Stan Lee Created The X-Men Out of Laziness

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The X-Men are one of Marvel’s most iconic superhero groups and they only made it into the Marvel Universe because Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had run out of ideas.

Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr AKA Magneto in Fox' X-Men Film X3
Credit: 20th Century Fox Pictures

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X-Men #1 was released in 1963 and was written by Lee and Kirby. The comic book series had a good streak, but then X-Men was canceled shortly in 1970. Chris Claremont helmed the X-Men revival as he introduced Wolverine, one of Marvel’s most iconic superheroes. After this, the X-Men became one of the most popular superhero teams as everyone wanted to read about the adventures the mutants would go on.

x-men cast from 2000 movie
Credit: 20th Century Studios

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X-Men (2000) began the mutant’s cinematic journey and now the X-Men have appeared in seven movies with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine having three solo movies. These characters have been loved by many fans for years and it’s hard to imagine Marvel without the mutants. Logan (2017) is the last entry for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine which was a dark gritty movie exploring Wolverine in his later years. Despite being rated R, the movie did very well in the box office as it made $619 million which is quite impressive. Sure, it didn’t break huge records, but for an R-rated film, the movie was a huge success.

Now, the X-Men are set to join the MCU. Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier/Professor X has already made an appearance in the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) trailer causing many fans to rejoice that some of the older X-Men cast will be in the MCU.

X-Men: The Animated series revival
Credit: Marvel Comics

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In X-Men: The Official Guide, Lee writes down how he stumbled across the name mutant and the rest was history:

“…guaranteed I’d never have to worry about explaining the origin of a superpower again! It hit me when I thought of the word ‘mutant.’ We all know that mutations occur in nature. For no apparent reason a frog will be born with three legs, or a banana will be the size of a watermelon or a child prodigy will have the ability to play Mozart at the age of 3. And the beautiful things about such mutations is they don’t require any explanation. They can happen to anyone.”

X-Men Days of Future Past
Credit: Marvel Comics

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With all of the superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s no wonder that Stan Lee would start to have trouble figuring out how a character got their superpowers. After creating so many iconic origin stories, it would be hard to give every hero a unique backstory especially when Lee created all sorts of new characters in a short span of time. Thankfully, the X-Men let Lee focus less on how they got their powers, but on who the characters were.

Now we have Professor X, Magneto, Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, and many more mutants all thanks to Lee’s laziness! After looking at how far Marvel has come in the past sixty years, it’s still absurd that some of the greatest superheroes almost didn’t get created.

(L-R) Halle Berry as Storm, Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier/Professor X, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Ian McKellen as Magneto
Credit: 20th Century Fox Studios

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With the X-Men entering the MCU, it will be interesting to see how far Marvel will push the boundaries with the inclusion of mutants. Knowing that it’s only a matter before they begin to appear in Marvel projects makes fans very excited for the MCU’s future.

The MCU is just beginning to add more superhero teams into the Marvel universe because now, the Avengers need all the help they can get. It is only a matter of time before we see the Young Avengers, Illuminati, DefendersMidnight SonsX-MenFantastic Four, and the Thunderbolts enter the MCU.

X-Men (2021) #2 Cover by Pepe Larraz showing new Krakoa team with Polaris
Credit: Marvel Comics

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When do you think the X-Men will appear in the MCU? Let us know what you think in the comments section below!

There are many things to look forward to in the Marvel Cinematic Universe while we wait for X-Men’s arrival into the MCU. On Disney+  you can expect Moon Knight on March 30, Ms. Marvel in Summer 2022, and She-Hulk to debut this year. For movies, Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness comes out on May 6, followed by Thor: Love and Thunder on July 8, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on November 11.

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