Kitty Pryde Is the Perfect Character to Merge X-Men With the MCU

A new report indicates that Deadpool director Tim Miller is working to develop a solo movie starring X-Men member Kitty Pryde. But while there's still a chance that Disney's bid to acquire key assets from 21st Century Fox (including the X-Men) will result in the project getting scrapped, a Kitty Pryde movie presents Disney with an amazing opportunity to use the character to bring the X-Men into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The popular hero debuted in 1980, in Chris Claremont and John Byrne's Uncanny X-Men #129. The young mutant, also known as Sprite, Ariel and (most famously) Shadowcat, possesses the ability to phase through objects and people. During one of her early adventures, Kitty meets Lockheed, a member of an advanced race of dragon-like aliens. The two share a mental/empathic connection, and he has served as her companion for decades.

Kitty was a key member of the X-Men since her debut, and she currently leads the leads the team in X-Men: Gold. In the past, she was a founding member of Excalibur (a since defunct team led by Captain Britain); S.H.I.E.L.D. (Marvel's premier international law enforcement agency); and the Guardians of the Galaxy, when Peter Quill was occupied with royal duties on Spartax.

The character has appeared in four of Fox's X-Men films. Ellen Page played the character in 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand and 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past, with Sumela Kay and Katie Stuart providing cameos for the character in 2000's X-Men and 2003's X2, respectively. Outside of the films, she has appeared in different television versions of the team, including X-Men: Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men. Prior to the airing of the 1990s X-Men: The Animated Series, she lent her name to the title of the 1989 cartoon Pryde of the X-Men.

Kitty Has Broad Appeal, But Is Tragically Under-Explored In Film

All of her different appearances mean that Pryde is by no means an obscure character. Marvel's fanbase, in general, likes her and regards her highly. As such, she's a fantastic character for Marvel to develop in order to capitalize on the success of female-led action films such as Wonder Woman. Manyfans have critiqued Marvel for its lack of movies primarily starring female characters. A Kitty Pryde solo film would help to fix that problem while increasing the company's appeal to diverse audiences.

However, despite her popularity and appeal, Fox's films have left her relatively underexplored. She has appeared in several films, but she hasn't been the focus of much screen time, especially in comparison to some other characters. The film adaptation of Days of Future Past even relegated her to a more secondary role, despite the original comics depicting her as the one who travels back in time to prevent Mystique from assassinating Senator Robert Kelly, not Wolverine.

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The fact that Fox has established Pryde but left her underexplored actually makes her the ideal candidate for merging the two universes into one. As three different actors have already played her, it's unlikely that there will be much fan-outcry about casting a new person in the role, as audiences are used to seeing the character change.

However, that may not be the case with characters who have featured more prominently in the series. While many might like to see Wolverine be the one to unite the universes, the recasting of Wolverine -- whom Hugh Jackman played for almost twenty years -- is likely to force fans to draw comparisons between the two series and actors. The advantage of using Pryde is that she allows Marvel to introduce the X-Men to the MCU in a gentle way by avoiding immediate comparisons between the two iterations of the heroes while also using a recognizable character that fans know and like.

Kitty's Character Naturally Plays Well With Others

Pryde has appeared in a number of comics outside of the core X-Men titles, meaning that she has interacted with many different parts of the Marvel Universe. There are a number of teams that she could renew her membership in when she joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including S.H.I.E.L.D. and Excalibur. But there's one particular team that she was a part of that could serve as the way to introduce mutants to the MCU: the Guardians of the Galaxy.

In the comics, Pryde has a romantic past with Peter Quill, also known as Star-Lord, with the two eventually becoming engaged. At one point, she even takes up the mantle of Star-Lord herself. While Gamora is certainly Quill's primary love-interest right now in the MCU, there's no telling what fate Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4 have in store for either of them. Both director James Gunn and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige regard the Marvel Cosmic universe as a major part of the studio's future plans, and Pryde has a direct connection to one of the teams sure to be featured prominently in Phase 4.

The idea of Pryde making her way into the MCU from her current universe is not as far-fetched as it seems. During Marvel Comics' "Black Vortex: storyline, which saw the Guardians of the Galaxy teaming up with the X-Men, the titular Black Vortex unlocked Pryde's cosmic potential. This gave her the ability to phase through different planes of existence. It would be a simple piece of movie storytelling to adapt this concept to the big screen, giving Kitty the potential to literally move between, and eventually merge the two universes.

Kitty in *Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Omega* #1

Depending on the outcome of their deal, it's entirely possible neither Disney nor Fox will release or even start production on the Kitty Pryde solo film. Even if it is made, they may avoid tying it into the MCU. However, Pryde's popularity, despite being under-explored on film, makes her one one the best candidates to serve as the focal point of what appears to be the inevitable silver screen introduction of the X-Men to their avenging counterparts.