X-Academy Is A Risky Way To Setup An MCU X-Men Movie

The upcoming introduction of the X-Men to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the most highly anticipated aspects of the franchise in the coming years. X-Men boasts some of Marvel’s most well-known characters and is an established brand that is guaranteed to draw moviegoers to the cinema. However, involving the X-Men also opens up Marvel Studios to broader opportunities outside standard X-Men movies.

There is scope for spin-off movies and television shows that can provide Marvel Studios with a plethora of content for years to come. The mutants haven’t even officially arrived, with a few sporadic appearances, and rumors are already starting to commence about ideas Marvel Studios has to expand the content they are going to create with them.

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Marvel Studios Are Rumored To Be Creating An X-Academy Show

According to InSneider, Marvel Studios is working on an X-Academy series for Disney Plus that would focus on young mutants. The X-Academy show could also be released before Marvel’s X-Men reboot, although it might also be used as a spin-off series following the first movie in a bid to capitalize on the buzz.

X-Academy is a story that Marvel Comics have tapped into in the past with the series, “New X-Men: Academy X.” This was created to provide Marvel with a litany of new mutants with a range of powers and personalities. The series focused on young mutants looking to learn and develop their powers at the Xavier Institute of Higher Learning, allowing Professor X to pass on his wisdom to a new breed of mutants. It is believed that if the X-Academy show sees the light of day, it will follow a similar path.

X Academy Would Be A Risky Way To Build Up To An X-Men Movie

If Marvel chooses to create an X-Academy show, it would be a questionable decision as it’s not a guaranteed way to draw interest in the eventual X-Men reboot. The idea for Marvel would likely be for the characters in X-Academy to eventually feed into Marvel’s bigger X-Men movies, but not everyone watches the MCU Disney Plus shows. There’s a chance this could be made, and then fans might feel alienated or confused when the first X-Men film rolls around if stories are being continued from this series. It’s not the grandest way to build toward an X-Men film, and given that Marvel is trying to rebuild the popularity surrounding the MCU, that’s not a risk worth taking.

Deadpool & Wolverine proved that there is interest in mutant-related content as the film grossed over $1 billion at the worldwide box office, even though it was R-rated. That’s why Marvel should be careful with how they approach the next X-Men story. There’s real momentum behind the characters and fans want to see more, but deciding to focus on relatively unknown and less common mutants would be a risky decision to make. Seeing young mutants learning and developing provides a lot of potential for growth within the MCU in the long term. Still, it might not get tons of interest in an eventual X-Men movie, which should be the focus of any mutant appearance right now.

X-Men Should Come First Before Any Other Marvel Plans

The idea of tapping into the wider mutant universe and bringing in as many characters as possible from the X-Men franchise isn’t a bad one at all. An X-Academy series could be a lot of fun on Disney Plus, bringing a more youthful feel to the MCU and an almost feeder system for characters that prove popular to break into X-Men movies. Similarly, stars from X-Men could make cameos on the series, and that is why the X-Men reboot should happen first. It would be more beneficial to the mutant wing of the MCU franchise for the blockbuster film to be the first introduction to this world than a Disney Plus series that won’t be watched by as many people. If Marvel wants this world to be a big hit, then it would be smarter to draw people in with the major characters such as Storm and Cyclops rather than younger mutants with whom people aren’t as familiar.

If the X-Men film does well, people will be more likely to check out an X-Academy show to see where the franchise goes next. The cameos from the X-Men stars could then take place and would have a lot more meaning to the MCU in general. Doing things that way around also provides significantly less of a risk of failure, which is going to be crucial when Marvel is hoping to provide more long-term content when it comes to its MCU television shows. It’s important that Marvel protects the X-Men brand as much as possible, and an X-Academy show being the first thing that people experience doesn’t do that.

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