As crazy as it sounds, Marvel Studios wasn't the first movie studio to dip it's toes into the shared universe concept. Long before we had The Marvel Cinematic Universe, there was the budding X-Men Cinematic Universe and now that universe is expanding. But could it's greatest asset, be it's only crutch? Hugh Jackman, nothing personal.
After Bryan Singer's "X-Men" movie hit the theaters in 2000, the character of Wolverine became so popular he earned the spotlight for the rest of the X-Men movies. "X2" focused on Wolverine's origins, "X-Men: The Last Stand" set Wolverine up as the X-Men's leader, and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" focused on Wolverine's origins. Again. "The Wolverine" was a Wolverine solo movie, "X-Men: Days of Future Past" canonically put Wolverine into the rebooted X-Men timeline, and on top of everything else, "X-Men: First Class" gave Wolverine a 60-second cameo along with the funniest line in the movie. All of this attention, mind you, without letting Hugh Jackman put on the famous yellow spandex. What a shame. Still, it's great that Wolverine's character has been developed throughout these movies, not only does Jackman do an excellent job in the role, but his commitment to the part has lasted seven movies, two timelines, and various changes in directors. So if the current Wolverine is so awesome, why is he holding the X-Men movies back?
"X-Men: First Class" while being one of the better X-Men movies, is often criticized by casual movie-goers simply because Wolverine isn't included. At this point, Wolverine is the make-or-break of these movies, despite characters like Magneto, Professor X, and Mystique getting plenty of character moments. With stories dating back to the 60's, The X-Men have loads of interesting stories that could be told, but these stories are often sidelined or altered to better accustom Wolverine. The X-Men movie franchise depends on Wolverine so much, that "X-Men: Days of Future Past" had only two purposes: One, to reset the timeline of the X-Men movies, and two, to make sure Wolverine could still be in these movies. At this point 20th Century Fox can't even recast Wolverine, Hugh Jackman may be getting old, but Fox would most likely receive backlash for taking the role away from Jackman and the actor they replace him with would only be regarded as "not as good as Jackman".
With the X-Men movie timeline as shuffled as it is, I think an honest-to-Rao reboot would be the best action towards a clean slate. Start over with the original 1960's team, but that will never be possible-nor will any cohesive universe-with Hugh Jackman's Wolverine being around. I mean these movies are about The X-Men, a team of superheroes. "The Avengers" didn't put the spotlight on Thor or Iron Man, the spotlight was shared between each of the team members. If you're going to make a team movie, it should be about the team, not the favorite guy on the team. Wolverine can get his cool moments, as long as Cyclops, Storm, and the other main characters can have equal attention. Again, Jackman was an amazing Wolverine, his performance means a lot to the superhero movie genre. The fact is though, as long as Hugh Jackman/Wolverine stays in the X-Men universe, these movies will always depend on him. And no successful movie franchise should solely depend on one actor. With "Deadpool" and "Gambit" on the way, I can only assume Fox realizes they need to branch out beyond Jackman and The X-Men. After all, Jackman is forty-six and contrary to popular belief, he does age. Thanks for reading!
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"X-Men: First Class" while being one of the better X-Men movies, is often criticized by casual movie-goers simply because Wolverine isn't included. At this point, Wolverine is the make-or-break of these movies, despite characters like Magneto, Professor X, and Mystique getting plenty of character moments. With stories dating back to the 60's, The X-Men have loads of interesting stories that could be told, but these stories are often sidelined or altered to better accustom Wolverine. The X-Men movie franchise depends on Wolverine so much, that "X-Men: Days of Future Past" had only two purposes: One, to reset the timeline of the X-Men movies, and two, to make sure Wolverine could still be in these movies. At this point 20th Century Fox can't even recast Wolverine, Hugh Jackman may be getting old, but Fox would most likely receive backlash for taking the role away from Jackman and the actor they replace him with would only be regarded as "not as good as Jackman".
With the X-Men movie timeline as shuffled as it is, I think an honest-to-Rao reboot would be the best action towards a clean slate. Start over with the original 1960's team, but that will never be possible-nor will any cohesive universe-with Hugh Jackman's Wolverine being around. I mean these movies are about The X-Men, a team of superheroes. "The Avengers" didn't put the spotlight on Thor or Iron Man, the spotlight was shared between each of the team members. If you're going to make a team movie, it should be about the team, not the favorite guy on the team. Wolverine can get his cool moments, as long as Cyclops, Storm, and the other main characters can have equal attention. Again, Jackman was an amazing Wolverine, his performance means a lot to the superhero movie genre. The fact is though, as long as Hugh Jackman/Wolverine stays in the X-Men universe, these movies will always depend on him. And no successful movie franchise should solely depend on one actor. With "Deadpool" and "Gambit" on the way, I can only assume Fox realizes they need to branch out beyond Jackman and The X-Men. After all, Jackman is forty-six and contrary to popular belief, he does age. Thanks for reading!
Facebook: The Panel Biter
Twitter: @ThePanelBiter
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