After months of speculation, rumour, and the occasional tease, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is finally saying hello to a new incarnation of the X-Men. Hot on the heels of Sadie Sink's key appearance as mutant Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day (oh hey, a rhyme!), Kevin Feige and director Jake Schreier took to the D23 convention in Anaheim to lift the lid on Marvel Studios' much-anticipated X-Men plans, including casting announcements, a release date for the new X-Men movie, and a fancy schmancy new logo to get all of us Mutant-heads salivating.

To quote the great Frostillicus: "What a time to be alive."

More than any other Marvel property introduced to the MCU in the post-Avengers: Endgame slate, expectations are high for X-Men. With expectation, naturally, also comes anxiety. The X-Men once ruled the roost at Marvel in the '90s and 2000s, and for many (myself included), they're a highly cherished part of the House of Ideas' stable, which also means that there are a lot of opinions out there over how they should be introduced, which mutants should feature, and how best to right the missteps the previous on-screen incarnations brought to bear.

Clearly, from the casting reveals we've gotten, this incarnation of the X-Men is skewing younger than the team most audiences are used to, harkening back to the original Stan Lee and Jack Kirby comics where Professor X assembled a team of mutant teenagers to do battle with Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. It marks a shift from most mainstream depictions of characters like Cyclops and Jean Grey, who, while given the teenage reboot treatment during the nadir of Fox's tenure with the franchise, are usually seen as the adult vanguards of the X-Men - confident, cool, but somewhat messy adults who help shepherd the next generation of mutants through a world that fears and resents them.

It's also worth noting that those original Lee/Kirby X-Men comics? They share very little in common with the X-Men as we know them today. The mutant metaphor, the cosmic horror, the soap-opera drama - these were all elements fashioned under the creative pairing of Chris Claremont and John Byrne long after the aforementioned duo had left the scene. With that in mind, True Believers could be forgiven for feeling just a smidge anxious that Marvel is skewing younger with the team's incarnation for this reboot.

But this is also all stuff that Schreier and Feige are aware of. Both have signposted Claremont's X-Men as a key influence on the reboot (and how could it not be), and it's also worth noting that plenty of recent interpretations have sought to bring those formative X-Men comics into the modern era, aligning them with the traits that made the team resonate so strongly in shows like X-Men: The Animated Series, and about two or three of Fox's X-Men films.

In fact, beyond Claremont and Jonathan Hickman (whose work Schreier also stated is impacting the development of his film), there's one interpretation of the X-Men's early years that I think provides the perfect blueprint for how Marvel could be tackling the team going forward - a little old show called X-Men: Evolution.

[Article continues on next page...]

The MCU's X-Men Reboot Is Giving X-Men: Evolution Vibes (Sort Of)

In terms of X-Men adaptations, the big two are the Fox movies and X-Men: The Animated Series, the latter of which being a '90s darling that drew wide acclaim for adapting some of the X-Men comics' most iconic storylines into animation (and for having the best cartoon intro ever). So strong was the cult following for the latter that it made a surprise comeback on Disney+ the other year as X-Men '97, emerging as probably the most faithful X-Men adaptation of all time before the wheels came (slightly) off in its sophomore effort in 2026. 

Regardless, the success of these two key X-Men interpretations has led to other efforts being somewhat forgotten about, with perhaps the biggest victim being X-Men: Evolution.

Released in the year 2000 - the same year that the first X-Men film hit theatres - Evolution didn't set out to maintain continuity with the previous decade of Marvel animation. While the '90s show had admirably adhered to the halcyon days of the X-Men's comic past, adapting key story arcs from Claremont's run - like The Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past - Evolution had a different brief. Instead of spotlighting the X-Men at their peak, it presented a more youthful depiction of that core lineup, focusing on the conflict between Xavier's Gifted Youngsters and Magneto and Mystique's Brotherhood, with Cyclops, Rogue, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and new creation Spyke the lead figures.

