With Marvel Studios recently reclaiming the rights to the X-Men franchise from Fox, fans are eager for information on how Kevin Feige and his team will rejuvenate the mutant heroes for the MCU. One producer thinks the property needs some serious updating though, as the title itself is badly outdated.
Victoria Alonso, EVP of Production at Marvel, spoke to Nuke The Fridge to promote the home release of Captain Marvel and was asked the inevitable question about the X-Men in the MCU. She admitted she didn’t know how things would play out, but voiced her hope that the gender imbalance will improve.
“I don’t know where the future is going. It’s funny that people call it the X-Men. There’s a lot of female superheroes in that X-Men group, so I think it’s outdated.”
Alonso’s no doubt far from the only person who thinks this. In fact, the filmmakers themselves are aware of it, as lamp-shading the dated name has become a bit of running joke over the past two releases in the franchise. After all, Deadpool had no time for the “blatant sexism” of the X-Men name when coming up with “X-Force” in Deadpool 2 and there’s also a line in Dark Phoenix that really hits the nail on the head.
In a clip that’s already been released, Mystique storms out of a fight with Professor X by suggesting he get with the times and update the team’s title. “The women are always saving the men around here,” she complains. “You might want to think about changing the name to X-Women.” And all that’s not even getting started on the name of Magneto’s team – the Brotherhood of Mutants.
Honestly, though, there’s little chance of the X-Men brand being changed any time soon. The franchise was already heading into a more female-oriented direction anyways, what with Dark Phoenix in cinemas now, so hopefully the emphasis on the X-Women will be carried over to the MCU.