The X-Men will join the MCU when Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters in December. They already made their first post-credit experience in The Marvels, and three of the Fox X-Men heroes were in the third teaser for Avengers: Doomsday, with the original Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen), and Cyclops (James Marsters) all showing up. However, Marvel has hinted that they will not bring in the classic X-Men from the past movies when the reboot after Avengers: Secret Wars reboots the MCU. Instead, Marvel has indicated it will go with a younger X-Men team and start over fresh with the mutants.
With that in mind, here are 10 perfect mutants that Marvel should use when they reboot the MCU with the X-Men as the new face of the franchise.
10) Jubilee
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If the MCU wants people to take the new X-Men team seriously, it can’t be full of characters non-comic fans have never heard of. There needs to be famous mutants on the team, if only from the cartoons. That makes Jubilee the perfect first choice. She was hugely popular on the X-Men cartoons in the 90s, and was back in X-Men 97, keeping her in the public eye. Not only that, but Jubilee has never been part of any of the X-Men movies other than small cameo appearances. At best, the new movies could focus on Jubilee, making her the perfect replacement for how the original trilogy was based around Rogue.
9) Kid Omega
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If Jubilee is on the new X-Men team, Kid Omega would be a perfect option as her polar opposite. While Jubilee has been portrayed as being a “bratty:” teenager in the comics and the animated cartoons, she is, at heart, a good person. This means the best idea could be to make another young X-Men member someone who is not a good person, but is a hero anyway. That would be Kid Omega, someone who was also portrayed as a bad teenager, but more of a bully and know-it-all than a brat. Having Jubilee as the light and Kid Omega as the dark could present a fascinating story. Plus, he is one of Marvel’s most powerful telepaths.
8) Iceman
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Iceman got a small appearance in the original trilogy with Shawn Ashmore in the role. He had the small role of befriending Rogue when she showed up, and then he got a bigger role in X-Men: The Last Stand thanks to his connection to Pyro, who turned evil and joined the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. He also got a small role in Days of Future Past. However, Iceman is an original member of the X-Men, and he deserved a lot more screentime than he received. Having him here as a young mutant again would work out well, and if the MCU sticks with the later revelations that he is gay, it could offer the representation that the X-Men have represented since Chris Claremont prioritized it during his run.
7) Kitty Pryde
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Kitty Pryde was a big part of X-Men: The Last Stand, played by Elliot Page, but she never got to shine as she did in the comics when she was the youngest ever member of the team when she joined. That said, it isn’t the young Kitty that the new X-Men in the MCU need. The new movies need to have some veterans on the team, and Kate Pryde needs to be one of them. She has come so far over her time in Marvel Comics and is a respected and powerful mutant in her own right. Pryde needs to be the strong woman she has become and could be one of the team’s leaders in the MCU.
6) Rogue
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Rogue is one mutant that should return, if only to make up for how the X-Men movies ruined her character in the original trilogy. Her sass and dominant personality were nowhere in sight in those movies, and when she took the “mutant cure” to save herself from her powers, it was a colossal disappointment. Rogue needs to be the character she is in X-Men 97, a strong and powerful woman who could stand alongside Kate Pryde as one of the team’s most respected members.
5) Gambit
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If Rogue is back, it is time to make sure Gambit is back as well. Not only that, but the MCU could even bring in Channing Tatum as the mutant, since he was such a fan-favorite in Deadpool & Wolverine. On the other hand, it might be nice to just pay off those fan-friendly moments in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars and then recast it for the X-Men movies, with an actor who fits well with whoever Marvel casts to play Rogue. Gambit and Rogue would be better than Cyclops and Jean Grey in the new MCU X-Men storyline.
4) Magik
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Colossus never got a chance to shine in the X-Men movies, although he did have a wonderful turn in the Deadpool films. Magik got her Fox debut in The New Mutants, which received terrible reviews, although Anya Taylor-Joy was a bright light in the film. She was great as Illynana Rasputina, and while the new X-Men movies will probably recast anyone from that movie for new appearances, it set a template for how Magik could work. It would also be nice to have her on the team as Kate’s longtime friend.
3) Nightcrawler
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The best part of X2 was the opening of the film when Nightcrawler showed up and bamfed his way through the White House to the U.S. President. Alan Cumming was fantastic in the role, and it will be nice to see Nightcrawler again (even though there was a Nightcrawler in the prequels as well). Nightcrawler is someone else who should return, and like Kate and Rogue, he should be older, probably around the age of Cyclops and Storm from the original trilogy. Plus, Nightcrawler should be more fun than he was in X2, and it could be great to have the swashbuckler Nightcrawler on the big screen.
2) Polaris
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Polaris is someone who could go either way. She is Magneto’s daughter in the comics, and that could remain true in the new X-Men movies. However, she should be a little younger than the team leaders and have her as someone who is trying to manage her powers properly, which was the main reason for the Xavier Institute. Seeing Lorna Dane coming into her own in the X-Men movies could be what Fox tried to do with Rogue, but this time, it could be done the right way, and, in the end, she could rival even her father.
1) Havok
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While it would be great to have Cyclops as the team leader in the new X-Men movies, it is probably best to leave all the original trilogy’s X-Men on the sidelines, other than Rogue. Instead, have Scott’s brother, Havok. Havok has similar powers to Scott, but he doesn’t shoot his powers from his eyes. He is not as structured and disciplined as his brother and is a lot more vulnerable than Scott ever came across as. Havok shouldn’t necessarily be the leader (leave that to Kate or Rogue), but he could be a great addition and someone the movies have never given enough love to.
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