The big difference with this dynamic came with the teaching makeup of Xavier's school, with Charles being joined by Storm and Wolverine as his fellow mutant elders and key X-Men operatives. Here, Logan excelled in a "cool uncle" role, protecting the next generation of mutants with Storm - and later Beast - while working as a more peripheral figure in the team. This switch-up also helped emphasise the drastic stakes at play in the struggle for mutant liberation, with Charles, Storm, and Wolverine doing their best to find the balance between training their students and shielding them from the darker aspects of their rivalry with Magneto, Mystique, and Sabretooth.

That classic X-Men soap opera dynamic is iconic for a reason, but Evolution shook things up in a way that balanced the want to capture a more youthful vibe and keep the team's most iconic characters in the frame. It also shows the perfect way to bring Wolverine into the X-Men when his usual teammates are now on the younger side. You can't babify Logan, and by making him the team's guardian, you unlock the best kind of Wolverine - the ferocious elder who'll defend his family at all costs, while at the same time trying his best to figure the whole "teacher thing" out.

Better still, if you do still want that younger Wolverine in that setup, then X-Men: Evolution already showed how to do that as well - you bring in Laura Kinney's X23/Wolverine. That's two Wolverines for the price of one reboot. What's not to love?

But what beyond the youthful makeup of the MCU's X-Men has caused Evolution to get all up in my brain this week? Apart from the fact my brain is 80% comprised of the cartoon intros of my youth (special shout-out to Batman Beyond), there's one casting in the MCU's X-Men announcement that really activated my X-Men: Evolution gene - Samara Weaving as Emma Frost.

Emma Frost has been many things in the comics over the years: a willing villain, a drama demon, and a determined ally - and it's the latter role that writers have extracted her most impressive moments from. Emma is posh, petty, and supremely self-confident, and that charm works wonders in a family like the X-Men - particularly when she's in the same telepath bracket as Professor X and Jean Grey. She has fewer of the X-Men's moral hang-ups and is more willing to break boundaries, which also makes her the perfect foil for a character like Charles.

With all that said, could it be the case that Weaving's Frost will take on that Storm/Wolverine role as a teacher in this new X-Men film? It would be a killer way to add tension to the X-Men leadership, and also do a lot to make up for the subpar depictions of the character in live-action we've gotten beforehand. Also, Emma Frost has been a member of the X-Men in the comics for over 20 years now - it's high time the movies got on board with the program.

Thankfully, judging from Weaving's reading material at least, it very much looks like they're about to.

[Article continues on next page...]

What Comics Will Inspire The New MCU X-Men Movie? (Starting With Mister Sinister)

If X-Men: Evolution provides a potential approximation of tone, vibe, or even conceit for Schreier's X-Men reboot, that still leaves the question of which comics will form the spine of the movie's story and what may inform its broader thematic elements. As mentioned previously, both Schreier and Kevin Feige have spoken about the influence of Chris Claremont's X-Men, which basically goes without saying. Claremont and artist John Byrne wrote what is essentially the definitive Mutant bible across their time on the X-family of books, picking up the gauntlet left by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum and transforming the team into the stars of Marvel's most popular and acclaimed comics.

Uncanny X-Men, Excalibur, Wolverine, The New Mutants - Claremont had a pivotal hand in all and imbued the X-Men with their core narrative pillars: the development of the "mutant metaphor", a cosmic scope, and some seriously messy soap-opera shenanigans. In fact, it's kind of impossible to make an X-Men "thing" without taking from his work in some way or another, and the bulk of live-action X-Men material we've received so far reflects that. X2: X-Men United was heavily inspired by God Loves, Man Kills, while the likes of Days of Future Past, The Dark Phoenix Saga, and Claremont and Frank Miller's Wolverine miniseries have also done a lot of heavy lifting in the live-action realm.

Basically, when Schreier and Feige say that Claremont is a big touchstone for the reboot, that doesn't exactly narrow things down.

What does help narrow the focus a little is the knowledge that Adam Driver will be playing Mister Sinister. Born Nathaniel Essex, Sinister is a character whose history is inextricably linked with that of Apocalypse - an ancient mutant whose Celestial attributes have made him the X-Men's most formidable adversary.

Sinister, like Apocalypse, is heavily preoccupied with evolution, but specifically genetic experimentation. He's the X-Men's quintessential mad scientist villain - a theatrical, long-lived figure who's a big fan of cloning and who loves to mess with the genealogy of the Summers line especially. That's bad news for Kit Connor's Cyclops, who together with Jean, is likely to bear the brunt of Sinister's attention in the upcoming film.

To make a long, convoluted, messy story short, Sinister is probably most famous in the comics for his involvement with the character of Madelyne Pryor, which the 1988 Inferno arc retconned to reveal she was a clone of Jean Grey manufactured by Sinister. The rest of the story involves demonic forces and Pryor transforming into the villain known as Goblin Queen, but that's sort of by the by. I wouldn't expect this X-Men reboot to go head-first into demonic cloning territory with its first film, but in terms of gauging Sinister's character and his evolution into a significant Marvel villain, Inferno is fairly foundational.

Plus, if one of the main priorities of the reboot is to address how badly the Fox movies treated Scott Summers (and to reiterate how cool Cyclops actually is), then Sinister is a great way to go.

[Article continues on next page...]

Why The MCU's X-Men Can't Avoid Jonathan Hickman

But do you want to know another method of making Cyclops look cool? (Or even just the rest of the X-Men in general, to be honest.) Taking inspiration from Jonathan Hickman.

In the same interview with Good Morning America (via IGN) where he name-dropped Chris Claremont, Schreier mentioned that Jonathan Hickman was another whose work could inform this new incarnation of the X-Men:

"One of the great things about the comics is there is such a rich and broad history... That was one of the first things that Kevin and I talked about when I came in; they made many great movies in this world, and they've made so many great things. Let's find the things that haven't recently been done well. All these other corners of the universe… Digging back into those comics like 20 years, the whole Chris Claremont run, the newer Jonathan Hickman stuff. There are so many stories that are still untold, to honor and to reach into, and then to meet this cast and try to do something new, I think you always want to see something that reveres where it came from and then is still taking a new spin on where we want to go."

Reading into this quote, it's obviously more than just Claremont and Hickman that's being put into this reboot. There are so many talented X-Men writers and artists who've contributed to that world as we know it today, from Walt and Louise Simonson to Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, John Cassaday, Bill Sienkiewicz, and beyond, and no doubt there'll be at least small pieces of their footprint reflected in the new film. But it is interesting that Hickman specifically has been namedropped, not just for the fact that his work has already proven a favourite of Marvel Studios, having inspired much of the Infinity Saga as well as the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, but also because his X-Men reboot had a galvanising effect on the team after a near-decade spent in the Marvel wilderness.

Together with Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia, Hickman's House of X/Powers of X brought Marvel's mutants kicking and screaming into a whole new world - one where the old dividing lines of mutant alliances where shattered, and where the stakes for mutant survival were never higher. It showed a version of mutantkind working in tandem to resist humanity and strive for liberation, all in the name of averting the inevitable - the complete destruction of mutantkind. The run also served as something of a cultural reset, recalibrating much of the X-Men's visual flavour by combining past, present, and future, with the aforementioned Larraz and Russell Dauterman taking fresh designs to new heights of popularity with the beloved Hellfire Gala comics, as well as in titles like Marauders, both of which were written by Gerry Duggan.

Hickman's work on X-Men was equal parts harrowing and empowering, and while it eventually crumbled under the weight of its initial successes, it provides a perfect platform for the MCU to showcase a version of the comics audiences have never encountered. It might present too fanciful a swing to begin with, but as the MCU builds for the future, a House of X/Powers of X-style event could have the juice to rival the Avengers.

[Article concludes on next page...]

MCU X-Men - Whatever The Interpretation, It's Long Overdue

Regardless of whatever shape or form Jake Schreier's X-Men movie takes, though, it's a moment that's been a long time coming. Mutants have been teased and winked at in numerous MCU projects up to now, with the vast majority being brought back over from the Fox incarnation Disney shuttered post-2019 acquisition. It's only really with Sadie Sink's Jean Grey that they're being brought into the spotlight properly, and while question marks will inevitably remain over the decision to skew younger with the X-Men's more iconic characters, it's ultimately a move that has both precedent and merit behind it.

So, whether it skews more towards X-Men: Evolution or puts a more youthful spin on the comics of Claremont and Byrne, whether it takes a big swing like House of X or leaves us Wolverine-less for a while, there's essentially endless scope for this reboot to improve on what came before. Schreier is making all the right noises, the castings are anything if not exciting, and with a clean, post-Secret Wars slate to work with, it really feels like the X-Men are getting back to where they belong.

Just don't leave me hanging too long for that Nightcrawler casting news, yeah? Just make sure he has his swords. (My boy needs to swashbuckle.)

Look out, Gotham! Joker's back in town - but don't make the mistake of thinking this is your average, ordinary Clown Prince.

Batman: Caped Crusader returns to our screens July 31st, and the show - situated in the 1940s and concocted by DC Animated Universe veterans Bruce Timm and James Tucker - is doing something very different with the Dark Knight's arch-foe. He's lean, he's mean, and he's decidedly un-clownish, and while that might seem like a departure from the Joker most DC fans are familiar with today, it's actually harkening back to the character's Golden Age roots, and in a way that could make for one of the most refreshing and indeed unnerving depictions of a Batman rogue we've ever seen.

Batman: Caped Crusader landed with somewhat of a ripple in 2024, making its debut on Prime Video after being carelessly tossed aside by the then-incoming Warner Bros. regime led by David Zaslav. This, despite it being concocted by Timm - the key architect of the beloved Batman: The Animated Series - and having secured the services of renowned comic book writers Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, both of whom cut their teeth on Batman in the early 2000s with the critical smash Gotham Central comic alongside artist Michael Lark.

Caped Crusader also boasted something few modern superhero adaptations can lay claim to: a fearlessly unique premise. Timm and co-showrunner James Tucker elected to root this new Batman show specifically within the historical context of the 1940s, adhering to Batman's pulp-noir roots and all the gritty horror those initial Detective Comics issues contained. Golden Age incarnations of iconic Batman villains like Clayface and Catwoman had the spotlight thrown on them, while more modern Bat rogues were also given a 1940s twist, such as Harley Quinn and Onomatopoeia. The end result was something supremely atmospheric and supernatural, with the season finale teeing up a confrontation between the Dark Knight and his most iconic adversary, the Joker.

True to the show's ethos, though, this Joker was positioned as anything but the all-singing, all-dancing clown DC readers have grown accustomed to in recent decades. The snippet we were given promised a more menacing, steely, and cold-hearted villain - a monstrous figure with a calculating cadence, and one who, ironically, you might have a hard time picturing with a smile.

It's an adjustment that promises to smash through the notion of "Joker Fatigue" altogether, and also encapsulates why Caped Crusader is such a clever interpretation of the Batman mythos. Timm and co. are wielding the history and genre influences of the World's Greatest Detective with deadly precision, and with the Joker, they may have found their killing punchline.

[Article continues on next page...]

Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 Rediscovers The Man Who Laughs

Batman as a character has been presented to audiences in many guises, but there is a modern interpretation that has somewhat calcified over the last two decades. This Batman is usually drawn from the Frank Miller mould, inspired by the masterful Year One and Dark Knight Returns, with a healthy sprinkling of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's The Long Halloween thrown in for good measure. These adaptations tend to adhere to the character's crime-drama components, sidestepping the fantastical or supernatural elements of the comics to juxtapose the neon-filled zaniness of Joel Schumacher's films. (Those films rock, for the record, but DC as a brand isn't so keen.)

It's a sentiment that feels somewhat antiquated in an era of Spider-Verses and Infinity Wars - and there is of course a healthy variety of Batman stories being told across comics, film, and television, exemplified by the Absolute Batman comics and also Caped Crusader - but still, the character persists in mainstream interpretations as a grounded, gritty vigilante bereft of fantasy, as reflected in Matt Reeves' The Batman and Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy.

The Joker, for the most part, has followed in lockstep, with most modern interpretations drawing upon Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams' iconic reinvention of the character in the 1970s. For film and TV especially, the imperious legacy of The Dark Knight's Joker and Heath Ledger also looms large. Taken together, it certainly feels as if the Joker - like Batman - has experienced a sort of flattening in his portrayal, often being boiled down to a formula of maniacal laughter and drawn-out monologues without the humour to complement.

But again, like our vengeful Caped Crusader, Joker hasn't always been the same character. He's been a Silver Age prankster, a criminal mastermind, and even, in some instances, an unlikely ally. That very multiplicity is also informing his portrayal in Batman: Caped Crusader's second season, with the show taking Joker back to his silent movie roots to conjure a visage of circus horror that's been lost since the character's formative moments. He's stoic, calm, and utterly ruthless, as was teased in the final sequences of Caped Crusader's first season.

In a discussion with Entertainment Weekly, Caped Crusader showrunner James Tucker expanded upon the rationale behind this new interpretation of the character, who it is now also confirmed will be forced by House of the Dragon actor Matthew Neadham.

By following the character's initial inspiration - that being Conrad Veidt's Gwynplaine from the 1928 silent film The Man Who Laughs - Tucker and co. decided to tap into the horror of silent cinema, noting the pale, chalk-white makeup utilised by actors and the uncanny, ghostly feeling it could inspire. This led the Caped Crusader team to "reinterpret Joker as a character who basically came from silent movies, who came from German expressionism." In this case, the temperature of the makeup informed this Joker's personality. "He's kind of a cold character in this interpretation", Tucker says, confirming that this Joker is a huge departure from the criminal jester we're all acquainted with.

The first season of Batman: Caped Crusader was already cinematically minded, pulling from film noir and classic horror to cultivate its unique interpolation of Batman's world, so to see that season two is also leaning into German expressionism is particularly exciting. Disorientation, the dreamlike, the grotesque - these are all qualities that are right at home with Batman, and Joker more than any other character should be the perfect conduit.

[Article continues on next page...]

The Joker Comics (& Classic Movie Villains) That Will Inspire Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2

What makes Batman: Caped Crusader work so much for me ultimately is that it's as much a tribute to the Dark Knight's Golden Age as it is a recalibration of that era, taking into account compelling historicisms and genre influences from the first decade of Batman stories. It's Bruce Timm's gorgeous 75th Anniversary short stripped back and unvarnished, and a firm declaration that the Dark Knight's mythos doesn't have to be drawn in just one way.

For the Joker, the decision to root the character in expressionistic influences - to contrast the silent with the fundamentally loud nature of superhero storytelling - is dynamite, but arguably just as exciting is that the show seems to have extrapolated a different meaning for the character by interrogating the imagery of his first comic book appearance.

Bob Kane's pencils in Batman #1 aren't particularly dynamic, but instead eke out an uncanny horror from their stillness. That very lack of motion, the monoexpressive nature of Joker's face, is what has manifested Caped Crusader's new Clown Prince, who from the very beginning was depicted as a ruthless killer light on banter and high on cruelty - a medieval marauder who tortured Gotham's elite. From the brief snippet seen of Joker in the trailer, it looks like we'll be getting some kind of twist on that first appearance, which was memorably retold as Batman: The Man Who Laughs by Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke in 2005.

Where Caped Crusader will be taking more modern cues from, however, is in the relationship between Batman and Joker. Whereas the Clown Prince was depicted as a theatrical, scheming murderer who was inconvenienced by Batman in his first appearance, the Joker today is very much wedded to the Dark Knight, to the point where their relationship is almost seen as symbiotic. (As Mark Hamill's Joker famously quipped in Batman: The Animated Series, "without Batman, crime has no punchline.")

