Week of Review - Wolverine & the X-Men

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The late 2000s were an unkind time for the X-men franchise.  Specifically, I’m talking about the film side of the X-Men offerings as the comics were actually fairing really well back then.  The movies had completed their trilogy with the spectacular failure that was X-Men: The Last Stand and moment was quickly slipping away from the series as the decade dwindled.  Meanwhile, in the comics, the X-Men had undergone a radical reinvention since the events of the 2005-2006 stories House of M and Decimation. 

Mutants were suddenly an endangered species with barely 100 left alive, Cyclops had become a militant mutant leader and founded his own rogue nation in the San Francisco Bay called Utopia.  Even the Ultimate Comics line was in a fit of bizarre storytelling under the banner of Ultimatum, a mega-event where Magneto killed most of the Ultimate superheroes including Xavier, Cyclops, Captain America, Wolverine and more.  It was a strange time and Wolverine and the X-Men really reflect that particular strangeness.  

Cover Story - Top 10 Sentinels Covers

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This coming Monday marks the premiere of The Gifted, a new series from Fox tying into the X-Men mythos.  The X-Men have honestly kind of struggled for modern relevance, as the Avengers became Marvel’s moneymaking brand, which has always struck me as odd.  I mean, we live in an age of mass struggle by marginalized groups for basic human rights- that’s always been the X-Men’s greatest element.  It’s just hard to think that in an era of Black Lives Matter, the Refugee Crisis, the Mexican Border Wall, Muslim travel ban, ICE, and the struggle for Trans rights the X-Men can’t find a foothold.  

The Gifted looks to change that by zeroing in on the X-Men’s most topical bad guy- the Sentinels, basically a domestic anti-mutant drone army.  When they were created that particular idea sounded a lot more like science fiction than a real policy that’s probably just around the corner but regardless let’s dig into X-Men history to see why these big purple robots have always been so enduring. 

Meet the Mutants of The Gifted

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We’re mere days away from the premiere of Fox’s The Gifted series, the second live-action X-Men show to hit the airwaves after Legion and fourth overall after Generation X and Mutant X back in the ‘90s and 2000s respectively.  It’s a pretty big event, even if the show proper looks kind of far removed from the X-Men aesthetic and mythos and more grounded in the “hated and feared” narrative.  

I don’t mind them going that route- if ever there was a time for a show about government-sponsored violence and bigotry towards the marginalized it would be now.  Even so, I am intrigued by the collection of mutants they’ve cobbled together for the series an what it suggests about where things will be headed as the main heroes struggle to escape the Sentinels and find sanctuary from humanity.  With that in mind, let’s take a look at the mutants of The Gifted.

James Cameron's Terminator 6 Update

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By now you’ve probably heard that James Cameron is returning to the Terminator franchise for yet another installment of this moribund film series.  If you’re wondering how that happened after Terminator Genisys was both terrible and a financial disappointment the answer is the rest of the world.  While the film only made back half its budget in the US it took in 350 million dollars overseas, largely from China, so more Terminator films were pretty much locked in.  However, it’s come up now that this new film, which is being pitched as a reunion flick for Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and James Cameron, won’t have anything to do with Terminator Genisys. 

That’s because even though ticket sales are important they aren’t the ultimate qualifier of the franchise age- that would be audience interest.  The way online engagement in fictional universe translates into coverage and speculation as a kind of free publicity and hype is what now drives the box office world, that’s why Marvel is still king, and Genisys did not manage to win anyone’s hearts or minds.  So, with the slate wiped clean and the franchise beginning again for its third attempt at a new trilogy what can we expect from the new Terminator? 

Panel Vision - Old Man Logan

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So, by now Logan is looking to be on track to be the biggest superhero hit of the season and the latest genuine home run for Fox’s X-Men franchise since last year’s Deadpool.  That makes sense- the film looks incredibly well conceived with a lot of excellent elements, and it’s basically just the most recent iteration of the trend of Mark Millar comics getting amazing adaptations.  

