Earlier today, Marvel unveiled the confirmed cast of its much-awaited movie Avengers: Doomsday, where the comic book-based superhero ensemble would face the big baddie Dr Victor von Doom (or Doctor Doom), played by Robert Downey Jr. But what really got the long-time fans bumping their fists was the return of the original cast of X-Men, the first ever successful movie series from the Marvel stable.
With James Marsden returning as Scott Summers aka Cyclops, Alan Cumming as Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler, Rebecca Romijn as Raven Darkhölme aka Mystique, and Kelsey Grammer as Dr Hank McCoy aka Beast, led by the veteran duo of Patrick Stewart as Dr Charles Xavier aka Professor X and Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr or Magneto, any ‘90s kid who witnessed the original X-Men trilogy knows what’s up! Marvel is planning to throw a true fan-service film for those who love the 2000s movies and the comic-book runs during the time.
James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult excellently took over as Professor X, Magneto, Mystique, and Beast, respectively, in the prequel movies, but the rest of the ‘new’ cast did not impress, to say the least. This is also what makes the 2000s Bryan Singer films quintessential pop culture material.
The 2000 film X-Men is widely considered a cultural milestone in movies—among one of the first few movies to capture comic-book storytelling on film ever so beautifully... Of course, it took a lot of liberties with the characters, but even the most hardened of fans accepted the movie version. Some saw it as an alternate reality running parallel to the universes in the comics.
For, Bryan Singer was not a comic-book fan. In fact, he attracted so much criticism for changing the ways studios looked at superheroes, some even resorted to terming the treatment of the characters as "abuse" by the director.
Yet, Singer’s X-Men and X2 (X-Men 2) deserve their due credit for solidifying the modern superhero film genre of movies, effortlessly merging the real world with superpowers—a farcry from the outlandish settings some other adaptations took. These two films did something different, something inspiring—they normalised, even humanised, comic-book flow, structure, and story to mainstream cinema audiences. This was a considerable departure from the then-adaptations of Batman and Superman.
From a stubby, short 5'3" Wolverine in the comics, 6'2"-tall Hugh Jackman’s portrayal in the movies redefined the character that some of it even flowed back into the comics—a few iterations even giving him a taller leaner gait in the printed medium. Such was the impact of these films.
Yet, at times, it felt like the 2000s X-Men movies were limiting, due to a certain level of fashion policing and creative liberties. Classic costumes lost out to leather jackets and whatnot at Fox. Two decades later, flamboyant comic-accurate costumes are back in vogue, thanks to the deep wallet of the Mouse.
Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, however, had fun with their roles, with these veteran gentlemen taking their place in comic-book culture hall of fame.
Moreover, the 2000s X-Men movies had a great run at their story arcs, with great meat on the bones as full-fledged characters, thanks to solid storytelling over the years and multiple appearances, albiet some of them limited to cameos.
In the latest Marvel announcement, Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry (Ororo Munroe aka Storm) are the big names missing from the original lineup. But the Mouse is famous for pulling off cameos.
With evolving audiences, and the massive success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe till Avengers: Endgame, it would be interesting to see how Disney would shape classic X-Men characters to fit the storyline of Avengers: Doomsday. For now, it looks like the classic X-Men cast is enough to bring millennial audiences back to the MCU fold.
