The Geek6: Next X-Men Origins movie

Jason
Friday
9:51 am

Well today is the day all mutants have been waiting for since X3: The Last Stand left the theatres. X-Men Origins: Wolverine has arrived. Despite all the hubbub surrounding the leaked copy to the swine flu, Wolverine is hoping his healing factor kicks in and translate to big bucks at the box office.

And to be honest, it is not just Logan/Patch/James/Wolvie. It is also Marvel Studios who is trying to establish a franchise of standalone spin offs from the original X-Men movie trilogy. So it only begs the question, who is next? GeekSix sat down in the conference room and flung inanimate objects at each other in trying to decide just who deserves the next X-Men Origins flick. Here are the results and I am still wondering who it was that decided tossing a chocolate malt was a good idea.

Joe
Storm
There are a few X-men who would have interesting backstories, like Nightcrawler, who I can’t actually sign off on having an origin movie. That’s because whenever you make a movie like that about a foreigner, it turns into two hours of stereotypes and one-dimensional silly people with accents. So he’s out.

I’ll have go with Storm, who is a big enough name to actually care about, but also has been relatively unexplored as far as back story in the first three movies.  If it’s done right, X-Men Origins: Storm could be a nice tale that builds on what was shown about Rogue in the first movie.  This time it’s not just individual people who get hurt. It’s potentially droves of people who can be affected by one not being able to control one’s burgeoning meteorological abilities.

Blain
Magneto
Yeah, this seems a bit of a cop out, but I really did give this some thought! From what I can gather, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is more like X-Men Origins: Wolverine/Sabertooth/Deadpool/Gambit/Emma Frost/Cyclops. With that in mind who’s left that would make an interesting origin movie? Magneto? Yes …but they already have plans for that. It would be fascinating to see how he escaped the holocaust and became friends with Professor X and what else turned Magneto’s ideals around and against the Professor. So hopefully David Goyer will stop making crappy horror movies and get on the ball writing it.

As far as the rest of the crew, there’s nobody else I really care to see a movie about. So I say let’s pull a Star Trek and reboot it, but throw out all of the previous X-Men movie canon. But start it with the original X-men (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Ice Man and Angel) and when they were teenagers — like in the comics. That would get me excited about an  X-Men movie again. Oh, wait …. they’re planning on that too with X-Men: First Class. Hurm. Screw it. Let’s have X-Men Origins: Blue Dudes and tell the origins of Beast, Night Crawler and have Apocolypse as the baddie. Yes, I’m only kidding.

Autumn
Professor X
As much as I adore Rogue, her story was already told via one tragic makeout… So off I went and checked out Charles Xavier’s story on Wikipedia and there is definitely enough there for a movie, including his first meeting Magneto and their early debates on mutant power.

I grow weary of the Byronic hero (the, shall we say, interpretation of Aragorn in the movie.)  And perfect heroes are just plain boring.  What I want to know is what makes a man choose to do good with the innate power given to him.  There is a story there, and an interesting one, and most importantly a noble one.

Jason
Psylocke
What do you mean I cannot have a Kitty Pryde and Jubilee movie?! What if I throw in Dazzler! Very well. In that case I definitely have to go with Psylocke. Why is that? Because X3: The Last Stand totally jobbed her. Here was this interesting Brit come stateside to work with the X-men, but in the movies she wound up siding with the bad guys only to be cut down by the Dark Phoenix. What is up with that? And yes, I know I previous had said Gambit needed to be the next Marvel movie, but I stayed faithful to only characters appearing in the original trilogy.

But the tale of Betsy Braddock is one that needs to be told. Starting across the pond to her joining up with the X-men, this gal with telekinetic power is a handful. And as an additional bonus, British accents! Because everyone knows that movies with British accents always win awards. Just ask Dame Judi Dench or Dame Helen Mirren. No worries though, neither will not be playing Psylocke.

Josh
Cyclops
For some reason, I’ve always identified with “the flawed leader who can be a little bit of a dick” character. Whether we’re talking Tigh’s brief stint as Galactica’s top dog or Jack Sheppard on Lost, or in this case, Cyclops, I always defend the real leader over the happy-go-lucky-sometimes-leader. Sure, Wolverine can lead  in a time of crisis, but who’s holding down the fort day in and day out? Who keeps the X-men together, not just when the chips are down, but all the time? Command is hard work, and anyone can rally the troops when needed, but it takes a special person to bear the burden of responsibility the rest of the time.

Maybe it’s because I was thrust into leadership early, but I always sympathize with characters like Cyclops. Give the man his due, and save us from the horrible injustice he was dealt in X3: The Last Stand!

Christy
Havok
Alex Summers, Havok.  Here’s why:  He can absorb ambient cosmic energy, transform it and then release it as waves of energy which turns things into plasma.  Rad!  Plus, his story would include his brother, Cyclops.  What can I say, I’m a Cyclops girl (and no, not because of James Marsden’s portrayal.  The love started long before that).  His origin story would have it all: childhood trauma, alienation from family, confusion about his powers, re-uniting with his brother, and working towards the common good of all mutants.