Fox’s X-Men Universe Has Come to An End: Will You Miss It?

[Detective Conan]

Today, on August 28th 2020, marks the final release of Fox’s 20 year run with the X-Men: New Mutants. It’s getting at best middling reviews like Dark Phoenix and other installments in the franchise before it but even though ultimately the Fox Marvel franchise ended on a whimper you can’t take away from the fact that Fox still gave us beloved comic book movies like X-Men, X2, and the fan-favorite First Class, DP and Logan. There were never as popular as their other superhero franchise brethren like Spider-Man, and of course the biggest of them all: the MCU, but they held their own fairly well against the competition.

They made comic book movies with a lot more edge than what their rivals at Marvel Disney would make like the aforementioned Deadpool with its unabashed raunchiness, or Logan with its grim violence. They were willing to push the envelope in ways the MCU wouldn’t, and it can’t be overstated how instrumental the franchise was at kickstarting the modern wave of superhero movies.

It bares pointing out, that Singer’s X-Men was the first Marvel comics film adaption to be both a critical success and a commercial hit. Sure, Blade came out but remember Blade was not a critically well-received despite the fan reception being mostly positive. The X-Men franchise was the first superhero film of the new century to be a hit on both sides. Without it, we’d likely wouldn’t have the MCU. Were there flaws in franchise? Yeah. Much has been made about issues like Wolverine constantly overshadowing most of the other members of team while key characters like Cyclops and Storm got shafted, the repetitious storylines with Magneto, lack of proper POC representation,

Yet despite those very real flaws, I still think the franchise has done just as much for the genre as it’s way more popular cousin the MCU(if not more so).

Even though I’m sad that the series has come to an end, I’m excited for the Mutants inevitable future in the MCU. Despite my sadness in knowing the franchise ends here, I’ll always be thankful for the bumpy ride to get to the end and it’s the end of an era.

To quote Dr. Seuss, ”Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” Yeah, goodbye Fox-Men. It’s been a bumpy ride, but it’s been a fun bumpy ride for sure, and you will be missed by me and many others.

 

[Fincher]

For me, the Marvel X-Men have big shoes to fill.

 

[psylockolussus]

Nope. not at all.

Marvel Studios' X-Men have big shoes to fill.

Not with X3, Apocalypse, New Mutants, Origins and characters that were in name and background only.

 

[Zorro]

Nope!

 

[Marvel united]

The original trilogy, yes. The nostalgia I have from hyping up those films through pre-teen and teen years. But after DOFP, things went downhill

I'm ready for a new vision

 

[Erzengel]

This feels like a weird question because it's like missing the Raimi Spider-Man series? The series ended. Would I have liked to see a 4th one? I guess.

With the Fox X-Men, we got finales for Wolverine (Logan), the original X-Men (DOFP) and I was never really overly invested in the new cast but I'd like to see a 3rd Deadpool. So it's hard to miss the overall series when the OT X-Men got their send offs.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

Not at all.

It was the only CBM franchise where it was acceptable to strip away everything that made the comic so exciting and give us a bunch of hit or miss movies and no character development for 95% of the characters.

Happy to see it go.

 

[CaptainWagner]

It depends, I suppose. If we wind up getting generic superhero films with watered down plots and action, if we wind up with a sober, bloodless, tobacco-free Wolverine, if everything is forced through a low-bar family friendly lens and maintains an identical action-comedy tone.... Then yeah, I'll miss it. It just remains to see what direction the MCU at large moves in going forward.

But, at the very least, they're in the hands of people who care about and respect the characters. So that at the very least is an improvement.

 

[Gothamsknight]

I will definitely miss the original trilogy, First class, Days of Future Past, The Wolverine and especially Logan, which is a masterpiece. I don't really have much hype towards the MCU X-Men right now. I'm sure eventually I will to an extent, but I'm pretty burnt out on the MCU and I feel like the majority of the Fox X-Men movies were great.

 

[Zorro]

X-Men
X2
First Class
Days of Future's Past
The Wolverine
Logan

Are good but..

The Last Stand
Apocalypse
Dark Phoenix
Origins: Wolverine
Deadpool 1& 2(Yeah I know I'm alone on this one)

Are meh-****! Even the good ones should all really be better but they do the x-men mythology/source material justice.

MCU X-Men may become watered down in comparison but at least they'll have people who truly respects and understands the IP behind it

 

[Erzengel]

To be honest, Deadpool 2, feels like it gets by because of it's guest stars. Seeing Cable, Domino, Juggernaut, etc. was worth it but the story was so "blah".

 

[psylockolussus]

Nope. not at all.

Not with X3, Apocalypse, New Mutants, Origins and characters that were in name and background only.

Oh I forgot Dark PhoeniX lol.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Yes. On the whole I've enjoyed them immensely.

 

[Zorro]

Have any of you fans even read an x-men comic or watched any of the animated series or play games like X-Men Legends?

Some of films good-grewt but like I said, they could and should have been better. A lot of awesome stuff has been established firmly in the source material just things was changed for the films because it seems just for the sake of change and liberties to be it's own thing.

6 votes so far for yes blows my mind

 

[psylockolussus]

I would have said yes. However, I was the biggest defender of the foXverse until Kinberg and company ruined my dreams...

- by ditching the ot cast after their highest grossing X-Men film at that point
- gave us the one to two punch that are Apocalypse and Dark PhoeniX which are terrible movies and were only made imo because they were mesmerized with McAvoy/Fassbender/Jlaw. They should be servicing the source material not the actors.
- the last present day X-Men film, Logan, killed all the X-Men (offscreen and onscreen) and the film was so downbeat that I never want to watch it again
- the New Mutants film, that looks so cheap and didnt even bother to adapt the costumes from the comics and currently getting terrible reviews
- and of course the Deadpool movies which turned the X-Men and X-Force as gags. And you have Negasonic and Yukio as X-Men.. how inspired?

