Despite what seemed to be a final farewell in Deadpool & Wolverine, the X-Men are back in Avengers: Doomsday. But with 26 years, 10 films, and countless characters, Fox’s X-Men has never quite held a solid continuity.
So, let’s break down who this X-Men team are, where they’re at in their lives, and how they fit into the larger story of one of Marvel’s earliest cinematic adaptations before we see them join the MCU’s next big team-up this December.
Who’s On The Team?
Professor X
This will be the 4th time we thought we were seeing Patrick Stewart’s final sendoff as Professor Xavier. With more on-screen deaths than Uncle Ben, it’s hard to feel the emotional weight of what will surely be his last appearance this time around.
Magneto
Ian McKellen’s Magneto, however, has been absent for a little while. Last appearing in Days of Future Past. With the new X-Men logo on his updated suit, and a tender moment with Charles, it seems this version of Magneto has joined the X-Men once again, along with his right-hand woman.
Mystique
Rebecca Romijn is back as Mystique, this time ditching the nudity for a more comic-accurate look, good. Mystique is also now aligned with the X-Men; whatever crisis their universe finds itself in has driven mutant brethren together.
Cyclops
Cyclops returns with James Marsden back in the visor! We haven’t seen this version since a brief cameo in Days of Future Past and his unceremonious demise in The Last Stand. But now we see the character with a 90s-inspired comic-accurate look; hopefully he’s ditched the annoying characterisation with the black leather.
Gambit
After a decade of rumours and cancellations, Channing Tatum has made not one, but two appearances as the Cajun hero Gambit. After a bit of a parody portrayal in Deadpool & Wolverine, it’ll be interesting to see Tatum’s presumably more sincere take when finally joining the X-Men.
Beast
To me, Kelsey Grammer’s Beast remains one of the best bits of comic book casting to date. Despite The Last Stand’s debatable quality, he is an absolute highlight of the film. He last appeared in the end credits of The Marvels, leading many to assume this will be the same universe, though Maria and Monica Rambeau’s absence does raise questions about that.
Nightcrawler
Alan Cummings Nightcrawler has long been a fan favourite despite his appearance in only one film. Unfortunately, gruelling makeup and an unpleasant work experience meant we never saw more of the teleporting mutant. But Doomsday will finally see his return, and according to Cumming a fight with Mr Fantastic?
Who’s Missing?
Notably missing are Halle Berry’s Storm, Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey, and Anna Paquin’s Rogue, all characters who fans would surely love to see also realised in their comic accurate garbs but it seems the X-Men’s lineup in Doomsday will be lacking in its female team members this time around.
Not to mention Deadpool and Wolverine, who most fans inevitably thought would reappear after the massive success of their film, but time will tell.
So how does this new depiction fit into our previous instalments?
X-Men Timeline
To quote The Weekly Planet podcast, the X-Men films “– work if you just kind of remember the last one”. Whether it’s Emma Frost’s dual appearances as an adult in the 60s but a teen in the 80s, Magneto’s helmet appearing for the first time in 2000 and 1963, or Jean dying 30 years before she appears alive in Days of Future Past’s fixed future. It’s always been a mess, and trying to line up this new depiction with any movie version we’ve had so far is harder than you’d hope.
Logan established the X-Men all being dead, and by the end of it, Xavier joined them, so we can assume this isn’t that universe. So, let’s go a bit further back. Dark Phoenix saw most of the X-Men still alive, but Mystique is dead. Ok let’s check another instalment, Days of Future Past. Timeline reset: Cyclops check, Professor X check, Beast check, Magneto and Mystique alive as far as we can tell, and others remain unknown. So, the only movie this really lines up with is a 12-year-old one that subsequent instalments contradict.
See? Not as easy as you’d hope, and I’m betting Feige and the Russos are hoping you’re not going to give it this much thought, but we’re superhero fans and overthinking this stuff is kind of our thing.
The fact is that these returning X-Men can’t really be the ones we knew. The X-Men movie writers have never really remembered their movies, so we should look at this new appearance with similar eyes.
Avengers: Doomsday is likely going to want you to look at this team as the X-Men a lot of us grew up with, same cast with a thankfully updated wardrobe and some already gratifying action sequences.
What’s Happening?
So, these are kind of but not really the X-Men we used to know, but what’s happened to them by Doomsday? Why are they fighting our MCU heroes? There are a lot of rumours and supposed leaks out there, but let’s avert our gaze and look at what the trailers have told us.
A World on the Brink
These X-Men appear as survivors more than superheroes; the school seems to be largely abandoned, with only the team now running its halls. We also know this is obviously an older iteration of the team, past their prime and now allied with some of their oldest enemies.
In the latest trailer, we see Professor X staring out at a cosmic explosion in the sky. Potentially, the X-Men are experiencing incursions, universes crashing together, destroying one or both. The concept was introduced in Multiverse of Madness, and many have assumed it will be relevant in the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga.
Sentinels
We also know that the film will be reintroducing Sentinels to the big screen, in a far more comic-accurate depiction than their previous appearance in Days of Future Past. So as if things didn’t seem bleak enough for them, they continue to exist in a world that hates and fears them, with giant robots hunting mutantkind. Probably safe to assume the Sentinels’ appearance will be part of an establishing action sequence for the characters.
Shoot First
Again, quoting a favourite podcast of mine, superhero movies love to have their characters “punch for a bit then they’re mates”. So why are the X-Men fighting the Avengers and Fantastic Four? We see the face-off of Gambit and Shang-Chi, Mystique and Yelena, and supposedly Nightcrawler and Mr Fantastic will also be clashing. Given the sorry state we find their universe in, I think it’s likely this version of the X-Men has become immensely defensive of themselves and, in turn, their universe. If the characters of the MCU don’t exist in their universe, they are just seeing hostile, enhanced individuals turn up in their home. Also, who doesn’t think it’s cool to see superheroes fight?
The X-Men’s Fate
It’s almost hilarious given how many supposed finales of Fox’s X-Men we’ve had, but I’m not sure we’re going to see this team make it through this one. From the trailer, they seem to be a second-act introduction and not exactly main characters of this film; I think we’ll get some action and inevitable defeat at the hands of Doom to establish the threat.
Especially with the MCU’s own reboot of the classic team in the works, it’s not likely this team is going to stick around. But it’ll certainly be fun to see one last assembly of them.
Whether these are the X-Men of the original trilogy, a reset timeline, the reboots continued, or a whole new world, Marvel clearly wants audiences to celebrate the return of the Fox X-Men. The team that brought superhero movies to the 21st century long before Iron Man launched the MCU. They might not make it through this one, but I think it’ll be a hell of a send-off.
