How to Reboot the X-Men for the MCU

With the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, The X-Men can now be featured in the MCU to interact with established non-mutant characters, most importantly the Avengers. What I’m most excited about is a fresh take on my favorite superhero team from an entertainment company that seems to understand the superhero genre.

I’m 100% sure Marvel’s long term plan for the X-Men is to eventually produce an Avengers Vs. X-Men movie. With this in mind, I have an idea of how to introduce X-Men into the MCU and pitch three character arcs that can get the franchise to that very point. 

The most natural way to start the X-Men off in the MCU is by hitting the ground running. By that, I mean NO ORIGIN STORY. This approach worked for Spider-Man and it’ll work for the X-Men. You’re probably asking ‘How will we explain a whole race of super-powered mutants’? The MCU has already established that there are other superhumans out there that have gone under the radar, it only makes sense that mutants are lumped into that group. Marvel movie fans have proven that they can suspend disbelief. Let’s treat the audience like adults for a change. 

With that said… 

The X-Men have been operational for 10 years. The team consisted of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel, Storm, Colossus, and Thunderbird. Under the tutelage and patronage of Professor X, they’ve been working in the Shadows of the MCU tackling threats to mutants and humans alike. 

For now, the teams main objective is just to delay the inevitable: the publics knowledge of mutantkind. But they are finding it harder to maintain anonymity as of late. More specifically the last 5 years as the number of mutants has grown substantially. Professor X theorizes that this spike in mutant activity is in response to the snap. 

This is how we connect to the MCU. I believe the snap is the first real milestone of the MCU and should play a pivotal role in every movie of Phase 4. There has to be lasting consequences in every movie going forward.

I played with the idea of the snap being the origin of mutants, but it fell short with my timeline. The X-Men can’t have form in just 5 years. But using the snap as a means of supplementing the mutant population makes perfect sense. 

You see, mutants have existed in MCU this whole time, but they only numbered in the hundreds of thousands globally. They’ve flown under the radar, but post-snap (with the world back in order) more and more are being exposed to the public

As for why the population is increasing now? We’ll say the sudden loss of life in the universe, activated peoples latent mutant powers as a defense mechanism. A Jumpstart to the next step in human evolution.

Our jumping on point would be a mission in which the team suffers huge casualties. While investigating the sewers of New York City for a group of outcast mutants, Angel and Thunderbird are attacked. Angel wings are savagely ripped from his back and Thunderbird is killed. The X-Men are at their lowest. 

The X-Men’s goal for this film is finding who did it, all the while trying to stay together as a team. 

The success of the X-Men franchise hinges on the films ability to play on not only the dynamic but dysfunction of the team. To achieve this, I believe the future franchise has to focus on creating a compelling narrative around the development of these three X-Men.

Mark Strong as Charles Xavier
Professor X

Professor X was the best-handled character in Fox’s X-Men films. He was always prevalent in every film and for the most part the main character of the First Class trilogy.

With that said, I think fleshing out the character’s past took away what makes the character great, his mystique (no pun intended). Xavier’s secrets and stoicism, make him an intriguing character. His dark and complex history could be a movie on its own, but this time around he should come secondary to the team’s dynamic and growth.

I’d model this Xavier after his Ultimate Comics version written by Mark Millar. The MCU’s Professor X would be meticulous and ambitious. His flaws would be of the moral variety. If we take a step back and examine Xavier, he’s not the best mentor. He’s someone who created a paramilitary fighting force of teenagers to further his agenda. He’s essentially a cult leader that also happens to be the world’s most powerful telepath. That spells danger.

In terms of casting, I based the whole thing around Mark Strong as Professor X. Not only is he perfect for the role in terms of looks (Bald, English, and in his mid-50s), but he can bring a very different and more disturbing energy to the character.  

I believe it’s important to get as far away from Patrick Stewart and subsequently McAvoy’s portrayal of Professor X. Mark Strong’s portrayal could give us the feeling of a seasoned Xavier without actually delving into his past. It’s time to get back to him being the mysterious mentor and benefactor of the X-Men. A professor we can see being apart of the MCU’s Illuminati. 

Armie Hammer as Scott Summers
Cyclops

Despite being the leader of the X-Men, Cyclops has yet to get his comeuppance on the silver screen. He was completely overshadowed by Wolverine and relegated to bit players in the First Class anthology behind Professor X and Magneto.

This time, Cyclops has to be front and center as the field leader of the X-Men and dare I say the MAIN CHARACTER of this franchise?

Hear me out. Twenty years of neglecting Cyclops and propping up Wolverine has only hurt the franchise. Fox’s X-Men lacked depth in all characters besides Wolverine, Xavier, Magneto, and surprisingly Mystique. I believe the MCU should be pushing the team as a whole this time around. With Cyclops as our focal point, the team becomes more relevant. We’ll have more opportunities to interact and develop the other X-Men Characters.  

