12 Easy Solutions To Save The X-Men Franchise
1. Make Mine Marvel
This isn’t some slavish demand for the X-Men to be sandwiched into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I’m not some shameless apologist for the MCU that believes they’ve done everything right.
However, the things that Marvel Studios have done right are precisely the things that the X-Men franchise has failed to do.
Things like, having the same creative circle, people who knew the properties back to front, micromanaging the individual teams on each film.
Things like, ruthlessly maintaining continuity between films to make each one must-see viewing, casting the same actors, plotting crossovers years in advance, planting seeds for the future.
Things like, finding the heart of the character and staying true to that, even if it means rewriting the established back story of that character.
Things like, sticking to their guns and creating the movies that work in the context of the universe they’re creating , and not allowing anyone outside that creative bubble to make demands about what would and wouldn’t be in those movies.
These are all mistakes make - often through the corporate culture of Fox, and its complete disinterest in the property being adapted - by the people behind the X-Men franchise, mistakes Marvel hasn’t made.
The X-Men films can still be fixed… if someone steps on board that’s willing to take ownership of the property and steer it away from the institutionalised creative bankruptcy that’s plagued it before. Let’s see whether anyone at Fox has the guts and the foresight to give that a try.
How would you fix the X-Men film universe? Share your suggestions below in the comments thread.