X-MEN: 10 Of The Worst Things 20th Century Fox Did With The Marvel Franchise

Recently, many fans celebrated the 20th anniversary of X-Men, and while the franchise would go on to have some great moments, we're now taking a look back at some of the worst things Fox ever did...

By JoshWilding - Jul 29, 2020 05:07 AM EST

Filed Under: X-Men

Earlier this month, fans celebrated the 20th anniversary of 2000's X-Men, and while it's easy to look back at that movie with rose-tinted glasses (it was certainly a game-changer for the superhero genre), there's an awful lot Fox did wrong with the Marvel franchise...while they were still in charge.

Now, Marvel Studios is being tasked with rebooting the X-Men franchise, and that's obviously exciting for a lot of reasons. However, we can't help but look back at the history of these movies with disappointment, and while the future is certainly looking bright, the past was definitely full of mistakes.

It's those we're taking a look at today as we delve into what went wrong with these moments and decisions, with the hope that Marvel Studios won't repeat past mistakes when the reboot happens.

To take a look through these biggest disasters, all you need to do is hit the "Next" button down below!

10. Wolverine's Botched Origin Story

It was a pretty controversial decision by Marvel Comics to reveal Wolverine’s early years in the pages of Origins, but the story was well-received by fans...well, for the most part anyway.

However, his early years were completely rushed in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and while a creative opening credits sequence effectively showcased James Howlett's history with war, his childhood definitely deserved to be more than just glossed over in a matter of minutes.

Wolverine’s story became a convoluted mess, and it only got worse when the movie tackled Weapon X. This take had the character actually agree to let them experiment on him, and he didn’t lose his memory until he was shot by what fans have since dubbed a magic bullet. The Wolverine and Logan made up for this solo outing to some extent, but nowhere near enough.

9. Cyclops' Portrayal

Cyclops' laughable death scene in X-Men: The Last Stand came as almost a relief after the previous movies butchered the character. The leader of the X-Men was turned into the possessive and unlikeable boyfriend of Jean Grey, and his sole obsession with not letting Wolverine get his claws on her ultimately made him a bore to watch.

James Marsden was perfectly fine in the role, but the brave leader of the X-Men being turned into a jealous and petty whiner didn't do him justice, and made fans resent these movies.

Tye Sheridan was another good fit for the role, but X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix didn't exactly make up for past mistakes. The portrayal of the character was better, but not much, and he still wasn't exactly the fearless hero from the source material fans wanted to see on screen.

8. Magneto's "Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants"

Unfortunately, each version of this team that we saw in the original trilogy of movies was made up of either C-List characters that no one really cared about or very poor interpretations of those that fans did. Ultimately, everything seemed to boil down to Magneto and Mystique (which is perhaps why their relationship became such an integral part of X-Men: First Class).

However, the way that the likes of Sabretooth and Toad were handled was disappointing from the start, so perhaps that was just a sign of things to come? Either way, the prequels did little to make this right, and just watered down the Brotherhood fans hoped to see from the comic books.

It’s a shame the movies never decided to explore the relationship between Magneto and his children – and Brotherhood members – Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver; what a missed opportunity.

7. Wolverine's (Missing) Costume

The lack of Wolverine’s classic blue and yellow costume in the admittedly grounded world of the X-Men movies isn’t a huge surprise, but the decision to give both him and the rest of the team such bland costumes (lacking in any sort of personality) still sting if you're a comic book fan.

As if to emphasise how dull and generic these black leather suits were, X-Men saw Wolverine actually borrow one of Cyclops’ outfits, and things didn't really improve until 2016's Deadpool.

That was a spinoff, of course, and the main franchise never really embraced superhero costumes. The likes of The Wolverine and X-Men: Apocalypse teased them, but it never went any further, and we can now only hope the Marvel Cinematic Universe is able to set things right for Wolverine.

