The X-Men are all set to appear in the MCU. The Fox-produced X-Men movies that began in 2000 have since seen a soft reboot in X-Men: First Class, then a connecting of both universes in X-Men: Days Of Future Past, as well as a critically acclaimed spin-off in Logan. However, the next set of movies, from Apocalypse to Dark Phoenix, unfortunately, ended the franchise with a massive thud. With the rights now over at Marvel Studios under Disney, the imminent X-Men in MCU is coming up. Ms. Marvel already confirmed the existence of mutants, and Wolverine is already set to appear in Deadpool 3. But there are a lot more X-Men to come.
So let’s take a look at the 5 X-Men stories we want to see in the MCU.
House Of M Is An Epic X-Men Story
One of the most influential comic book storylines of all time is the House Of M. The plot sees a distraught Scarlet Witch, after losing her children, alter reality to make mutants the dominating species on Earth, along with her own family as the Monarch of this new world. However, some characters can see through the changes, causing them to seek to undo the damage, which results in the de-powering of many mutants in the world. This changed the entire status quo of the Marvel Comics universe.
Scarlet Witch already exists within the MCU, played by Elizabeth Olson. Although, a smaller version of that storyline kind of played out in the Disney+ series, WandaVision, but with many obvious and massive changes. So there is still a way for the X-Men in MCU to still do a story like this, with one of the overpowered characters.
Age Of Apocalypse Could Revive The X-Men In MCU
With Avengers: Endgame having opened the door to the concept of alternate realities, one of the best X-Men stories could possibly make it to the big screen. Age Of Apocalypse sees an alternate reality where Professor X is prematurely killed, creating a new timeline where their biggest foe, Apocalypse, attacks and conquers Earth. It was an amazing storyline that allowed the writers to experiment with different interpretations of fan-favorite characters, without ever having to commit to them, given the nature of an alternate reality.
With Multiverse Of Madness, and now Loki season 2 already establishing the existence of multiple timelines and universes in the MCU, including even unlimited branches of those universes, doing an alternate-world story of fan-favourite characters may be a great approach. Given the lack of familiarity with X-Men characters in the MCU, it would be a great way to show variants of already existing characters. The ending of the film could streamline the universe with the X-Men folded into the MCU.
Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix
With Cable, played by Josh Brolin introduced in Deadpool 2, an origin movie for the character would be a timely one-off film in the MCU. The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix was a comic story that featured the villainous Mr. Sinister creating a clone of Jean Grey after she was presumed dead, to create an offspring with Cyclops, as he believed their child would be the key to defeating Apocalypse. Foreseeing this himself, Apocalypse infected the baby with a techno-virus, and the only hope of saving the child was to send him to the future in the care of a mysterious woman named Askani. Cyclops and Jean gave up their son, who then grew up in the future to become the time-traveling hero, Cable.
With Cable’s origin tied directly to the two founding members of the X-Men, this could be a great approach to bring back Brolin, or even the Fox version of Scott and Jean in a one-off movie that is standalone, but provides great action and time travelling shenanigans.
Avengers vs. X-Men Could Be The Culmination Of The X-Men In MCU
With both the Avengers and X-Men finally about to be in the same cinematic universe. And while it would be awesome to see existing movie characters team up with the awesome comic book X-Men characters, a rivalry or conflict between them would be even more epic. A comic book storyline called Avengers Vs. X-Men actually did the same thing. The 2012 comic events saw the Phoenix Force returning to Earth, sparking a debate whether it will repopulate the Earth with Mutants, or cause the destruction of the entire world. This differing philosophy causes the two greatest superhero teams in the world to take arms against one another in one of the greatest rivalries in comics.
With Avengers already in the MCU, it may be a while since we see the X-Men go up against them in equal standing. Seeing how the MCU already did something similar with Captain America: Civil War, it’s not that far-fetched an idea to see an adaptation of Avengers vs. X-Men on the big screen.
Dark Phoenix Saga. Yet Again.
Despite the storyline getting two different adaptations now in two different cinematic iterations, many feel that the Dark Phoenix storyline has not been done justice in the films. This can be because the majority of ancillary characters involved in the comic story are not in the MCU, so fans didn’t develop an emotional connection to the main cast, with only two films with them prior to Dark Phoenix.
Given the MCU’s ability to create large stories spanning years, after allowing fans to connect to and live with the characters over a number of solo movies, it’s possible that the MCU can play the long game and develop a proper adaptation of the Dark Phoenix Saga for the big screen. Especially that includes the existing Avengers characters audiences have grown to love.
Are there any other stories about the X-Men in MCU that you want to see? Share in the comments below, or reach out to me on X (Twitter) at @theshahshahid to discuss more about comic book movies in general.