If you’re not aware of him, Mark Millar is a Scottish comics author whose been a major staple of the comic scene for the better part of the 2000s.  Millar’s one of the co-creators of Marvel’s very successful Ultimate Universe, which helped inspire the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and wrote the comics that gave us Wanted, Kick-Ass 1 & 2, Kingsmen: The Secret Service, and Captain America: Civil War. 

The one wrinkle about this success is that virtually all of those films changed a ton from the source material because the original comics aren’t really that great.  I already dedicated a whole article to how bad the original Civil War books are, and I could easily do the same for the rest.  You can already see that with Logan as it’s clearly shed nearly everything from Old Man Logan save for the old Wolverine concept.  However, this case is a bit of an exception because Old Man Logan is a great comic. 

Logan News Update

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With about a month left till the premiere of Logan AKA Wolverine 3, now is probably a good time to look over everything we’ve learned about the latest entry in the X-Men franchise.  I’ve made no secret of the fact I don’t really care for Fox’s X-Men film series.  

I was never as into the X-Men and X-Men United as much as others in my age bracket, and I flat out hated Days of Future Past, and while Deadpool and First Class were good, they feel like exceptions rather than rules. 

However, all of my hesitation has gone right out the damn window in the lead up to Logan, which promises the most dark, grounded, and patently human entry in the entire X-Men film canon, possibly the whole canon overall if we're honest.  

It looks like a small, dirty, complicated R-rated flick that’s drawing the best elements from across the franchise’s history to create something entirely new and exciting while also paving the way for future possibilities. 

Panel Vision - Guide to the X-Men Multiverse

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One of the interesting things about the X-Men franchise at this moment in time is how much it’s ended up eschewing the shared universe format promoted by Marvel.  Instead, X-Men has adopted a sort of multi-continuity approach, in a manner that’s only growing more extreme.  Both Deadpool and the upcoming Logan take place in no other continuity than their own and, so far, it seems the TV show Legion is a unique continuity all its own as well.  

This is actually fairly common for the X-Men comics as the X-Men are major players in the realm of altered timelines and parallel universes.  So far only a couple have filtered into the movies but, given everything we’ve seen, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if things like Mojoworld or Age of X were on the horizon for the X-franchise.  So, if you don’t know what either of those things are here’s your guide to the X-Men multiverse. 

Wolverine 3 News Update

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s the Internet has pointed out on several occasions, it’s something of a minor miracle that Hugh Jackman remains the only live action Wolverine.  Part of that obviously has to do with technology- before the advent of CGI, it wouldn’t have been practical to do Wolverine’s claws, so the idea of adapting him was out of the question for about three decades after his inception.  

Even then, the fact that Hugh Jackman has consistently returned to the role for 16 years appearing in every X-Men film except for Deadpool.  He’s seen the franchise through its initial success, it’s tragic lows, its shocking return, and it’s current situation of running in place while waiting for Marvel to make Fox a shared custody deal.  However, after 16 years Jackman looks to finally be pulling the plug on his role as Wolverine with this next and final outing in 2017’s Logan.

What could Fox's 2 mystery superhero films be

Well it wasn’t a boring February, that’s for sure.  Between the racial kerfuffle of Gods of Egypt, the critical explosion of The Witch, and the smash hit that was Deadpool February has finally achieved its longtime goal of being a month worth discussing.  And with this unexpected boom of importance comes a shift in priorities, most specifically the priorities of Fox.  

In the wake of February Fox has apparently scuttled this fall’s proposed Gambit movie and announced 2 unnamed new superhero films for 2017 and 2018.  Given that the only thing we know about these movies is that they’re superhero films and I run a column exclusively dedicated to wild speculation on upcoming comic book and superhero fair these are my predictions for what Fox’s 2 mystery movies could be.

Comic Rainbow - X-Men Villains

So, the first trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse is here.  I already gave my thoughts on it but in case you missed that I was less than thrilled.  I’ve never really been on board with the X-Men films and, truth be told, the X-Men comics have always been kind of hit or miss for me as well.  There are runs I like but by and large a lot of it is really mixed, especially when it comes to villains.  

