Marvel Has Big Problems Introducing The X-Men To The MCU

The rights to the mutant superhero team the X-Men may be back with Marvel, but the MCU might have some trouble introducing them. The X-Men were first introduced to general audiences way back in July of 2000, with the release of X-Men. The movie was a massive critical and commercial success, and this film, along with the success of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man and Wesley Snipes' Blade, are directly responsible for the enduring popularity of superhero films today. The franchise went on to have two sequels, 5 spin-off films, and four installments in the prequel/reboot timeline, and will officially come to a close with the release of The New Mutants.

In March 2019, Marvel regained the rights to the X-Men after Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox was officially completed. Disney immediately put all X-Men projects being developed by Fox on hold, and then eventually cancelled them, with fans speculating it was due to Marvel gearing up to use the characters soon in some kind of reboot. This speculation was more or less confirmed at this year's SDCC, where Kevin Feige let fans know that the MCU was actively working on an X-Men reboot beyond Phase 4.

While fans are counting down the days until they get to see their favorite mutants interacting with their favorite heroes, Marvel might have their own set of problems with introducing the X-Men into the MCU. A whole set of factors stand in the way, and if Marvel truly wants to integrate the team in a way that's satisfying to both hardcore comic book fans and the general audience, they're going to need to take their time and figure out the best way to approach a reboot.

The X-Men Films Are Iconic To The General Audience

Despite the vocal slice of comic book fans who have always been incredibly displeased by the way Fox and co. have handled the X-Men property, to the larger general audience, the X-Men films are iconic. Since the early 2000s they've occupied a place in the pop culture lexicon, due to a mixture of them being some of the first films in the superhero movie genre to take themselves seriously, as well as their focus on the prejudice allegory that made the X-Men such a groundbreaking team in their introduction. On top of this, there are multiple casting choices within the Fox X-Men series that can arguably never be replaced, most notably Hugh Jackman's version of Wolverine.

The MCU version of the X-Men will no doubt stay closer to the comic book version of the team, with flashy outfits and a more traditional first class roster, but they also need to be wary of just how popular the original films are with people who aren't necessarily comic book fans. While not all of the choices made by Fox were necessarily smart, a lot of them made the franchise and the team more palatable to the general audience, and because of this, a wide majority of the 12 films in the saga are generally beloved.

Fox Already Adapted Several Of Their Classic Stories

The X-Men assemble in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

In the 20 years since Fox released the first X-Men film in theaters, they've delved into the X-Men canon heavily and adapted dozens of their famous storylines. These include God Loves, Man Kills, Days of Future Past, Wolverine: Origin, Weapon X, The Dark Phoenix Saga (twice), Gifted, Old Man Logan, and Apocalypse. While these obviously aren't all the stories that have been told surrounding the superhero team, these are some of their most iconic and acclaimed, and the fact that Fox has already done most of them seriously limits the amount of originality that Disney can bring to the table.

The MCU has already shown us that they aren't interested in retelling certain storylines, as they've distinctly kept Tom Holland's Spider-Man far away from any of the stories that were adapted by Sony in both the original trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man franchise. This means that they'll more than likely avoid using any of the source material already adapted by Fox in their own X-Men series. Because of this, Marvel will be forced to stray closer to the X-Men's more contemporary storylines, things from the early 2000s onwards. While this isn't necessarily a negative, as there are a lot of great X-Men stories from that era (the X-Men books also just experienced a resurgence with Johnathan Hickman's House and Powers of X arcs), there are rumors that Marvel wants to introduce the characters using Avengers vs. X-Men. If the MCU wants to be totally original in how they reboot the X-Men, they also have to be smart and find an organic way to do so.

The X-Men Need To Be Explained Through A Major Retcon

Another big issue facing the MCU's inevitable reboot of the X-Men is finding a way to make their origins make sense within the context of a franchise that's already 20+ movies in. In the comics, the mutant gene has been on Earth for nearly hundreds of thousands of years, with its origins stretching back to experimentation on homo-erectus by the intergalactic Celestials. By the time the X-Men debuted in the 60s, the mutant gene was so prominent that there were entire civilizations and societies built around it, from the Xavier Institute to the mutant colony of Geonosha and more.

This is obviously going to be very hard to reconcile in the MCU, as the ongoing series has been consistently releasing films for over 11 years now with not a single mention of mutants or the mutant gene. In fact, the franchise actively had to retcon the mutant origins of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver; two characters who are born mutants in the comics. If the MCU wants to follow in the footsteps of its source material, it will require massive retcons to make sense within the context of the story. There's also always the option of implying that the mutant gene is a recent discovery; however, if they were to go that route, it would be difficult to explain how Charles Xavier is able to form the Xavier Institute and start recruiting mutants so quickly. None of this is completely impossible to work with, but regardless of the route Marvel decides to go in terms of their introduction of the X-Men, they'll certainly have their work cut out for them when the characters make their official MCU debut.

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