The old dog is still learning new tricks.
Modern superhero films have come a long way over the last 35 years; 3 cinematic takes on Batman, Shifting from 1 Spider-Man across 9 years to 2 different ones in less than 4, unique visions of characters garnering debate of the genre’s worth in the eyes of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and even the development of a “Cinematic Universe” model designed to unite several franchises for in-story cross promotion and the development of the more infamously high concept storylines that their comic book source materials have become known for.
Amidst all the reboots, remakes, and recasting of characters that have been done right, wrong, and every shade in between, the current slate of successful franchises has had a single constant that has defied the expectations of viewers and executives alike despite facing uphill battles from conception up until this very moment, quite possibly with more to come in the future.
That constant is of course the utterly bizarre freak of nature that is Twentieth Century Fox’s X-Men film franchise, which despite the rise of an independently owned unified cross franchise film setting depicting a majority of Marvel’s properties along with the shifting landscape of what people demand from their superhero films, has somehow managed to run for 16 years without ever having to reboot itself.
The series hasn’t quite stayed the same by any means; even ignoring 2014’s “Days of Future Past’s” status as what was effectively an in-universe continuity reboot, the franchise has never backed down from actively shunning the most problematic elements of previous films.
However, the framing has nevertheless remained consistent. Every “X-Men” film, regardless of how continuity becomes reshuffled or phased out, is built upon the previously established foundation of the franchise’s inaugural entry from 2000.
One series, a single cohesive strand tying everything together for over a decade and a half, and things show no sign of slowing down and even displays more diverse storytelling than the cinematic franchise of the company of its own comic book creators. How did this happen?
I personally believe that the largest factor at play here lies in the concept of “X-Men” itself.
Stripping away the more traditional comic book conventions from the idea, X-Men is essentially a concept of speculative science fiction, applying a reality bending idea to sociopolitical issues in order to explore philosophical concepts and make social commentary through the curtain of relatable mainstream adventure stories. Meanwhile, the films play up the broader science fiction concepts by applying an additional layer of psychological realism to the setting. While the tones, plots, and concepts featured vary from film to film, the series nonetheless, in contrast to its source material, is a far less traditional superhero narrative than the contemporary films of Marvel and DC.
The subdued costumes evoking the imagery of a spec-ops team, aversion to using aliases beyond the territory of field operation code names, and active effort to utilize grounded aesthetics in favor of the flamboyant imagery of the comic book Silver Age that the property was born from, while acknowledged for the time as stepping stones necessary to attain the visual accuracy of the genre today, is viewed now as an out of date hindrance that places much of the series in a time capsule. It is the aversion of these elements however, that I would argue do a service to the series that has allowed it to evolve and change with the times in a way that even its source material has been unable to do.
I make no effort to hide that I have been more critical than loving of the “X-Men” throughout much of my life. Although I’m far from the first person to note that the concept of persecuted superhumans existing in a world where the superheroes are heralded and worshiped by the public is problematic at best, the stagnant nature of the civil rights allegory has more than worn out its welcome.
Bigotry and oppression continue to exist within our society today but the nature of the conflict surrounding the fight for equality has changed and yet the franchise as it exists beyond its film iteration has not.
Rather than explore territories of personal identity in regards to the societal perception of mutation and humanity, the ramifications of domestic human/mutant relationships that force people to address compartmentalized xenophobia, or even the notion of “positive discrimination” and the harm that it can have on societal relations that have taken years to build up to a healthy and positive status, the series continues to default to the same imagery of passionate rallies and straw man politics that have lost so much meaning that Marvel Comics seemed to miss the offensive implications of sterilizing the minority allegory of this story not once but twice.
Marketing and Editorial have unfortunately turned the “X-Men” line into a hot mess that has persisted for over 10 years at this point. I bring this up only because the release of “Deadpool” this weekend has more or less given me the conformation that I needed to finally realize the true brilliance of the X-Men movies and how they may be doing a better service to their concept than their own source material.
Where narrowing the focus of a universe as expansive as Marvel’s to a single mythology may be seen as a curse, perhaps it is a blessing in disguise. Free from the constraints of the Marvel Universe’s basic mechanics, the X-Men films are able to fully realize the ideas that, in the comics, are restrained, contradicted and undercut by all of the other mythologies that have to coexist within the same setting.
There’s no SHIELD or Avengers watching the mutant populace ready to intervene if something goes wrong so the fear of abusing power feels more real. There are no alien civilizations or mystical realms, making Earth the only viable and known setting for the story and enhancing the intimacy of the events that occur within it. Above all else, the dichotomy between publically visible vigilante activity and secret identities resembling traditional superhero status quo, is mostly absent, making the consequences of every action feel more tangible because when these people are exposed, there’s nowhere for them to retreat to.
