MCU X-Men - Part 1

[Marvel united]

Look spiderman is a solo character and the single most important character to spiderman stories, the comparison you're making doesn't make much sense to me. The xmen are ensemble of characters who have a handful of characters that could lead a story, and marvel only has so much time to tell an effective story with some of these characters without over crowding the movie or turning the characters into cardboard cut outs like the foxmen. So if they are going to do that they are probably going to use characters that draw fans and newcomers a like to the movie. For what the xmen represent and the political climate in America right now it's going to be super important that marvel diversify these super heroes from now on.
So if marvel decides they're going to tell a story using the characters that sell, over some of the less popular minority characters that dont sell or appeal to as many people and they just diversify their money makers just a little bit, isnt changing a few of the white characters who are more popular and have a better chance of not only appealing to a wider crowd, but also sell tickets a chance they should take?

Depends entirely on who they change if you're not talking about characters like Forge or Thunderbird. Otherwise, no I would not be onboard with it. And the X-Men already appeal to a wide crowd as is. Black, white, Asian etc everybody enjoys them and have for decades. I'm not white but I don't need Cyclops to look like me (Black and asian/Japanese-American), in order for him to appeal to me. And I suspect the same for most people otherwise the Avengers movies wouldn't have all crossed 1 Billion each. But because of what the X-Men represent - I understand the need for more diversity but certain character should be off-limits.

And Hank and Iceman (if he's not gay) are main characters and both ripe for a race-swap. The movie shouldn't just focus on Cyclops and Jean, the movie is an essamble so while someone may be the center of the story (I prefer it to be Scott because of how he was treated in the Singer films)everyone should get a chance to shine and that includes the non-white X-Men.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

Look I'm not saying they won't appeal to the masses if they are white, clearly that isnt the case as theres evidence of literally like every other cbm to show for it. But because of what the xmen represent and the political climate we live in, I can see full heartedly see Disney making the conscious effort to change a few traditionally white characters to something else. Be it a lead like cyclops, jean, or Xavier or someone less lead tier like gambit or ice man.

My preferences on comic book movies is usually the stance of them casting traditional to the part but what about the xmen make them off limits to race change? Spiderman, superman, batman, wonder woman, cap, wolverine and thor should pretty much be traditionally cast in my eyes. But xmen is one where I want to see a little bit of flexibility on what the traditional characters look like. And I'm willing to bet those against the change are still willing to buy a ticket and see the movie regardless of whether they were white or not.

 

[Mangle77]

I like a lot of your ideas, but JGL is too young looking for Xavier; Marrow isn't likely to be chosen as a major character; Toad needs to be as odd looking as possible; Blob absolutely should be played by a fat man,( I say that as a man who used to weigh 300+ pounds) and I would probably switch these two around; as much as I like her, Emma Roberts is just too good at playing a stuck up 8!+(# not to be chosen for the role of White Queen!

JEAN GREY = Emma Roberts, 27 (American Horror Story, Adult World, & The Art of Getting By

EMMA FROST = Imogen Poots, 28 (I Kill Giants, Green Room, & Jane Eyre)

 

[fan4stic]

Well, I can see how, say, a black Cyclops could have a distracting resemblance to Geordi La Forge. But there are other options for a race swap. For example, I mentioned an Asian-American actor I could imagine as Cyclops just a few posts ago. I based that not only on the type of roles I'd seen him play but also on the fact that I think he has a good look for the part.

Maybe. I think some characters can be race bent depending on the actor quality. Others not so much. Xavier is a good solid foundation for that. Magneto might be distracting in the sense that by doing so you're highlighting the race change by having the 2 opposing sides be race changed. And as long as Magneto was a holocaust victim and is at least part jewish. The jewish actor wikipedia says Oded Fehr is jewish for instance. For me personally, I would like to see full tilt comic Cyclops look and all, because that character's never got that all the way. Jean Grey being a red head is the characters define look. Wolverine is another case of it might be distracting. Many characters can be race changed. Xavier being a sophisticated smart black man would be neat, not my preference, I wanted Xavier to have kind of an an odd creepy presence about him and I don't know of any older black actors who have that. Magneto, like I said, as long as holocaust origin stays and he's jewish, he can be black or whatever.

