Despite being some of Marvel’s most iconic characters, the X-Men have often endured some pretty rough times when it comes to movie adaptations. Beginning in 2000 with X-Men, Fox’s franchise, which adapted the titular Marvel mutants, got off to a strong start. However, 2006 saw its first major misstep in the form of X-Men: The Last Stand, and the franchise soon became known for its inconsistent quality. For all its shortcomings, however, the franchise delivered several great movies and many memorable moments. With the X-Men soon set to make their full debut in the movies of the MCU, looking back over their previous movie history highlights some of the worst things that happened to the characters and their story.
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Not every X-Men movie mistake could have been avoided. Some of the worst things to happen to the franchise have only really become clear in hindsight, while others are aspects of the movies that were criticized from the very beginning. Although some simply led to frustrating unanswered questions about the X-Men franchise, others considerably hurt its reputation, perhaps even contributing in some way to its eventual demise.
5) Deciding To Mess With The Timeline
After debuting in 2000, the X-Men franchise was initially comprised of a trilogy, which ended with the much-maligned 2006 movie X-Men: The Last Stand. After an underwhelming prequel spin-off, the franchise underwent a soft reboot in the form of 2011’s 1960s-set X-Men: First Class, chronicling how young Professor X met Magneto and first opened his school for gifted youngsters. Though X-Men: First Class was one of the best X-Men movies, it marked a decision that ultimately caused a lot of issues within the franchise.
Choosing to explore the X-Men’s story through prequels ultimately backfired, as it resulted in complex timeline issues that were later resolved through equally complex time travel and alternate reality stories. The damage that this decision did to the overall continuity of the franchise proved irreparable, as its timeline became so convoluted that many casual fans simply switched off. Though it was perhaps the right idea, the execution led to wider problems that made it a terrible choice.
4) Wasting Cyclops’ Most Important Attribute
One of the few characters to feature across the complex timelines of Fox’s X-Men franchise was Cyclops. This seemed completely natural, considering he was one of the original X-Men in the comics and has long been one of the most important mutants in the Marvel Universe. Played by James Marsden in the original trilogy, then later replaced for the prequels by Tye Sheridan, Cyclops’ characterization is subtly one of the worst things to happen to the franchise.
While Cyclops was never going to be one of the best fighters in the X-Men movies, the movies really dropped the ball by leaving out his most important characteristic. Cyclops should have served as the leader of the team, a role that he was never really shown fulfilling. Instead, the original trilogy presented him as a jealous and petty rival to Wolverine, and the later movies depicted him as an inexperienced mutant happy to take his cues from others. It may not be hugely important to the wider narrative, but it subtly proved how little the franchise understood one of the most important X-Men characters.
3) Gambit Being Consistently Left Out
Some characters were ruined by the X-Men movies, but others were altogether wasted. Gambit falls into the latter category, as after proving to be one of the most consistently popular characters in X-Men: The Animated Series, he hardly featured in the franchise at all. His only live-action appearance came in a brief scene in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, in which he was played by Taylor Kitsch.
Kitch’s version of Gambit was divisive, but he had some potential. Unfortunately, he was never able to reprise the role, with a planned solo movie swiftly entering development hell. Considering the massive interest in the character and his potential place in the franchise, it turned out to be one of the worst things to happen to the X-Men movies. To have completely fumbled a character as beloved as Gambit was a huge misstep, and continues to stand out as a sign of the franchise’s frustratingly untapped potential.
2) Focusing Too Much On Professor X & Magneto’s Rivalry
As Professor X and Magneto are two of the most powerful X-Men movie characters, it makes sense that they would feature heavily in a live-action movie franchise. However, even after changing its approach to adapting the comics, the franchise remained focused on the relationship between the two, and that was actually one of the worst decisions. Although the two characters are among the most interesting of Marvel’s mutants, the franchise’s unrelenting focus on the pair ultimately proved detrimental.
Even when the movies moved away from their direct story, Professor X and Magneto remained key players. The focus was never far from the two, and it ultimately kept other interesting characters out of the spotlight. The entire angle of the prequel reboot was to better explore their story, making them the undeniable center of a franchise that should have been much broader in terms of its cast of characters.
1) Not Adapting A Wider Range Of Characters
In focusing too heavily on specific mutant characters, the X-Men movies let themselves down in another way. The franchise followed a few main heroes, such as Wolverine, Professor X, Magneto, Mystique, and Cyclops, and in doing so, it neglected others. Even its supporting cast was pretty limited, with Jean Grey, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Beast, and Quicksilver pretty much rounding out its full roster.
The thing is, in the comics, there are so many colorful and interesting characters affiliated with the X-Men. The franchise chose instead to consistently focus on the same heroes, which neglects some of the broader appeal of the adaptation. Had the movies made more versatile choices in adapting Marvel’s mutant characters, it might have appealed to an even larger audience. As it stands, the limited cast remains a huge wasted opportunity for the franchise.
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