Currently, one of the most talked about upcoming Marvel movies (aside from Doomsday) is the developing X-Men reboot movie. While most details have been limited, the casting announcement at D23 has given us a huge tease at what to expect. And everyone has an opinion on what the new movie should (and shouldn’t) be. Even X-Men ‘97 EPs Eric and Julia Lewald have some advice for the MCU’s reboot. And honestly, I hope the creative team is listening.
Some of my favorite X-Men projects have focused on the humanity of the characters and not just their cool superpowers. And the Lewald duo know what they’re talking about. Fans have fallen in love with the X-Men all over again thanks to their animated series, which has had stand out episodes like the Gambit one. But no one says it better than Julia Lewald who told Collider:
Superpowers are spectacular. Super mutations… oh, that’s so cool; she can fly, or throw a building… but it’s the internal stuff. It’s the humanity inside, and each of them has their own genuine reasons to be unhappy with what’s happened to them in their lives, yet they all still choose to become a found family and be together.
I hope Marvel is taking notes. One thing I’ve always loved about the mutant characters is their humanity and the found family of the X-Men team. That's also why I loved recently cancelled Wonder Man so much. Thankfully, it seems that Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier is taking the movie seriously, as he described it as an “incredible opportunity and quite a responsibility.” The desire Marvel has to do something new with the characters has me both excited and nervous.
But we have seen some success with that mentality. Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Thunderbolts* performed well at the box office. And it seems that fans are getting excited again to see what Marvel has to offer. This is, in part, thanks to X-Men ‘97 Season 2 which was part of this summer’s new releases and can be checked out with a Disney+ subscription. It also proves that the EPs know what they’re talking about. And why I can’t help agreeing with the moving piece of advice Eric Lewald offers:
It’s just the fidelity of the characters. Sometimes if you’re in a creative position, you want to leave your mark and say, ‘Sherlock Holmes isn’t smart anymore,’ or whatever change you want to do with the characters. But you have to know, people have lived with them. They watched with their parents, and now they’re watching with their children.
It can be easy to get carried away with superpowers and fight scenes over character-driven storytelling. We’ve seen this with Marvel. But we’ve also seen the studio get it completely right. I think Eric Lewald describes it in the loveliest way: “You want to challenge the characters, but you can’t change them. You have to be true to them. That’s the core of all storytelling.” Keeping this in mind and knowing the script is being written by Joanna Calo (The Bear) and Lee Sung Jin (Beef), my confidence is tentatively high.
For now, details are limited about that film. But we do have the main cast (so far) already announced. Some fan-favorites getting new life with Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Christopher Abbott as Professor X, Inde Navarette as Rogue, and Adam Driver as Mr. Sinister. However, currently we haven’t received any news about a Magneto casting or if we’ll see the character in the upcoming movie.
That said, I hope that whatever direction Marvel takes they listen to advice like what the Lewalds shared and focus on the characters. If they do this, then I think the MCU’s future is going to be amazing!
