X-Men Changing Their Name For Progressive Reasons?
Here's what we're hearing about an X-Men name change at Marvel.
This article is more than 2 years old
Has the X-Men name been cancelled by Marvel? Maybe. This is actually something that’s been rumored and discussed a lot over the past several years. According to a new rumor from We Got This Covered, Kevin Feige himself (the head boss for Marvel) has said the title typically used to refer to the group of mutants is too old-fashioned. They claim that Kevin Feige sees Marvel as having a newly diverse and progressive outlook and that calling the group “X-Men” doesn’t align with Marvel’s current agenda. For this reason, Kevin Feige may soon change the way the mutants are referred to.
A few years back, there was a Disney-Fox deal that made it possible for Marvel to bring the X-Men into their cinematic universe. Shortly thereafter, fan discussion about the name began to circulate. Of course, the title for the mutants was something that had been part of fan discussions before, but with the mutants already being rebranded for Marvel, the moment to rename the group is now. The discussion became more intense when people who work at Marvel made mention of it. For example, Victoria Alonso, a producer with a history on Engdame and Iron Man, commented on video that she felt the title was outdated. That interview happened back in 2019.
Because the conversation around renaming the X-Men happens so often, it almost begins to feel inevitable. However, it’s worth taking this update from We Got This Covered with a grain of salt. They made a very similar claim in June 2020, saying that this was being discussed at Marvel. What the Marvel Cinematic Universe will actually do remains to be seen. We’re still not sure when the studio will be introducing the mutants into their films, though there have been some claims that Doctor Strange 2 may be the first real introduction for the group.
If they retitle the group, the next question is what they’ll call it. Yes, there was that time in Dark Pheonix when Mystique said “X-women”, but that hardly seems like what will really happen. Simply calling the group mutants seems like Marvel’s easiest path forward that would be the most inclusive, but may not be specific enough to the group of heroes. Perhaps they’ll be called X-Mutants, or X-Team. It wouldn’t be surprising to learn that Marvel has a room full of white boards, where writers have brainstormed gender-neutral terms for the group, pulling from the comics.
At this point, all we have are rumors and speculation about what we can really expect from the X-Men’s entrance to Marvel, which is entirely frustrating for fans. The Disney-Fox deal happened several years ago. It sounds like Marvel is in no rush to have the group join the MCU. It’s possible that in a film as soon as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (March 25, 2022) we could be learning how Marvel will really introduce this group to the screen and what their plans are for the characters. However, it’s still possible that it will be years before we get more than hints at their plans. For now, we’ll be watching for more news from the Marvel team on their plans for the X-Mutants (X-People? X-Group? X-Heroes? They’ll work on it.).
