Now that the X-Men are back under Marvel’s control, it feels like open season on the way Fox has handled the franchise over the past couple decades. Granted, it’s not as though folks held back their criticism during Fox’s tenure, but now that things have a real chance of changing with the mutants becoming a part of the MCU, the takes on the X-Men’s cinematic past have been scorching.
On that note, there’s a lot of mutants that Fox did a disservice to through their cinematic adaptations of the character. These characters were far departures from their comic book counterparts and fundamentally changed major aspects of the character for mainstream audiences. Here’s some of the more egregious adaptations of the mutants, and hopefully, Marvel will get it right if these characters are ever re-introduced.
Iceman
Bobby Drake was introduced in X-Men, and like his love interest Rogue (who we’ll talk more about later), his adaptation was a lot different than his comic book counterpart. Mainly, his powers were never quite on the level they should’ve been, especially considering he’s an Omega-level mutant. For those unaware, that puts his abilities on the same level as Jean Grey, who Fox had no problem adapting.
To be fair, Bobby’s enhanced abilities came with time, but to be even more fair, it didn’t take him decades to learn how to do the ice slide effectively. By Days of Future Past, Bobby should’ve been able to hold his own much better against the Sentinels and not be melted down to a puddle. My ultimate hope is Bobby is back as a founding member of the X-Men in an MCU reboot, and the world can really see what he’s capable of in the future.
Silver Samurai
There are two different characters that have served as the Silver Samurai in Marvel comics over the years, so it’s only natural The Wolverine ignored both and created a bastardized third version of the character. In the movie, Silver Samurai was a robot controlled by Ichiro Yashida who wished to steal Wolverine’s mutant healing ability to maintain his youth. The plan almost worked thanks to the manipulation of Logan by Kenuichio Harada, who tricked the mutant to think he was there to aid his clan against attacks.
While the second Silver Samurai was a mech controlled by a human, it was Shin Harada who controlled and developed the suit. Kenuichio Harada was his father and the first Silver Samurai. He was a mutant with tachyon manipulation, which he could focus into his blade and make it cut through anything. The Wolverine blended the father and son and gave the suit to Kenuichio’s father (Shin’s grandfather) and ultimately robbed audiences of what could’ve been a much more interesting showdown between Yashida and Harada.
Apocalypse
He may not stand a chance against Thanos or more cosmic level Marvel villains, but Apocalypse ranks among the X-Men’s greatest adversaries. As X-Men: Apocalypse showed, he is nigh invulnerable thanks to the immense amount of mutant powers at his disposal. These powers allow him to do many things, including enhance the powers of other mutants. In this regard, Fox actually did a decent job with him, even if the movie wasn’t great.
From a looks perspective, however, Apocalypse was nothing short of a disaster. Fox really missed the mark on re-creating the bulky villain and somehow made him look more like Ivan Ooze from the Power Rangers movie when they should’ve made him closer to a knockoff of DC’s Darkseid. Speaking of which, Apocalypse wouldn’t stand a chance of defeating Darkseid either, as his only true edge over all mega villains is that he can technically live forever. He’s a great X-Men villain, but overall weak threat to the entire MCU.
Rogue
Anna Paquin’s Rogue is one of the more memorable portrayals of Fox’s run of the X-Men, and fans wanted to see her back as the hero (and almost did) for a very long time. As beloved as her character was, it’s more than fair to say that Paquin’s Rogue was her own thing, and not quite the level of hero that her comic book counterpart was.
In the comics, Rogue’s ability not only retained the powers of another, but also their memories and their personality. This led to some interesting situations, like when Rogue absorbed many of Carol Danvers’ powers during her Ms. Marvel days (that was Danvers’ persona ahead of becoming Captain Marvel in Marvel Comics) and had the hero’s abilities for quite some time. I’d love to see a Rogue that powerful in the MCU, if only to see her become another beloved hero for a while.
Angel
Angel is one of the more confusing mutants to appear in Fox’s X-Men franchise, as there were two distinct opportunities to tell Warren Worthington III’s story the way it was meant to. After all, Angel is a founding member of the X-Men in Marvel Comics, so wouldn’t the films want to show that by making him a core part of the team with an engaging story about how he met Charles Xavier?
Of course that didn’t happen, and if audiences only knew Angel from the X-Men films, they’d probably think he was a fairly minor character. It would be nice to see him have a bigger role in an MCU feature, especially considering his powers are greater than simply being a mutant that has wings. He’s actually pretty strong and has some cool storylines that could be adapted in his transition to Archangel. It could be a bit complicated to flesh out, but I’d like to think Marvel Studios is up to the task.
Cyclops
To be completely fair, it’s not entirely Fox’s fault that they botched the role of Cyclops the first time around. Hugh Jackman’s breakout role as Wolverine was what audiences wanted to see, and while Scott Summers was the leader of the mutant team, rarely would the story ever focus on his great leadership capabilities. In fact, he was made out to be a rival to Wolverine, and was somewhat depicted as a jerk despite Logan constantly hitting on his girl.
With the recasting of Wolverine set to be one of Marvel’s greatest hurdles now that it has the X-Men back, now may be a good time to re-establish the X-Men as Cyclops’ team. Wolverine’s more than welcome to come along for the ride and go rogue, but let’s get a strong lead in Cyclops who can lead the team and prove to be just as interesting as some of the other characters in the franchise.
Will Disney and Marvel redeem these characters, or will they have the same struggles Fox had with the X-Men franchise? Be sure to sound off in our comments, and continue to stick with CinemaBlend for all the latest news in the world of movies and television.
