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So, before we get to the X-Men villains, there are still a few more particular X-Men team members we need to cover. These are the characters that I personally don't think we're likely to see in the MCU for different reasons. Now that's not to say that I hate any of these characters, but I'll get into why I think each one is unlikely to appear, but that said, if any of them do appear, I certainly won't be against it either. With that said, let's get into it.

John/James Proudstar aka Thunderbird/Warpath
So, I'm gonna be doing something that I've never really done with one of my fancast. Here we have two characters. The Proudstar Brothers, John and James. Both of whom went on to become superheroes and members of the X-Men. Both of them are Native Americans born into an Apache tribe in Camp Verde, Arizona. Both brothers would eventually develop mutant powers due to their mother, Maria Proudstar, being exposed to nuclear fallout after a nearby government test. John would eventually go off and join the U.S. Marines for a two-year tour of duty. After John returned from service, things kinda went sour for the brothers. John found himself depressed and bored, but was still a hero to his people, and that caught the attention of Charles Xavier, who knew he was a mutant, and recruited him into the X-Men. This was back in the 70s when the original X-Men went missing and Professor X was looking to build a new team to go and rescue the old one. He was very hesitant at first, but eventually, the angry and bitter John Proudstar agreed to join the X-Men as Thunderbird! But there's just one itty bitty problem: He was part of the team for one issue and then he died. Yes. I'm serious. It was during the new X-Men's second mission when they went to Cheyenne Mountain in the Colorado Rockies to fight some asshole named Count Nefaria. After the X-Men foiled his "nefarious" plans, the count attempted to escape in a small aircraft. The prideful Thunderbird chose to follow him, and he leaped onto the airplane that was carrying the count. Ignoring the warnings of his teammates, Thunderbird refused, insisting that this was his chance to show that he was a "warrior of the Apache". You can probably guess where this is going. Because nobody ever stays dead in comics, he's been resurrected at least three times, and the most recent time he's yet to go back to being dead, but only time will tell. Still, dying is the most famous thing he's ever done, and that leads me to his brother. When the X-men brought John's body back to Camp Verde for burial, James decided to steal his brother's corpse so he could take it out into the desert for a proper Apache warrior's funeral. In his grief, James blamed Professor X and the X-Men for his brother's death and vowed to kill Xavier for revenge. It was none other than Emma Frost who took advantage of James' hatred and anger and offered him a role in her own team that she called the Hellions. James took on the mantle of Thunderbird and accepted her offer. James soon planned to trap the X-Men by kidnapping Banshee to draw them to the same mountain where his brother had been killed. Despite a few hitches in the plan, James still got to Charles while the professor was alone and was ready to kill him. And yet, at the last second, James couldn't bring himself to do it. Professor X convinced James that his brother died a hero's death and James decided to give up his vengeful ways. Now realizing that revenge was not the way, Charles naturally offered him a place at his institute, but James ended up declining his offer, deciding to step out of his brother’s shadow and find his own path. Over the years he would join and leave the X-Men for different reasons but is mostly associated with X-Force. The reason I have put the two together is that, from what I can tell, the two characters have very similar personalities. They're both very bitter, angry, hotheaded, short-tempered, and most of all, prideful. Not helping that they both take on the title of Thunderbird. They also basically have the same powers. Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, durability, enhanced endurance, expert tracking, and a healing factor. The only unique power between the two, I think, is that Warpath can fly. This also sorta ties into why I don't think we'll see either character in the MCU. In addition to both being very similar characters, because John was killed off very quickly, there wasn't much done with him and there hasn't been much done with him since from what I know. So, there's not a whole lot to work with. And personality-wise, Warpath does little to distinguish himself from other edgy antihero characters in Marvel who are angry and don't play well with others like Wolverine or Winter Soldier, who I just realized all coincidentally have names begging with the letter W. That, and John Proudstar in particular is a very "of the times character". Can you tell I'm being nonspecific about this Native American character created in the 1970s for a reason? There are a few ways I could see the Produstar Brothers being incorporated into the MCU if they were actually given focus and development. If you want to go authentic, we can introduce John, and make him the next Quicksilver. He shows up for one movie and dies in some kind of sacrifice. Then we introduced James in a sequel of some kind who is the X-Men's enemy at first, but then decides to not kill them, and goes good. Or we have John for multiple movies and then kill him and bring in James. If I were to do it, I would have John already be dead, and introduce James as someone trying to carry on his brother's legacy as either Thunderbird or Warpath. Or we can have the two characters merged into one. Maybe we introduce Thunderbird, and he just never reveals his true name to the audience or other characters, or maybe we make up a new name for him or something like that. Ultimately, I think they're more trouble than their worth because I think there are better options for a Native American superhero in the MCU. That being said, both characters have previously appeared in live-action at least once. John was played by Blair Redford on the series The Gifted, which I haven't seen, and James as Warpath was played by Booboo Stewart in X-Men: Days of Future Past. I think Stewart was a good choice to play the character, but we didn't see a whole lot of him, but hey, what I did see, I liked fine enough. With everything I've said in mind, I'm picking an actor who can play either character. Honestly, I think you could bring either one back. Again, haven't seen The Gifted, but I've never heard anyone talk shit about the show, or talk about it at all, so I'm assuming Redford did a good job. And again, I think Stewart did a good job despite his short screen time. You could even bring them both back and if they want, tell the authentic story. Redford is 10 years older than Stewart so it would work. But if want to look elsewhere, to my surprise, I actually found a few people who could play either character. If we want to go for a younger actor, I would recommend either Forrest Goodluck, who you probably know from The Revenant, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, and Cherry, or D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, who you might recognize from Reservation Dogs, Creeped Out, and Holly Hobbie. Both actors are in their early 20s and show a lot of potential. But since an older actor is the more likely route here, Tokala Black Elk maybe could do it, but I'm going with Martin Sensmeier. He is 36 years old, which is solid age for either character. The guy has really risen in recent years and has been able to show off a lot of his talent in stuff like The Magnificent Seven, Wind River, Westworld, The Ice Road, and 1883. He's 6'1, jacked, has played characters similar to the Proudstar brothers, and can bring that heavy emotion needed for either character. So as either Thunderbird or Warpath, Martin Sensmeier is the guy for the job.

