Since Disney bought 21st Century Fox back in 2019, fans of superhero movies have been on the edge of their seats waiting to see how the X-Men will be folded into the MCU. While no plans are officially confirmed, Kevin Feige has a reputation for preparing entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe well in advance.
Naturally, the future of the MCU X-Men will likely feature stories that are both fresh and familiar to comics fans and movie audiences alike. Here are a few stories that the MCU has to adapt, and a few that they should stay far away from.
10 Needs To Adapt: Spider-Man Meets The X-Men (Ultimate Spider-Man Issue #44)
Brian Michael Bendis' run on Ultimate Spider-Man is one that defined Spider-Man for an entire generation. So much so that Ultimate Peter Parker has a lot of similarities with the MCU's version. These issues feature Peter's first team-up with characters outside of his title in the Ultimate universe.
What better way for the MCU to introduce the X-Men than by paying homage to Ultimate Spider-Man? They are of course a school for gifted youngsters. Though he may not be a mutant, Peter Parker certainly is gifted. Plus their interactions make for some of the best banter in the entire Ultimate universe.
9 Stay Far Away: Phoenix and Dark Phoenix Saga
Comics and movie fans alike can agree that this storyline has been done to death. Despite being one of the most iconic stories in X-Men history, Hollywood's attempts to adapt it have been lackluster to say the least. Furthermore, both on-screen versions of the Phoenix storyline were poorly received by critics and moviegoers.
If Marvel wants a fresh take on this version of X-Men, they should stay far away from another version of the Jean Grey tragedy. It's been proven time and again that this idea is best left on the page. At least until everyone forgets about X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
8 Needs To Adapt: Wolverine Vs. Hulk
One of comics' greatest heroic rivalries of all time is Wolverine's many brawls against The Hulk. As long-time readers know, Wolverine's first appearance was in a face-off against The Incredible Hulk back in 1974—an entire year before the clawed Canadian joined the X-Men.
Until Disney acquired the X-Men line-up in purchasing 21st Century Fox, fans could only imagine what a big-screen brawl between Wolverine and The Hulk would look like. Now that all of the characters are finally under the same banner, it would be a no-brainer to give the fans what they've been waiting for.
7 Stay Far Away: Wolverine's Origins/Weapon X
Wolverine is hands-down the most iconic X-character. For this reason, his on-screen origin story has been depicted several times in the past two decades of X-Men movies. There have been gratuitous flashbacks to his gruesome experimentation in multiple films. Superhero movie fans are still trying to forget X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Even X-Men: Apocalypse had a helmet-clad Weapon X cameo.
Everyone and their grandma knows that Wolverine used to have bone-claws and received an adamantium coated skeleton from a sketchy experiment. Hopefully, the MCU doesn't feel the need to backtrack his story again and fans can see Logan go on all-new adventures for once.
6 Needs To Adapt: Avengers Vs. X-Men
Avengers Vs. X-Men (or AvX) is one of the biggest event books of the past decade. While it received a mixed reception from critics, the book did incredibly well in sales. It's no surprise why. Pitting the two biggest Marvel super-teams against each other is bound to be entertaining.
If the Marvel Cinematic Universe takes on adapting AvX, they might be better off taking some creative liberties with the story. Nonetheless, the name and marketing alone would all but guarantee a blockbuster event to rival Avengers: Infinity War.
5 Stay Far Away: Chuck Austen's X-Men Run
There are a lot of reasons why X-fans don't look back fondly on Chuck Austen's run. A lot of his issues feel like pure filler. He writes one-dimensional characters, particularly his women who are all motivated by their love for a man. The assembled team is also strange, including the long-time villain Juggernaut on the X-Men team.
There are some pretty creative ideas here, however most of them are very poorly executed. The entire storyline lacks any sort of cohesive narrative arc. Austen also reacted extremely negatively to criticism of his books. Overall, if the MCU needs inspiration from modern X-books, they should look elsewhere.
4 Needs To Adapt: Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe
Along with Marvel's acquisition of the X-Men come X-Men adjacent characters. At long last, the fan-favorite X-Force member Deadpool can annoy and torment the rest of the MCU. What better way to have fun with this uniquely meta and R-rated character than to adapt Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe.
In this story, Deadpool's psyche is broken and replaced by a darker set of voices in his head. These voices compel the wannabe X-Man to hunt down every hero in the Marvel universe. If Marvel is bold enough to take on an R-rated story, they can't go wrong with a cross-over event like Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe.
3 Stay Far Away: X-Men: Schism
X-Men: Schism was Marvel Comics' attempt to recapture the lightning in a bottle that was Civil War—this time for the X-Men. In Schism, teams were split between Scott Summers' X-Team and Wolverine's. However, the story proved to be much less engaging to audiences than Civil War was.
This is yet another example of an X-Men story that retreads all too familiar ground. The MCU's own Captain America: Civil War already functioned as a loose adaptation of a classic story about a skirmish between a divided super team. Unless they can come up with a fresh take for Schism, it would be best for the MCU to steer clear.
2 Needs To Adapt: God Loves, Man Kills
From its inception, the best X-Men stories are the ones that highlight the plight of society's outsiders. The greatest example of this trend in X-Stories is Chris Claremont's all-time classic God Loves, Man Kills. In this story, the prejudice against mutant-kind reaches a fever pitch when a bigotted reverend kills two mutant children and proclaims that all mutants are abominations.
The X-Men work best as an allegory for those who are disenfranchised by systemic oppression. It would benefit the MCU to take on more political stories, and what better way to do so than to bring the X-Men back to their roots with a story inspired by God Loves, Man Kills.
1 Stay Far Away: Days Of Future Past
In the wake of a post-apocalyptic future where mutants face systematic extermination, Kitty Pride sends her self into her past body in order to rally the X-Men into preventing the dystopian fate ahead. This story was pretty well adapted in the 2014 film of the same name. The movie was not only a solid adaptation of the high-concept comic arc, but it also functioned as a very appropriate in-universe reboot. What's more comics than universe-resetting catastrophes?
Once again, this is a story that has been done before—and done surprisingly well on top of that. The MCU would be wise to stay away from any more time travel stories, as they already cashed in that coupon for Avengers: Endgame.