How would you approach an X-Men reboot in the MCU?

[BatsDC]

Say by some freak circumstance the X-Men somehow revert to Marvel. Forget the unlikelihood of it - this is hypothetically speaking. How would you approach launching the franchise and those characters into the current MCU? How would mutants come about? What story would be best suited? How would they fit in to the overall story? Which characters should / would show up?

Thought it'd be an interesting discussion seeing as they'd likely be the most difficult characters to launch this late in the game.

 

[The Question]

I would make it a TV or Netflix series. It would initially star the original 5. Wolverine would debut in season 2. I would cast Daniel Dae Kim as Magneto.

 

[BoredGuy]

I'd start off with Giant size X-men

Start with Xavier and Scott recruiting Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Sunfire, and Thunderbird. They explain that a group of Scott's fellow students went missing while on a training exercise (maybe Scott was off doing something else for Xavier, so he doesn't look too incompetent) and they have to go rescue them. A nice concise, self-contained story that is not another damn "origin" story, and you could seed things like hints of Vulcan and his team, or maybe Mr. Sinister created Krakoa, or Shadow King gave it sentience... lots of possibilities. Plus, you'd have the O5 back by the end for more fun in the sequel.

As far as connecting to the MCU, I don't think it would be that problematic.
Basically, they are only "students" at this point, training, and operating well under the radar before coming out to the public. Maybe some government types have heard of Wolverine, but otherwise Xavier has done a good job of keeping the X-men out of the spotlight. Hell, you could even later reveal Xavier and Jean wiped the Avengers memory of having fought with the X-men at some point.

The whole SW/QS/Magneto thing might be a bit sticky, but maybe you just don't use Mags for a while, give some other villains like Sinister and Shadow King some time to shine.

I would make it a TV or Netflix series. It would initially star the original 5. Wolverine would debut in season 2. I would cast Daniel Dae Kim as Magneto.

I don't like the sound o' any of that!...lol sorry

 

[Spidey220987]

I would make it a TV or Netflix series. It would initially star the original 5. Wolverine would debut in season 2. I would cast Daniel Dae Kim as Magneto.

Beat me to it.
When they announced X-Men: First Class, this is what I hoped it would be.

 

[BatsDC]

I'd personally start it off say in the 80s, with a younger Charles and Erik searching for other people posessing the 'X-Gene', but parting ways after Charles learns Erik plans to recruit them for a violent protest. Erik carries out his attack, is arrested, and the 'X-Gene' covered up by the Government. Then pick up in the modern day when people who have powers are starting to surface publically, following groups like the Avengers being faccepted by the public. Charles opens up the school to help them with their powers and abiities. A simple way to explain why mutants haven't been present or noticed beforehand.

Oh, and Christoph Waltz would be Magneto. t:

 

[BoredGuy]

Magneto as the villian again, really? I'm over the Erik/Charles angst, wanna see something different
and while I think it's important to acknowledge and respect the O5 within the film world, they're just a boring group to focus on, hence why they were on the verge of cancellation before giant sized..

 

[The Question]

Magneto as the villian again, really? I'm over the Erik/Charles angst, wanna see something different
and while I think it's important to acknowledge and respect the O5 within the film world, they're just a boring group to focus on, hence why they were on the verge of cancellation before giant sized..

1: Magneto is THE X-Men antagonist. An X-Men adaptation without Magneto is like a King Arthur adaptation without Mordred. Ain't the same.

2: They were on the verge of cancellation before Giant Sized because Stan Lee didn't know how to write the concept. As a cast of characters, the original five are perfectly functional. They're book just never had a grasp on the metaphor or the appropriate tone and style when they were the mains.

Besides, reasonably the cast would evolve over time. The original five in the first season, and then start adding cast members regularly in season 2.

 

[metaphysician]

Oh lordy, this would be. . . exceptionally tricky. I can't really give a full, coherent take because there are so many contradictions with current stuff Marvel is doing, not the least being the inhumans plot in Agents of SHIELD. If you asked me a year ago, this would be a lot easier.

