How to Save the X-Men Movie Franchise

If you've been reading the blog so far, you know I have words to say about the latest movie in the X-Men movie franchise. However today, we're not going to focus on the negative. Today is all about staying positive and figuring out now what makes these recent X-Men movies so terrible, but what is needed to make future installments reclaim the franchise's former glory.

So here we go kiddies, the top five ideas that I think would get this movie series back on solid ground.

5. Scott Summers: Ultimate Badass
I used to hate the character of Cyclops. It seemed that all Scott could do in the 90's was whine about his girlfriend and be a square boy scout who got in the way of the team's number one bad boy, Wolverine. But as the millennium changed, so did Mr. Summers thanks in part to the reworking of the character under the pen of Grant Morrison. In Morrison's New X-Men, Scott had a sort of "mental affair" with Emma Frost, which separated him from his longtime companion, Jean Grey.

Whether you loved it or hated it, the new dynamic introduced a new spark to the character that carried on to the current books where Cyclops has positioned himself as a tough-as-nails protector for the last shreds of mutantkind. This character has gone from being my least liked to one of my favorite and it's something I would love to see on screen.

Okay, so Cyclops was "killed" off in X-Men: The Last Stand. So what? This is a comic movie and the death happened off camera anyway. Bring Famke Janssen back for a cameo showing that at the last second, Jean stopped the Phoenix from killing Scott and, oh I dunno, sent him hurtling through the Canadian wilderness. Alone, injured and rendered blind by his lack of visor, his psychic rapport with Jean calls out for help... and is answered by Emma Frost.

For all its missteps, X-Men Origins: Wolverine did have the right idea by trying to bring in two of the comic's biggest characters in cameos by a young Cyclops and Emma Frost. Get a decent actress to play a grown up Frost (may I suggest Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell?) and bring back James Marsden to play Cyclops, only this time make him the badass leader of mutantkind that he gets to be in the comic books.

4. Put a Cap on Cameos

When I first saw X2, I was a little disappointed that the only new mutant we were really going to get to see in detail was Nightcrawler and Deathstryke. The bad guy was a human and his mutant son was sort of a melting pot of a few different characters. There were drive-by cameos by a few characters like Colossus and Siryn, but for the most part, all of the major muties had been introduced in the first movie. X-Men has always had such a giant cast, I felt coming out of it that the movie was spectacular, but that I wanted more and more mutants to show up.

X-Men: The Last Stand granted my wish for more mutants and I immediately wanted to take it back. X-Men Origins: Wolverine took it a step further and brought in beloved characters like Deadpool, only to make them suck beyond belief by the end. Leaving that mess, I yearned for the days of X2, when guest mutants were treated with serious gloves and where quality was more important than quantity.

Bring barely explored characters like Angel, Colossus and Shadowcat into the forefront instead of packing in new mutants to walk on, do a power and then leave. And trim the cast where appropriate. Rogue takes the cure? Fine, get out of there. Beast works in the government now? See ya!

And we all love Hugh Jackman and we all love Wolverine, but he's had FOUR movies to himself. It's time to relegate him to calvary status and let the other characters shine. Don't worry, the Wolverine toys will miraculously still sell!

3. Look to the Future

One of the reasons that X-Men Origins: Wolverine fell so flat was because, let's face it, for the most part prequel pictures suck. There's no suspense when you know, flat out, that none of these characters are going to die. Instead of making us suffer through X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Tokyo Drift, they should look to the future instead.

The distant future.

Days of the Future Past is one of the most beloved X-Men stories of all time. Not only has it been adapted for the 90's cartoon, but it has pretty much been the entire basis of the newest X-Toon, Wolverine and the X-Men. And let's be honest, Heroes did it! If this storyline holds the attention of Joe Q. NBCviewer, then it will hold the attention of his cousin John Q. Moviegoer as well.

Start the movie with a dystopian future full of giant Sentinels and mutant outlaws. Throw in Forge to create some sort of time travel device and do the story right. Taking a cue from the original comics, this would be a great way to do a Shadowcat-centric movie and Ellen Page has the acting chops to pull doubt acting duty as spunky present-day Kitty and her hardened future counterpart, Kate.

And if studio heads demand more cameos, you've got a great chance to do so in the future scenes as mutant outlaws running for their lives. Any stupid changes or weird flaws in character can be easily written off as being a product of such a devistating environment, and altogether erased when the X-Men are able to stop the assassination of insert government person here.

2. Roll out the Villains

I love Ian McKellen as Magento, let me make that clear. He's a phenomenal actor and the fact that he's gay brings a certain level of passion to the role that's obvious in his acting. Despite the fact that he's a little old for the part, he's pretty much the real deal.

But let's get some new villains in here, shall we? With Xavier out of the picture and Magneto cured (for now...dun dun dun!) its time for the X-Men to take on new adversaries. Afterall, with so many years of continuity there's a plethora of great villains to choose from.

I've always been a fan of (Mr.) Sinister and I think there are a number of plots that could be done with the character. His role as a geneticist could mean that cured mutants might seek him out to get their powers back, which he grants at a price. There's also the fact that he's got a vested interest in Jean Grey and Scott Summers. His tinkering with their DNA could be a way to bring the two characters back in way. Or how about a movie version of the Mutant Massacre? With Storm as the leader, this would be a great way to do a focus story around her by introducing the Morlocks, only to have them picked off by the Mauraders. It could even end with Angel getting his wings severed, leading him to be turned into Archangel, which could be a lead in to another villain.

I think Apocolypse, if done properly, could be one hell of a great villain to use to jump start the series. Start the movie with some archeologists in Egypt uncovering a sleeping En Sabah Nur and you've got the set up for an epic showdown against the first mutant in existance.

His horsemen could be an excuse to trim down the giant cast into a likeable size. Do the whole Archangel thing and use Wolverine, Storm and a resurrected Xavier (thanks to Apoclypse!) as the other horsemen. That way the conflict is in the X-Men having to fight their allies and lets the movie use all these characters, but just in different ways.


1. Make Mine Marvel!

When Fox Studios first made X-Men, comic book movies were rarely done and rarely good. Nowadays, Marvel Comics has its own movie studio and clearly has a better handle on its own characters than executives in outside companies do. The best way to get the movie franchise back to its previous glory is to the let the rights revert back to Marvel so that they can get their own version out.

However, as far as I know, Fox pretty much can hold out on the rights just as long as they keep making movies. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was an obvious attempt to keep the franchise in Fox's pocket by avoiding the mess that X-Men: The Last Stand created altogether. With announcements for a Wolverine sequel and a Deadpool spin-off, it looks like Fox will have a tight grip on this franchise for years.


That doesn't mean Marvel shouldn't attempt to wheedle in more creative control over what happens to their characters. After all, X-Men is one of the comic giant's biggest franchises. Letting Fox haphazardly squeeze money out of this limping movie series is helping to tarnish the brand. Get in there Marvel and convince the Fox executives they need to be treating the material like The Dark Knight with innovation, power and gravitas. Not slash slash cameo slash NOOOOO!!! like we've been getting.