How would you incorporate the X-Men into the MCU?

[NealKenneth]

My basic idea is two crossover films in the same year, one to give a victory lap to the old crew and another to establish the new crew.

Background: The X-Men come from a reality that was created when Red Skull held the Tesseract at the end of TFA. In this reality, he was able to overpower Captain America and escape the plane as it fell towards the water. In the years following this setback, he discovered that the Tesseract could be used to create superhumans, much like Loki’s staff in AoU. He used these superhumans to rebuild HYDRA and take over the world.

Many resisted, but the Red Skull was able to win, ruling most of the world until the late 50s....but as his empire collapsed stronghold by stronghold, his mutants fled, scattering themselves across the world. Most of the thousands of mutants he created were basically slaves, and many were just babies as the empire fell, but mankind fears and hates them all.

This reality is called the X-Verse.

Avengers: Onslaught - starring Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, and Hugh Jackman

Spoiler

Charles Xavier and Magneto pass through a portal to the modern MCU. Despite being mistaken for attackers, Magneto is nonetheless able to subdue the Avengers long enough to explain why they have come.

Charles is starting to experience the more dangerous aspects of his old age. As the movie progresses, it is revealed that what appear to be seizures are actually his subconscious mind attempting to escape and materialize as a being named Onslaught. Magneto has given Xavier his protective helmet until such a time as they can find a cure. They seek assistance from The Sorcerer Supreme, who they believe may be able to confront Xavier’s subconscious directly.

Other potential elements - Old Man Logan vs Hulk, Scarlet Witch reuniting (in his reality, she died...in her reality, he died)

X-Men: The Savage Land - starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Peter Dinklage

Spoiler

In the aftermath of Onslaught, the Avengers find themselves trapped in 1975...on an island in another universe. Although it is mostly covered by a jungle filled with fantastic and bizarre creatures, there is a futuristic palace and city along one shoreline. It is Genosha, Red Skull’s abandoned utopia. Sentinels walk the streets as the Skull’s attempt at a master race have been driven out and live like primitives in the jungle.

On the mainland, a prolific young agent of SHIELD named Hank Pym sees the Sentinels as an opportunity to implement his own robotic peacekeeping fleet called Ultron.

It becomes a rumble in the jungle as Xavier assembles a few of his refugee students in an attempt to rescue the Avengers, Magneto maneuvers towards a throne, and the Ultron program backfires (of course.) Magneto gets the last laugh by betraying Ultron and lifting Genosha into space, creating the floating city known as Asteroid M. The Savage Land is left to King Ke-Zar.

Other potential elements -Ant-Man meets Wasp, Tony Stark reunites with his parents and meets himself as a toddler???

 

[Tony Stark]

Magneto's backstory is becoming a major problem, regardless of who has the rights. It is getting close to the point where he simply cannot exist as is in the present without giving him some sort of immortality/suspended animation gimmick. His backstory is so tied into who the character is, it is difficult to update it as well. Tony Stark can be a hostage in any number of modern wars, but the Holocaust is something that hasn't been repeated since, at least not in that manner and scale.

You could just add the fact that he has prolonged life to his other powers.

 

[metaphysician]

That still makes a fairly notable change to his character. It gives a different flavor to him, and it breaks up the peerage with Charles. Unless he *also* is extremely old, in which case your establishing "extended life" as an aspect of mutant kind, which has consequences.

I sometimes ponder a rebooted Magneto who were a survivor of the Rwandan genocide. It'd be a *very* different character, but not necessarily an unworthy one. Probably a lot less emphasis on "governments will kill my kind" and more "governments will look the other way and diddle and do nothing".

 

[DrCosmic]

Rwandan is a pretty powerful one, that was the last big murderous genocide. I wouldn't be averse to that, but I agree, it wouldn't be "my" Magneto. Still awesome though.

I think, though, it might be most interesting, and most hot button, and most like the WWII Magneto might be making him Palestinian. That's a group suffering inhumane treatment that would create one highly motivated mutant. The challenge, of course, is that you can't point a finger and say Nazis.

