The anticipation among fans for the X-Men’s introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been palpable. As the movie franchise begins to weave mutants, a seasoned X-Men veteran extends a friendly hand, offering valuable advice to Marvel Studios as they navigate this exciting new chapter in superhero storytelling.
In a recent interview with /Film, Simon Kinberg talked about the expected Marvel reboot for the X-Men. The longtime writer and producer of the 20th Century Fox X-Men film series offered advice on best utilizing the mutant superhero team.
“If I had one piece of advice, honestly, it is a very cliché thing, but it just is true: The strength of the X-Men is the characters,” Kinberg said. As much as there’s great storytelling and great plot and incredible action sequences and all of those things are going to be required of the movies, as they are in the comics, what sets, for me, the X-Men apart is that they are the richest collection of characters in any comic book ever.
Kinberg has been involved with the X-Men franchise since 2006 with X-Men: The Last Stand. He is credited as a writer for four X-Men movies and served as producer for five projects. Kinberg made his directorial debut with Dark Phoenix, which he wrote and produced. He also worked as a producer for the first two Deadpool movies.
Disney acquired 20th Century Studios shortly after the premiere of Dark Phoenix, including the rights to the X-Men franchise and characters. Marvel has previously added Quicksilver and Professor X to the MCU, with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine debuting with Ryan Reynold’s Wade Wilson in Deadpool 3.
While Marvel Studios already has an impressive lineup of stars, Kinberg emphasized the importance of getting talented actors for the roles. He also shared his excitement for the X-Men’s future in the MCU.
“So it’s really about the characters that will get you the best actors. Those actors will bring those characters to life in a whole new way that honestly I cannot wait to see,” Kinberg explained. “I really am such a fan of what Marvel does and I’m obviously a massive, massive fan of the X-Men. Like the Star Wars movies. I read two comics when I was growing up religiously. I read others, but the religious ones were for me, Batman and X-Men.”
There have already been rumors that Marvel plans to add some of the Fox X-Men characters in Deadpool 3 as a farewell to the movie franchise. Patrick Stewart also teased that Professor X and Magneto will appear in the film. Channing Tatum is also said to be part of the movie as Gambit, a character he signed on to play several years ago.
We’re curious to see how Marvel plans to usher in the era of mutants. We’ve already seen a glimpse of mutant powers through Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
While Kevin Feige teased that the MCU is close to having the X-Men, it will be years before we see the full mutant team. Deadpool 3’s delay may just have extended the time we have to wait for the X-Men and we expect that the Multiverse Saga will not feature mutants as prominent characters. Hopefully, the debut of the X-Men will be worth the wait.
