Mutation, it is the key to our survival. That’s what Patrick Stewart told us 23 years ago when Fox launched the X-Men movie universe, and while he was talking about humanity, it’s also true of the hero team’s franchise itself. With the rights to the X-Men now resting with Marvel Studios, we’re about to see the likes of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool mutate their way into the MCU.
Of course, Deadpool 3 won’t actually get here until next May, but a new nemesis has already risen up, one far more terrifying than Apocalypse, Magneto, and, um, whatever Jessica Chastain’s character was called. Their name? Elon Musk. Yes, as we all know, Musk has made the universally despised move to rebrand Twitter as simply “X” — kudos to Elon for making Warner Bros.’ Max relaunch seem less stupid, just by dint of the streaming service at least retaining two more letters — and it’s already tainting the name of X-Men within 24 hours.
Thanks to Musk, the name of X-Men could now be co-opted, not by brave marginalized heroes saving a world that hates and despises them, but by literally anyone on Twitter.
Is this all just Musk’s lame attempt to satiate his childhood dreams of growing up to become an X-Man? ‘Cause someone should tell him he might be a super-something, but it’s not hero (clue: it rhymes with schmillain).
Becoming X-Men is sadly not as cool as we always thought it would be.
Good doggos everywhere know the truth.
Musk might be getting a call from Earth-838 any minute now…
On a slightly more serious note, Marvel Studios does have its work cut out for it in making the X-Men relevant and fresh again in a world that perhaps views them as old-hat. Even Dark Phoenix mocked the name with Mystique’s “X-Women” comment. Plus, the “superhero school” trope is so familiar at this point it’s getting a dark spin thanks to The Boys offshoot Gen V. And who knows if we’re going to be able to take them seriously again after Wade Wilson’s done skewering them in Deadpool 3.
Marvel was already fighting an uphill battle in X-huming the X-Men and Elon Musk’s X-haustive Twitter mistakes are only X-acerbating the problem the studio has with succeeding at this X-tremely difficult task.
