s main timeline Wolverine. While the star has been synonymous with the character for over two decades, Marvel Studios would likely want to make room for a new interpretation of Wolverine. From the get-go, it would create the opportunity for the character of Wolverine to go in a different direction from the “Logan” moniker into predominately James Howlett. It’s certainly not the most important element but is emblematic of Kevin Feige’s potential desire to bring a more comic-inspired version of Wolverine to the big screen. In a world where the X-Men universe of characters will need to be distinct to stand apart from the original film adaptation, removing Wolverine’s “leading man” energy would be an easy place to start. Having Wolverine be the shortest and hairiest version possible would be a welcome change to a number of fans.
With that in mind, having a new actor in the role would provide significantly more creative freedom. Wolverine is someone with a rich history that hasn’t been fully told yet (even with Jackman’s many portrayals of the character) and going with a younger actor would ultimately bring more narrative opportunities for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Wolverine is one of the most popular characters in the Marvel pantheon and having longevity for the role could be something paramount for Kevin Feige to consider.
In addition, having Hugh Jackman as the mainline version of Wolverine might take away from what could be a compelling multiversal story with his character. Having an actor with the cache of Jackman returning would presumably necessitate a compelling story arc for his character. Returning for at least Deadpool III could open the door for this version of Wolverine to have a new satisfying concluding arc to him that would maybe be muddled by staying in the Marvel Cinematic Universe afterward.
Hugh Jackman in Logan
Why Hugh Jackman Would Work at the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Wolverine
Alternativly, Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of Wolverine could really work within the framework of the main Marvel Cinematic Universe. The main crux of this though would be the notion that the Logan version of the character is more of a supporting character to a different primary Wolverine: Laura Kinney. She has been distinctly popular with fans for a considerable amount of time, especially since Dafne Keen’s portrayal in Logan. In recent years has been seen as a marquee character in X-Men comics as an official Wolverine. Marvel Studios would be smart to at least consider striking while the iron is hot and bring in the currently-17-year-old actress to reprise her role for the long-term future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It would be a massive creative gamble by Marvel Studios to have Laura Kinney be the primary Wolverine of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (perhaps their largest creative risk), but it doesn’t feel like it would be completely out of the realm of possibility. It certainly guarantees an entirely new vibe from the X-Men that would be massively different from the original film adaptations by Fox. Jackman’s version of the character loomed large over essentially every project and moving him to a distinctly supporting role would allow different characters to shine on the silver screen. And if there remains a desire to see Logan in his prime, de-aging technology in film continues to advance and seeing what would appear to be a younger Hugh Jackman in action via CGI grows more possible, if it isn’t already.
A second option for bringing in Hugh Jackman is a bit more niche, but would still drum up excitement with fans. A World War Hulk film adaptation has long been rumored to be in the offing, and it’s a film that would feel like a logical endpoint for the character of Bruce Banner in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With that in mind, some of the most seminal stories for both Hulk and Wolverine that haven’t been adapted is their epic showdown in the comics. And unless there is a surprise casting of a new Wolverine in the relatively new future, Jackman would in theory be the best chance at seeing Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk fight against a Wolverine on the big screen.
Conclusions
With every point and counterpoint to consider, it would be very likely that Hugh Jackman wouldn’t return as Wolverine for any other projects besides Deadpool III (and potentially a cameo role in Avengers: Secret Wars). Jackman is currently 53 years old and presumably wouldn’t want to make that sort of long-term commitment, even if it was for more of a supporting role. In addition, Kevin Feige and company would likely be interested in creating their own take on the character that is distinct from what came before. Even still, it would not be entirely shocking if Marvel Studios decided to make other types of radical and unexpected differences to make their version of the X-Men stand out from the original cinematic versions.
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