Going off the trailer for season two, it looks as though this Joker will be similarly fixated on Batman, doing what he does so that he can "awaken" the Bat, only this time executed with a methodical, patient cadence. That lends this Clown Prince a different kind of menace, evoking more the scheming hands of expressionistic villains like Dr Caligari or Mabuse, and less the anarchic trickster established in DC canon. Those figures are also echoed in the ending tease of season one, where Joker, cast in shadow, calmly and ruthlessly refines his toxin on a captive audience.

[Article concludes on next page...]

Batman: Caped Crusader Shows Why DC Is At The Top Of Its Game

Despite being put out to pasture by Warner Bros. leadership in 2024, Caped Crusader embodies everything that's great about DC in this current moment. It's fresh, inventive, and unbeholden to any sense of brand synergy, with the guiding strategy instead being to back talent to tell the stories they're drawn to as custodians of the publisher's iconic stable.

It's a far cry from the days of the New 52, where comics, games, and movies all seemingly had to be aligned along similar aesthetic boundaries. Instead, the message now from DC seems to be "let em' cook", whether that's Bruce Timm and James Tucker on a 1940s-set Batman show, or Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta on the manga-inspired Absolute Batman, or James Gunn on Superman and its upcoming sequel, Man of Tomorrow.

In every medium, creator-first storytelling seems to be the aim of the game - a principle that's also ensuring the less-explored, cult-favourite corners of the DC Universe are getting their time in the spotlight, as per recent announcements at San Diego Comic Con that new comics focusing on Etrigan the Demon and Jonah Hex are on the way as well.

Batman: Caped Crusader might have been discarded by Warner Bros., but it's forming a quiet but no less compelling part of that lineup. The only thing it's lacking is the marketing push it deserves, but hopefully, with a little help from a newer, scarier Clown Prince of Crime, this second season will land with a crash, bang, and whallop to get more Bat Fans paying attention.

--

Batman: Caped Crusader season two starts streaming on Prime Video July 31.

Not only did Arc System Works come out of the shadows after a lengthy absence but they announced that they'd got their mitts on the Marvel licence. That last part was especially shocking as the Marvel fighting games have always been handled by the overlords at Capcom, so this sudden shift to a new developer was quite the turn of events. 

That said, this is Arc System Works we're talking about and to say they have a pedigree in the genre is an understatement. The trailer they showed off for Marvel Tokon left many a jaw on the floor, showing off lush graphics and bold new re-designs of classic Marvel characters - not to mention the frankly insane 4-vs-4 gameplay on offer. 

Whilst many fans may lament Capcom passing the torch, its clear that Arc System Works are putting their best foot forward and they can continue to do so by bringing back a whole lost of legacy characters from previous Marvel fighting games. 

So, let's dive on in to ten combatants that simply must return for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls.

Thankfully, we have an incredible deal right now that will get you 76% off Nord VPN and an Amazon gift voucher that will eliminate the headaches of modern content consumption. By installing a Virtual Private Network like Nord VPN - a leading service provider to over 14 million dedicated users - you’ll be able to break down the restrictions of only being able to access region-specific media on your devices, ensuring you have access to everything you’d expect to enjoy online no matter where you are in the world. 

With this software powering your searches you’ll no longer get caught out while trying to tune into that football cup final while abroad on holiday only to find out the subscription provider doesn’t carry it in that territory, or have to wait for a zeitgeist-capturing new series to slowly make its way over to your neck of the woods. Nord VPN puts the control back in your hands.

Not only that, but a VPN ensures that you’re safe and secure while doing so. Packed with security and encryption systems that put your privacy first, Nord VPN allows you to confidently connect to the internet no matter how far away you are from your home WI-FI, safe in the knowledge that you’re as protected as possible. With so much of our data and private information stored online, a VPN gives you peace of mind that it’s all in safe hands and away from any prying eyes. 

To make sure you can access all of your favourite content freely and securely on up to 10 linked devices, Nord VPN is now offering customers up to 76% off their two-year Nord VPN plan alongside an additional Amazon gift card worth up to $50. 

This amazing deal applies to all three subscription options currently available as well, so get watching your favourite shows with Nord VPN today! 

Check out the deal for yourself HERE.