The status quo of these worlds, similarly to reality, is constantly shifting. Mutants can’t compartmentalize the same way masked heroes do; they have to deal with every problem on their plate and that is something that few superhero franchise have ever properly handled, resulting in many of these characters to have their circumstances reset to square one at the beginning of each new entry.
This storytelling dynamic is unique to the X-Men film franchise in regards to its competition faced by the Marvel Cinematic Universe and formerly Sony’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” films, while finding certain similarities to Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy.
In doing so, they create a less predictable and more organic narrative that few other superhero films measure up to. Not every film in the series is good but more often than not, they’re bolder in the conclusions that they achieve, hinting at something greater over the horizon but never divulging the direction that they’re moving in, making each film unpredictable in their endgame from start to finish because the only picture they allow the audience to see is the one right in front of them.
Every film in the X-Men series has small markers that reinforce to the audience that the movie undoubtedly takes place within the setting, yet they all vary in individual themes and subject matters radically. “X-Men,” establishes the setting and acknowledges a need for mutant legislation but asks the question of where policing those of ill intent ends and where persecuting the innocent through loose association begins, with little but significant action punctuating the plot of film driven more by its politics than the set-pieces.
“X2” brings the conflict home, showing how dangerous the unchecked majority power can be for the very people they seek to protect while questioning the validity of faiths, ideas, and institutions that are meant to comfort but can be easily turned against you if you’re classified by society to be in a lower chain in the social order.
“X-Men: The Last Stand” questions whether we’re defined by who we choose to be or what we’re capable of and whether we should deny who we are for a place in society or if society should embrace that which sets us apart. These sentiments are further explored in “X-Men: First Class” which additionally explores what humanities fear of the unknown may stem from as well as exploring the paradox of uniting the racially divided human race against the scapegoat of a budding new and potentially dangerous community.
Even “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” despite ultimately emphasizing its own poorly conceived action beats over anything of substance, showed the potential to break down the dehumanizing effect that these capabilities can have on the human mind in demonstrating human brutality across the decades towards virtually ageless immortals, eroding whatever moral high ground they could have regarding mutant hatred.
“The Wolverine” stands out from them all, telling a samurai story set in the modern day, with all of the drama and character exploration that entails but sharing the setting of the franchise, allowing the topic of mutation as a social issue to spice up the subtext of the story, which brings a more global perspective to the issue beyond the American and Canadian set films of the franchise to date.
All of these culminate in “Days of Future Past’s” tale of clashing ideologies addressing ideas of redemption and overcoming fear that allows society to slowly build a better future.
Then we get to “Deadpool.” A film that is about lampooning the self seriousness of the genre, poking fun at the ludicrous decision making that goes into the business of Hollywood itself and the nature of blockbusters, yet somehow manages to land most of its satire right on point while maintaining enough of a heart and soul that it manages to even be one of the best and most honest entries in the very genre it parodies of recent history.
As I’ve stated before, not all of the X-Men films are great, let alone good even. Despite this however, I have recently found myself somewhat astonished at just how unique each film of the franchise is from one another despite unabashedly meeting the criteria of what the franchise is and contributing to a grander coherent narrative, despite a few obvious hiccups.
The freedom from the formula that may have made it unrecognizable as a superhero film series earlier on has ultimately allowed it to evolve, adapt, and grow its own identity in ways that no other superhero narrative, past or present, has ever been able to truly achieve in film and it wasn’t until I watched a parody of the genre that organically fits in with the established setting of its target managing to outdo almost everything that I’ve seen from this genre over the last 5 years or so that I truly realized this. It’s cemented my anticipation of the inevitably irreverent sequel yet still reinforces my excitement for the more straight laced “X-Men: Apocalypse.”
Perhaps I’m reading too much into this; maybe this will all come across as the ramblings of a loser too obsessed with the state of a single insignificant topic. After all, I was one of the few rooting for Josh Trank’s “Fantastic Four” before the unfortunate results of that disaster came to light.
However after 2 years of venting frustrations over a genre that I love gradually becoming monopolized by a well meaning but slowly growing stagnant multi-franchise conglomerate that’s setting up a copy and paste formula for various properties at the expense of uniqueness and memorability in the cinematic equivalent of gentrification, that the answer to the current problems of the superhero genre and the very product of that solution has not been under my nose but indeed staring me in the face the entire time has been something of a real eye opener.
A product that has not only already done more with the genre than the admirable efforts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but continues to do more to this very day.
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