Whether or not the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s reboot of the former Fox favorites ends up being a straightforward X-Men movie or not, mutants are on their way to the franchise in one form or another, sooner rather than later. Having already appeared in thirteen movies in the space of 20 years, largely featuring the same characters in different permutations and variations, perhaps a clean slate is needed.
After all, Fox barely scratched the surface of either the mythology or the roster, and there are literally hundreds of characters at Marvel’s disposal that we’ve never seen in live-action before, so technically Wolverine, Professor X, Magneto, Cyclops and the rest of the old guard don’t really need to get involved at all.
On top of that, we’re hearing from our sources – the same ones who told us Percy Jackson was being rebooted as a streaming series long before it was announced for Disney Plus – that Kevin Feige isn’t too sold on the X-Men name itself, feeling it’s a little too old fashioned and doesn’t fit the MCU’s new progressive and diverse outlook. And as such, he may change it.
Of course, this will raise the ire of fans everywhere decrying woke culture gone mad, especially when the last spate of rumors hinted that the project would end up being called The Mutants instead. One of the worst and most cringeworthy moments in the already terrible Dark Phoenix came when Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique said the team should be called the X-Women, which was so cloying she may as well have winked to the camera afterwards.
If it’s not X-Men, X-People or whatever, then the comic books provide plenty of teams, offshoots and splinter groups for inspiration that won’t piss off the diehards by deviating wildly from both canon and history.
