Comic book movies have become one of the most popular, and prolific, genres in film today. Much of the popularity of comic book movies stems from the first X-Men movie back in 2000. However, since that time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken over as the pinnacle of the comic book movie world.
Chris Claremont wrote the X-Men comic book for nearly 20 years and is responsible for many of the characters and stories that the films adapted, but the man himself believes that the X-Men movies were missing a lot. In a recent appearance at NYCC, Claremont praised the movies based on the characters created by Stan Lee, and lamented that his films weren't done quite as well.
There are certainly some great movies in the X-Men film franchise, but in the two decades worth of films, there are many more misses as there are hits. Most significant, Claremont was the writer for the "Dark Phoenix Saga" in the X-Men comics, a story that was used for the basis of two different X-Men movies, The Last Stand and Dark Phoenix, and both movies are generally viewed as a pair of the worst in the series.
There is a bright spot in the darkness, however. Chris Claremont is also responsible for "Days of Future Past" and while the film version of that took some significant liberties with the plot of the source material, the movie ended up being one of the most popular in the franchise.
The madness isn't quite over. Chris Claremont also launched The New Mutants comic book in 1982, and the movie of the same name has yet to be released, years after production wrapped. The film is currently slated for release in 2020, but there's already a general feeling that the movie isn't very good.
Of course, there, is still hope. With the purchase of 21st Century Fox by Disney, the rights to the characters are now with Marvel Studios and the opportunity now exists for them to be integrated into the existing, and quite successful, Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kevin Feige hasn't confirmed anything beyond the fact that the mutants will show up at some point down the road, but Chris Claremont is hopeful, telling the NYCC crowd (via AiPT Comics on Twitter)...
I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Chris Claremont's comment likely echos a lot of fans right now. Regardless of whether you loved the previous X-Men films or not, there's a lot of anticipation for what Marvel Studios has in store for the characters.
It looks like we have a bit of time to wait. Marvel has seemingly laid out its complete plans for the next two years, and there are no X-Men to be seen. There's always the possibility that they'll pop up in some unexpected place, but hopefully, if Marvel really is taking its time, that will benefit the X-Men giving them the best possible start whenever they do arrive in the MCU.