 

[Marvel united]

I've been saying the same thing about Xavier haha. He should be a much more odd, mysterious character. Very different from McAvoy and Stewart portrayal. Jeffrey Wright and Denzel Washington are the black actors whom I feel could have that aura. I would have immediately said Denzel but I feel like he's getting up there in age and he may be better suited for another role in the MCU that isn't as long-term as Charles

 

[Protar]

I'd replace Nightcrawler with Beast and Thunderbird with Jean but I could get onboard with that lineup and story

The more I think about it, the more I am happy with the idea of not including Jean for at least one movie. She has had a lot of exposure in the FoXmen films. Maybe she hasn't really been done right, but she's been so central to those movies that a break would be nice. This is also true of Beast to a lesser extent.

Plus in terms of demographics, I would like to have a majority-minority cast. A Black Xavier and then Storm, Thunderbird and Sunfire would achieve that. Hell, what I would be up for is genderswapping Thunderbird to provide a bit more gender parity.

So you'd have X in the background as a mentor with a team of teen/young adult X-men. Storm would be preestablished in the Black Panther movies and ally with Xavier to take a more active role in mutant society. So she'd be an intermediary between Xavier and his students.

 

[Silvermoth]

Jean is the heart though. The xmen without the heart are at risk of becoming cruel.

She has to be there. I don’t think she’s been done perfectly yet and I would rather see her get another go then wolverine or whatever.

Also who said Alfie enoch for cyclops? I love that. He has a optimistic wholesome look but I could believe he knows how to kick ass too

 

[fan4stic]

I've been saying the same thing about Xavier haha. He should be a much more odd, mysterious character. Very different from McAvoy and Stewart portrayal. Jeffrey Wright and Denzel Washington are the black actors whom I feel could have that aura. I would have immediately said Denzel but I feel like he's getting up there in age and he may be better suited for another role in the MCU that isn't as long-term as Charles

I don't know if I could see them hit that vibe for me personally. As far as casting a white guy for that, I've had Ralph Fiennes in mind.

 

[Abudefduf]

ROGUE = Hailee Steinfeld, 21 (The Edge of Seventeen, Pitch Perfect 2, & True Grit)

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks Steinfeld would make a killer Rogue.

Not sure about the director choice, though. What's his track record with female characters? That's kind of important, and it's why I want guys like Matthew Vaughn to be kept as far away as possible from the property.

 

[Havok83]

The problem is that most X-Men are white, so it's only a matter of time before they keep expanding the team and reach a point where they have to race swap some X-Men or create new minority ones. Even if the first film starts out with (for example) Scott, Jean, Bobby, Storm, Psylocke and Bishop, that's just a temporary solution to the problem. Eventually they'll reach a point where they risk lacking diversity, just like how they'll eventually reach a point where having 30 straight X-Men and 1 LGBT would look silly.

Worry about that when you get there. There are plenty of B listers that represent minority groups that could be added in subsequent films

 

[Gamma Goliath]

That's the problem. The majority of the minorities are b listers or worse.

 

[Lip]

I've been saying the same thing about Xavier haha. He should be a much more odd, mysterious character. Very different from McAvoy and Stewart portrayal. Jeffrey Wright and Denzel Washington are the black actors whom I feel could have that aura. I would have immediately said Denzel but I feel like he's getting up there in age and he may be better suited for another role in the MCU that isn't as long-term as Charles

Not a very popular choice because he comes from TV, but I can see Giancarlo Esposito as Charles.

 

[Mangle77]

Storm, Thunderbird and Sunfire would achieve that. Hell, what I would be up for is genderswapping Thunderbird to provide a bit more gender parity.

Sunfire has(or had, I think she died) an in-canon sister with the same powers as him.

 

[Mangle77]

Not a very popular choice because he comes from TV, but I can see Giancarlo Esposito as Charles.

Holy $#!+, I was literally just about to post that!!! Are you a telepath?! STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!!!

 

[Iceman]

genderswapping Thunderbird

Genderswapping is absolutely not needed. The X-Men have many of the best female characters in comics.

 

[Protar]

Genderswapping is absolutely not needed. The X-Men have many of the best female characters in comics.

