Highlights
- Marvel Spotlight projects offer a fresh approach to introducing new characters, focusing on character-driven narratives for lesser-known MCU individuals.
- Key X-Men characters should be the focus of Marvel Spotlight, including founding members or those who have yet to receive the love they deserve.
- Marvel Spotlight can introduce X-Men characters by delving into their lives and backstories, allowing fans to better connect with the characters.
Marvel is in trial-and-error mode once again, something that isn’t necessarily good for a property as well-established as the MCU, especially when the X-Men are slowly being drip-fed to the universe. With the various production issues on a variety of MCU projects from their television initiatives to their movies, it can feel to some like Marvel is scrambling to get things back on track. One option they seem to be hoping will do just that is their new Spotlight projects.
Moving forward, the MCU is in a bit of an interesting state, so introducing new characters will become paramount, though it could be argued that is already the case. A new generation needs to lead the MCU forward, and that can be hard to do without heavy hitters. Luckily, the X-Men are seemingly on the way, and the Marvel Spotlight projects might be the best way to bring them in.
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What Makes Marvel Spotlight Different?
With a lot of street-level characters and simply brand new characters altogether to introduce to casual MCU fans, the Marvel Spotlight brand is a dream come true. Supposedly, the focus is going to be to highlight character-driven narratives for those individuals in the MCU who may not be as established as the likes of the Avengers. If these stories remain disconnected from the wider MCU, as has been suggested, this allows for creatives to get back to storytelling without the heft of MCU lore weighing down the decisions that can be made.
Echo is set to be the first of the Marvel Spotlight stories to be released, and when it does, fans will have a better idea of what it means for an MCU project to have a spotlight. If the series does end up playing out as a way to give a spotlight to characters with a lower shot of having solo movies, Marvel Spotlight could serve as the form of choice to introduce new characters. Introducing a character like America Chavez in Dr. Strange 2 wasn’t a bad idea, but the bombastic nature of the film and the massive cameos absolutely overshadowed the introduction to the point that many people have forgotten the character entirely. Creating a new brand that prevents an issue like that will certainly be key for the MCU moving forward.
Which X-Men Characters Should Marvel Spotlight Focus On?
|
X-Men Movies |
Release Date: |
Box Office: |
Budget: |
Rotten Tomatoes Score: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
X-Men |
July 14, 2000 |
$296.3 million |
$75 million |
82% |
|
X-2 |
May 2, 2003 |
$407.7 million |
$110–125 million |
85% |
|
X-Men: Last Stand |
May 26, 2006 |
$460.4 million |
$210 million |
57% |
|
X-Men: First Class |
June 3, 2011 |
$353.6 million |
$140–160 million |
86% |
|
X-Men: Days Of Future Past |
May 23, 2014 |
$746 million |
$200–205 million |
90% |
|
X-Men: Apocalypse |
May 27, 2016 |
$543.9 million |
$178 million |
47% |
|
Dark Phoenix |
June 7, 2019 |
$252.4 million |
$200 million |
22% |
First and foremost, the Marvel Spotlight projects should focus on mutants who will either be founding members of the MCU X-Men or will eventually be added to the classic team of mutants. While the line-ups for the MCU X-Men are still only something that can be speculated on, there are a handful of classic mutants and ones that have yet to receive the kind of love that fans want that could be focused on. Some of the first mutants that come to mind to join the MCU and also could benefit from a Marvel Spotlight series would be the likes of Gambit, Rogue, Cyclops, Shadowcat, and Psylocke.
Considering certain X-Men characters are basically foregone conclusions to be key members of the MCU lineup (talking about Storm, Nightcrawler, Marvel Girl, and as has already been teased, Beast), Marvel has been presented with a unique opportunity. Characters who have already had plenty of shots on the big screen but have failed to really land with audiences could get a new spotlight, and some of the bigger characters something like that applies to are most of the mutants that have already been named. Giving Cyclops a chance to actually connect with fans through a series before his introduction on the big screen might pay off, especially if he ends up as the leader of the team.
At the same time, giving Gambit the series fans have been begging for is only going to go over huge with the MCU fanbase. Letting audiences spend time with mutants one by one takes away the burden of glossing over various powers and backstories for the sake of a movie’s runtime, meaning the X-Men are in a fantastic position to uniquely benefit from the Marvel Spotlight brand. Even more unique mutants could be highlighted to give a lot more variation in the tone of the series, with Marrow, Magik, Havok, and Bishop in mind.
How Could Marvel Spotlight Introduce X-Men Characters?
|
X-Men Characters: |
Mutant Powers: |
First Comic Appearance: |
|---|---|---|
|
Rogue |
Power absorption |
Avengers Annual #10 (August, 1981) |
|
Gambit |
Kinetic energy generation and manipulation |
The Uncanny X-Men Annual #14 (July 1990) |
|
Jubilee |
Pyrotechnic energy plasmoids generation and manipulation |
The Uncanny X-Men #244 (May 1989) |
|
Cyclops |
Optic blasts |
The X-Men #1 (September 1963) |
|
Shadowcat |
Intangibility |
The Uncanny X-Men #129 (January 1980) |
|
Psylocke |
Telepathy and psionic control |
Captain Britain #8 (December, 1976) *As Betsy Braddock* |
|
Marrow |
Skeletal manipulation |
Cable #15 (Sept. 1994) *As Sarah* |
|
Havok |
Ambient energy conversion |
The X-Men #54 (March 1969) |
|
Bishop |
Energy absorption |
The Uncanny X-Men #282 (Nov. 1991) |
|
Magik |
Sorcery and teleportation |
Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975) |
There are so many great ways that Marvel Spotlight could bring mutants into the fold. A great way that would keep in line with what the new projects are intended to do would be to use them to show off the mutants’ lives. Take the popular character Rogue for instance, a series could bring in a new backstory for the character, or strive to adapt her comic origins. This would allow fans to connect with the struggles of the young character, what it was like when her powers first manifested themselves, and the manipulation that can come from the wrong people getting their hands on people with great potential.
If all of that were to take place before Rogue officially appeared in an X-Men title, those who take the time to watch the Marvel Spotlight series would be rewarded with being able to better connect with the character and understand her more. Those who haven’t watched the series wouldn’t be left out to dry either, as it isn’t hard to throw in a few lines here and there to characterize Rogue, especially as she talks with other members. Even further, her powers are easy to establish over the course of an opening fight sequence with the right creatives making decisions behind the scenes. All of this is incredibly important because, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kevin Feige made it clear that the X-Men are on their way:
“”There’s the return of the animated series next year, which we’re very excited about. I saw some new final episodes today, which really bring you back to that core of who the X-Men are and that soap opera that those characters represent. And then in live-action, people will see,” he continued. “Perhaps soon.””
That’s just one idea, as there are so many great options available. Marvel could shock the world by giving Jubilee her own Marvel Spotlight run, something that could end in a shockingly familiar plotline with the X-Men to call back to the original run of X-Men: The Animated Series. There really is no limit to what could be done with Marvel Spotlight, and while it will be most effective in introducing oddball characters, there’s no shortage of oddball X-Men. Only time will tell when the X-Men will start popping up properly in the MCU.
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