close
close

Gottagopestcontrol

Trusted News & Timely Insights

The DCEU’s worst Justice League decision could actually work for the MCU’s X-Men
Enterprise

The DCEU’s worst Justice League decision could actually work for the MCU’s X-Men

Summary

  • X-Men fits better with a team-first film strategy in the MCU, with far less pressure for solo productions compared to the DCEU and Warner Bros.’ rushed Justice League of 2017.
  • After a successful team debut, Marvel can prioritize more popular mutants for individual stories.
  • Unlike DC’s Justice League, the team dynamics of X-Men allow for future flexibility in the development of solo characters.



Warner Bros.’ worst decision with Justice League could actually work for the MCU with the upcoming X-MenWhile the concept of mutants and further connections to the X-Men have gradually made their way into the MCU, the X-Men have yet to be fully rebooted. However, Marvel Studios should look to replicate what worked so poorly with the DCEU once they’re ready to bring a new version of Marvel’s classic mutants to the big screen.

The MCU is currently in the midst of its Multiverse Saga. While the concept of the X-Men has been seen in other realities, there have only been the briefest references to mutants and X-genes in the main Earth-616 timeline. However, it is widely expected that Marvel Studios intends to fully embrace the X-Men once the Multiverse Saga concludes with Avengers: Secret Wars. To that end, the MCU may want to do exactly what was so controversial for the DCEU. Justice League: with a full X-Men first team film.



Warner Bros. has rushed the DCEU’s Justice League

A team film before every DC hero had his own solo film

While many controversial decisions related to the Justice League by director Zack Snyder, one of the very first was the decision to shoot a complete team film in fast forward before each hero had the opportunity to shine with his solo features. At that time, the only DC hero to get his own movie was Henry Cavill’s Superman with 2013 Man of Steel. This was followed in 2016 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in which not only Ben Affleck’s Batman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman played the leading roles, but also Ezra Miller’s Flash, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Ray Fisher’s Cyborg for Justice League which was published the following year.


Wonder Woman received her own film between Dawn of Justice And Justice League. However, it was expected that all of the heroes’ other films would receive their own solo films after the release. The Justice League release. Of course, this plan failed largely due to the poor performance of the team-up film and various behind-the-scenes controversies.

Wonder Woman got a lackluster sequel in The Justice League Aftereffects with Wonder Woman 1984and Aquaman received two movies (one of which was its own lackluster sequel). Meanwhile, Batman and Cyborg’s movies never got made, and The Flash’s movie ended up in development hell for years before its very subpar 2023 movie was finally released. Ironically, The Flash was released months after the cancellation of the DCEU, ahead of the impending DCU reboot by new studio heads James Gunn and Peter Safran.


Marvel could succeed with the X-Men where DC’s Justice League failed

Marvel can decide who needs a solo film afterwards

Cyclops in X-Men '97 with Wolverine and Professor X in the live-action MCU
Custom image by Kai Young

Despite all the problems Justice League and the DCEU, which was faced with the rushed release of the team film, it can be argued that This strategy could work for Marvel Studios with the X-Men. After all, in the comics, the X-Men were a team of mutant heroes from the beginning, made up of students from Charles Xavier’s school. Basically, it’s impossible not to have multiple X-Men in the same movie, at least in the beginning, while Marvel Studios will likely have to integrate the mutants into the rest of the established MCU.


Marvel Studios could come up with a complete X-Men team-up movie in the MCU that marks the beginning of a new era of mutants. Then they can look at which mutant characters (or pairs) are the most popular or most deserving of receiving more focused stories in the future. After all, not every X-Man needs his own movie, like every member of the Justice League deserves.. The pressure on the backend would be much less if Marvel wanted to use the team-first release strategy, and that would probably be in Marvel’s best interest as well.

The X-Men were first and foremost a team (that’s why it can work)

The Justice League is not so closely connected

The entire X-Men '97 team gathers


Ultimately, some mutants simply function better with a full team of X-Men than they ever would alone. However, certain characters would thrive with solo features, including Wolverine, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Storm, and more. Essentially Marvel Studios will have the luxury of seeing what works with a team before diving into solo features, especially considering that the X-Men are not the only thing the MCU has to offer. It’s not like Warner Bros., where there was a clear sense of desperation to create a major avenger-type crossover as quickly as possible, while also keeping almost all eggs in the Justice League Basket.

LEAVE A RESPONSE

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *