The Overlord
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@The Overlord
I'm guessing that Marvel will want to go with a villain we've never seen before for the first movie.
But for the main antagonist, I'd go with a mutant villain(s) terrorising humanity. Because it frames and applies Rule No.1 of the X-Men in practical context and that is: Protecting those that hate and fear you. Someone like Henry P. Gyrich, Valerie Cooper etc can be secondary antagonists
IMO the mutant genocide angle was used as a crutch by Fox and it's lost the emotional punch it's supposed to have. I hope Marvel examines the mutant prejudice angle from a much less generalized, exaggerated view and instead opts for something that feels more readily contemporary and honest to how discrimination manifests itself today -- i.e Kitty/Jubilee applying for a Summer job and having her application rejected because she is a mutant. Or popular mutant social media personalities and mutant celebrities existing in the Entertainment industry i.e Jumbo Carnation (New X-Men) and still facing discrimination in those higher hierarchies of society.
And of course, we can still show racial bias can lead to a fatal outcome. For instance -- in the Midpoint, the X-Men huddled up together in the Mansion watching a news report where we see a police involved shooting has taken place: an officer has shot and killed an unarmed blue teenager because he "feared for his life".. We later see at the end of the movie, after the X-Men have saved the day, that this officer was exonerated because the Law found that he had legitimate grounds to kill this kid. And this would just reinforce the struggle but in a relevant, modern context. You could also do some very interesting things with Genosha as well, with the Asylum seekers parallel.
I'd introduce the Sentinels in the second movie as what they are meant to be- extensions of the system used to oppress and police the mutant community as Gov officials become more and more paranoid about the rising number of mutants. But the mutant extermination angle should gradually built up and saved for future films so when it finally gets to that point in human-mutant relations, it actually has impact and meaning again. And it's strengthened by longterm emotional investment from an audience that has grown with these characters.
Except here's the problem, Fox used mutant terrorists as villains several times in their movie series:
Magneto and the Brotherhood were the villains in X-Men 1 and X-Men The Last stand. Heck in X2 Magneto takes over Stryker's plan and tries to wipe out humanity. In First Class Shaw and the Hellfire Club were mutant terrorists and Magneto forms the Brotherhood. In Days of Future Past, Magneto manages to take over the role of Big Bad by the end of the film.
So Fox used that angle a lot, what would be different if they used mutant terrorists as the villains again? And if it is someone not used yet, who are they and how would they not just be a pale imitation of Magneto and the Brotherhood? What would make these mutant terrorists compelling and different from Magneto and the Brotherhood, because off-brand Brotherhood and Magneto sounds like another MCU throwaway villain (add them to the pile of lame villains like Whiplash, Justin Hammer, Aldrich Killian, Malekith, Ronan, Yellowjacket, etc).
