Introduction
As someone who has spent the last 5 years reading every X-Men (or X-Men related comic) in chronological order and blogging about it along the way, I'm pretty damn interested in the approach Marvel takes with it's X-Men movies. I've put a lot of thought into what would be the ideal approach to take, so today I am sharing it with the world.
Most importantly, I think it all needs to be fresh. I'm assuming there will be all new casting. We shouldn't retread any stories that have already made it to the silver screen. Finally, where possible, we should focus on different characters and villains. As great as Magneto is, we can tell great stories without him. Character development will be more of a focus than plot, with Claremont's best stories and character arcs on full display.
Characters
The characters should start with Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat), Scott Summers (Cyclops), Jean Grey, Ororo Monroe (Storm), Piotr Rasputin (Colossus), Illyana Rasputin (Magik), the Morlocks, and Mr. Sinister (as the big bad.)
Kitty Pryde will be the Point of View character for the audience. There will be a lot of focus on her interactions with Storm as a surrogate mother, her romantic relationship with Colossus, and her friendship with Illyana.
While Kitty will be the point of view character, the primary protagonist of the movies will be Storm. Storm's internal struggles between team leadership and humanitarianism will be front and center. How can you avoid taking a life when you have a whole team counting on you to keep them safe? Storm's leadership struggles with Scott will be on display, as will her strong friendship with Jean.
Speaking of Scott and Jean, we will pick up with them as a mature couple attempting to have a baby. How can Scott lead a team of X-Men and have a life at the same time? Both of their relationship with Mr. Sinister will be a driving force of the movies.
Colossus will be as developed as possible, but will struggling between being a gentle farm boy who wants to draw and the team's tank who needs to kill. His relationship with his sister, Illyana and potential girlfriend, Kitty, will be a major focus.
Illyana will have a LOT of internal struggles, trying to control her inner demons (literally.) Both her brother and best friend's love will be the only thing keeping her tethered, but the audience will constantly wonder whether she can stay a hero.
We do not need Professor Xavier.
X-Men # 1: Morlock Mayhem
Kitty's perspective
Kitty is attacked and her powers are activated.
Kitty is bullied for her powers, introducing the tension between mutants and humans
Kitty is recruited by the X-Men and goes to a diner with Storm, following Uncanny X-Men # 129.
Kitty sees the school for the first time and meets Illyana.
Kitty meets Colossus and develops a crush. They will be closer in age than in the comics.
Kitty sees Caliban and heads into the sewers.
A confused Caliban kidnaps Kitty and she needs to be saved by Storm, just like in X-Men # 169 - 171.
After Storm kills Callisto, Kitty and Caliban become close friends.
Storm's perspective
Storm sees Kitty get attacked, but refuses to kill. This introduces her preference to preserve life.
Storm immediately takes Kitty under her wing.
Cyclops is the current leader of the team, but with him focusing more on family, there is an opportunity for her to become leader.
She directly challenges Cyclops for team leadership, similar to Uncanny X-Men # 201.
As Callisto, leader of the Morlocks refuses to release Kitty, Storm must battle her. Without hesitation, Storm kills Callisto (who will stay dead, as opposed to the comic) and the arc throughout the movie is completed as Storm makes her choice to become the true leader, even though that means sacrificing her ideals. This follows X-Men # 169 - 171, which happens to be my favorite X-Men comic arc of all time.
Storm has saved Kitty and becomes leader of the Morlocks in addition to the X-Men.
Scott's perspective
Scott is the leader of the team and married to Jean.
Jean becomes pregnant and Scott's commitments to his growing family put his ability to lead the team into question.
Scott has a battle with Storm for team leadership and loses.
In a moment of confusion and grief, Scott travels to the orphanage where he grew up and learns that there was some shady stuff going on there (Mr. Sinister has been messing with him his entire life).
After seeing Storm kill Callisto to protect Kitty, Scott realizes that Storm really is ready to lead the team and he agrees to leave the team and focus on his family.
Jean's perspective
Jean is married to Scott at the beginning of the movie.
She gets very upset by how distant Scott is to her, and when she becomes pregnant, she gets upset that Scott won't fully commit to her.
Someone is stalking her throughout the movie, and we only get clues in this first movie that it's Mr. Sinister.
Illyana's perspective
At the beginning of the movie, Illyana's powers have not turned on and she is only at the school to be with her brother (who is her caretaker).
Illyana has really bad nightmares and feels as if the devil is trying to talk to her.
Illyana's friendship with Kitty is one of the few things that helps her get through life.
While in the sewers during the mission to save Kitty, Illyana sees the demon from her dreams (Belasco) and goes to him.