Lorna Dane aka Polaris
The Mistress of Magnetism. The true daughter of Magneto. Lorna was born of an affair between her mother Suzanna and Magneto. When Suzanna's husband, a pilot by the name of Arnold, found out about it, he confronted her while he was flying his plane with both Suzanna and a 3-year-old Lorna on board. Lorna was distraught by their fighting, and this caused her mutant powers to prematurely manifest. She accidentally created a powerful magnetic pulse that tore the entire plane to pieces, thus killing her parents, and her powers also caused her to gain her iconic green hair. Lorna did manage to survive the crash, and the magnetic pulse happened to lure in her true father. Magneto took pity on Lorna and believed she was too young to handle her abilities or the life that someone like him could off her. So, he has his associate, Mastermind, use his mutant power of creating illusions to "re-write" Lorna's memories of the event. Lorna was led to believe that her parents inexplicably died when she was an infant and was left in the care of her stepfather's sister and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Dane. Eventually, through the use of Cerebro, the X-Men discovered Lorna and, after a battle with the villain Mesmero, offered her place amongst them. And Lorna accepted their offer and became...Magnetrix!...Because why not? But she quickly dropped the name and become Polaris, and soon enough, began a relationship with Alex Summers aka Havok. Over time, Lorna would toe the line between "member of the X-Men" and "enemy of the X-Men". Usually, this is due to being manipulated by other villains. From Mesmero, to Mr. Sinister, to Apocalypse, to, of course, Magneto. And eventually, Polaris did learn that Magneto was her true father around the time of the infamous Genoshan Massacre. The best way I can describe her overall is the same way Gambit did in Wolverine and the X-Men. "She got her daddy's powers and her sister's temper". While Scarlet Witch isn't actually her sister in the comics, because, for a long time, it was thought Wanda was Magneto's daughter, they're technically...half-sisters...I think...the point is, it's complicated. Speaking of Wanda, I actually do think, out of all the characters I'm covering in this part, Polaris has the best chance of appearing in the MCU. Given the depth of her character and relationship with Magneto. However, given how much they're already doing with Wanda, and their plans for her going forward, adding Polaris, to casual audiences, might just come off as retreading old ground, so they might not want to cover her. But again, they also might if they could do enough to distinguish her from their version of Wanda. Her powers are definitely different from Wanda's. Since she's Magneto's daughter, she can control magnetism like he can. That said, she's not equal to his power. She's no pushover, but as far as I know, she's not at a level where she can just flip the entire earth off its axis whenever she feels like it like her old man. Emma Dumont played the character on the live-action series The Gifted, which, again, I haven't seen, but now I get the feeling I should give it a watch sometime. But from what I've heard, people really like her on that show. When choosing an actress for Polaris, I asked myself "could I buy them as a sister to Elizabeth Olsen"? I mean I know Lorna and Wanda aren't actually related, but if Marvel went down the route of tricking us into thinking they're sisters only to reveal Lorna's true past later, given that's not a super well-known fact about her character, then that's what I'm focusing on. That and can they play a tragic but powerful female lead. I loved Anya Taylor-Joy in Last Night in Soho, and I could totally see her pulling off Polaris, and honestly, that would mean seeing her in an actually memorable superhero movie. Emmy Rossum is a pretty versatile actress; I could see her doing it. Do I think Saoirse Ronan would do it? Probably not. Do I still think she'd be great as Polaris? Totally. Ana de Armas has become a rising star in recent years, she could also do it. Combine her performances from Knock Knock, Knives Out, and No Time to Die and I think you've got something. I really like Kaya Scodelario in Crawl and frankly, I just want to see her star in more things. But, in the end, I decided to go with my previous join for Jean Grey, Daisy Ridley. I could easily buy her as being a sister to Elizabeth Olsen. We know she can play someone with a lot of power, we know she can handle a big action movie, she stands at 5'7, which is around the same height as Lorna and Elizabeth, we know she wouldn't mind dying her hair given her work in Ophelia, and we know she can play a character with an identity crisis. Look, I get it, most people didn't like Rey as a character, but you cannot say Daisy didn't try to deliver a captivating performance, and personally, I think she did, and I would love to see her in a franchise that actually planned things ahead. So, I think she could really do something interesting as Polaris.

Forge
Remember how I said there are better options for a Native American superhero in the MCU? Well, by that I meant Forge. The hero known as Forge was born to a Cheyenne tribe and raised by a mystic named Naze to be a shaman and defeat a villain called the Adversary. After becoming a mutant at puberty, Forge found himself at a crossroads. As his technology-based powers conflicted with his more mystical-based heritage. Confused and wanting to choose his own destiny, he went and joined the army to fight in the Vietnam War. While there he used his powers to help create weapons and other forms of tech. Because of his usefulness, Forge was soon promoted to sergeant and was even offered a spot in S.H.I.E.L.D, but surprisingly he declined. However, things kinda went to shit for Forge after that as he watched his entire platoon get wiped out, and he blamed himself for their deaths. Riddled with guilt, Forge decided to avenge them by summoning a group of demons to help turn the tide of battle. It worked, but that backfired when Forge realized he didn't know how to get rid of the demons and he had to call in an air strike to destroy them. Once again, his plan worked, but at the cost of Forge losing his right hand and leg. Not only that, but it also turns out that the spectral gate he had opened during his spell would act as a doorway for The Adversary to arrive on earth. After this, Forge vowed to never use magic again, and he instead dedicated himself to training with his mutant abilities and was able to create advanced replacements for his missing hand and leg. Even after encounters with Mystique, Rogue, and most importantly, Storm, which would lead him to join the X-Men, Forge would still be haunted by his past, but would still come in handy for his teammates on many occasions. Forge is essentially a technopath. He has the ability to innately understand and create any mechanical device. He can create just about any advanced piece of machinery you need. As long as he's able to think of a function to be done by the machine. Meaning there has to be logic behind what he's inventing. So, he can't just invent something like a planet-destroying laser just like that. I don't think Forge needs to be a major character, but maybe do what Wolverine and the X-Men did and have him be a fun recurring background character who we see every now and then while he's working, have him comment on the situation that helps us know him a little better, and move on. That said, because he's not a huge character, there might not even need to be a reason for him to be in the MCU. And that's probably why we've yet to see him in live-action. That and poor representation, but that's another story. In terms of his personality, he's obviously dealt with a lot of trauma, but surprisingly, he has this dry wit to him. He's not Iceman levels of sarcastic, but he's not as gloomy as you might think. So, you need an actor who can do both dramatic and funny. That being said, casting Forge is a bit tricky. This is another reason why I don't think we'll see him in the MCU. On one hand, Forge fought in the Vietnam War, so he should be on the older side, right? Well, yes, but on the other hand, if Forge was in the MCU, and they wanted to put him in a relationship with Storm given the current Black Panther situation, wouldn't you need someone closer to Storm's actress? In this case, my pick for Storm, Deborah Ayorinde? Probably, but depending on where they take things with T'Challa, they might just focus on Storm's relationship with him and forget about her relationship with Forge altogether, which I don't think anyone would mind, or because they don't want to recast T'Challa, we might end up seeing focus put of Storm and Forge's relationship. And I don't think we can pull a Wanda and Vision with this where people will ignore the large age gap between the actors because one of them isn't human. So how do you fix this issue? Well, I've decided to cheat a bit and cast two actors. An older actor and a younger actor. Now, unlike Magneto, Forge's trauma isn't tied to any specific of the war he was in. Magneto was a Holocaust survivor, a very specific series of events. Forge's only trauma was seeing his platoon be killed and losing some of his limbs, which really, you could tie to any kind of war. So, what we could do if we want to go the route of pairing him up with Storm is to update Forge's backstory to a more recent war. So that way, we can keep the integral parts of his backstory, and put him in a relationship with Storm if Marvel goes down that route.

