The
X-Men have had a rough (albeit financially successful) time on the big screen; while 21st Century Fox has had a lot of ups and downs adapting Marvel's famous mutant team, many of the creative choices made with the characters have never sat right with a lot of fans.
With a deal between Disney and Fox now officially in the cards, we take a look back at some of the famous X-characters who have never received the treatment they deserved. While a lot of mutants have been adapted during The X-Men's 17-year history on film, we'll be analyzing some of the major characters that had their opportunity squandered.
To view the list in its entirety, simply click on the VIEW LIST (ONE PAGE) button below!
Rogue
Anna Paquin's
Rogue was introduced as the anchor of the first
X-Men film; the audience followed the personal story of a teenager receiving dangerous mutant powers and being guided in the right direction by another volatile outsider, Logan. While her story was poignant for her big screen debut, Rogue quickly faded into the background of the series, with the writers often leaning on the crutch of her powers making her insecure about intimacy with others (leading her to "curing" herself in
X-Men 3).
In the comics, Rogue not only eventually gains full control over her abilities, but a newfound sense of confidence that we never got to see in Fox's franchise. Hopefully if the character is reintroduced one day, we'll get to see a more emotionally empowered take.
Iceman
One of the "original five" X-Men from the comics,
Iceman has never been given a great deal to do outside of using his powers when needed. Much of Bobby Drake's screentime was relegated to his romantic relationship with Rogue (or Kitty Pryde, depending on the movie), and never had much of an active character arc. While we finally got see him "ice up" in
X-Men 3 and display his powers a little more in
Days of Future Past, the new trilogy hasn't shown much interest in bringing him back in any way. Hopefully a series reboot could give the original X-Man his due.
Emma Frost
One of the few X-Men characters thats acted as both hero and villain, fans clamored for Emma Frost to appear in a film for years, and almost got it when Bryan Singer was set to direct
X-Men 3, though her appearance was later scrapped
. The character's first live action appearance (sort of) came in
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, as the sister of Kayla Silverfox who could turn her skin into diamond. While displaying a similar powerset to Emma, the character was never named onscreen.
Emma Frost was officially introduced in 2011's
X-Men: First Class, in a more familiar setting. Like in the comics, Emma was a telepath and a member of the Hellfire Club with Sebastian Shaw, though the film being set in the 1960's nixed any sort of love triangle with Cyclops/Jean Grey. Additionally, January Jones delivered a wooden performance that didn't really sit well with many, and while Magneto busted her out from prison in the film's final scene, the character was abruptly killed offscreen in
Days of Future Past.
Oh boy, where do we start? The X-Men franchise had fallen into a pattern of having Magneto as their main villain for quite some time, and with fans yelling from the rafters to introduce
Apocalypse, they finally got their wish last year. Despite casting the fantastic
Oscar Isaac in the role, Apocalypse's first live-action appearance was disappointing at worst and mediocre at best.
The world's first mutant was reimagined as an all-blue, body hopping, ability stealing villain who seemed far less powerful and threatening than his comic counterpart. The usually charismatic Isaac delivered a monotonous performance that verged on boring, and while he took on all the X-Men rather easily in the film's final act, Jean Grey's deus-ex-Phoenix made rather quick work of the villain.
Angel
Another one of the "original five",
Angel has probably had it worse off than Iceman. While he was heavily marketed in promotional material for
X-Men 3 (the first film to feature all original five members in one film), Warren Worthington was limited to just a handful of scenes, one of which included heroically saving his father, the creator of the "mutant cure".
Even worse was the character's "rebooted" appearance in
X-Men: Apocalypse, where he was reshaped as an obnoxious, hard-drinking mutant cage fighter who joined with Apocalypse so the film could rush him into his transformation into
Archangel. This version was seemingly killed in the film's third act, and likely won't be missed.
Storm
Halle Berry was never particularly awful as
Storm, but she was also never given much to do. The first
X-Men film saw Storm as a teacher at Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, described as one of Xavier's first students. Berry was saddled with a very strange accent in the first film, which she later dropped as her role expanded in the subsequent installments. Despite being one of the more powerful X-Men on the team (and on Earth), Storm always felt like an afterthought until Berry pushed for more screentime in
X-Men 3.
Last year saw
Alexandra Shipp take the role of a younger Storm, who served as a Horseman of Apocalypse (for reasons) until she turned against him in the film's final act (for reasons). With Shipp reprising the role in next year's
X-Men: Dark Phoenix, hopefully she is given a little more to do.
Cyclops might be the more famous Summers mutant, but his brother Alex had the opportunity to shine when the series went back to basic in
X-Men: First Class. The appropriately named
"Havok" was introduced as a brooding loner who struggled to control his powers, and while he found his place on the team by the end of the film, the sequel -
Days of Future Past - reduced his role to a single scene, and
X-Men: Apocalypse had him bring Cyclops to Xavier's School before abruptly killing him off. Hopefully a future X-Men film could finally see the Summers brothers team up together.
Mystique's time on film has been a double-edged sword. While the original trilogy cast the character as a silent, deadly assassin working for Magneto (which really worked), the most recent trilogy (beginning with
X-Men: First Class) retconned the character as an original member of the X-Men before siding with Magneto. The first film's story worked in respect to Mystique feeling betrayed by Xavier and not wanting to hide who she was from the world, but by the time
X-Men: Apocalypse rolled around,
Jennifer Lawrence seemed bored with the role, which had been reshaped to (inexplicably) make the character a hero and team leader of the X-Men.
Jean Grey/Phoenix
Jean Grey: an original X-Man and arguably one of the most popular X-characters. While her struggle with her telekenetic and telepathic abilities were touched upon in the original trilogy, the series seemed more interested in casting her as the object of affection between two men (Wolverine and Cyclops). While her transformation into the all-powerful
Phoenix in Brett Ratner's
X-Men 3 could have given the character some much-needed agency, she spent the majority of that film as a black-eyed mute who acted as Magneto's enforcer before begging Wolverine to kill her in the film's final act.
The character's reintroduction in
X-Men: Apocalypse (played by Sophie Turner) didn't fare much better, as Bryan Singer seemed determined to rush the character into becoming the Phoenix yet again. While we're hoping Jean gets her due in next year's
X-Men: Dark Phoenix, we aren't counting on it.
Cyclops
Poor, poor
Cyclops. He might be the leader of the X-Men in the comics, but Scott Summers still has a long way to go on film, despite a large number of appearances throughout the series. Maybe it's because the writers thought him too wholesome or boring, but Scott's never had his time to shine, getting sidelined by everyone from Professor Xavier to Wolverine to....Mystique (yeah, that happened).
His powers have always looked fantastic, and it's a shame his character portrayal hasn't hit the mark. With the success of Chris Evans in the role of Captain America, it shouldn't be hard to take a similar approach with Scott in the future, making him the leader the X-Men need and deserve.
Is there anyone you think we missed? Let us know which X-Man you think deserves better on the big screen!