With The Wolverine hitting theaters this summer, I thought I would delve into my X-Men comics to find a few stories that I would like to have seen realized on the silver screen. It is somewhat known that the new film starring Hugh Jackman will chronicle the Mariko/Logan relationship, hopefully staying true to the comic. As a huge comic book fanboy, I will be seeing the film along with all the comic book films that are due to release over the next few years.
Here are the 5 X-Men stories I would like to see in live-action:
1. Brood Fall (Uncanny X-Men #232-235) – What a great ride this one would be! What if a horrible alien plague came to earth and infected all of the X-Men, transforming them into something on the level of Jim Cameron’s “Alien” but incorporating the mutant powers of each X-Man/Woman? My favorite panel from this series is when Wolverine is transformed and then his healing factor fights back. Yeah, it would probably get an “R” rating, but I’d go see that. It’s a great story and had some of the best character interaction, revealing some hidden psychological nuances about the X-Men that were unknown before these issues.
2. Age of Apocalypse (Various Titles) – For a span of about 4 years back in the ’90’s, the X-Men were without Charles Xavier when his son Legion killed him. This spawned a strange look into what would happen to the X-Men if they were led by Magneto and his wife (yes, wife) Rogue. Wolverine becomes a secret agent, Apocalypse rules North America under the iron fist of his “horsemen” and everything pretty much goes south. It would be a cool departure from the normal, run of the mill superhero epic, with darkness covering the plot on a global scale. In the end it is resolved, and I won’t give it away, but it is probably one of the coolest stories in all of the books. And I think most fans would LOVE to see Apocalypse realized just as much as Superman fans would love to see Darkseid.
3. Wolverine is Crucified by the Reavers (Uncanny X-Men #251-253) – MAN Uncanny had some great stories. This one was awesome and could probably be my favorite Wolverine story much less an X-Men story. In it, Wolverine faces off against a cyborg group called “The Reavers” who give him a run for his money and then crucify him on a huge “X”. Of course Logan fights back in true “snikt-snikt” fashion, but it is a wild ride throughout and is well worth a movie treatment…maybe a sequel to the upcoming film?
2. Magneto: Testament (Same Title #1-5) – This was the movie that almost happened, but its story seed came from this run of comics. It’s the story of Magneto and his humble beginnings and rise to become the master of magnetism. It delves into the reasons for why he is so adamantly charged against the human race and wishes to see mutant-kind dominate the planet. It would be cool to see a retrospective movie like this that deals with the ideas of prejudice in a way that uses a character who becomes completely evil and the struggles that made him that way. It would be like watching Psycho for the first time, sympathizing with the villain before we learn that the world he lived in is what twisted him so.
1. Astonishing X-Men – If there is anything a new X-Men movie needs it is the writing and creative talents of Peter David, Mike Carey and Joss Whedon. We saw what Joss could do with Avengers, but what he brought to the X-Men was that razor sharp dialogue and witty yet dark catharsis. If a new X-Men movie were to be made they should get these three guys on board right away, because according to fans this run of comics is indeed the favorite. It is not necessarily the stories but the style in which they were told that makes this combination of creators great. The stories were fantastic, too, and any one of them would make for great cinema, dealing with the deeper character interactions, moral dilemmas and sci-fi romance that made all of the old books so great.
Related articles
- New ‘Wolverine’ Hi-Res Image Gallery – Logan Encounters Friends and Foes in Japan (screenrant.com)
- Claremont Reflects On Jean Grey, Muses On New Wolverine, X-Men Films (comicbookresources.com)
- Hugh Jackman Talks THE WOLVERINE & New Trailer (broadwayworld.com)
Writing Is Hard Work 