I always liked stories in which Cyclops comes into conflict with Xavier’s idealism. Recent X-Men storylines have revolved around this premised and have received critical acclaim and amassed cult fandom. We can imitate this on a simpler scale throughout the franchise. 

My MCU treatment for Cyclops would see him as the disciplined field leader of the X-Men and poster boy for Xavier’s dream of mutant/human coexistence. But behind his ruby quartz visor is an insecure and guilt-ridden man charged with leading his friends into constant danger. He believes he’s solely responsible for the team’s wellbeing. Needless to say, Angel’s injuries and the death of Thunderbird have rattled him to his core. 

We know his values, now let's crush them using all the variables around him. Scott’s franchise arc would be a freefall to rock bottom as the X-Men take hit after hit to their ranks under his leadership. He would slowly grow to believe (and partly be correct) that his adamant following of Xavier’s ideals are a detriment to the team. The catalyst would be finding out a dark secret of this more mysterious Professor X. A secret that will indefinitely change their relationship. Ultimately, Scott’s journey would turn him into a militant revolutionary surpassing Xavier’s dream and creating his own in later movies.

I believe Armie Hammer can embody the quintessential X-Man without question. He has the look, for sure. He stands 6’5” with an athletic frame to match his comic book counterpart. His size also brings an air of maturity to the role. Something James Marsden’s depiction never had a chance to do, instead of being relegated to the jealous boyfriend role. Though Hammer does look like he walked out of a Brooks brother’s catalog, he has a range that should be utilized as Scott Summers is not a one-dimensional character. I can see him bringing the calm demeanor of Oliver (Call Me By Your Name) to field missions, but the uneasy insecurity of the Winklevoss twins in the X-Mansion.  

Rachel Evan Wood as Jean Grey
Phoenix

Jean Grey is the most interesting and integral character in all of X-Men lore.

Just like Cyclops, Jean has yet to receive a proper character arc. The spectrum of the character’s role was either: date her, kill her, or both. Nothing more or nothing less. In short, the Fox films reduced her to a simple plot device. 

It’s clear what makes Jean attractive in a movie-going sense: The Dark Phoenix Saga. But more importantly how quickly could moviemakers get her to that transformation. To be fair, Jean was not interesting until Chris Claremont took over the failing title. By the end of his run, Jean was one of the most powerful and prominent mutants on the planet, but the mistake most people make is believing that the Dark Phoenix Saga is THE peak X-Men story. When in actuality, it was just the catalyst to launch the X-Men into new and more exciting directions.

The Dark Phoenix Saga is an allegory for the growth and maturation of not only Jean Grey, but the X-Men title as well. It seems that every time we get a new Jean Grey on the silver screen, we have to make her go through puberty again. The Dark Phoenix has become the X-Men equivalent to killing Uncle Ben.

So hear me out…

My MCU pitch for Jean Grey would start her off already in possession of the Phoenix Force. In fact, she’s had it for 2 years. 

Think about it. With the Phoenix Force already in play, we don’t have that lingering storyline over our heads and we finally get to see how the team deals with ramifications of Jean’s new abilities. The idea is to generate questions about the past of X-Men that can be answered throughout the films, all the while giving Jean a meaningful character arc as she copes with her new abilities/identity.

Jean’s biggest point of contention would be with certain members of the team as the Phoenix Force is seen as dangerous and unpredictable. While others would love her more after the experience. This is the fallout of the Dark Phoenix Saga that we never get to see (or was poorly done).

To me, no other actress can pull off Jean Grey other than Rachel Evan Wood. She’s a superb actress and I believe she can do Jean Grey justice. Casting Wood as Jean Grey, I was thinking maturity first. I see Jean as a composed, but troubled character in the MCU and Wood is capable of bringing that to life. Jean is no longer the damsel in distress, she has agency in controlling the Phoenix force. It’s not a hindrance, its now a tool to be used. 

Avengers Vs. X-Men

I started this post talking about the possibility of an Avengers Vs. X-Men movie because I think that’s the logical place with these two teams occupying the same cinematic universe. How do we get there? It’s pretty simple. We take the characters I’ve already laid out and push them to their extremes. 

We use Jean Grey as the point of conflict. After some catastrophic event dealing with the Phoenix Force, the Avengers come to collect her. The X-Men fracture as they choose sides. Cyclops, at his breaking point, defies the Avengers for the women he loves. He and his group of X-Men form a rebel sect fighting to keep Jean from their custody.  

I hope you enjoyed my X-Men pitch! This is my first time doing anything like this and I have to admit it was a lot of fun. If you have any ideas for the X-Men’s arrival in the MCU, let me know in the comments below.