6. The "First Class"

2011's X-Men: First Class served as a reboot of sorts for the X-Men franchise, and Matthew Vaughn’s take on these characters would prove to be one of the best yet. However, as it was also a prequel to the original trilogy set in the 1960s, the director was restricted as to who he could use as members of the "First Class" of mutants.

As a result, we were left with mostly B-List characters like Banshee and Angel instead of the classic line-up (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel, Beast and Iceman).

However, exploring the relationship between Professor X and Magento was so fascinating that it is relatively easy to forgive this, but this timeline just became more convoluted as time went on, especially when we started jumping from decade to decade. We should have just stayed in the 1960s...

5. The Cure

Instead of focusing on "The Dark Phoenix Saga," X-Men: The Last Stand also decided to cram in elements of Joss Whedon’s superb Astonishing X-Men run. It did that story absolutely no justice, and the fact that there was a mutant cure became little more than a convenient plot device which still didn’t really end up serving much of a purpose.

As if to show this, they depowered Rogue, Mystique and Magneto, but ended the movie by giving the latter back his abilities. What was the point of this Cure then? It was yet another frustrating part of one of the worst X-Men movie, and something X-Men: Days of Future Past didn't even bother addressing with the return of some familiar faces.

Continuity never really mattered in these movies, and that was never more evident after this disaster.

4. The Juggernaut

"I’m the Juggernaut, bitch!" is not only one of the most cringe-worthy lines ever uttered in a movie, but also a good indication of just how badly Brett Ratner got this character in X-Men: The Last Stand. Regardless of whether it’s the ridiculous costume or that dreadful dialogue, the iconic villain was completely wasted, and he has become little more than an internet meme since.

There are many characters that the X-Men franchise has failed to get quite right during their transition to live action, but this is perhaps the worst example. Juggernaut does at least have a personality in the comics and his role in The Last Stand boiled down to something of nothing, a shame considering he’s the kind of villain who could, and should, have a future on screen.

It's not Vinnie Jones' fault either, as he recently explained to us in an exclusive interview.

3. "The Dark Phoenix Saga"

As we mentioned, "The Dark Phoenix Saga" is a classic comic book arc, and while it was always unlikely that it would be faithfully adapted to the big screen (part of the story did take place on the moon), what we got in X-Men: The Last Stand was ultimately a major disappointment.

The likes of Professor X and Cyclops were killed off with little to no thought or significance, and Jean Grey’s return from the dead as the Dark Phoenix really only ended up boiling down to her being manipulated by Magneto and intensely staring at people! Writer Simon Kinberg shared years talking about regretting his decision...and then f***ed it up all over again with Dark Phoenix.

That also screwed the story up, and it's not great surprise that it was both a critical and commercial flop.

2. Pointless Cameos

Colossus was a victim of the X-Men franchise’s bad cameo habit early on, but movies like X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine went really crazy with the Easter Eggs, throwing in pretty much anyone and everyone just for the sake of it, even if it didn’t make sense.

The later movies did the exact same thing; for proof of that, you need only look at how the likes of Psylocke and Archangel were treated in X-Men: Apocalypse (you can add Jubilee to the list too).

There’s nothing wrong with having lesser known characters make an appearance, but Fox even started promoting the big screen debut of mutants who had seconds of screentime, and while some were later redeemed - like Colossus in Deadpool - there are many who were totally wasted.

1. Old Man Logan

Logan was a terrific film, but it wasn't the "Old Man Logan" adaptation many fans were hoping for. When Hugh Jackman uttered those words at Comic-Con, it was clear Fox couldn't adapt it faithfully (given how many Marvel Studios characters were in the comic books), but the movie basically just ended up being a story featuring an older version of Wolverine!

This is easy to forgive in many ways, as James Mangold's Logan really was great. However, it was undeniably disappointing that when Wolverine did draw his final breath, it was at the hands of a clone.

That's arguably a role that Sabretooth should have had, but just like Joker didn't adhere to the source material, that was also the case with Logan. As a result, it is what it is, and while this was a great ending for Jackman's tenure as the character, it arguably wasn't the perfect one.

