At this point, it’s starting to feel like the MCU belongs to the X-Men, and everyone else is just living in it. X-Men ’97 is wowing viewers on Disney Plus, Deadpool & Wolverine is set to be the biggest movie of the summer, and you can bet there are numerous mutant-led projects in the works at Marvel after these too… But could a legendary Avengers vs. X-Men movie be among them?
Calm down, there’s nothing official on this front just yet, but with both Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman’s Logan heading to the mainstream Marvel universe very soon ⏤ and The Marvels teasing that the same is true of characters such as Beast ⏤ a clash with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes does feel almost *Thanos voice* inevitable.
The question is, though, would such a project help beckon in a bright future, or would it simply set the franchise back a decade?
What is Avengers vs. X-Men?
Avengers vs. X-Men — also known as AvX — was the biggest Marvel Comics event of 2012. Doing exactly what it says on the tin, it pitted the assembled Avengers against the extended X-Men team for the very first time in Marvel history. The story remains one of the most controversial events in Marvel history, too, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Set in the aftermath of the House of M event, in which Scarlet Witch decimated the mutant population, AvX revolves around the character of Hope Summers, the adoptive daughter of Cable who was the first mutant to be born after M-Day. Hailed as the “Mutant Messiah” and the destined next host of the Phoenix Force, she became a powerful savior figure for the beleaguered mutants.
Unfortunately, the threat of her becoming the apocalyptic Phoenix spooked the Avengers, who requested that the X-Men hand Hope over so they could monitor her and protect the world. Cue lots and lots and lots of fighting.
Could an Avengers vs. X-Men movie actually happen?
Another day, another new rumored Marvel Studios movie. This time, chatter is gathering around a potential Avengers vs. X-Men film, after teasing posts for The Cosmic Circus’ Alex P. hinted that it is an “inevitability.” This has proven enough to get some people carried away, but it might be best to put on our skeptical hats for the moment — they’re like Magneto’s helmet, but they protect your brain from being too gullible. That said, this isn’t exactly an idea that’s come out of nowhere.
For a long while now, it’s been discussed that the next saga to come after the Multiverse Saga would be the Mutant Saga. Some kind of Avengers event is always at the heart of each saga, so theoretically Avengers 7 — following Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars — could take the form of an AvX movie to cap off the mutants’ ascension in the MCU. On paper it seems like a smart move, combining those two iconic brands for maximum box office bucks. But isn’t the idea a little too… 2016?
Should an Avengers vs. X-Men movie happen?
Let’s forget whether AvX could happen for a moment, though, and ask should it happen? As alluded to above, the original comic split opinion down the middle. Much like Civil War, Civil War II, and any comics event that forces your heroes to fight each other, many felt the plot was contrived and only resulted in all the characters coming across as misguided, dumb, or villainous in some shape or form. It would be all too easy for a movie version to fall into that trap as well.
In fact, we’ve already seen this argument play out in the MCU, too, regarding Captain America: Civil War. And that’s the real sticking point: hasn’t the superhero genre outgrown its obsession with “versus” movies? Briefly, they were all the rage back in 2016, when Civil War did battle against Batman v Superman, but the fad passed as quickly as it rose up. Maybe because audiences, and producers, realized the fatal flaw that fans knew all along: if you make your heroes fight, they’re not going to come across as heroes anymore.
That would be a poor way to treat the then-venerable Avengers brand and it certainly wouldn’t endear the MCU’s rebooted X-Men to viewers. Honestly, for those who are getting goosebumps at the thought of Captain Marvel fighting Cyclops, the best way to do it would probably be to include a brief battle scene in Secret Wars rather than make it a whole movie. It’s been a hard lesson for Marvel to learn, but sometimes it’s OK to keep your toys on separate shelves.
