Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, Movies, Opinion, streaming, TV, TV | Tagged: Marvel Studios, opinion, x-men, X-Men '97

X-Men '97 Makes Strong Case for Marvel Studios' X-Men Series, Not Film

Marvel Studios' eventual introduction of the X-Men into the MCU should be done as a series and not a film, with X-Men '97 making the case.

Before we go any further, we just wanted to take a second to express some serious love and respect to Iman Vellani (Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel). Behind the scenes, she was one of the more vocal big names when it came to trying to pin down Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige regarding what's going on with the X-Men and when mutants are going to be introduced into the MCU. In front of the camera, Disney+'s 2022 Ms. Marvel series planted the seeds to introduce the X-Men universe into the main MCU by revealing that Kamala was a mutant (along with that very familiar music that played in the background during that moment – which you can check out in the clip above). Why is this important? Because Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman-starring Deadpool & Wolverine is bringing mutants and the MCU even closer together – with Feige dropped a whole lot of gasoline on our dumpster fires of random speculation during his recent press run for the film.

"Every [MCU] film is important, and there's nothing better than a great movie for a Cinematic Universe The before and after? I think a lot of people talk about the R-rating and, 'Is every [Marvel] movie going to be R-rated after this?' Of course not. But I hope every movie after this embraces its tonality the way the way 'Deadpool & Wolverine' and the way this team does," Feige shared during a global press conference for the upcoming film. "Also, the 'after' is clearly…now that we have characters from the 'X-Men' world, the mutants, we haven't had access to before. So, this is the beginning of that, and every [movie] post 'Deadpool & Wolverine' will be the mutant era coming into the MCU." You see what we mean, right? But there was more…

Speaking with io9, Feige discussed how Marvel Studios would approach an X-Men roster with so many options to choose from and an important aspect of X-Men '97 that he would want to see a new live-action project emulate. "Well, it's that phrase we use often at Marvel, which is 'It's an embarrassment of riches.' And there are a lot of great X-Men characters in the 'Deadpool & Wolverine' film. There are a lot of great X-Men characters in all of the Fox versions of the X-Men films. And there are a lot of great X-Men characters that have never gone on the big screen. So I think as we always try to do, as we did when we made the arrangement with Sony for Spider-Man, you'll probably see a mix of characters you've seen before and characters you've never seen before," Feige explained.

"I think the success of 'X-Men '97' was really exciting for us to see people revisit and reconnect with that world. And dare I say, the soap opera elements of that world, which is one of the things that's so exciting to us about jumping into it finally in the MCU," Feige added – and that's the part that caught our eye. Because if Feige is looking for those "soap opera elements" that kept X-Men '97 viewers coming back week after week, then the answer is simple. The next live-action X-Men project needs to be a streaming series and not a film.

One of the many reasons why the first season worked so well was that showrunner, series creator, and writer Beau DeMayo and writers Charley Feldman, JB Ballard, and Anthony Sellitti had a ten-episode creative sandbox to play in that allowed them to not just find the right balance between epic action and intimate moments but to also give every character their moment to shine. How many other X-Men-related projects can you think of that would have Wolverine as more of a supporting character without diminishing the character's importance? You can only accomplish that by having the time to round out the entire cast in meaningful ways that resonate with fans – something I can't see happening in even a three-hour film. Not that a film can't be in play – that might be the way to go if a season is building to some sort of epic smackdown or five-alarm finale. But if you really want to do right by the X-Men – their heroism and heartbreak – then Marvel's mutants deserve a live-action series future.

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