Sure there are great villains but even the good ones can often fall prey to insane and convoluted continuity.  That’s what brings us here today, a look at the various villains of the X-Men, the bad guys often sited as the best Marvel has ever made.  So, let’s get the full spectrum on the foes of the X-Men in all their shades, shames, and successes. 

X-Men: Apocalypse Trailer

Is it weird to say I don’t get the appeal of the X-Men movies?  X-Men is something that has been with me for basically my entire life as a nerd.  When I was a kid growing up in the ‘90s the animated series was in its heyday, I’ve seen all of the live action films at their premiere, watched X-Men: Evolution when it was coming out weekly, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the Claremont, Kirby, and Morrison comic runs on the characters.  In my whole life there consuming and critiquing nerd culture content there really hasn’t been anything as continual as the X-Men and yet I’d never call myself a legitimate fan.

 A lot of that has to do with the X-Men’s status quo always coming off far too barebones and uninspired, in the sense that it’s considered some brilliantly cerebral superhero riff even though the subtext rarely factors into the actual story and the status quo is less about a clash of ideologies than it is just about having ideologies that have been arbitrarily assigned good and evil status.  That whole sort of “good enough” aesthetic has always translated over to the X-Men films to and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see some of it in the newly dropped trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse.

Channign Tatum Leaving Gambit?

The rumor mills became a buzz on Tuesday night that Channing Tatum was leaving next year’s Gambit film.  At the time of writing nothing has been more or less confirmed about the status of the film or whether or not Tatum is actually jumping ship but with the Internet panic over the rumblings it’s hard to ignore.  I certainly understand why this would cause such fervor.  Fox has had a pretty solid 3 film run with the X-Men recently as most cinema goers and nerds enjoyed the excellent X-Men: First Class, the serviceable Wolverine, and the for some reason popular X-Men: Days of Future Past. 

All this has helped build up some serious buzz for X-Men: Apocalypse and the franchise overall after its serious drop in relevance at the end of the ‘00s.  Despite the series popularity Fox is still looking to cut down on actor costs so X-Men: Apocalypse is actually slotted as a series reboot in order to drop expensive actors like Michael Fassbender or Jennifer Lawrence.  This has made Gambit the first major post-reboot X-Men film so having its lead suddenly start wobbling is a big deal for all involved. 

Gambit Casting Breakdown

Next year is going to bring a lot of big changes to the X-Men franchise.  For the most part this strikes me as being for the best; the X-Men franchise has been more or less running in place since X2 with a major emphasis on the less.  Despite this series lasting for well over a decade the visual emphasis is still on black leather plastic, Wolverine is still king of the party, and the X-Men’s whole existence is still solely defined by fighting to protect a populous that hates them.  It bugs me because so much of that is just the drabbest iteration of these characters.  Hence why I’m really welcoming the changes that will come with X-Men: Apocalypse.  The costumes are imaginative and vibrant, the conflict vast and not just rehashing previous tensions, and it marks the beginning of the end for Wolverine’s role in the franchise.  However, with the series most recognizable actor and character finally bowing out of the spotlight Fox needs a new face for the franchise going forward.  That’s where Channing Tatum’s Gambit comes in. 

Fantastic Four/X-Men Crossover Coming?

So in a recent interview X-Men director Bryan Singer stated that some of the early machinery is currently working to develop an X-Men/Fantastic Four crossover film for Fox.  This has probably been in the works at Fox for way longer than anyone’s willing to admit.  Fox has basically been rendered the odd middle child of superhero films now that Sony has caved to Marvel in the wake of their amazingly embarrassing 2014.  This has put Fox into something of an awkward position as they actually aren’t that interested in making superhero films.  They certainly do it but ever since Wolver Origins Fox has been keeping their superhero work at arms length. 

X-Men: First Class was a quick and dirty job meant basically just to keep the rights to the X-Men away from Marvel and the same is true of the upcoming Fantastic Four movie.  It’s only recently with Days of Future Past that Fox seems at all invested in producing a superhero flick and even then it’s just because Avengers came out in the interim and Fox suddenly realized big budget superhero crossover romps could make mondo bucks once more.  That’s why they actually hired Mark Millar to develop a shared Fox universe around the time Days of Future Past came out and blew up theaters.