Like I said previous, I'm beyond done with magical age-defying Magnetos.

 

[moreorless]

Maybe a Magneto from the Yugoslav civil war? most people roughly know events at Srebrenica surely and there arguably more relevant to the world today. That could even have the "Nazi hunter" aspect if they wanted it with Serbian war criminals evading the law also something the public know of.

It would be interesting to see Magneto transplanted out of the X-men, we have afterall already had the story with Charles told twice although I would love to see Fassbender in the MCU even if its with a rebooted version.

 

[Random490]

I don't see a problem with just leaving out Magneto's back story. That and his motivations have been covered very well by previous films I'm not sure what more you can add that would be new. It's would be like redoing Spider-man's origins, we already know it going over it again is just redundant. I'd rather they focus on other characters and leave Magneto's past vague. Just establish his goals and it'll be fine.

 

[Shoppy]

1 - Forget rebooting the Fantastic Four again and just stick a new version of Reed Richards in the MCU, and have a post-credits scene where he sees another universe's version of himself on screen

2 - Have the same actor in a similar post-credits scene in an X-Men movie enacting the same scene from the other perspective

3 - AVENGERS VS X-MEN crossover movie where one lot visit the other's universe, but also meet a team from a third universe where there are both Avengers AND X-Men

4 - Set any further crossover ideas in that third universe (halving the profits) and the MCU and X-men franchises carry on as they are without confusion, Now acknowledging each other as parallel universes

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

I always thought it would be interesting to have the X-Men Earth be the High Evolutionary's Earth - which would help explain the mutations.

 

[Skrilla31]

I am of the belief that X-Men should be separate from the traditional MU.

 

[Rorschach2012]

I am of the belief that X-Men should be separate from the traditional MU.

Why?

 

[DrCosmic]

I think it's really easy to bring the X-Men into the MCU... just follow through on the premise. If you want mutants to be scary to normals, just do them like Muslims. A few good terrorists, a little media incentive to create prejudice, and if you really want to make it make sense, don't have them as peers who are on equal footing with the Avengers. Make them characters who are discovering their powers at puberty, make them a problem, make them out of control and destructive, because that's what the premise says they are, and the rest of the premise will take care of itself.

I think a lot of the challenges people have with how the X-Men premise fits in with superheroes is because the X-Men have outgrown their premise, and they haven't adapted their stories to mirror modern persecuted groups.

 

[Hypestyle]

because reasons.
The infinity gems are enough of a reason. Stuff happens. Mutants have been around since whenever, the X-Men are the good guys, up to speed, let's go!

 

[Tg11]

Yes but then introducing mutants into the MCU then wouldn't HYDRA SHIELD see them the X-Men as a threat? Wouldn't they see all mutants as a threat?

 

[DrCosmic]

Exactly. Skipping the story leads to too many questions. If you want to do the X-Men in the MCU, you have to do the beginning of the X-Men... but X-Men are interesting in that people want them around, but no one wants them to begin, they just want a fully formed X-Men to appear, and have their premise and the persecution and tensions explained by infinity gems as opposed to a real story.

I think it's a funny side effect of 17 years of an X-Men franchise that doesn't really care about the X-Men.

 

[NealKenneth]

I feel like my idea for how to handle it takes care of a lot of the problems people have with X-Men in the MCU. I got it connected to the main timeline by an important event, while still explaining the hatred of mutants and also I connected it to WW2 without ever having to worry about age.

Red Skull creates an alternate reality by holding the Tesseract at the end of TFA. In this reality he creates mutants as his supersoldiers, ruling for years to centuries. Eventually he is overthrown, but because the mutants were HYDRA's most powerful minions, they all have a stigma against them even after the Empire is destroyed.

 

[Skrilla31]

Why?

Because the X-Men universe itself is already so vast and has so many characters. It already encompasses so much space. If Apocolypse ever came to Earth there's no reason why the Avengers wouldn't show up every time and help fend him off.

Plus I find it hard to believe that, in a world where super powered heroes and villains are the norm now, the public would be fearful towards the mutants.

