The MCU's X-Men launch may undo Fox's strangest film misstep

The MCU can do something with Fox's mutants X Men Franchise has never tried it. With Disney's acquisition of Twentieth Century Fox, Marvel is now in a position to use mutants X Men-related characters free. However, the MCUs are X Men It may take a while for the Multiverse saga to conclude so that Marvel Studios can do justice to the mutants. Meanwhile, the MCU is bringing back mutant characters from the Fox series X Men Franchises like Patrick Stewart’s “Professor X,” Kelsey Grammer’s “Beast,” and Hugh Jackman’s “Wolverine.”

Various characters were given a brief chance to shine throughout the film X Men Timeline of the film. Mutants like Alan Cummings' Nightcrawler, Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy's Charles However Fox's X Men The films failed to realize the full potential of most of the characters in the franchise – a flaw that establishes the MCU's best possible approach to mutants.

Fox's solo X-Men film Dreams ultimately focused on just one character

Hugh Jackman's Wolverine outshined all other characters in Fox's X-Men films

Wolverine is an undeniable highlight of X-Men history in any medium. The clawed superhero caused a sensation when he first appeared in the 1974s The Incredible Hulk #180took part in the famous revamp of the titular team in the 1975s Giant X-Men #1, and became one of Marvel's most popular heroes even before Hugh Jackman first portrayed him in live-action. Once Fox's 2000 X Men In the film, Wolverine became the main character. Jackman's Wolverine began a 24-year journey as the undeniable protagonist of the X Men franchise.

Wolverine didn't just represent the main opinion X Men, X2: X Men UnitedAnd X-Men: The Last Standbut he also starred in the franchise's first and only spin-off, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. If Fox has more plans X Men Spin-offs were canceled, with a younger cast replacing the original team X-Men: First Class. But Wolverine soon returned to his protagonist role The glutton And X-Men: Days of Future Past. X-Men: Apocalypse struggled to match the popularity of previous films. Meanwhile, Hugh Jackman's (original) final Wolverine appearance is in Logan received rave reviews from fans and critics.

How Fox's Wolverine Focus Hurt the Franchise (Even Though Wolverine Is Great)

Wolverine prevented Fox's X-Men franchise from focusing on other characters

Hugh Jackman made Wolverine one of the most popular portrayals of a comic book character in film history, to the point that three different Spider-Man actors played the web-slinger multiple times – and crossed paths in the MCU at the time Jackman was cast in the 2000s became X Men to join the MCU in 2024 Deadpool and Wolverine. However, Hugh Jackman's acclaimed portrayal of Wolverine outshined all others X Men character. Wolverine got the bulk of it X Men Cinematic length and characterization of the films to the detriment of the rest of the cast.

Iconic X Men Characters like Storm, Cyclops, and Rogue have an extensive comic book history that could inspire multiple individual and team-up films. But none of Fox's thirteen X Men Films focused on a solo protagonist other than Wolverine. Dead Pool And Deadpool 2 Could be considered the only two exceptions, but Deadpool is not a true mutant, and neither he nor most other Marvel characters consider him a member of the X-Men. The lack of X Men Solo films could be Fox's biggest missed opportunity, given the immense variety of characters in the source material.

Why the MCU is better prepared to avoid problems with Fox's Wolverine franchise

Marvel Studios is known for giving smaller characters their own lead roles

Marvels X Men '97 has proven that multiple mutants can share the spotlight together despite their limited screen time, provided Wolverine doesn't hog every memorable line of dialogue, every action scene, and every dramatic moment in the story. Additionally, mutants can join and leave the team within the same continuity, and Wolverine can be an important X-Man without overshadowing his fellow heroes. Luckily for the mutants of the MCU, Marvel Studios has mastered the individual approach to its characters since phase 1.

As well as The Avengers Since each of the titular characters' individual films was preceded by a solo film, the MCU can develop a release plan consisting of various individual films X Men Titles that focus on each character. Then, X Men Films can work like that avenger-like crossover events that round out the storylines of each individual title and set up multiple storylines, which in turn are wrapped up in solo sequels, spin-offs and finally X Men Follow-ups – not to mention various team-up titles like X factor, Excalibur, and the Marauders. This web of individual stories is what makes the MCU a true cinematic universe rather than an internally disjointed franchise, and is what can differentiate the MCU's X-Men from Fox's.

X Men

director

Bryan Singer

writer

Tom DeSanto, Bryan Singer, David Hayter

Release date

July 14, 2000

Duration

104 minutes