Its just too many strikes. I feel like I reallywasted my time being invested to the franchise only to end up like this. In hindsight I am ashamed that I was a fan of the series. I can't even watch the "good films". Someday I might marathon all 13 movies and ask myself again for the umpteenth time, how badly they or 1 person screwed this all up. Definitely the most disappointing comic book movie franchise of all time.

 

[Fincher]

Have any of you fans even read an x-men comic or watched any of the animated series or play games like X-Men Legends?

I read one or two, but they changed too many things from the movies for my tastes.

 

[Airwings]

Fassbender, McAvoy, Hoult and Lawrence were pretty much done with their characters.

Quicksilver is better than his MCU counterpart but he got too powerful at the end and had to be taken down to give the other mutants more to do.

Lucas Till was only appearing sporadically, and killed off to make room for his brother.

When Apocalypse introduced young versions of Storm, Cyclops, Jean Grey and Nightcrawler, I thought it was promising. We were back at a FC-esque stage with them.
They were played by up-and-coming actors. (Sheridan is talented, Kodi too).
What's sad is they get dropped so soon after entering the franchise. I would have wanted them to stick around for a little longer. As the FC cast did.
Now all of them need to be recast again.

Other than that, I won't really miss Fox' universe. I can always go back and rewatch the films.

There's one other thing.
Logan's daughter Laura is a strong character and could have appeared in more than just one film. Actress Dafne Keen has said she would like to go over to MCU. Will she be the only among among the Fox cast to do so?

 

[psylockolussus]

And oh there's that The Gifted show and the confusing Legixn which only featured 3 characters from the comiXs. Ugh. And I won't even remember these shows if I didn't see Fincher's signature which has Lauren Strucker labeled as a "X-Men character". Does she even eXist in the comiXs?

 

[Fincher]

No, but she doesn't have to. She's part of the franchise, like Sara Lance is elsewhere.

 

[psylockolussus]

No, but she doesn't have to. She's part of the franchise, like Sara Lance is elsewhere.

Yeah out of the many characters from the comiXs, they have to create one for the show as one of the lead characters. She's not a X-Men character to me.

As a reader of the comics, I just can't be satisfied in knowing that four of the lead characters in the First live action X-Men show* are made up characters.... thats just appalling to me. And the show itself wasnt good either.

*not sure if The Gifted premiered first before Legixn.

 

[Fincher]

Nah, Legion was first. And I love The Gifted, that's the biggest reason for me to miss the Foxverse.

 

[psylockolussus]

The foXverse isjust some weird alternate universe where characters like Angel, Jubilee, Psylocke, Storm didn't really shine. And randoms like Negasonic got more screentime.

Ifsomebody said to me, that this franchise would last 20 years with 13 films/2 shows. I wouldn't think of Legion, the made up relatives of the Fenris Twins, Mystique, Deadpool and Magneto as some of the most fleshed out characters. Like what about Rogue,Cyclops and the rest of the iconic X-Men.

 

[NotNickFury]

Have any of you fans even read an x-men comic or watched any of the animated series or play games like X-Men Legends?

Some of films good-grewt but like I said, they could and should have been better. A lot of awesome stuff has been established firmly in the source material just things was changed for the films because it seems just for the sake of change and liberties to be it's own thing.

6 votes so far for yes blows my mind

Yeah, how dare people enjoy this series instead of just finding endless ways to bash it. It boggles the mind, I'm sure.

Anyway, yeah, I'll miss it. Like the Donner Superman films or Burton-Schumacher era Batman films and even with the MCU and DCEU, they've all got their flaws, but I enjoy them in their own way. You don't get these modern comic book film universes without what Spider-Man and X-Men started, and honestly it feels like that gets overlooked as many on forums and everywhere else look for any reason to suddenly say 'Oh, those older movies were never good. These newer, shinier ones are the only things you should accept' But that's a longer conversation. To answer the thread's actual question: Yes.

 

[Zorro]

Cyclops got screwed hard in the franchise!

Wolverine has always been a major part of the x-men but not the lead and one with most attention/focus on

Mystique turned good, sister figure for Professor X, not connected to Nightcrawler or Rogue and becoming an x-men was such bs and insufferable!

Phoenix Force messed up badly twice

Inconsistent continuity in every film after the trilogy or even within with some stuff

A lot of major characters butchered in their charatization and role

Too many liberties taken

Mutant school was a made up thing for the films, although I kinda like it

Black leather uniforms is actually cool but was a film thing first

 

[Fincher]

I can understand being bothered by changes to the source material, but for me the movies/The Gifted primarily defined what X-Men is and I look at things mostly from the opposite direction. I was joking about the comics changing too much from the movies, but there's an element of truth in that I don't want Wolverine to be too short and ugly and nasty and for him to wear the traditional costume because Hugh Jackman's version is the version I came into the property with and because I like that better on its merits. On that point, Marvel could recreate the comic book version exactly and I'd just end up not liking him nearly as much even in a straight out comparison.

It varies some, I want to see Emma Frost done better and I want a developed Psylocke (but I liked her a lot in Apocalypse), but Fox has the upper hand both in terms of my existing fandom to the movies as opposed to the comics and in terms of me liking their series better than the MCU so far, so Marvel does have an uphill battle in my book.