It took them long enough, but finally Kevin Feige and the folks at Marvel Studios are believed to be beginning development on their long-awaited X-Men reboot. Although it’s still very much early days, with the studio reported to be planning to court writers to pen the script this fall, it’s good to know headway is finally being made on bringing an all-new version of the mutant superhero team into the MCU.
Who knows what Marvel has up its sleeve for Professor X and his Children of the Atom, but one thing that’s for sure is that it has no shortage of material to mine from, with the X-Men being one of the most storied franchises in comic book history. One of the biggest, burning questions fans want to know, then, is which characters will be chosen to form the MCU’s version of the founding X-Men team.
It’s a tricky one to assemble as there are certain faces fans want to see in there and yet Marvel can’t just repeat what Fox has already done. Likewise, the reboot needs to draw from more recent developments in the comic book world. With all that in mind, here’s one concept of what the MCU’s X-Men could look like once Feige switches on his Cerebro and brings his mutants together.
Kitty Pryde
I nearly chose Jubilee over Kitty Pryde for this dream MCU X-Men roster — both characters deserve an extra chance in the spotlight, but as we can only really have one audience-identification figure on the team then it has to be Kitty. Besides, Jubilee’s getting her due in the X-Men ’97 animated series anyway. Elliot Page did great with what little Kitty had to do in the Fox films, but we need a new version of Shadowcat who sits right at the center of the franchise where she belongs. Preferably with Lockheed the dragon on her shoulder.
Iceman
Marvel has to have at least one member of the original comic book X-Men lineup in its roster, so why not Iceman? With Johnny Storm featuring soon in the Fantastic Four reboot, we could have the classic trio of Spider-Man, Human Torch, and Iceman sharing the screen in the MCU very soon, thereby delighting fans everywhere. In addition, Bobby Drake has come out as gay in the years since Shawn Ashmore’s portrayal in the Foxverse, so it’s high time the movies explored this side of the character.
Rogue
Ask any X-Men fan and they’ll tell you that, while it’s absolutely not Anna Paquin’s fault, Fox’s Rogue isn’t really Rogue at all. While it might be difficult to recreate her Captain Marvel power-copying origins after Emilia Clarke already stole that from her in Secret Invasion, Marvel still needs to give us a new Rogue who better captures the charisma and fierceness of the super-powered Southern Belle from the comics (Keke Palmer, anyone?). And in the process, the studio can give us an iconic X-Men romance Fox bizarrely avoided…
Gambit
What did Gambit ever do to Fox? First, he was barred entirely from the original trilogy and then he got imprisoned in the execrable X-Men Origins: Wolverine. And then Channing Tatum tried to get his own movie as Remy LeBeau off the ground, only to fail to get it out of development hell before Disney bought the studio. Sorry, Channing, but you’re probably too old to play the MCU’s Gambit, although hopefully you’ll appreciate seeing him make his mark in the X-Men reboot, which the Ragin’ Cajun surely will.
Polaris
Anyone remember Fox’s The Gifted TV Series? No? Well, that’s fair enough, as it was sadly a little hit and miss, but one of the best parts about it was Emma Dumont’s Lorna Dane aka Polaris aka the daughter of Magneto. With the MCU further exploring Scarlet Witch’s origins more and more, Polaris is a prime contender for inclusion in Marvel’s X-Men reboot as, who knows, it could come out that Erik Lensherr is Wanda’s father, as in traditional comics lore, and Wanda may suddenly have a new sibling, helping heal the wound caused by Pietro’s death. Plus, Lorna is just an awesome character in her own right.
X-23
Perhaps the biggest hurdle Marvel has to overcome in its reboot is how the heck can anyone ever match up to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. The studio’s basically even admitted there’s no way to top him by bringing the guy back for Deadpool 3. That’s why Feige should just do the brave thing and rest Logan for a while and instead focus on his clone daughter, Laura Kinney aka X-23, who of course took over the mantle of Wolverine herself on the page. Hey, they can even bring back Logan‘s Dafne Keen if they want to. And bonus points if Laura’s little clone sister, Gabby/Honey Rider, shows up too.
Jeff the Land Shark
I mean, I don’t even need to elaborate here, do I? Look at that adorable little guy. If Shang-Chi can have Maurice and Guardians 3 can have Glurp, then the X-Men reboot can have Jeff the Land Shark. The former friend of Deadpool (and Gwenpool) even had his own comic, It’s Jeff! — he’s already a bonafide star as it is. The merch sells itself.