Fox's X-Men Show May Be Adapting a Classic Marvel Family for Television

CBR

By Meagan Damore

Published May 10, 2017

Fox's upcoming X-Men series The Gifted will revolve around the Strucker family, which has deep roots in Marvel Comics lore.

On the heels of the first teaser trailer and footage for their upcoming X-Men series The Gifted, Fox has released some additional information about the show's main characters -- and their names will sound mighty familiar to longtime comic book fans. The series will revolve around the Strucker family, which has deep roots in Marvel Comics lore.

If you’re a comic book fan, the name Strucker may sound familiar to you. In the comics, Baron von Strucker is an infamous head of Hydra; the character also recently appeared in Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” though he swiftly met his end at Ultron’s hand. However, unlike his on-screen counterpart, the comic book version of Strucker had twins, a boy and a girl: Andrea von Strucker and Andreas von Strucker. Introduced in Uncanny X-Men #194, the twins had the mutant abilities to fly and generate energy blasts, but only when holding hands; additionally, Andreas can conjure up concussive force blasts, where Andrea can generate disintegration beams. With their powers combined, they were known as Fenris.

However, in the show, some of these names have been slightly altered. Stephen Moyer plays Reed Strucker, Amy Acker plays Caitlin Strucker and Natalie Alyn Lind and Percy Hynes appear as their children Lauren Strucker and Andy Strucker.

The teaser didn’t offer too much insight into Lauren and Andy’s powers, though we do see Lauren use what appears to be telekinesis — and all without holding her brothers hand. It’s unclear if the show will explicitly link the characters to Baron von Strucker, though that seems unlikely due to the fact that he debuted in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #5, which means the rights to the character are probably locked at Marvel Studios. What's more, the teaser trailer doesn't confirm that Lauren and Andy are twins.

Of course, Lauren and Andy could have nothing to do with Fenris. However, considering what the name Strucker means in Marvel's history, it seems likely that it was chosen for this reason. We'll just have to wait to find out more about the Strucker family and their connection to their comic book counterparts.

Created by Matt Nix (Burn Notice), The Gifted follows two ordinary parents who discover their children possess extraordinary powers. Forced to go on the run from the government, they join an underground network of mutants and must fight for their survival. Produced by Fox and Marvel Television, the series also stars Amy Acker, Stephen Moyer, Sean Teale and Coby Bell. The show does not yet have a release date.