Though I do think characters' current status in the comics isn't the end-all for their live-action appearances. Jubilee, Forge, Kwannon, and Storm are all characters that have had more than enough relevance in different X-Men media to justify sizeable X-Men MCU roles. Synch, Trinary, and Sunfire don't have the same kind of status, so I agree they wouldn't necessarily be logical first picks. Even if I believe it could still work.
I do think those characters have a place in the franchise, and they could bolster some very powerful stories, but not in the beginning chapter. But when you're rebooting a franchise, you're logically going to use the principal characters first, as you're establishing the core mythology from scratch.
And most of the core X-Men, *like Cyclops, Storm, Angel, even Jean and Beast, their stories have either not been told at all (Scott, Ororo, Warren), or haven't been told properly (Jean, Hank), so there's a loooot of ground to cover with our main X-Men first, before we even think about a character like Synch.
That's why I can't really agree with your statement above that almost all white X-Men would benefit from this narratively. On a personal note, I also feel the social messages from these books have always been more complicated than "an outdated metaphor for civil rights". Allegories for racism are baked into the franchise, regardless of how we think it's been handled, but the franchise also isn't limited to those stories.
Of course not. But any story detailing a different experience e.g. culture, religion, disability, sexuality, doesn't have to always default to a white character either, because non-white people can have all of those struggles as well.
A Black or Latina Rogue isn't suddenly not going to be a story about abelism becuz she's brown, it'll be about both of those things, in conjunction.
You're not "losing" anything by making her non-white. You're adding to the story.
Just an example: A queer white character like Iceman would have very different experiences than Victor from Love, Victor who is both queer and Hispanic. Both of these stories are worth telling, but I'm weary of saying one would by default benefit the narrative over the other. The same goes for things like nationality, culture, and religion. Namor is a great recent example of this done right, but this is why I'd argue for a case-to-case basis. It should be done with the utmost care.
Well, Bobby isn't really who I had in mind. But now the question becomes, what aspect of Bobby's race, of being a white man, defines his experience, if not the absence of racialization? Rictor is Latino, but he's also* gay, and the only difference between them, is that Rictor faces racism, and Bobby does not. So how is his whiteness being highlighted?
What defines being white if not the absence of racial obstacles? If Bobby's being white is going to factor into his story, then the only story you can tell, is one about privilege; Bobby's, in contrast to his racialized peers. And that's maybe not the story you want to tell with one of the only gay X-Men..
That's Warren's story.
Looking at it from that perspective, reducing these characters to "mostly straight white people" seems a tad dismissive to me. That said, I don't disagree with the fact that many C-list characters were introduced in many cases to have more direct representation for groups that were underrepresented. I do understand the need and desire for this. I wish we'd see more of a shift in core X-Men characters that actually sticks, but nostalgia always sells I guess.
But you've outlined why Marvel Studios *has to, and likely will, change, at least a couple of these characters. Because they are the faces of the franchise, and the bulk of the mythology-- stories, villains, characters, are tied to them. Those stories do not stick, because the franchise will never be about those characters.
I love these characters; their characterizations, their stories, their struggles, but I'm not attached, in any way shape, or form, to their whiteness. Because their whiteness is simply a byproduct of the extremely intolerant culture they were created in, inspite of the themes that were *always present in these books, yes, going back to Lee/Kirby's original X-Men even.
And the X-Men should be allowed to be evolve, and become something than just a "metaphor".
What it comes down from me, in the end, is that I too want to see a diverse team in all the ways I outlined above. MCU X-Men shouldn't be like the original Avengers lineup. They also should have prominent POC members. I just don't think race-lifting (almost) every character would be the answer.
Well, certainly not *everyone. But I do think certain characters in particular, would benefit, and tie them closer to the themes of the franchise.