So, for my younger actor, I was actually able to find a couple of people. Adam Beach was previously in The New Mutants, but I think he can do better. His work in Windtalkers shows he can play a war hero, so yeah, I could see it. But for my younger Forge, I went with Justin Rain. You might recognize him from Blackstone or Road of Iniquity. I think either one shows he can handle both the drama and the dry wit of Forge. He can also deliver lines of heavy exposition, which would probably come in handy for a character like Forge. And since he was in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, we know he's not afraid of a big franchise. And that and his work in Mohawk showed that he can also work in action.

Now as for an older Forge, if we go the route of keeping him as a veteran of the Vietnam War, my runner-up is probably going to be Gil Birmingham. Another actor who was in Twilight coincidentally, so again, he's not afraid of a big franchise, but he was also really good in Wind River, so yeah, I could see him as an older Forge. But my winner for an older Forge is going to be Raoul Max Trujillo. The man can really drive home the emotion in certain performances, and definitely has the look of someone who has fought in a war. His work in Apocalypto also shows he can handle an action movie so that's a plus. Not sure if he would ever play Forge, given he's going to be in the upcoming Blue Beetle movie, but that movie's not out yet, so this works for now.

I think either Rain or Trujillo would do a solid job as Forge, it just depends on what direction they take the character in.

Alexander Summers aka Havok
The living star. The brother of Cyclops. After surviving the plane crash that killed their parents, Scott and Alex Summers ended up in an orphanage, and Alex was put in the care of Andrew and Joanna Blanding, a couple who recently lost their own son, Todd. When the boy who caused Todd's death attacked Alex, Alex's mutant powers surfaced, and he incinerated his attacker. Cue Mr. Sinister, who happened to be the owner of the orphanage Scott and Alex ended up at. Long story short, it turns out he was monitoring Alex ever since he had been adopted. Sinister then placed genetic locks on Alex to stop him from developing his mutant powers again, and because "plot convenience", it caused Alex to forget everything that happened that night. As Alex grew up and went to college, he remained unaware that he was a mutant or that his brother had gone on to be the leader of the X-Men. Come graduation time, Alex, through a series of convoluted events involving a villain calling himself the Living Pharaoh, and the son of Bolivar Trask, Alex's powers not only resurfaced, but he reunited with his older brother, gained a new suit, and joined the X-Men as Havok! Joining the X-Men allowed Havok to gain better control over his powers, and as previously stated, form a romantic relationship with Polaris. Havok's power is the ability to absorb cosmic radiation, process it into his body, and fire it from any part of his body as plasma that strangely comes in a circle pattern. Sorta like Bishop, only with less variety. The reason I'm not sure if we'll see Havok in the MCU is that I'm not sure if Marvel would want to go into the whole Cyclops extended family stuff given how many X-Men characters there are already. I just don't want things to be overcrowded so I'm hoping there's a firm balance found. I enjoyed Lucas Till fine enough in First Class. It wasn't a super memorable performance, but it was serviceable in my opinion. But Havok is another character who started off fine, but then they really dropped the ball with him later on. He shows up in Days of Future Past and Apocalypse, basically does nothing in both movies, then he dies in an explosion, and they mourn him for about 5 seconds. Even if I don't think we'll see Havok in the MCU, part of me wants him to be there so he can be done justice. My original choice for Havok was Scott Eastwood, and I still think he could do it, but I wanted to go with someone who looks more like my choice for Cyclops, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. In that case, my runner-up is Jack Lowden. He was a highlight for me in Dunkirk, and I would love to see this guy in a Marvel movie eventually. I've really been enjoying Mason Dye as Jason on the most recent season of Stranger Things, and I'd love to see him in more stuff. But for my Havok, I went with Alden Ehrenreich. Obviously, we know him best as the young Han Solo, and he did a great job, but he's done a lot more than that. Look at him in something like Tetro. He not only plays a brother character but can really sell you on that anger and emotion. He can also do funny, look at him in Hail, Caesar, and again, Solo. The man's portfolio screams future superhero, so I'd think he'd be a great Havok. And yes, I do think he'd make a good blonde.