It may be necessary if they want to take inspiration from a specific comicbook lineup. For example, the Giant Size X-men - which as suggested upthread, is a great lineup to start with in many respects - only has one woman. That said, as Mangle77 pointed out Sunfire has a sister with the same powers and costumes, so that would make more sense. Switch out Sunfire for Sunpyre and Banshee for Siryn.

 

[Havok83]

That's the problem. The majority of the minorities are b listers or worse.

Yeah that is problematic but race swapping more established heroes doesn’t fix it. Other characters should be given a chance to shine and the resistance against that is what keeps them from reaching A list status

 

[Marvel united]

Yeah that is problematic but race swapping more established heroes doesn’t fix it. Other characters should be given a chance to shine and the resistance against that is what keeps them from reaching A list status

Right. After the success of Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange and Ant-man, nobody should be arguing against the idea of a team made up completely of B-Listers lol. Marvel if they wanted to could turn those B-list minority X-Men into A-list members... Like they've done for all of their movies about non A-list heroes. Let's not pretend that the classic characters need to be used, and that they NEED to be race swapped in order for this movie to be a success.

This is turning into less of a general "I want a more diverse X-Men" and more into "I want a diverse X-Men, but I want that diversity imposed on longtime members otherwise it won't matter"

 

[Captain Marvel]

Agreed. Black Panther is at best a B-Lister, and his movie just made #1.3 BILLION. The Guardians of the Galaxy are a huge success, and it was questionable if they were even C-List characters in the Marvel Universe. So the idea that a character isn't worthwhile if they're B-List or C-List no longer holds any water, when those B-List and C-List characters are outgrossing Superman and the Justice League at the box office.

Moreover, the X-Men has a number of notable and well-known minority characters. Some of those notable ones are Storm, Jubilee, Bishop, Warpath, and Sunspot. You could probably throw Sunfire into the mix, as well. Any X-Men cast could easily end up with a diverse cast without having to resort to race changes or using characters like Maggot.

 

[squeekness]

I loved Maggott.

 

[Havok83]

I loved Maggott.

Me too. Id love to see him return in some capacity. He's a character I could see working in Deadpool

 

[Shikamaru]

Worry about that when you get there. There are plenty of B listers that represent minority groups that could be added in subsequent films

I'm simply pointing out that starting with B listers doesn't fix the problem as much as delay it. Ultimately they'll end up with having to racebend guys like Beast and Iceman or create new characters.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

Problem with saying just give the b listers their exposure would mean you'd have to devote multiple xmen franchises to create separate teams because passing up the stars for the b team doesn't seem like a gameplan for success(especially since the foxmen screwed up so many heavy hitters). That'd be great if they could do more than team franchise at once, but there are so many xmen characters who deserve their due. And so few of them are still minorities. Guardians, black panther, antman and wasp, and dr. Strange were all b list yes but marvel is able to devote an entire franchise to each character there and xmen is a much larger ensemble than guardians.

Fox is in the position to make multiple xmen movies at once because that's their primary focus, but marvel studios also have a steady flow of ongoing franchises so who knows if they could devote time to multiple xmen series that feature different teams as opposed to having a flagship series that focuses primarily on a certain group with a few rotating spots. I'd be all for an x men blue and an xmen gold franchise with two diverse teams but, what's the likelihood of that happening, especially while marvel has so many other franchises they're handling.

 

[Abudefduf]

Yeah, I think some people are vastly overestimating the number of X-Men that Marvel will be able to introduce and use to their full potential in their movies. Does anyone really want Forge and Sunfire's sister to be major players of the MCU for the next 2-3 phases?

Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Beast, Iceman, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, Emma Frost... these are the X-Men Marvel should focus on. They've suffered enough under Fox, it's time for them to get the spotlight they deserve, and if that means that some of them have to be raceswapped then so be it.

 

[Iceman]

It may be necessary if they want to take inspiration from a specific comicbook lineup. For example, the Giant Size X-men - which as suggested upthread, is a great lineup to start with in many respects - only has one woman. That said, as Mangle77 pointed out Sunfire has a sister with the same powers and costumes, so that would make more sense. Switch out Sunfire for Sunpyre and Banshee for Siryn.

Exactly. That's a much better solution. It isn't necessary at all.