X-Men Rumor Suggests The Beginning of a New Era for Marvel’s Mutants

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There’s a lot that’s still under wraps for the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of the X-Men, with this take on Marvel’s merry mutants likely showing up after the events of the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars. Fans still don’t know who the main characters in this version of the team will be, let alone who will play them. What has been confirmed, however, is a production title for their first MCU movie, and this may give some indication of where things are going.

The production name for Marvel Studios’ X-Men reboot is “Atlas Hall Productions,” which doesn’t immediately bring up anything involving X-Men lore. At the same time, it might homage somewhat obscure aspects of Marvel Comics’ history and further hint at how this cinematic version of the mutants will be different. If nothing else, it hints that the X-Men truly will be the face and focus of the MCU going forward.

Does the MCU’s X-Men Reboot’s Production Title Imply Ties to the Agents of Atlas?

This Obscure Marvel Team Has Never Been Especially Connected to the X-Men

For hardcore Marvel fans, the team that’s immediately suggested by X-Men‘s Atlas Hall Productions title would be the Agents of Atlas. This was a group that debuted in the comics in the late 2000s, but they were retroactively established as being active in the 1950s.

Initially, it was a group of mostly espionage-based characters, with Jimmy Woo being prominent among them. Since then, it’s been reconfigured into an Asian superhero team led by Woo, with other prominent members being the martial artist Shang-Chi, the Spider-Man-adjacent heroine Silk, Sword Master and Aero. Besides a few one-shot stories here and there, however, the X-Men have no real ties or connection to the Agents of Atlas, the latter of which are also far from prominent in terms of importance.

The Atlas Hall production company itself is based in the UK, so there’s a chance for the new X-Men movie to emphasize ties to a particularly English hero. It’s very much possible that the MCU’s X-Men have strong ties to Captain Britain and the Excalibur team from the comics. Brian Braddock led Excalibur as Captain Britain, and he was much more than just the UK version of Captain America. His sister is none other than Betsy Braddock, better known later as the psychic X-Men member Psylocke.

Likewise, Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde were both members of the Excalibur team, acting as the ties to the main X-Men comic books. Instead of dealing with the increased prevalence of mutant-based stories and sociopolitical allegories, these were offbeat sci-fi stories that were many times borderline comedies, featuring outright absurd concepts that felt right out of old-school Doctor Who episodes. It was far from what most X-Men fans expected, but it might work if this is the type of wide appeal Marvel Studios is looking for.

Marvel Studios could shift focus primarily to the X-Men franchise going forward, with the Avengers and related groups taking a major backseat. Given the failure of Marvel to be able to launch new heroes and teams (as seen currently in the box office disappointment of Thunderbolts*), using fan-favorites such as the X-Men, who are popular in the source material, is a good way to course correct. Besides the main X-Men series, spinoffs such as Excalibur, X-Factor and X-Force can be wildly different in terms of tone and scope, with Excalibur being the most overtly “superheroic” and the most removed from mutant-based themes. This would justify the production of the new reboot in some way, but the moniker might homage another part of the characters’ history.

The X-Men Represent a New Beginning for Marvel Studios

The Mutants Might Usher In a New Marvel Age for the MCU

It’s worth noting that the production company title for the MCU X-Men movie might mean something else entirely, and it would signify just how important the upcoming film is. Atlas Hall production company might reference Atlas Comics, which was the name of Marvel Comics before it became Marvel. Beforehand, Atlas was known as Timely Comics until 1951, and about a decade later, it became Marvel.

This brought in the “Marvel Age”, a rebirth for the publisher during the Silver Age of Comics that saw many of its biggest and most iconic heroes/teams introduced. These included the likes of Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four and the monstrous Incredible Hulk. Giving DC Comics (which had previously had its own resurgence with new Silver Age versions of heroes such as The Flash and Green Lantern) a run for its money, this time period was known for Marvel’s more relatable and down-to-Earth heroes.