David Haller aka Legion
The son of Charles Xavier and one of the most powerful mutants to ever live. This is another character who's going to be very hard to explain, so I'll try and keep this brief. Born to an affair Charles had with a woman named he met in Israel named Gabrielle Haller. Charles left completely unaware that Gabrielle had become pregnant, and eventually had a son that she named David Charles Haller. After moving to Paris, a 10-year-old David watched as his home was invaded by a terrorist organization who then killed David's stepdad, Daniel Shomron. The shock of the incident caused the manifestation of David's mutant powers, and he then proceeded to completely mind-rape the minds of assassins until they died. However, while doing so he unwittingly psychically connected with their thoughts and emotions as they died. Thus, shattering David's mind into multiple personas and rendering him catatonic. During this time, David's mind was a chaotic mess, and the best way I can explain it is that his many personalities were fighting with each other. Eventually, David came out of his catatonic state and his mother placed him in the care of a woman named Moira MacTaggert. The head of a mutant research facility on Muir Island. However, when David's powers began to manifest on the physical plane, he uncontrollably absorbs the consciousnesses of two of Moira MacTaggert's associates. MacTaggert then enlisted the help of, of course, Charles Xavier. With him came several of the New Mutants. Things almost immediately go awry as David begins absorbing consciousness left and right. Professor X put a stop to the madness by entering David's mind, where he learns that, not only is David his son, but David's multiple personas have begun to call themselves "Legion" (get it?). A series of convoluted events involving the villainous Shadow King taking over Muir Island led to Legion being made a member of a sub-team of X-Men. However, over time his membership with the team would...fluctuate. Because of his multiple personas and his trouble controlling any of them, sometimes he would be an ally, and other times he would be the cause of all their problems. Like, say, starting the Age of Apocalypse? Legion is, as you've probably guessed, an Omega-Level Mutant. Each personality in Legion's head has access to a different superpower. It's like a Ben 10 or Dial H for Hero kind of situation. However, because they are split personalities, some are good, and others are bad, so Legion is just as much of a good guy as he is a bad one. Legion possesses hundreds of different mutant abilities that all differ in terms of strength. Ranging from telekinesis to full-on reality-warping. Now obviously, I'm not going to list every single personality and power that he contains within him. We'd be here for a while. But just a few of these include:
Jemail Karami: One of the terrorists that attacked David's family and ended up trapped in David's mind and possesses telepathy.
Jack Wayne: A swaggering adventurer with telekinesis.
Cyndi: A rebellious little girl with pyrokinesis.
Sally: An obese woman with Hulk-like strength.
Bleeding Image: A living voodoo doll.
Chain: A human virus that can self-duplicate by turning anyone he touches into a copy of himself.
Susan in Sunshine: A little girl who can manipulate people's emotions in any way she pleases.
Endgame: He possesses a massive suit of armor that can adapt to any threat he comes across.
Styx: A skeletal demon that can absorb a person's soul with a single touch and take command of their consciousness.
The Origamist: A colossal sumo wrestler who can bend and warp the fabric of space.
Delphic: A blue-skinned young woman who will answer any three questions using her powers as a seer.
The Nazi Doctor: A blond and monocled Nazi doctor with a thick German accent, who can disrupt or negate the abilities of any mutant with a touch.
Specs: A young man with large glasses, who can see through solid objects.
The Wolfman: An older gentleman who can transform into a werewolf and also possesses a healing factor.
Chronodon: A large dinosaur with a clock for a face and has the power of time manipulation.
Compass Rose: She can teleport to people, no matter how far away they are from her.
X: She bears a striking resemblance to Moira MacTaggert and possesses the power of reality manipulation.

Just to name a few of the more notable named ones. Now there are three reasons why I don't think we'll see David Haller in the MCU, or at the very least, not as Legion. First of all, the MCU might not want to tackle a character this ridiculously powerful and find out how to properly translate that into their universe. Second, because of his multiple personalities, casting him is really, really, really difficult. And third, we've seen Legion in a live-action form before. In his own live-action TV series named after him. The show featured Dan Stevens as David. Now the show was very well received by those who have seen it, but I've yet to watch the full series. I watched the first episode a few years back, and I really liked it and thought Stevens did a great job, but with how much superhero media we've been given since then, it's been troubling finding time to go back and finish it. Because the series was so well done, Marvel may not see a need to do the character again. With that being said, if we want, we could just bring Dan Stevens back just for the hell of it for simplicity's sake. But if we're really going to recast, it's going to be difficult. If we're staying faithful to the comics, then we need a young actor who can not only convincingly be the son of my pick for Professor X, Mark Strong, but also has to range to play a character with multiple personalities. I'd also like someone who can pull off a wacky hairstyle. Initially, I looked towards Toby Kebbell. You probably don't remember, and I for one don't blame you, but he was previously Dr. Doom in Fant4stic. It wasn't a good performance, but the MCU loves taking actors who previously had roles in comic book movies that didn't work out and giving them a second chance. And the man is actually a really good actor. He's probably best known for his work as a motion capture artist. He did Kong in Kong: Skull Island. And he was Koba in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. And then look at him in The Sorcerer's Apprentice. He also played opposite Mark Strong in RocknRolla. But he is a bit older than I'd like at 39 years old. I also thought of Austin Butler. You wanna talk about range? Try going back in time and telling my younger self that the dude who appeared on all the Nickelodeon and Disney sitcoms I was watching at the time like Hannah Montana, Ned's Declassified, iCarly, Zoey 101, Zeke and Luther, and Wizards of Waverly Place would go on to be in The Dead Don't Die, Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood, and most recently, Elvis. The guy's definitely looking to expand his horizons. But in the end, I went with Taron Egerton. Dancer, singer, action hero, sassy British man, what more could you ask for? In the span of 6 years, he went from Kingsman: The Secret Service, to Eddie the Eagle, to Sing, to Robin Hood, to Rocketman. You try and find me 5 more different films an actor's done in that amount of time. The man has got range for days, and at this point, it'd be crazy for Marvel to not cast him in something. And hey, just because he doesn't fit my ideal Wolverine doesn't mean I don't think he couldn't play the character at all, or that he wouldn't also make for a fantastic version of Legion.