Still, some suggestions:

1. Be brave. Be courageous. Write plots that don't depend on humanity being singularly, irrationally hateful of mutants. Anti-mutant bigotry should be an *occasional* plot, not a constant one. Most of the time, fear of mutants should manifest in much lesser manners, like "the family of a student is uncertain how their relationship is changed, on finding out their kid can make things explode with his mind, family drama needs to be resolved".

2. Related to the first one- the MCU is fundamentally an optimistic, heroic setting. When courage and acceptance confronts fear and bigotry, courage and acceptance should win.

3. The X-Men should be superheroes, first and foremost. That means they should be shown doing actual superheroic stuff, in public, not just dealing with "mutant affairs".

4. Roster: I'll be blunt, the 'Original Five' is a terrible idea. It was Claremonte that made the X-Men an actual success, so the roster should largely derive from Claremonte. If I had to pick a roster, I'd take Cyclops, Jean, and Beast from the original, and add Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, and ( if budget allows ) Nightcrawler. Add Kitty as the junior member, though not necessarily at the very beginning. This way, you have a good mix of personalities, relationships, powers, and visuals.

5. Magneto works best as a sympathetic antagonist or anti-hero. Exploit that. Use him primarily as a foil for Xavier, that the X-Men interact with primarily *outside* battle. Have him lead an opposed ideological faction that operates on a level somewhat above "supervillain team". Perhaps he advocates separatism, with mutants forming their own distinct communities. Perhaps he spends a lot of time waging one-man wars outside the western world, against various oppressive regimes whose treatment of mutants is overtly tyrannical/genocidal. Whatever you do, keep him from stepping over the moral even horizon; even if the X-Men do come to blows with him, it should be over grounds wherein he can be understandably wrong, rather than kitten-kickingly evil.

 

[BoredGuy]

1: Magneto is THE X-Men antagonist. An X-Men adaptation without Magneto is like a King Arthur adaptation without Mordred. Ain't the same.

2: They were on the verge of cancellation before Giant Sized because Stan Lee didn't know how to write the concept. As a cast of characters, the original five are perfectly functional. They're book just never had a grasp on the metaphor or the appropriate tone and style when they were the mains.

Besides, reasonably the cast would evolve over time. The original five in the first season, and then start adding cast members regularly in season 2.

1. Yes, he's the villain, and shoudln't be left out entirely. But there are plenty of other, awesome, x-villains. Focusing on the same guy again is boring.
2. The O5 are just lame, imo, they were in the original comics, and they are now in All New X-men. Creepy nice (pedophile) Professor X, Pre-Badass Cyke, Pre-Arch Angel, Pre-Beast Beast, Pre-Phoenix Jean, and Pre-Good-Powers Iceman are a sleep-inducing collection of characters.

I agree about letting the cast evolve, but I'd just start it later
Maybe, mayyyybe, start with the O5 and Alex and Lorna going off on a mission, then have part 2 be the Giant Sized team

Also, I don't see any TV budget, Netflix or otherwise, supporting a full team of X-men with their powers on proper display
X-men is a movie property, through and through.. maybe in 20 years when good SFX are super cheap
but seeing (the sub-par) Flash level SFX on a X-men show would bug the crap outta me

 

[Iron_Stark]

I would make it a TV or Netflix series. It would initially star the original 5. Wolverine would debut in season 2. I would cast Daniel Dae Kim as Magneto.

Wait what? Magneto is Jewish, his whole back story revolves around WWII, the Holocaust etc.

Daniel Dae Kim is Korean.

One does not simply change Magneto into an Asian guy.

 

[metaphysician]

You could conceivably reinvent Magneto as originating in some other, more recent, genocide, but it'd be tricky. If you want to keep as close to the original as possible in style, you could use the Bosnian conflicts in the 90s. If you wanted to keep as close to the spirit of the original, you could use the Rwandan genocide. Both of those would imply some hefty shifts in his characterization.

