X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)

[Silver Nemesis]

Is this becoming an all-purpose X-Men movie thread?

Works for me.

Just for fun.

FLASHBACK 1998. Wizard Magazine casts X-Men.

Here's my random post for the day.

I've been trying to cast a live action X-Men movie from the early to mid nineties. Some of the actors in the actual X-Men films – especially Patrick Stewart and Kelsey Grammer – were perfect in their respective roles, and it's hard to think of anyone better suited to them. But for the sake of this exercise, I'm not allowing myself to use any of the actors who appeared in those movies. This has to be a completely new cast. They have to have been the right age and at the right stage of their career to have done this circa 1990-1995. Budget is not an issue; we've got blackmail material on everyone in Hollywood, so we can get whoever we want dirt cheap.

The scenario is this: Batman 89 was a huge box office success, and Marvel wants to cash in on its popularity. A studio is willing to invest in a big budget X-Men picture. Who do you cast? Here are my ideas.

PROFESSOR X – BEN KINGSLEY

Academy Award-winner Kingsley is a superb actor and would have been a good physical match for the Xavier in the comics. To see how diverse his range is, check out his performances in Ghandi (1982), Schindler's List (1993) and Sexy Beast (2000). Stewart would have been the most logical choice given the popularity of Star Trek at that time, but Kingsley – who I believe is a better actor than Stewart – would have been a great alternative.

WOLVERINE – JACK NICHOLSON

Granted, Jack would have been in his fifties at the time and wasn't in particularly good shape. But I'm thinking of his performance in Wolf (1994) and imagining him as an older more grizzled version of Logan. Jack had the acting ability, he had the star power, and he had the bad boy magnetism needed to convey Wolverine's feral charisma. At 5'9, he would have been closer to the comic book Logan's height than Jackman. Stick him in a muscle suit and have stunt doubles handle all the action, and I reckon Jack would've been good for at least one nineties X-Men film.

Still not convinced? Here are some rough AI-generated images of Jack as Wolverine.

I heard rumours he was being considered for the part back in the nineties, though there might not have been any truth to them. Any later than 1995 and he'd have been too old. But in the early nineties, coming off the recent success of Batman, I reckon he'd have made a solid Wolverine.

MARVEL GIRL – RENE RUSSO

A good actress with the right look and physicality for the part. Russo was at the peak of her popularity in the nineties and appeared in several notable action thrillers during that period. She'd have made a good Jean Grey.

CYCLOPS – VAL KILMER

Because why not? He'd have looked good in the visor. Call me crazy, but I think Kilmer might also have been a good alternate pick for a nineties Batman if Keaton had passed on the role.

STORM – ANGELA BASSETT

Never mind the fact Bassett is currently up for an Oscar for playing a Marvel character in Wakanda Forever. She's always been a talented and elegant actress, and she made a believable action hero in Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days (1995). She'd have been my top pick for Storm.

GAMBIT – JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME

This one's a no-brainer. The muscles from Brussels was a top A-list action star of the nineties. He had the looks, the swagger, the martial arts skills, and he could affect a Cajun accent. If you're having trouble visualising JCVD as Gambit, just check out his performance in the John Woo movie Hard Target (1993).

ROGUE – MÄDCHEN AMICK

Coming hot off the success of Twin Peaks, the beautiful Amick would have made an appealing Rogue in the early-to-mid nineties.

ICEMAN – VANILLA ICE

Wait, don't close the tab! Just hear me out! I know what you're thinking. I'm thinking it too. But let's look at this in the context of the early nineties. Sure, he couldn't act, but that didn't stop Hollywood from trying to capitalise on his popularity by putting him in several movies. And he was popular, at least for a time. Having the real life Iceman play the comic book Iceman would have been pure stunt casting, but it would have opened up the door to a tie-in rap album.

"Yo! Have you ever seen a mutant get dooooown? Go X-Men, go X-Men, go!"

His chiselled looks, with the right ice makeup effects, would have matched Bobby's glacial features in the comics. Casting Vanilla Ice at any other time would have been a disaster. But in the early nineties? It could have worked, yo!

I sense none of you are convinced? Ok, let's move on.

BEAST – JAMES EARL JONES

I'd have had Jones supply Beast's voice while a stuntman portrayed the character physically. The Jim Henson Creature Shop could have provided the puppetry effects for his facial movements. I'm thinking of the live action Ninja Turtles, Tokka and Rahzar from Secret of the Ooze, and Prince Goro from Mortal Kombat. Imagine Beast brought to life using similar techniques.

But as far as his voice goes, there's no one better than Jones. I'd have had him use a Mid-Atlantic accent similar to Grammer's.

COLOSSUS – DOLPH LUNDGREN

No explanation needed. If Magneto dies, he dies. Dolph must break him.

JUBILEE – AYAKO FUJITANI

Fujitani starred in the Heisei Gamera movie trilogy and would have been in her late teens in the early nineties. She didn't actually start acting until 1995, and she's Japanese rather than Chinese, but I think she'd have been a good pick for Jubilee. The only problem is that her dad in real life is Steven Seagal, who wouldn't have been too happy about her working with Van Damme.

So that's my cast for the main X-Men. I haven't got around to casting the Brotherhood of Mutants yet. I might come back to that later. But to start with, how about:

MAGNETO – DAVID WARNER

Warner was around the same age as Kingsley, was Jewish, stood 6'2, had a square jaw and looked less frail than Ian McKellan. He would have been too young to have been a teen during the Holocaust, but then so was McKellan.

Jack Palance might have made a good alternative pick if an older actor was preferred. He won an Oscar in 1992 and also had the recent success of Batman to boost his popularity with comic book fans.

Anyway, that's all I've got for now.

[thecolorsblend]

Kingsley and Warner as Xavier and Metallo is inspired.

I do quibble over casting for Bishop. Wizard's choice of Morris Chestnut isn't all that impressive. Omar Epps was a fairly prominent AA actor back in the Nineties so he would've been my choice.

[The Laughing Fish]

The Wolverine was not a very good film to me at all.

Origins: Wolverine, while not great, was better.

Thanks for your recommendation.

Yeah, The Wolverine was a disappointment. You're better off reading the 1982 Frank Miller four-issue run to experience a better Wolverine vs the Yakuza story, and the love triangle with Yukio and Mariko was fleshed out a lot more than the movie. Even the Wolverine anime is better.

The video game adaptation of X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Uncaged Edition) is a much better experience than the movie if you want to experience Wolverine unleashed. Jackman does his best acting here than he does in most of the movies, even recites classic lines e.g. "I'm the best there is at what I do, but I do isn't very nice", cut scenes set in the Day of Future Past era, and has more in common with the comic book lore. Such as Mystique helping Wolverine destroying the very first prototype, and Wolverine confronting Dr. Cornelius. It helps that you can change the character skins to his comic book costumes too.

While not much of this can translate into a movie, it's surprisingly a good game for a movie tie-in. You don't really see that often.

[Silver Nemesis]

I do quibble over casting for Bishop. Wizard's choice of Morris Chestnut isn't all that impressive. Omar Epps was a fairly prominent AA actor back in the Nineties so he would've been my choice.

I hadn't thought about Bishop, but Epps would have been an interesting choice. I suppose we should also cast Angel, Banshee, Psylocke, Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde while we're at it.

[thecolorsblend]

Kitty Pryde

Assuming a mid/late Nineties X-Men film, Michelle Trachtenberg. No idea how that works with the official canon and the characters' ages. But I think there's a lot to be said for giving younger viewers some sort of gateway into the film. Set Kitty up as a supporting character who can take on more of a leading role in sequels (i.e., when child labor laws no longer apply).

Trachtenberg made her bones at Nickelodeon and it's not a stretch to think that at least some of her fans would've followed her over to X-Men.

[The Joker]

I see that Victoria "I don't know why they're continued to be called the X-Men since women are on the team" Alonso is now gone from Disney's Marvel Studios.

Who knows if this makes any difference whatsoever when X-Men are eventually rebooted under Disney, but I can't construe this news as being a negative.

[thecolorsblend]

I see that Victoria "I don't know why they're continued to be called the X-Men since women are on the team" Alonso is now gone from Disney's Marvel Studios.

Who knows if this makes any difference whatsoever when X-Men are eventually rebooted under Disney, but I can't construe this news as being a negative.

Midnight's Edge put up a video about it earlier.

He, at least, is interpreting her ouster as the first step of a course correction for the MCU in light of Quantumania's underwhelming box office performance. Personally, I'm with you. I can't see her dismissal as a negative.

As to the X-Men name, illiterate people have a real problem with using "men" to refer to everyone. It's like they don't realize that "man" is a generic word while "woman" is the bio sex-specific word. Calling the team X-Men is linguistically accurate. In fact, I sort of regard objection to "man" and "men" as an indication of someone's intelligence. People throwing tantrums over that tells me not only that they're brats but they're also STUPID brats.

[The Joker]

Midnight's Edge put up a video about it earlier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxR6CbbMa3Y&ab_channel=Midnight%27sEdge

He, at least, is interpreting her ouster as the first time on a course correction for the MCU in light of Quantumania's underwhelming box office performance. Personally, I'm with you. I can't see her dismissal as a negative.

As to the X-Men name, illiterate people have a real problem with using "men" to refer to everyone. It's like they don't realize that "man" is a generic word while "woman" is the bio sex-specific word. Calling the team X-Men is linguistically accurate. In fact, I sort of regard objection to "man" and "men" as an indication of someone's intelligence. People throwing tantrums over that tells me not only that they're brats but they're also STUPID brats.

I couldn't agree more. An exemplification of unadulterated buffoonery.

[The Joker]

I'm placing this here, since this is pretty much the X-Men movie thread, and I didn't think placing something associated with "Deadpool 3" truly belonged over in the LOGAN thread.

[Silver Nemesis]

If he wears the mask, this'll be damn near perfect.