Betsy Braddock/Kwannon aka Psylocke
Oh boy, here's another character with a really complicated history. Once again, I must ask you to strap in because things are about to get crazy, but I will try and make this short. It all began with Betsy Braddock. A young British girl, and the twin sister of Brian Braddock, better known as Captain Britain. Initially, she worked alongside her brother thanks to her being a mutant. She worked as his pilot, but later down the line, not only did she become a model, but she also joined S.T.R.I.K.E., which is basically just the Britain equivalent of S.H.I.E.L.D. There was also a point when Betsy took up the mantle of Captain Britain. This didn't end very well because her time as Captain Britain was short-lived since one of her enemies ended up gouging her eyes out! Despite her psychic mutant abilities being able to make this less of an issue, she was eventually captured by the interdimensional supervillain, Mojo. Mojo restored her vision, but he also brainwashed her and dubbed her "Psylocke". Long story short, the New Mutants saved her, and after joining Xavier's Institute, and helping them defeat Sabretooth, she was made a member of the X-Men! But now comes the really confusing part. Through a very, very, very, very convoluted series of events that makes the comic origins behind how Spider-Man got the black suit look like nothing, Betsy ends up getting amnesia and then ends up in the hands (no pun intended) of the evil ninja clan, the Hand, and they transfer her mind into the body of a Japanese assassin named Kwannon. Because the minds of Betsy and Kwannon were now essentially "swapped", the new Asian Psylocke now had incredible martial arts skills and mutant powers. The downside? Once again, Psylocke is brainwashed, this time by the Mandarin, who was working with the Hand, but an encounter with Wolverine and subsequent battle with him caused her memories to be restored, and she was allowed to rejoin the X-Men. Over the years, through a series of even more convoluted events, Betsy in Kwannon's body and Kwannon in Betsy's body would often encounter each other, but in recent years, it seems they've both gone back to being in the original bodies, again, through a series of extremely convoluted events. With Kwannon taking up the mantle of Psylocke, and Betsy going back to being Captain Britain. Can you guys see why I'm not confident we'll see Psylocke in the MCU? If they really want to have a version of Psylocke with a fleshed-out story, then they'll have no choice but to simplify things. In terms of Psylocke's mutant powers, we've got ourselves another telepath. She can read, control and confuse minds, read thoughts, communicate telepathically, broadcast the thoughts of others, and create illusions by altering perceptions of others. She can also create psionic constructs. From being able to fire bolts of pure psychic energy to shooting a focused beam of telepathic energy at an opponent, striking them both physically and mentally. Once Kwannon came into the picture, she gained incredible martial arts skills. This is also combined with powers as, in addition to her already powerful and versatile psionic constructs, she could create her iconic Psychic Knife, which is exactly what it sounds like. I mention it because it's probably her personal favorite of all her abilities. Also, for whatever reason, when using her powers, a butterfly-shaped aura appears around her face. Over time, she would also gain shadow powers, mastery over the Astral Plane, and telekinesis. As for the character herself, Psylocke is another character who has been done dirty in the FXCU films. Meiling Melançon played the character in The Last Stand, and as much as I am willing to defend that movie, Meiling basically only played the character in name only. We're shown she has her shadow powers in one scene, but really, she basically does nothing worth mentioning, has a total of two lines, and then dies in the end. And she arguably had it even worse in Age of Apocalypse. Even though I liked Olivia Munn fine in the role, once again, the character was so insignificant that she didn't even need to be there. She has one memorable scene where she destroys a car, but that's about it. For an MCU version of Psylocke, what I think they'll do is fuse the characters of Betsy and Kwannon by leaving her past shrouded in mystery, but every now and then there'll be hints of it, and she'll simply go by "Psylocke" without revealing her actual name. And they'll hire an Asian actress who can speak with a British accent naturally. It would also help to have an actress who knows martial arts. For these reasons, I went with Selina Lo. She's known martial arts practically her whole life, and she's of Asian descent, but as far as I can tell, was raised in England, and thus speaks with an English accent. I really liked her as Guan Yin in Boss Level, and frankly, now I just want to see her in more things. She can certainly play a badass, but she can also add this element of playfulness to a role which I would say is needed for Psylocke. And when it comes to the roles that she's played, she definitely knows how to dress for the part. I mean just look at her in The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption. This is an actress who definitely knows how to dress to impress. Again, just watch Boss Level to see what I'm talking about. If not her, then probably Sonoya Mizuno. She's one of those chameleon actresses who shows up when you least expect it and she could easily blend into a role like Psylocke.

But now we've reached the halfway mark. With that, we have casted a good chunk of the most popular and semi-popular members of the X-Men. However, for every hero, there's just about another villain. Next time we get to the part of the fancast that I've been most excited to get to. Next time, we'll be getting into the X-Men's rogues gallery!

But until that next time comes my Children of the Atom (still not sure what that means), have a great night, be safe, and take care, true believers!

Description
So, before we get to the X-Men villains, there are still a few more particular X-Men team members we need to cover. These are the characters that I personally don't think we're likely to see in the MCU for different reasons. Now that's not to say that I hate any of these characters, but I'll get into why I think each one is unlikely to appear, but that said, if any of them do appear, I certainly won't be against it either. With that said, let's get into it.

John/James Proudstar aka Thunderbird/Warpath
So, I'm gonna be doing something that I've never really done with one of my fancast. Here we have two characters. The Proudstar Brothers, John and James. Both of whom went on to become superheroes and members of the X-Men. Both of them are Native Americans born into an Apache tribe in Camp Verde, Arizona. Both brothers would eventually develop mutant powers due to their mother, Maria Proudstar, being exposed to nuclear fallout after a nearby government test. John would eventually go off and join the U.S. Marines for a two-year tour of duty. After John returned from service, things kinda went sour for the brothers. John found himself depressed and bored, but was still a hero to his people, and that caught the attention of Charles Xavier, who knew he was a mutant, and recruited him into the X-Men. This was back in the 70s when the original X-Men went missing and Professor X was looking to build a new team to go and rescue the old one. He was very hesitant at first, but eventually, the angry and bitter John Proudstar agreed to join the X-Men as Thunderbird! But there's just one itty bitty problem: He was part of the team for one issue and then he died. Yes. I'm serious. It was during the new X-Men's second mission when they went to Cheyenne Mountain in the Colorado Rockies to fight some asshole named Count Nefaria. After the X-Men foiled his "nefarious" plans, the count attempted to escape in a small aircraft. The prideful Thunderbird chose to follow him, and he leaped onto the airplane that was carrying the count. Ignoring the warnings of his teammates, Thunderbird refused, insisting that this was his chance to show that he was a "warrior of the Apache". You can probably guess where this is going. Because nobody ever stays dead in comics, he's been resurrected at least three times, and the most recent time he's yet to go back to being dead, but only time will tell. Still, dying is the most famous thing he's ever done, and that leads me to his brother. When the X-men brought John's body back to Camp Verde for burial, James decided to steal his brother's corpse so he could take it out into the desert for a proper Apache warrior's funeral. In his grief, James blamed Professor X and the X-Men for his brother's death and vowed to kill Xavier for revenge. It was none other than Emma Frost who took advantage of James' hatred and anger and offered him a role in her own team that she called the Hellions. James took on the mantle of Thunderbird and accepted her offer. James soon planned to trap the X-Men by kidnapping Banshee to draw them to the same mountain where his brother had been killed. Despite a few hitches in the plan, James still got to Charles while the professor was alone and was ready to kill him. And yet, at the last second, James couldn't bring himself to do it. Professor X convinced James that his brother died a hero's death and James decided to give up his vengeful ways. Now realizing that revenge was not the way, Charles naturally offered him a place at his institute, but James ended up declining his offer, deciding to step out of his brother’s shadow and find his own path. Over the years he would join and leave the X-Men for different reasons but is mostly associated with X-Force. The reason I have put the two together is that, from what I can tell, the two characters have very similar personalities. They're both very bitter, angry, hotheaded, short-tempered, and most of all, prideful. Not helping that they both take on the title of Thunderbird. They also basically have the same powers. Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, durability, enhanced endurance, expert tracking, and a healing factor. The only unique power between the two, I think, is that Warpath can fly. This also sorta ties into why I don't think we'll see either character in the MCU. In addition to both being very similar characters, because John was killed off very quickly, there wasn't much done with him and there hasn't been much done with him since from what I know. So, there's not a whole lot to work with. And personality-wise, Warpath does little to distinguish himself from other edgy antihero characters in Marvel who are angry and don't play well with others like Wolverine or Winter Soldier, who I just realized all coincidentally have names begging with the letter W. That, and John Proudstar in particular is a very "of the times character". Can you tell I'm being nonspecific about this Native American character created in the 1970s for a reason? There are a few ways I could see the Produstar Brothers being incorporated into the MCU if they were actually given focus and development. If you want to go authentic, we can introduce John, and make him the next Quicksilver. He shows up for one movie and dies in some kind of sacrifice. Then we introduced James in a sequel of some kind who is the X-Men's enemy at first, but then decides to not kill them, and goes good. Or we have John for multiple movies and then kill him and bring in James. If I were to do it, I would have John already be dead, and introduce James as someone trying to carry on his brother's legacy as either Thunderbird or Warpath. Or we can have the two characters merged into one. Maybe we introduce Thunderbird, and he just never reveals his true name to the audience or other characters, or maybe we make up a new name for him or something like that. Ultimately, I think they're more trouble than their worth because I think there are better options for a Native American superhero in the MCU. That being said, both characters have previously appeared in live-action at least once. John was played by Blair Redford on the series The Gifted, which I haven't seen, and James as Warpath was played by Booboo Stewart in X-Men: Days of Future Past. I think Stewart was a good choice to play the character, but we didn't see a whole lot of him, but hey, what I did see, I liked fine enough. With everything I've said in mind, I'm picking an actor who can play either character. Honestly, I think you could bring either one back. Again, haven't seen The Gifted, but I've never heard anyone talk shit about the show, or talk about it at all, so I'm assuming Redford did a good job. And again, I think Stewart did a good job despite his short screen time. You could even bring them both back and if they want, tell the authentic story. Redford is 10 years older than Stewart so it would work. But if want to look elsewhere, to my surprise, I actually found a few people who could play either character. If we want to go for a younger actor, I would recommend either Forrest Goodluck, who you probably know from The Revenant, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, and Cherry, or D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, who you might recognize from Reservation Dogs, Creeped Out, and Holly Hobbie. Both actors are in their early 20s and show a lot of potential. But since an older actor is the more likely route here, Tokala Black Elk maybe could do it, but I'm going with Martin Sensmeier. He is 36 years old, which is solid age for either character. The guy has really risen in recent years and has been able to show off a lot of his talent in stuff like The Magnificent Seven, Wind River, Westworld, The Ice Road, and 1883. He's 6'1, jacked, has played characters similar to the Proudstar brothers, and can bring that heavy emotion needed for either character. So as either Thunderbird or Warpath, Martin Sensmeier is the guy for the job.