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112 Comments

1 2 3

KWilly - 7/29/2020, 5:07 AM

"we were left with mostly B-List characters like Banshee and Angel instead of the classic line-up (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel, Beast and Iceman)"

That's because First Class took place in the 60's, meaning guys like Cyclops/Grey/Iceman weren't even born yet. The roster they had for that movie was fine, and the movie itself was really solid.

JustALurker - 7/29/2020, 5:15 AM

Number 1 and 6 are just dumb.
The rest are valid points.

99OPTIMISTPRIME - 7/29/2020, 5:16 AM

Sooo...obviously Old Man Logan shouldn't be on there at all. The movie adaptation is arguably better, and more practical. You can swap that out with a Mystique/Apocalypse combo. Neither character was really handled that well.

Origame - 7/29/2020, 6:14 AM

@99OPTIMISTPRIME - ikr? There was no way fox could make an ideal adaptation of old man logan given the rights they had. And what does it matter us not having blind hawkeye or t rex venom when we get a movie like logan? Its like making a list of the worst things dc ever did and putting joker at the top because theres no batman.

lawndart - 7/29/2020, 11:28 AM

@Origame - Old Man Logan worked in part because it gave us a dystopian tour of the Marvel Universe that had appeal to a lot of fans of different characters. I enjoyed the Avengers references like Hammer Falls and Hawkeye. That Hulk part of pretty crazy

WeaponXCII - 7/29/2020, 5:18 AM

The topic of this list could easily span at least five parts- if not more.

DoubleD - 7/29/2020, 5:26 AM

Right on all 10. ALL the X-Men movies were entertaining and fun to watch but always walked out it wasn't the X-Men from the comics.

Reeds2Much - 7/29/2020, 5:29 AM

7 is retroactive. No one cared about the costumes when the movies first came out.

TheUnworthyThor - 7/29/2020, 5:36 AM

@Reeds2Much -

tmp3 - 7/29/2020, 6:09 AM

@Reeds2Much - but muh accuracy

Origame - 7/29/2020, 6:16 AM

@Reeds2Much - and at least understandable. At that time superhero movies were synonymous with cheap cheesy cash grabs. They needed to show audiences that these movies can tell interesting and mature stories, and a huge part of that is at least temporarily ditching the colorful spandex.

NathanielX - 7/29/2020, 7:20 AM

@Reeds2Much - Actually I liked the black and silver colors at the time, but they could have changed black for navy blue.

Goldboink - 7/29/2020, 9:57 AM

@Reeds2Much -
When the movie came out we were just happy to get Marvel characters who were somewhat faithfully portrayed by good actors and actresses. Costumes matter less for X-Men than someone like Thor or Cap so I remember a little grumbling but not much. Cyclops shot lasers out of his eyes and Wolverine had his claws. 'Nuff Said!

MrMediocre - 7/29/2020, 5:31 AM

Hold up, "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" was (at the time) great, it was a reference to a pretty popular (again, at the time) fan dubbed X-Men cartoon series about the Juggernaut. It doesn't hold up that well anymore, but I can admit 20 year old me loved it, lol.

TheUnworthyThor - 7/29/2020, 5:35 AM

@MrMediocre - I loved it (and still do) and I never had heard of the dubbed cartoon it was referencing. Of course the movie sucks and so does that version of Juggernaut but I have no problem with that particular line.

GhostDog - 7/29/2020, 5:46 AM

Everything with Cyclops was egregious

MutantEquality - 7/29/2020, 7:57 AM

@BlackBeltJones - yeah. Without Cyclops as leader the whole dynamic felt off

Origame - 7/29/2020, 5:56 AM

Ok, i dont care if it wasnt a one for one adaptation of old man logan. By making logan the worst decision in foxs x men franchise makes this whole list worthy of the toilet.

1 2 3

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