 

[Rorschach2012]

The positives of a MCU X-Men far outweigh any negatives. The characters have always been intended to be part of a greater Marvel universe and hopefully the movies will honor that some day

 

[DACrowe]

I think it's really easy to bring the X-Men into the MCU... just follow through on the premise. If you want mutants to be scary to normals, just do them like Muslims. A few good terrorists, a little media incentive to create prejudice, and if you really want to make it make sense, don't have them as peers who are on equal footing with the Avengers. Make them characters who are discovering their powers at puberty, make them a problem, make them out of control and destructive, because that's what the premise says they are, and the rest of the premise will take care of itself.

I think a lot of the challenges people have with how the X-Men premise fits in with superheroes is because the X-Men have outgrown their premise, and they haven't adapted their stories to mirror modern persecuted groups.

I thought Logan rather brilliantly reflected very recent increases in prejudice against Mexican immigrants and hispanics in general.

 

[metaphysician]

Like I've said before, I'm fine with them adding the X-Men as a new thing. . . provided they have the courage to stand up and walk away from the lazy gimme of "arbitrary mutant hatred". I just don't think I believe any x-writer actually has the courage to drop the crutch.

 

[NealKenneth]

For what it's worth, the X-Men have been at their best when the hatred and prejudice aspects are far in the background.

Godlike forces of nature, space odesseys with alien empires, secret societies that are hundreds of years old, propechies and rituals from Ancient Egypt...with the expection of perhaps the Sentinels, most great X-Men stories have very little to do with how the average person perceives mutants.

 

[auditor]

Playing off the controversy from civil war could lead us to the men nicely. If heroes have become controversial then mutants wouod be next in line.

 

[Silvermoth]

Hypothetically who would be the villain for the xmens first MCU movie? I reckon go crazy and definitely have asteroid m. It would be interesting to see how the xmen deal with a post sokovia accord world

 

[CB Fan]

Even if I’m personally sick of him I think you may have to go Magneto or maybe do a brotherhood without him led by Mystique with Destiny, Rogue, Avalanche, Sabertooth, Toad and Pyro.

 

[Frankeh]

Hypothetically who would be the villain for the xmens first MCU movie? I reckon go crazy and definitely have asteroid m. It would be interesting to see how the xmen deal with a post sokovia accord world

Sinister and the Marauders

 

[AndrewGilkison]

My take: Mutants have been a thing but it hasn't come out publicly yet and is just beginning to grow into a big thing. The X-Men start out as a small secret government program where Xavier has been working with government agent Fed Duncan to have his powerful young teenage students quietly dealing with rogue mutants, like a secret task force that seems morally questionable. Xavier made this deal to try and keep the government from going after mutants wholesale, because he knows it will become a big thing and he wants to try to build a peaceful co-existence early, before mutants become public. It ends tragically, and everyone goes their separate ways. Basically, a slightly altered take on the original Lee/Kirby run from the 60's is what I would use as the backstory.

Then I'd start it ten years later. We have reports of mysterious displays of powers from teenagers who can't control their abilities, all of which have no point of origin (can't be blamed on alien tech like the Inhumans or anything else). Magneto then arrives on the scene do something horrific that kills a lot of people. This would make mutants hated and feared by the public in a way that separates the mutants from every other super powered being in the MCU, like certain Avengers or characters like Spider-Man. Now the media and politicians whipping up anti-mutant hysteria and it suddenly becomes a big deal.

Xavier responds to this reforming the X-Men as his own private team, tracking down Cyclops and recruiting the All New, All Different roster from the 1970's, which is primarily Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler. Jean Grey would be Cyclop's teen love interest (as she was part of the original program) and would get roped into coming back. Other original members Beast, Angel and Iceman would be out there living private lives but would also come in as needed.

That's how I'd bring the X-Men into the MCU. Start from the beginning, and go back to what X-Men is supposed to be all about. The core concept. Then build and expand from there. Add some crossover and references to tie it into the rest of the MCU. Have a long term plan for where you want to go with it.

And for **** sake don't screw up like the Inhumans.