Lorna Dane aka Polaris
The Mistress of Magnetism. The true daughter of Magneto. Lorna was born of an affair between her mother Suzanna and Magneto. When Suzanna's husband, a pilot by the name of Arnold, found out about it, he confronted her while he was flying his plane with both Suzanna and a 3-year-old Lorna on board. Lorna was distraught by their fighting, and this caused her mutant powers to prematurely manifest. She accidentally created a powerful magnetic pulse that tore the entire plane to pieces, thus killing her parents, and her powers also caused her to gain her iconic green hair. Lorna did manage to survive the crash, and the magnetic pulse happened to lure in her true father. Magneto took pity on Lorna and believed she was too young to handle her abilities or the life that someone like him could off her. So, he has his associate, Mastermind, use his mutant power of creating illusions to "re-write" Lorna's memories of the event. Lorna was led to believe that her parents inexplicably died when she was an infant and was left in the care of her stepfather's sister and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Dane. Eventually, through the use of Cerebro, the X-Men discovered Lorna and, after a battle with the villain Mesmero, offered her place amongst them. And Lorna accepted their offer and became...Magnetrix!...Because why not? But she quickly dropped the name and become Polaris, and soon enough, began a relationship with Alex Summers aka Havok. Over time, Lorna would toe the line between "member of the X-Men" and "enemy of the X-Men". Usually, this is due to being manipulated by other villains. From Mesmero, to Mr. Sinister, to Apocalypse, to, of course, Magneto. And eventually, Polaris did learn that Magneto was her true father around the time of the infamous Genoshan Massacre. The best way I can describe her overall is the same way Gambit did in Wolverine and the X-Men. "She got her daddy's powers and her sister's temper". While Scarlet Witch isn't actually her sister in the comics, because, for a long time, it was thought Wanda was Magneto's daughter, they're technically...half-sisters...I think...the point is, it's complicated. Speaking of Wanda, I actually do think, out of all the characters I'm covering in this part, Polaris has the best chance of appearing in the MCU. Given the depth of her character and relationship with Magneto. However, given how much they're already doing with Wanda, and their plans for her going forward, adding Polaris, to casual audiences, might just come off as retreading old ground, so they might not want to cover her. But again, they also might if they could do enough to distinguish her from their version of Wanda. Her powers are definitely different from Wanda's. Since she's Magneto's daughter, she can control magnetism like he can. That said, she's not equal to his power. She's no pushover, but as far as I know, she's not at a level where she can just flip the entire earth off its axis whenever she feels like it like her old man. Emma Dumont played the character on the live-action series The Gifted, which, again, I haven't seen, but now I get the feeling I should give it a watch sometime. But from what I've heard, people really like her on that show. When choosing an actress for Polaris, I asked myself "could I buy them as a sister to Elizabeth Olsen"? I mean I know Lorna and Wanda aren't actually related, but if Marvel went down the route of tricking us into thinking they're sisters only to reveal Lorna's true past later, given that's not a super well-known fact about her character, then that's what I'm focusing on. That and can they play a tragic but powerful female lead. I loved Anya Taylor-Joy in Last Night in Soho, and I could totally see her pulling off Polaris, and honestly, that would mean seeing her in an actually memorable superhero movie. Emmy Rossum is a pretty versatile actress; I could see her doing it. Do I think Saoirse Ronan would do it? Probably not. Do I still think she'd be great as Polaris? Totally. Ana de Armas has become a rising star in recent years, she could also do it. Combine her performances from Knock Knock, Knives Out, and No Time to Die and I think you've got something. I really like Kaya Scodelario in Crawl and frankly, I just want to see her star in more things. But, in the end, I decided to go with my previous join for Jean Grey, Daisy Ridley. I could easily buy her as being a sister to Elizabeth Olsen. We know she can play someone with a lot of power, we know she can handle a big action movie, she stands at 5'7, which is around the same height as Lorna and Elizabeth, we know she wouldn't mind dying her hair given her work in Ophelia, and we know she can play a character with an identity crisis. Look, I get it, most people didn't like Rey as a character, but you cannot say Daisy didn't try to deliver a captivating performance, and personally, I think she did, and I would love to see her in a franchise that actually planned things ahead. So, I think she could really do something interesting as Polaris.

Forge
Remember how I said there are better options for a Native American superhero in the MCU? Well, by that I meant Forge. The hero known as Forge was born to a Cheyenne tribe and raised by a mystic named Naze to be a shaman and defeat a villain called the Adversary. After becoming a mutant at puberty, Forge found himself at a crossroads. As his technology-based powers conflicted with his more mystical-based heritage. Confused and wanting to choose his own destiny, he went and joined the army to fight in the Vietnam War. While there he used his powers to help create weapons and other forms of tech. Because of his usefulness, Forge was soon promoted to sergeant and was even offered a spot in S.H.I.E.L.D, but surprisingly he declined. However, things kinda went to shit for Forge after that as he watched his entire platoon get wiped out, and he blamed himself for their deaths. Riddled with guilt, Forge decided to avenge them by summoning a group of demons to help turn the tide of battle. It worked, but that backfired when Forge realized he didn't know how to get rid of the demons and he had to call in an air strike to destroy them. Once again, his plan worked, but at the cost of Forge losing his right hand and leg. Not only that, but it also turns out that the spectral gate he had opened during his spell would act as a doorway for The Adversary to arrive on earth. After this, Forge vowed to never use magic again, and he instead dedicated himself to training with his mutant abilities and was able to create advanced replacements for his missing hand and leg. Even after encounters with Mystique, Rogue, and most importantly, Storm, which would lead him to join the X-Men, Forge would still be haunted by his past, but would still come in handy for his teammates on many occasions. Forge is essentially a technopath. He has the ability to innately understand and create any mechanical device. He can create just about any advanced piece of machinery you need. As long as he's able to think of a function to be done by the machine. Meaning there has to be logic behind what he's inventing. So, he can't just invent something like a planet-destroying laser just like that. I don't think Forge needs to be a major character, but maybe do what Wolverine and the X-Men did and have him be a fun recurring background character who we see every now and then while he's working, have him comment on the situation that helps us know him a little better, and move on. That said, because he's not a huge character, there might not even need to be a reason for him to be in the MCU. And that's probably why we've yet to see him in live-action. That and poor representation, but that's another story. In terms of his personality, he's obviously dealt with a lot of trauma, but surprisingly, he has this dry wit to him. He's not Iceman levels of sarcastic, but he's not as gloomy as you might think. So, you need an actor who can do both dramatic and funny. That being said, casting Forge is a bit tricky. This is another reason why I don't think we'll see him in the MCU. On one hand, Forge fought in the Vietnam War, so he should be on the older side, right? Well, yes, but on the other hand, if Forge was in the MCU, and they wanted to put him in a relationship with Storm given the current Black Panther situation, wouldn't you need someone closer to Storm's actress? In this case, my pick for Storm, Deborah Ayorinde? Probably, but depending on where they take things with T'Challa, they might just focus on Storm's relationship with him and forget about her relationship with Forge altogether, which I don't think anyone would mind, or because they don't want to recast T'Challa, we might end up seeing focus put of Storm and Forge's relationship. And I don't think we can pull a Wanda and Vision with this where people will ignore the large age gap between the actors because one of them isn't human. So how do you fix this issue? Well, I've decided to cheat a bit and cast two actors. An older actor and a younger actor. Now, unlike Magneto, Forge's trauma isn't tied to any specific of the war he was in. Magneto was a Holocaust survivor, a very specific series of events. Forge's only trauma was seeing his platoon be killed and losing some of his limbs, which really, you could tie to any kind of war. So, what we could do if we want to go the route of pairing him up with Storm is to update Forge's backstory to a more recent war. So that way, we can keep the integral parts of his backstory, and put him in a relationship with Storm if Marvel goes down that route.

So, for my younger actor, I was actually able to find a couple of people. Adam Beach was previously in The New Mutants, but I think he can do better. His work in Windtalkers shows he can play a war hero, so yeah, I could see it. But for my younger Forge, I went with Justin Rain. You might recognize him from Blackstone or Road of Iniquity. I think either one shows he can handle both the drama and the dry wit of Forge. He can also deliver lines of heavy exposition, which would probably come in handy for a character like Forge. And since he was in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, we know he's not afraid of a big franchise. And that and his work in Mohawk showed that he can also work in action.

Now as for an older Forge, if we go the route of keeping him as a veteran of the Vietnam War, my runner-up is probably going to be Gil Birmingham. Another actor who was in Twilight coincidentally, so again, he's not afraid of a big franchise, but he was also really good in Wind River, so yeah, I could see him as an older Forge. But my winner for an older Forge is going to be Raoul Max Trujillo. The man can really drive home the emotion in certain performances, and definitely has the look of someone who has fought in a war. His work in Apocalypto also shows he can handle an action movie so that's a plus. Not sure if he would ever play Forge, given he's going to be in the upcoming Blue Beetle movie, but that movie's not out yet, so this works for now.

I think either Rain or Trujillo would do a solid job as Forge, it just depends on what direction they take the character in.

