X-men retrospective

A little bit about me, I’m a casual fan of Marvel. Animated 90s TV shows introduced me to Marvel. Growing up I used to read The Beano, still have a collection.

20th Century Fox acquired the film rights to X-Men and started making movies back in 2000. 15 films X-Men were produced over two decades. Also owned the rights to Deadpool (2) and fantastic four (3) adding another 5 films to the total. Marvel’s output towards Fox’s second decade was 20+ films, an average of 2-3 per year. Thus a major difference in terms of volume, Marvel created a shared universe and Fox did the traditional sequel. Until Disney ended up buying Fox and reverting the rights back to Marvel. Marvel’s cinematic universe changed the landscape, learning from what came before it. X-men Universe helped create the template, and MCU would later follow. 

Fox hired Kevin Feige to be an assistant producer on X-men, his comic book knowledge helped shape the story. Kevin would later become the brain behind MCU and be inspired by Fox’s success. Kevin would later be president of Marvel Studios

Bryan Singer allegations

Bryan Singer’s X-Men was groundbreaking, the first major Marvel adaptation for mainstream audiences. Bryan earned a reputation, for being able to print money and absences due to partying. Last directing gig Bohemian Rhapsody 2018 he was fired due to absences and replaced. Allegations exist against him relating to misconduct and abuse. Hollywood has ignored bad behaviour and enabled abuse. Rather disappointing learning about these allegations which seem ripe within Hollywood. Still, more to do at stamping out the problem. 

The X-Men franchise is often seen as mirroring the gay experience and LGBT groups.  The movie’s legacy is a detailed exploration of that experience, one Hollywood avoided. Emotion with character development in comic book movies was well unheard of. The first two are groundbreaking, dealing with serious themes with emotion. Bryan Singer (BS) wrote and directed, 4 films which happen to be some of the better ones—a fresh face who was unfamiliar with comics. Thus a strong team of writers and producers helped. 

Quick overview and summary of each movie. 

Phase 1 – First trilogy

• X-Men – 5/10
• X2 – 6/10
• X-Men last stand – 4/10

*Bryan directed Superman’s returns instead of X3 last stand, Fox wanted him to return. 

The main theme here is a conflict between mutants and humans. The last stand gives us what that could look like. Other themes here struggle to be comfortable with being different, mirroring the gay community. Black and white characters Professor X and Magneto both start to look morally grey at times. Putting others in harm’s way for their goals. Bunch of character development, even minor ones. Action scenes are used but not overused. Special effects are part of the development. New characters are given purpose and emotions that the viewer can understand. Bringing something that Superman or Batman never considered to do or the genre. Helping set the standard that many superhero movies would follow in the years to come. Thus pretty good but Age does show, feels very much like a 2000s action movie. Fox had little faith it would work so much compromise. Steering away from the source material, loose adaption compared to say animated TV shows. Remember this was before the days of MCU and mega hits from others. 

The trilogy ends with X-Men the last stand, BS setup is wasted. Trades character development for action, special effects over emotion. A war between humans and mutants is an idea BS pushing for a while. Therefore being a natural ending to the story. Execution is wonky, but we do get a teased war between both sides. Almost good just needed more diligent storytelling.

The main plot is the cure is created that disables the mutant gene. A private company has created this cure and is offering it for free. This leads to a war between the mutants and humans. Dark Phoenix subplot sees the death of Charles, Cyclops. Could remove this from the movie and let it be part of a new trilogy. Are moments of emotion and payoff, certain characters get the ending that suits them. That just gets overshadowed by the rest, Wolverine killing Jean Grey the potential love of his life, somebody unable to catch a break. Early on Jean Grey ends up Cyclops (Actor was busy).  So many forced mistakes, and powers used as jokes or only for action scenes. More for the sake of more which is a great shame. Almost good and a perfect ending to the trilogy. 

Spin offs – Wolverine trilogy

• X-Men Origins: Wolverine – 2/10
• The Wolverine – 4/10
• Logan – 10/10

*Origin trilogy a set of prequels was planned, and pre-production started for Magneto film. Some ideas were reused for the first class but the project was cancelled. The writer’s strike helped delay and kill the project. 

Wolverine’s backstory was already explored in X2, with the origin already known doing the same plot makes no sense. The result was a rather dull and frustrating mess. I can’t remember the storyline, the special effects look bad and Deadpool. Critics hated it and box office numbers barely made it break even. It only exists due to Wolverine being so popular. 

The Wolverine takes us to Japan, former WW2 Japanese wants logan powers so he can avoid death. Logan was a soldier during WW2, a prisoner of war who saved his guard from certain death. After the death of Jean Grey, struggling with being a mutant the old man offers to take his powers away. Making him human and saving the drying man. You get some character development, a little bit of emotion and some decent action scenes. Overall the movie is dumb but fun. 

Logan is a conclusion to Charles and Wolverine’s story arc. Aged extremely ill Charles Xavier and Logan. It is perfect in so many ways, in how it tackles certain issues. Gives us a bunch of vulnerable, characters with loads of emotion and development. It works as a stand-alone or part of the X-Men ecosystem. The story is an alternative take on the war between humans and mutants. More grounded darker script allows Hugh Jackman and Sir Patrick Stewart to shine. Different approach and style compared to what came before. Genre-based needed a refresh and this darker take is great. Reminds me of what Christopher Nolan did with Batman reboots 2005, 2008, 2012. Logan 2017 came out and went the darker more grounded route to. 

Genre as a whole has kept to action but slowly tried to explore other ideas. Honestly, time for another risk to be taken. Deadpool is R rated action comedy gamble but not that big of a risk. Pretty much every single superhero movie is action based. 

Deadpool trilogy almost

A far more faithful adaptation of Deadpool leaked test footage helped green light Deadpool’s return. Ryan Reynolds would return and save his acting career. With shoe string budget of $58 million, the R-rated movie made $782, breaking records. Reynolds’s performance is great, with film style and tone work. The biggest fault here like other super heros movies it is yet another action movie that follows a formula. 2nd movie saw the budget double and take further digs at the X-Men. An improvement over the first movie with a better story. Recycled jokes are a bit of disappointment.

Deadpool 7/10 

Deadpool 2 8/10

Phase 2 – Young trilogy

• X-Men first class – 9/10
• X-Men days of the future past – 10/10
• X-Men Apocalypse – 4/10
• X-Men: Dark Phoenix – 5/10

The first class was a soft reboot and a bit of retcon set in the 1960s. Similar to how comics work, set in the 1960s. Therefore giving us younger versions of the universe. Redo of characters and storylines that weren’t done well the first time around. Is this movie better than X-Men, answer is yes. The original trilogy is full of compromise and moves away from the source material when it can. Studio that had little to no faith in the genre or X-Men. This on the other hand is a love letter to the comic books. Magento origin is explored here, with major character developments that retcon or give backstory that was missing. Everybody gets a decent amount of screen time and story. Could describe it as pre sequel, just the creation of X-Men we never got to see. The Cuban missile crisis as the backdrop for a possible war between humans and mutants was clever. 

Days of the future past build on the conflict between humans and mutants. The comic book story here provides a massive amount of material and is considered one of the best stories. A worse outcome happens with mutants in the future losing the war. Actions of mutants set across various movies causes humans to begin a long war against mutants. A group of mutants plan to send Wolverine back in time to rewrite history. Set in the 1970s takes familiar faces and gives us younger versions yet again. This time around we get to see both younger and older versions. So much character development, emotions just add to the stakes. The goal is clear but internal conflict about how to reach that goal. Redo on the storyline within X2 that was never fleshed out. 

Apocalypse is introduced with a post-credit scene, very much MCU. Trying to force a franchise without much thought about how to execute it. Action over story just feels well rather dated compared to what Marvel was doing. Tries to retcon neatly tied up character story arcs just creating a messy plot. Similar to X3 new characters only exist for their powers and have little else to do. Marvel was casting a long shadow and putting huge pressure on Fox. Trying to copy the MCU just made for one bad idea and that’s why this whole thing is bad. Seems to forget and rush everything, more action less character moments, emotions feel flat and don’t carry any weight.   Bryan Singer’s Final X-men fails to capture the good bits. The only good part is a tease about dark phoenix along with Charles being more morally grey here. 

Dark Phoenix could remove some parts of this movie and everything plays out the same way. Obviously, this film suffered from rewrites towards the end and something else happened. A surprise but I do think this is better than Apocalypse. Does a far better job with the Phoenix storyline. Phoenix causes a civil war between the mutant’s works due to the connection between everybody. What suddenly does not work is how quickly resolved that is. I’m not joking just a couple of lines of dialogue before everybody goes “Okay let’s save Jean Grey”. Thus the conclusion feels weak, character development goes out the window. A side plot with aliens is underused here and only exists for some action moments. The last quarter of the movie just drags the rest of the movie down. 

Phase 3 Death of Fox’s X-Men

New mutants 1/10.  

New Mutants is a similar story to Logan’s subplot but worse. Bunch of young mutants being held and used for their powers. And I can’t remember finishing it or watching it. I have been told it is total rubbish. Maybe I should rewatch it…..

X-Men and the MCU what happens next?

Marvel’s MCU plan was made before Fox was acquired by Disney. Stand-alone movies won’t happen for a while, the timetable is already full and planned. An odd cameo with reference is all we have so far. A revival of the X-Men animated TV show for Disney Plus is coming soon, now delayed. Picking up the plot from the original. Deadpool has crossed universes before and could be the door opener into the MCU. Hugh Jackman is returning as Wolverine, after saying he would never play that role again. Cost cutting is hitting Disney hard at the moment with various projects being delayed or cancelled. The future outside of Deadpool is uncertain. Veterans of Pixar have been fired after a poor box office performance by Lightyear.  

Without doing too much of what went wrong with the MCU, inspired to write that.  I hope Disney is willing to take some risks and expand beyond the action with X-Men. So many different stories to tell and don’t have to be pure action movies. At the moment looks far away as the Avengers return and Kang takes the villain spot.

My big worry is we won’t get to see another X-Men movie. The writer’s strike is causing serious delays, two movies have been scrapped in 2025 as stuff gets pushed back. No sign of a slowdown, or reducing the scope of MCU yet. Forumla MCU has followed has resulted in similar styles of movies without much risk-taking. Further flops or failures could put a halt to the X-Men’s possible return in the distant future before it starts. For now, Disney Plus provides X-Men with a home and gives fans something. 

*Looking out for X-Men related news in the future after writing this.