In my conception, the "mutant problem" wasn't a worldwide phenomena during the MCU Original Five's time. They faced big threats, had cool adventures, and kept the world safe. But it wasn't so wide spread enough that it gets talked about on the 24/7 cable news channels. It was easier for them to keep it contained and cover their tracks. But obviously that changes.
The other possibility is that you name drop Iceman, Angel, and maybe Beast in the first MCU X-Men movie, and set it up for them to appear later (this is what I would do). Either as supporting characters (there is nothing wrong with that) or they replace other team members (with a franchise as big as X-Men you are gonna have to cycle characters in and out, no getting around that) or maybe you spin them off onto another X-Men team (like the original X-Factor).
By making them "the original X-Men", you add more mystique and intrigue around them as characters, where the audience imagines the adventures in their minds as you seed them and name drop them or have them interact with Scott, Jean, and Xavier in the present like they are old friends. It conveys history and backstory without having to devote an entire trilogy to it.
You don't realize this but you are proving my point for me. The Star Wars prequels were better left to our imaginations. I think the original five's adventures would be the same way.
With a franchise as large as X-Men you need to have past history take place off screen. You need some characters to have past backstory and already know other characters. You need to make it "lived in". Building the entire thing from the ground up and showing everyone's origin story is not possible.
Angel sucked in X3 because he really didn't need to be in the movie at all (there was clearly no room for him). They would've been better off waiting for another movie. They tried to do an entire movie length arc with him from beginning to end, but didn't have the length of an entire movie to do with it.
Contrast that with how Beast was handled in X3. He fared much better as a character in that movie. Why? Because most of his backstory with Xavier took place off screen. They didn't try to tell a First Class type of origin story with him with the limited screen time he had. They had that origin take place in the past, off screen. He came off as a cooler character in the movie because of it. That is why I want to do that with the Original Five in the MCU.
Beast is the perfect example. They did what you'd like to do with the rest of the O5, and he was a supporting character, even when they made him part of the team, he had no story, his only story was to mentor Wolverine, because that's what supporting characters whose superhero stories occurred in the past do for the heroes of the current film. Since Beast was doing this there was no room for Angel, Scott or Xavier to do this role, and so they had to leave or get different roles, which won't work, because they aren't the heroes. Beast didn't have mystique (ha), or intrigue, he had no development, because we are told his development was unimportant and inconsequential beyond his advice. That's not economical storytelling, that's simply not ever telling a story about the O5, because by not staring with the O5, you turn the O5 into a prequel, even though you didn't have to, just like Star Wars didn't have to start with Episode 4 and make Obi-Wan a fundamentally supporting/undeveloped character.
Certainly some backstory has to happen before, namely: Xavier has to already be an established master of his abilities for the X-Men story to work, however, that is the
only backstory that is necessary for the X-Men's story to work. Storm's story doesn't sound nonsensical just because Scott doesn't have years of experience. The rest of the MCU starts to sound nonsensical though...
The other lesson to learn from Singer's X-Men, other than that not starting with the O5 means that you can never develop the O5, and that they will be redundant to each other, is that not making the audience invest in the formation of the X-Men, like they did with the Avengers, means that the audience will be more attached to the main character, and that that character will be, from their perspective, what makes the X-Men worth watching, because for the filmmaker, that's what made the X-Men worth telling a story about.
EDIT: Again, making the O5 stock/static characters is a legitimate option, but I would love to see the audience actually be able to invest in the X-Men from the beginning, the way they have with the Avengers, and if the MCU wants the same, they'll start with the O5, even if they fundamentally change what/who the O5 is.
I think one of the more challenging things about the X-Men Universe is that they mainly have always been part of team movies. They do not have the advantage of each X-Men member having their own movie like most of the avengers. Guardians of the Galaxy is a good comparison since none of the Guardian members had their own movie before their first or second movie. Also it get harder when the X-Men members have many fan favorites and given that X-Men is mainly a team movie then it gets hard for everyone to get a chance to be developed equally. I honestly wouldn't mind if Marvel takes the comic approach and created 2 teams of X-Men each team with their own movie. That way more characters have a chance to be developed.
That would be interesting, launching two film franchises at once. There's a couple of cool ways they could do it too. Maybe a film to introduce/create the X-Men and then from there, split the team in half and then add new characters as expansions for each.
I agree. I know many want to just skip the early founding days, but I think there is a definite danger of trying to blow your load in your first film. People want the Jim Lee/Animated Series team(s) in the first movie, but to me, it's the 3rd movie where you have them in all their glory. That's your billion dollar movie right there.
Sure, a variation of the O5 may seem "boring" to some people. But that's where plot, characterization, and visual effects come in. DisMarvel can make a solid film using these characters (with a couple changes perhaps). Maybe not an Avengers Level Event Film, but solid and good enough that by the 3rd, 4th, 5th films the groundwork would be laid.
Swap Storm for Angel for a more gender/racial balance. Original flavor Rogue as a villain. Introduce Wolverine in the second film and new and improved Rogue after a cameo in the Captain Marvel films. Have Beast turn hairy and have him join the Avengers at the end of film two. Then, when you have a mature team for film three, you have Cyclops, Jean, Storm, Iceman, Wolverine, Rogue and add a seventh (Gambit would be my choice). There. By the third film you have a close proximity of Jim Lee/Animated series X-Men. Collect your Billion Dollars.
Interesting! I too think there are ways to make the O5 not boring. Changing out one or two members isn't the worst idea either. I don't know why they couldn't do the Jim Lee lineup (minus Jubilee perhaps) for the second film though, and then for the third film start to add in outliers who are almost-classics like Psylocke and Dazzler.
rant:
