The MCU's X-Men Reboot Must Take These 6 Crucial Things From X-Men '97 If It Wants To Succeed
Since 2019, Kevin Erdmann has been one of Screen Rant's Senior Staff Writers, covering all kinds of Superhero and Star Wars media with Easter egg breakdowns, theory pieces, breaking news, and more. A huge Star Wars & MCU fan, Kevin also loves Batman (because he's Batman), but could talk for hours about why Nightwing is DC's greatest hero.
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Following the end of the Multiverse Saga, Marvel Studios is preparing to reboot the X-Men in the MCU, a new era for the classic mutant heroes on the big screen. As exciting as that is, there's more than a few lessons the upcoming reboot can learn from another Marvel Studios X-Men project that already exists.
Ahead of the upcoming X-Men movie set to release in 2028, Marvel Studios fortunately already has a very strong blueprint with X-Men '97. An epic revival series set in the same continuity as the original X-Men animated series of the 90s, the first two seasons of X-Men''97 do an incredible job showcasing some of the very best things the live-action MCU reboot should absolutely adopt.
While the new live-action X-Men movie in the MCU will inevitably strive to establish its own identity, X-Men '97 is so strong of an adaptation that the movie should absolutely follow its lead in a few key areas. From utilizing Cyclops well to adapting the original comic book source material, here are six key things the upcoming X-Men reboot needs to take from X-Men '97 to be a success.
The MCU's Reboot Needs To Be A True Ensemble Film
One of the biggest strengths of X-Men '97 is that its wide roster of characters genuinely feels like a true ensemble. Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Beast, Nightcrawler, Storm, Forge, Jubilee, Xavier, Magneto, and more popular mutants all have their own distinct arcs, personalities, and relationships, with the spotlight being fairly well-balanced and shared among them very well. That's important given the X-Men's status as one of Marvel's biggest and most important teams, while also effectively being a family.
Keeping that in mind, the hope is that Marvel Studios will be able to resist the temptation and not have Wolverine take the bulk of the spotlight as he did in the previous Fox franchise. As amazing as Hugh Jackman's Logan is, the high focus on his character and arc came at the cost of some of the franchise's best characters who became massively underutilized and should have been just as important.
Thankfully, Wolverine is nowhere to be found in Marvel Studios' initial casting announcements for the upcoming X-Men movie, which feels like a good sign. He should absolutely be saved for later once other mutants are established in the MCU.
Magneto Is Not The End-All X-Men Villain
Without a doubt, Erik Lensherr's Magneto is one of the greatest characters in X-Men history, as compelling a villain as he is an ally to the X-Men. However, X-Men '97 has done a great job showing how to use him best when he isn't always the franchise's sole major antagonist. Not only has there been more comic-accurate nuance to Magneto's role and his relationship with Charles Xavier, but more room has been given for other villains to shine in X-Men '97 as well, including Bastion, Mister Sinister, and more recently En Sabah Nur's Apocalypse.
The variety of threats facing the X-Men beyond humanity's general fear and oppression has been quite impressive, and it's definitely something Marvel Studios should adopt for the upcoming MCU reboot as well. Seeing as how Adam Driver has been cast as Nathaniel Milbury (most like Mister Sinister) over Magneto, it certainly seems like the new MCU franchise is headed in the right direction. Magneto deserves to have his complicated position adapted well, rather than being relegated to an inevitable final threat/outright villain.
Cyclops As The MCU X-Men's True Team Leader
Scott Summers' Cyclops has arguably received one of the biggest character redemptions thanks to Marvel Studios' X-Men '97. Rather than treating Scott Summers as simply Jean Grey's boyfriend or Wolverine's rival like the Fox movies did, the series has been much truer to Scott's full characterization in the comics as the X-Men's predominant team leader and greatest tactician.
It's exactly how the upcoming MCU reboot should approach the new X-Men movie's version as well, who will be played by Kit Connor. Scott's not an impressive hero just because of his powerful optic blasts. His leadership is one of his greatest traits on the page and in X-Men '97, so much so that it would be a major shame if he were to be wasted yet again in live-action.
With any luck, the upcoming X-Men reboot will keep the redemption going and give us the live-action Cyclops the franchise deserves (right after they hopefully redeem James Marsden's version of Scott following his multiversal appearance in Avengers: Doomsday).
X-Men '97 Doesn't Fear Its Source Material (Neither Should The MCU)
Perhaps one of the most important lessons Marvel Studios can take from X-Men '97's success is that these beloved mutant heroes and their stories don't need to be made less strange to remain accessible. After all, X-Men '97 has embraced some of the craziest arcs, characters, and narratives from the comics, embracing some of the most bizarre elements from the overall Marvel/X-Men mythology. The alien tyrant Mojo and his deadly television shows are a great example, as is the prehistoric Savage Land hidden in Antarctica, the alien Shi'ar Empire, and more.
At this stage in the game that is the superhero film genre, there doesn't feel like much need for a "grounded" X-Men franchise. Things can be weird, and costumes can be colorful. No black leather needed.
Mutants Need To Feel Distinct From Other MCU Heroes
Crucially, the MCU's new X-Men team needs to not feel like just another superhero team debuting in the interconnected universe, as we're not just talking about the X-Men themselves being added into the MCU. Instead, the new X-Men reboot will more than likely help usher in mutantkind in general, and probably to a pretty big degree. After all, we've only seen a small handful of mutants native to Earth-616 thus far.
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As such, the X-Men franchise has always had a very distinct mythology and identity within the greater Marvel Universe, and the same will hopefully be true in the MCU. X-Men '97 models this concept pretty well, showing how mutants have created a massive paradigm shift in the way society operates (and how that can naturally create tensions). As such, the personal battles fought by the X-Men need to feel uniquely significant to their struggle as they fight to protect mutantkind and work toward coexistence (beyond any future moments where they might suit up to help save the world alongside the Avengers).
Treat The Classic X-Men Allegories Seriously In The MCU
Finally, the MCU needs to capture why the X-Men is such an enduring and compelling franchise in the first place, just as X-Men '97 has. On a consistent basis, X-Men comics have been used as key allegories for dealing with issues like prejudice, the oppression of minority groups, the struggle for acceptance, and identity. X-Men '97 hasn't shied away from those concepts in the slightest, and it's done a solid job adapting several arcs from the comics themselves. Hopefully, the MCU will be able to do the same, making these allegories organic and part of the natural stories that have always been told with the X-Men for generations.
That's probably the biggest lesson Marvel Studios should take from X-Men '97's success. The series didn't succeed by reinventing the X-Men into something completely different. It works by having a core understanding what makes these characters so unique and special in the first place, and then building on that foundation from there. Here's hoping the MCU's upcoming X-Men reboot is the start of a brand-new era of Marvel's mutant heroes.
X-Men is set to release in theaters on May 5th, 2028 from Marvel Studios.
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X-Men
- Release Date
- May 5, 2028
- Director
- Jake Schreier
- Writers
- Joanna Calo, Lee Sung Jin, Michael Lesslie
- Producers
- Kevin Feige
- Franchise(s)
- Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), X-Men
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Jean Grey
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Rogue / Anna Marie
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Scott Summers / Cyclops
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Samara Weaving
Emma Frost
Upcoming X-Men feature film set in the MCU featuring Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, first revealed in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
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