The Marvel heroes who really succeeded in the Silver Age were Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, with the latter having their heyday during this time, while the former got big when he debuted and never let up. Heroes such as Thor and especially Iron Man and Hulk would have to wait years until their comics became more than just generic superhero pablum, with Hulk really coming into his own years later in the Peter David Hulk run.

Likewise, Daredevil was a low-rent Spider-Man, while even the X-Men stumbled at first when they debuted. During the Silver Age and early Bronze Age, the X-Men comic book was tertiary at most for Marvel’s line-up, and it wasn’t until Chris Claremont took over on the relaunched title in the mid-1970s that it really hit its stride and became the powerhouse property that it’s been ever since. Thus, homaging Atlas Comics and its immediate replacement in Marvel Comics history doesn’t make much sense for the X-Men, unless it’s something of an ironic double entendre that showcases just how important the mutants will be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It’s All On the X-Men to Save the MCU

The Marvel Cinematic Universe Will Literally Be Held Up by the Mutants

Atlas Hall might have an obvious meaning given what the X-Men now represent for the MCU, especially given how it means that Marvel as a brand has regressed to where it was in the 2000s. As noted, Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe aren’t what they used to be, just a few years ago. There’s a general sense that the studio lost the plot after 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, which was itself the perfect off-ramp for the franchise.

The few remaining fan-favorite characters have been used in increasingly unpopular ways, leaving them a lot less viable. Likewise, new brands such as Eternals and Thunderbolts* have been critical disappointments, financial flops or both. The three movies to successfully make over $1 billion USD were Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine, all of which had notable elements that separated them from other recent MCU movies.

While it might have been easy to launch new franchises such as Guardians of the Galaxy a decade ago, this was when audiences were champing at the bit for anything and everything Marvel. With this interest gone, the Marvel “formula” itself having grown old and there no longer being a decently-planned narrative trail for audiences to follow, B-list and C-list Marvel characters have stopped being a draw. Thus, doubling down on Spidey and the X-Men seems to be a good plan in terms of rebuilding brand interest, loyalty and passion among moviegoers. Thus, the use of the term “Atlas” isn’t completely strange for the new X-Men movie, especially if things aren’t really turned around with the upcoming Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The X-Men might literally carry the MCU on their shoulders like the Greek myth of Atlas, with other viable properties having largely been run through. Unless Marvel Studios outright reboots the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there aren’t that many proven hits for them to fall back on beyond the mutants. Thor: Love and Thunder was largely seen as ruining the character of Thor, and even if he’s redeemed in a fifth movie, it’s unlikely that Chris Hemsworth will play Thor for too much longer. As in the comic books, turning Sam Wilson into the new Captain America wasn’t a major hit on the big screen, while beloved MCU mascot Iron Man is dead and the viability of the Ant-Man series was killed with the third movie.

With James Gunn busy at DC Studios, a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4 is probably never coming out. Easily the biggest MCU flop was The Marvels, and the potential of seeing any of the characters involved in a major film again is very slim. Add in the failure of new properties to form, and the MCU has gone from prince to pauper. Even 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was only a modest hit, and given how long it will take for a sequel to finally be released, any potential hype might be gone entirely.

With Marvel in this precarious situation, the X-Men offer the most potential for long-term success and storytelling for the MCU. They can and have been a movie universe unto themselves, with their rich mythos, stories, themes and teams trouncing the majority of the heroes in the Avengers. Only Spider-Man rivals their success and popularity, and Tom Holland’s time as Spidey might be coming to a close, not to mention the fact that it hinges on Sony (who owns his cinematic rights) playing ball with Marvel Studios.

Bringing in the X-Men to anchor the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole will not only bring these beloved heroes to the shared universe (likely in a far more comic-accurate capacity than the Fox X-Men movies) but also create an environment in which the MCU can once again launch other properties. New franchises might include Ghost Rider and the long-awaited Blade movie, but they all hinge on X-Men successfully restoring faith and interest in the house that Iron Man built nearly 20 years ago.

“}]] The production company name for the MCU X-Men movie homages different parts of Marvel history, cementing the mutants as the focus of the next phase.  Read More