The age of the comic book movie is upon us and has been for a number of years now. Many studios are fighting for the top spot in the box office, as well as our hearts with beloved characters getting the lime light on the silver screen. Never before have we as fans been spoiled with such amazing movies from The Dark Knight to Marvel's The Avengers; and while the fun is just now beginning, in almost everyone's opinion, things could be improved upon.
For years studios released sub-par movies that just didn't tantalize our senses as fans. Movies that either strayed too far from the comfort zone of the source material or simply didn't have the impact of a good story due to the writing behind it. We suffered through the worst of the worst and way too much leather and Bat-nipples before the studios making these movies realized that people want to see a more comic book accurate approach to their beloved characters. Things changed in the year 2002 when Sony Studios released one of the most impressive movies of its time for the genre, Spider-Man. Generally loved by all, and viewed by myself almost one hundred times, Spider-Man changed things for the comic book movie scene. Alas, this gravy train of a franchise fizzled among fans after Sony forgot what made the franchise so great in the first place.
Fast forward to the present and you'll see just how damaging a move the third outing really was to the character. So much so that the company that made this once great franchise is now opting the character to a much more capable competitor, Marvel Studios. While the MCU is not perfect, no one can argue the success of the films they have put to screen, and for once in a long time, I'm confident as a fan to say that i believe a Spider-Man movie can return to greatness.
The X-Men!
But enough of that talk, in all fairness I have said nothing from the above words that many of us don't already know. The truth is I'm jus thrilled to have such a great character back in the fold and among his rightful family. His story fits so well with the current slate of movies and characters already set up through almost ten years of connected movies that it's a little hard not to get caught up in the hype of it all.
This article is not about what has already happened, this article is about looking ahead to the future and "boldly going where no man has before". What I'm talking about is a joint movie between Marvel's The Avengers and Fox's X-Men.
*Before I begin I would like to say that I love the current movies Fox has delivered to the fans based on the X-Men, and while they may not follow the source material, in some senses, these movies are better than what Marvel has done with their movies*
Having said that, I think that the X-Men can and should be connected to the MCU, similar to what Sony is doing to Spider-Man. I think the X-Men are the perfect mirror image to what Marvel has set up in terms of tone in their movies. The Marvel heroes are loved by all in their universe, with the exception of The Hulk, who in the comics is just as, if not more, hated than anyone else due to the ferocious nature of the character. The truth is, even in the comics The Avengers are loved by all. This is something that Marvel has done very well in establishing.
In contrast to The Avengers, The X-Men are widely hated by the general public of the Marvel Universe. Why? Because they represent the end of humanity, the start of something new and scary, and in some ways, the people of the Marvel Universe hate them just because they are different. Some of the them are grotesque, some are so powerful they can control other people, and others are as normal as anyone else but could destroy the world as we know it single handedly. When the X-Men were created they represented the strife and discourse of those fighting for equal rights in the United States at the time, and they were hated and persecuted the same. They drew parallels from Martin Luther King (Professor Xavier) and Malcolm X (Magneto), and created a real world anti- group within the pages of the Marvel Comic Universe.
So, having said that, I think that with the established universe that the MCU has created, The X-Men would be treated much like their comic book counterparts and persecuted in a similar fashion. Many have raised qualms with this opinion saying things such as The Avengers are widely adored in the MCU, so much so that they have action figures! While this is a valid point, i believe that if the X-Men were to "show up" in the already established universe, many people would treat them differently than they do The Avengers.
The Avengers have now publicly saved the world from an alien invasion. Their team consists of a war hero brought back to life, a famous playboy who isn't playboy who isn't afraid of the publicity that comes with the "job", a beautiful God who has also saved the earth from a subsequent invasion (Ala The Dark World), and a group of super spys that up until recently most people didn't even know existed. The only real issue with the team could be found in their not so friendly giant, The Hulk.
Comparatively, The X-Men (and mutants in general), are typically not so well decorated as the above mentioned superheroes. The truth is the public views them as a disease, a plague, or just simply the scum of the earth. Families were torn apart when discovering that their teenager had become a monster, and outcast many who just didn't look like the established norm. While their are pretty mutants (Cyclops, Jean, Bobby, Warren, ect.) some of them literally became monsters. Others, like Magneto, became monsters due to the way they were received by human kind.
The general public, due to the media and a few select mutants who chose to destroy those that had persecuted them, view all mutants as a bad thing. I do not believe the general public in the MCU would be much different. With Civil War looming in the near future, the public discourse toward super powered humans should be at an all time high, a perfect time to introduce the most hated group of humans to date, the mutants.
I think that if given the opportunity, Marvel, Sony and Fox could create a multi-studio, multi billion dollar movie franchise the likes of which have never been seen before. I know that this is just a pipe dream and will probably never see the light of day, but a fanboy can dream can't he?