 

[BMM]

Yeah, Magneto's origin throws a bit of a wrench into things for anyone trying to remain faithful and keep the X-Men in present day.

 

[BatsDC]

Magneto as the villian again, really? I'm over the Erik/Charles angst, wanna see something different
and while I think it's important to acknowledge and respect the O5 within the film world, they're just a boring group to focus on, hence why they were on the verge of cancellation before giant sized..

Even if he's not the main villain, he's almost too big a part of the mythos to leave out entirely, even if it is just in references or something.

 

[The Question]

Wait what? Magneto is Jewish, his whole back story revolves around WWII, the Holocaust etc.

Daniel Dae Kim is Korean.

One does not simply change Magneto into an Asian guy.

And unfortunately, as the sliding time scale moves forward, having Magneto be a survivor of the Holocaust becomes more and more impractical in the narrative. We're getting to the point where Magneto will have been a good 50 or 60 years older than Charles when they met, lest we concoct come wacky reason why they both have a ******ed aging process.

Magneto's backstory will inevitably have to be retconned to reflect a different historical genocide, oppression, and/or forced relocation. Might as well make it one that occurred in Asia, perhaps make him a North Korean refugee, and cast a great actor like Daniel Dae Kim.

 

[MbJ]

I wouldn't make him Asian but if you had to change his origin I'd set his childhood in a more recent conflict like the genocide in Serbia or Bosnia.

You still get the gist of the ethnic cleansing and his subsequent hatred of humans.

 

[BatsDC]

And unfortunately, as the sliding time scale moves forward, having Magneto be a survivor of the Holocaust becomes more and more impractical in the narrative. We're getting to the point where Magneto will have been a good 50 or 60 years older than Charles when they met, lest we concoct come wacky reason why they both have a ******ed aging process.

Magneto's backstory will inevitably have to be retconned to reflect a different historical genocide, oppression, and/or forced relocation. Might as well make it one that occurred in Asia, perhaps make him a North Korean refugee, and cast a great actor like Daniel Dae Kim.

Why Dae Kim? He's nothing like Magneto and not really that great an actor either

 

[The Question]

I wouldn't make him Asian but if you had to change his origin I'd set his childhood in a more recent conflict like the genocide in Serbia or Bosnia.

You still get the gist of the ethnic cleansing and his subsequent hatred of humans.

In both those cases, we'd have a Muslim Magneto, and having a terrorist who is also a Muslim is kind of a mine field to navigate in terms of PR.

Why Dae Kim? He's nothing like Magneto and not really that great an actor either

1: Actors generally aren't much like the characters they play, because they're acting.

2: Shut your mouth Kim is great!



…

 

[BatsDC]

But... He needs to be Wong in Doctor Strange

 

[The Question]

But... He needs to be Wong in Doctor Strange

Magneto will serve no flatscanner! Mutants of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains! Viva la revolution!

 

[NealKenneth]

This would be a controversial move but I think the time is right to scrap the idea of an X-gene/mutants. From the very beginning it has been nothing but an excuse not to write origin stories yet, ironically, the idea of a single gene being responsible for making people look like demons or angels or maybe completely normal-looking yet having control over magnetic fields or the ability to read minds is so dumb that it is much worse than having no origin story at all.

I think a good approach would be to do it like The Incredibles. We never were told why Mr. Incredible had super-strength or why Frozone could make ice out of thin air. It doesn't matter! Saying these are the result of natural genetic mutations just trashes the suspension of disbelief for people who know even a little bit about how genetics works.

Anyway, I would start out with just Xavier and the original five versus Magneto and the Brotherhood. From there, introduce one or two new X-Men per film. I would hold back on Wolverine until the third film at least just because I think people are a bit tired of him. When it's time, I would use a Hulk solo film to introduce Weapon X as a military project and have him fight Wolverine. That would be nice nod to the comics and a good way to show that Wolverine is really separate from the rest of the team.

