X-Men is undoubtedly one of the most important series in comic book history, it was because of their barrier-breaking stories and multimedia outlets that Marvel was solidified on the map. So the question I pose is this: What will Marvel do withThe X-Men now? Ignoring tradition and facing the facts, lets see how much The X-Men mean to Marvel post-Cinematic Universe.
We all know The X-Men by now, a group of mutants who protect the people who once hated them. Minority allegory, religious allegory, homosexual allegory, so on and so forth. But if you've been keeping up with the current Marvel Comics you'll notice the mutants aren't the people feared or discriminated anymore, The Inhumans are. Inhumans are people who have alien DNA which triggers superpowers when they come in contact with Terrigen Mist. As an Inhuman, you're obligated to join a faction or you could be judged by society. Sound familiar? And what's going on with The X-Men? Okay, hold on to your seat. It began after the "Avengers vs X-Men" event when Wolverine was the principle of The Jean Grey School for The Gifted and Cyclops was considered a criminal for murdering Professor X. Let's not talk about that. Anyway, The Beast gets the bright idea to travel back in time and bring the original X-Men to the present day believing Cyclops could change his ways if he came face-to-face with his younger self. Oh Hank, I thought you were a genius. Cyclops, Beast, Angel, Iceman and Marvel Girl (circa 1963) are brought to the present (circe 2012) and that's when the craziness starts. Ignoring the obvious tampering with the time-space continuum and objections of age, The All-New X-Men meet their present selves and have mixed emotions. Young Cyclops meets his present mad-revolutionary self, hooks up with X-23, then heads into space with his father Corsair. Angel, Beast and Iceman kind of just participate, but it's Marvel Girl who gets the worse. She reads people's minds despite their pleads not to, she revealed to everyone that Young Iceman was secretly gay, and she was held on trial for acts her present self committed before her death. That last story resulted in a team-up between The All-New X-Men and The Guardians of The Galaxy and a relationship between Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde. Wow, it's almost like The Guardians had a movie they wanted to advertise. I admit it was an interesting idea, but time travel can often get too messy. Next came "The Death of Wolverine", or as I like to call it "We Don't Own This Franchise, Kill It". His death was chronicled well, but let's all face facts here: Marvel Comics is trying to push their movie universe as their main attraction and if pushing The X-Men makes them no money and makes 20th Century Fox more money, what's the point of including them? But Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver? Your cool.
Marvel Comics is having their big "Secret Wars" event right now and as I've speculated in the past this universal reboot will probably see Marvel's movie characters getting the spotlight while characters who's movie rights they don't own getting shoved out of the Marvel Comics Universe. But ditching them seems like a waste, if the idea is to put the X-Men in their own comic universe I can see that plan going a lot more smoothly. That way if Marvel Studios ever gets the movie rights for the X-Men back from Fox, they could crossover their comic universes while also doing Marvel Cinematic X-Men movies. And if some Marvel fans only like The X-Men, well congrats you get your own universe. As important as The X-Men might be to us readers we have to acknowledge that Marvel is more of a business now then it's ever been. For as dumb as The X-Men comics might be right now, we need to appreciate that we have them connected into the Marvel Universe because after Secret Wars that's likely to change. Although I've read the current "Amazing X-Men" and "Nightcrawler" books, my favorite X-Men book right now is "Spider-Man & The X-Men". Thwip, thwip!
So are The X-Men getting evicted? Will they stay part of Marvel's world or be ironically segregated? I don't know, but I have my worries. This is really the problem with The Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's so successful that Marvel believes sticking to what they own movie rights to is best for business, they're thinking in terms of money and advertising instead of remembering the fans and the history, cutting loose ends instead of tying them back together. You think "House of M" wiped out some mutants? Get ready for the real wipe. Thanks for reading!
At least if Marvel owned The X-Men movies, Wolverine would get his damn yellow costume! Aghhh! Adamantium rage!
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