At the end of the movie, no one can find Illyana.
Piotr's perspective
Colossus simply wants to be a painter, but as he has the ability to turn into solid steel and his need to protect his sister from the horrors of anti-mutant sentiment, he trains tirelessly to become a great fighter.
Colossus finds Kitty cute and they flirt throughout the first movie, not having their first kiss until after Kitty is saved in the sewers.
Colossus is beside himself at the end when his choice to fight the Morlocks resulted in him losing sight of Illyana, who has disappeared.
A few notes on changes from canon
Kitty and Colossus are closer in age since it was a bit scandolous in the comics (Ages 19 & 13).
Storm actually kills Callisto, she does not get healed in the comics, creating greater stakes.
Jean becomes pregnant as opposed to Maddie. Or is it really Jean!?
Illyana starts the same age as Kitty as opposed to being a 7 year old who magically jumps 7 years while missing.
Illyana gets taken by Belasco in the sewers as opposed to some random magical island base formerly used by Magneto.
X-Men # 2: Mr. Sinister
A year has passed since the events of the last movie.
Kitty's perspective
Kitty is distraught over Illyana still missing after a year.
Kitty and Coloussus never truly started dating due to Colossus's grief and guilt over losing his sister.
After Storm killed Callisto and became leader, she started acting differently and Kitty no longer feels comfortable around her.
Kitty feels isolated and alone after her best friend has been gone, her boyfriend has been distant, and her surrogate mother (Storm) has changed. She funnels all of her energy into training.
Kitty and Storm resolve their feelings as Storm whisks her into the air and they have the identical conversation from Uncanny X-Men # 180.
Kitty helps Storm and the rest of the team fight The Marauders and tries to save baby Nathan.
Storm's perspective
Storm has gone through a complete transformation. Although she won't go punk like in the 80's, she will have a completely new look and attitude.
Storm struggles with both leading the X-Men and Morlocks. However some of the Morlocks, including Leach and Caliban, have decided to stay in the mansion.
When Storm leads the team to rescue baby Nathan, she fights Mr. Sinister's goons (The Marauders, but with cooler villains than who we got in the comics).
Piotr's perspective
Colossus is depressed at the beginning of the movie and distant from everyone, including Kitty.
Piotr is relieved when Illyana comes back, but spends a lot of time trying to figure out why she is acting different and what happened while she was gone.
Piotr fights the Marauders to help rescue baby Nathan.
Illyana's perspective
In the first half of the movie, we only see glimpses of Illyana becoming a sorceress with horns. Possibly in the form of a dream of Jean's.
Illyana comes back to the team in the middle of the movie, but is completely different and has many secrets. She is caught using magic and Kitty swears she saw her convorting with demons. Nothing else is learned in this movie.
At the end of the movie, Magik draws her sword, uses her armor, and shows off her magic ability to use teleporting stepping discs.
Scott and Jean's perspective
Scott and Jean have left the team and are living in Alaska with their baby boy, Nathan. Yes, Nathan!
They officially meet Mr. Sinster and learn that he's been around their whole life and was even behind them meeting each other. A big part of the movie will revolve around them piecing together the truth about Mr. Sinister and piecing together the past.
Mr. Sinister kidnaps baby Nathan and they go to the rest of the X-Men for help.
It turns out the baby Nathan was infected by a techno organic virus and may die.
Rachel Grey shows up out of no where and offers to take Nathan somewhere safe where he can be saved, but claims they will never see him again. She does not disclose that it's the future.
***If my readers enjoyed this pitch, I'll keep going, but this is how I see the rest of the movies playing out.
New Mutants # 1
Kitty and Illyana start the New Mutants. Illyana's backstory is revealed (similar to how it went down in the Storm and Illyana Limited Series. They fight Belasco and Sym. Cable shows up to lead them at the end and transform some of them into X-Force.
X-Men # 3: Mutant Massacre
Mr. Sinister and the Marauders commit the Mutant Massacre. Rogue, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Havok, and Gambit show up. We learn that Mr. Sinister has actually been reporting to Apocalypse all along...
X-Force # 1
Cable's backstory revealed. Domino, Shatterstar, Deadpool, Siryn, Cannonball, Rictor. Strong interplay between Cannonball and Cable.
X-Factor # 1
Havok, Polaris, and the Peter David iteration comes on screen.
X-Men # 4
A version of X-Cutioner Song with Stryfe, Cable, and Cyclops getting cozy. Cable's backstory is revealed.
Excalibur # 1
Nightcrawler, Kitty, Captain Britain, Rachel Grey, and Meggan.