I think it would be a wasted oppurtunity for X-Men films to have the same tone as The Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy. They should explore the darker side of superheroics. I don't mean dull and bleak like Man of Steel, I mean brutal and gritty like Winter Soldier. I still want colorful costumes (always hated black leather) and funny jokes, just make them more serious overall. I think that's the tone where X-Men excels.

 

[The Question]

This would be a controversial move but I think the time is right to scrap the idea of an X-gene/mutants. From the very beginning it has been nothing but an excuse not to write origin stories yet, ironically, the idea of a single gene being responsible for making people look like demons or angels or maybe completely normal-looking yet having control over magnetic fields or the ability to read minds is so dumb that it is much worse than having no origin story at all.

I think a good approach would be to do it like The Incredibles. We never were told why Mr. Incredible had super-strength or why Frozone could make ice out of thin air. It doesn't matter! Saying these are the result of natural genetic mutations just trashes the suspension of disbelief for people who know even a little bit about how genetics works.

1: Mutants need an identifiable common origin in order to make the metaphor work. Scrapping the concept of mutants means scrapping the X-Men entirely. Without mutants as an identifiable underclass in the Marvel Universe, the X-Men are completely pointless as a franchise.

2: You could say the same thing about all super powers.

 

[BatsDC]

I guess you could go more in depth with it and say that different mutants have a different x-gene develop, so some could have it develop in the brain, others elsewhere etc, and explain that wherever it develops denotes the powers or something

 

[BoredGuy]

I'd like to see a story of mutancy where they are all the same, a new species who developed an advantageous genetic trait, and really explore the idea of evolution.
There's gotta be some indie comic exploring it

but that's not really what x-men is
it's about persecution, and being true to yourself
So in that sense, the mutant metaphor is X-men, so it can't be scrapped

 

[The Question]

I guess you could go more in depth with it and say that different mutants have a different x-gene develop, so some could have it develop in the brain, others elsewhere etc, and explain that wherever it develops denotes the powers or something

I don't think that's necessary. The X-Gene is just a way to get from point A to point B in the story. How it works really isn't important to the story. It's a narrative, not a text book.

Like, sure, the Silmarillion is fun, but it's a good thing that none of that made it into the actual LotR trilogy, because that would have bogged down the narrative with unnecessary details.

If Marvel wanted to make a supplementary Cosmos-style mockumentary about how the X-Gene works, that'd be great, but leave it out of the movie proper.

 

[Flint Marko]

This would be a controversial move but I think the time is right to scrap the idea of an X-gene/mutants. From the very beginning it has been nothing but an excuse not to write origin stories yet, ironically, the idea of a single gene being responsible for making people look like demons or angels or maybe completely normal-looking yet having control over magnetic fields or the ability to read minds is so dumb that it is much worse than having no origin story at all.

I think a good approach would be to do it like The Incredibles. We never were told why Mr. Incredible had super-strength or why Frozone could make ice out of thin air. It doesn't matter! Saying these are the result of natural genetic mutations just trashes the suspension of disbelief for people who know even a little bit about how genetics works.

Anyway, I would start out with just Xavier and the original five versus Magneto and the Brotherhood. From there, introduce one or two new X-Men per film. I would hold back on Wolverine until the third film at least just because I think people are a bit tired of him. When it's time, I would use a Hulk solo film to introduce Weapon X as a military project and have him fight Wolverine. That would be nice nod to the comics and a good way to show that Wolverine is really separate from the rest of the team.

I think it would be a wasted oppurtunity for X-Men films to have the same tone as The Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy. They should explore the darker side of superheroics. I don't mean dull and bleak like Man of Steel, I mean brutal and gritty like Winter Soldier. I still want colorful costumes (always hated black leather) and funny jokes, just make them more serious overall. I think that's the tone where X-Men excels.

That's a terrible idea. You would be getting rid of everything that makes the X-men unique.