Alexander Summers aka Havok
The living star. The brother of Cyclops. After surviving the plane crash that killed their parents, Scott and Alex Summers ended up in an orphanage, and Alex was put in the care of Andrew and Joanna Blanding, a couple who recently lost their own son, Todd. When the boy who caused Todd's death attacked Alex, Alex's mutant powers surfaced, and he incinerated his attacker. Cue Mr. Sinister, who happened to be the owner of the orphanage Scott and Alex ended up at. Long story short, it turns out he was monitoring Alex ever since he had been adopted. Sinister then placed genetic locks on Alex to stop him from developing his mutant powers again, and because "plot convenience", it caused Alex to forget everything that happened that night. As Alex grew up and went to college, he remained unaware that he was a mutant or that his brother had gone on to be the leader of the X-Men. Come graduation time, Alex, through a series of convoluted events involving a villain calling himself the Living Pharaoh, and the son of Bolivar Trask, Alex's powers not only resurfaced, but he reunited with his older brother, gained a new suit, and joined the X-Men as Havok! Joining the X-Men allowed Havok to gain better control over his powers, and as previously stated, form a romantic relationship with Polaris. Havok's power is the ability to absorb cosmic radiation, process it into his body, and fire it from any part of his body as plasma that strangely comes in a circle pattern. Sorta like Bishop, only with less variety. The reason I'm not sure if we'll see Havok in the MCU is that I'm not sure if Marvel would want to go into the whole Cyclops extended family stuff given how many X-Men characters there are already. I just don't want things to be overcrowded so I'm hoping there's a firm balance found. I enjoyed Lucas Till fine enough in First Class. It wasn't a super memorable performance, but it was serviceable in my opinion. But Havok is another character who started off fine, but then they really dropped the ball with him later on. He shows up in Days of Future Past and Apocalypse, basically does nothing in both movies, then he dies in an explosion, and they mourn him for about 5 seconds. Even if I don't think we'll see Havok in the MCU, part of me wants him to be there so he can be done justice. My original choice for Havok was Scott Eastwood, and I still think he could do it, but I wanted to go with someone who looks more like my choice for Cyclops, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. In that case, my runner-up is Jack Lowden. He was a highlight for me in Dunkirk, and I would love to see this guy in a Marvel movie eventually. I've really been enjoying Mason Dye as Jason on the most recent season of Stranger Things, and I'd love to see him in more stuff. But for my Havok, I went with Alden Ehrenreich. Obviously, we know him best as the young Han Solo, and he did a great job, but he's done a lot more than that. Look at him in something like Tetro. He not only plays a brother character but can really sell you on that anger and emotion. He can also do funny, look at him in Hail, Caesar, and again, Solo. The man's portfolio screams future superhero, so I'd think he'd be a great Havok. And yes, I do think he'd make a good blonde.

David Haller aka Legion
The son of Charles Xavier and one of the most powerful mutants to ever live. This is another character who's going to be very hard to explain, so I'll try and keep this brief. Born to an affair Charles had with a woman named he met in Israel named Gabrielle Haller. Charles left completely unaware that Gabrielle had become pregnant, and eventually had a son that she named David Charles Haller. After moving to Paris, a 10-year-old David watched as his home was invaded by a terrorist organization who then killed David's stepdad, Daniel Shomron. The shock of the incident caused the manifestation of David's mutant powers, and he then proceeded to completely mind-rape the minds of assassins until they died. However, while doing so he unwittingly psychically connected with their thoughts and emotions as they died. Thus, shattering David's mind into multiple personas and rendering him catatonic. During this time, David's mind was a chaotic mess, and the best way I can explain it is that his many personalities were fighting with each other. Eventually, David came out of his catatonic state and his mother placed him in the care of a woman named Moira MacTaggert. The head of a mutant research facility on Muir Island. However, when David's powers began to manifest on the physical plane, he uncontrollably absorbs the consciousnesses of two of Moira MacTaggert's associates. MacTaggert then enlisted the help of, of course, Charles Xavier. With him came several of the New Mutants. Things almost immediately go awry as David begins absorbing consciousness left and right. Professor X put a stop to the madness by entering David's mind, where he learns that, not only is David his son, but David's multiple personas have begun to call themselves "Legion" (get it?). A series of convoluted events involving the villainous Shadow King taking over Muir Island led to Legion being made a member of a sub-team of X-Men. However, over time his membership with the team would...fluctuate. Because of his multiple personas and his trouble controlling any of them, sometimes he would be an ally, and other times he would be the cause of all their problems. Like, say, starting the Age of Apocalypse? Legion is, as you've probably guessed, an Omega-Level Mutant. Each personality in Legion's head has access to a different superpower. It's like a Ben 10 or Dial H for Hero kind of situation. However, because they are split personalities, some are good, and others are bad, so Legion is just as much of a good guy as he is a bad one. Legion possesses hundreds of different mutant abilities that all differ in terms of strength. Ranging from telekinesis to full-on reality-warping. Now obviously, I'm not going to list every single personality and power that he contains within him. We'd be here for a while. But just a few of these include:
Jemail Karami: One of the terrorists that attacked David's family and ended up trapped in David's mind and possesses telepathy.
Jack Wayne: A swaggering adventurer with telekinesis.
Cyndi: A rebellious little girl with pyrokinesis.
Sally: An obese woman with Hulk-like strength.
Bleeding Image: A living voodoo doll.
Chain: A human virus that can self-duplicate by turning anyone he touches into a copy of himself.
Susan in Sunshine: A little girl who can manipulate people's emotions in any way she pleases.
Endgame: He possesses a massive suit of armor that can adapt to any threat he comes across.
Styx: A skeletal demon that can absorb a person's soul with a single touch and take command of their consciousness.
The Origamist: A colossal sumo wrestler who can bend and warp the fabric of space.
Delphic: A blue-skinned young woman who will answer any three questions using her powers as a seer.
The Nazi Doctor: A blond and monocled Nazi doctor with a thick German accent, who can disrupt or negate the abilities of any mutant with a touch.
Specs: A young man with large glasses, who can see through solid objects.
The Wolfman: An older gentleman who can transform into a werewolf and also possesses a healing factor.
Chronodon: A large dinosaur with a clock for a face and has the power of time manipulation.
Compass Rose: She can teleport to people, no matter how far away they are from her.
X: She bears a striking resemblance to Moira MacTaggert and possesses the power of reality manipulation.

Just to name a few of the more notable named ones. Now there are three reasons why I don't think we'll see David Haller in the MCU, or at the very least, not as Legion. First of all, the MCU might not want to tackle a character this ridiculously powerful and find out how to properly translate that into their universe. Second, because of his multiple personalities, casting him is really, really, really difficult. And third, we've seen Legion in a live-action form before. In his own live-action TV series named after him. The show featured Dan Stevens as David. Now the show was very well received by those who have seen it, but I've yet to watch the full series. I watched the first episode a few years back, and I really liked it and thought Stevens did a great job, but with how much superhero media we've been given since then, it's been troubling finding time to go back and finish it. Because the series was so well done, Marvel may not see a need to do the character again. With that being said, if we want, we could just bring Dan Stevens back just for the hell of it for simplicity's sake. But if we're really going to recast, it's going to be difficult. If we're staying faithful to the comics, then we need a young actor who can not only convincingly be the son of my pick for Professor X, Mark Strong, but also has to range to play a character with multiple personalities. I'd also like someone who can pull off a wacky hairstyle. Initially, I looked towards Toby Kebbell. You probably don't remember, and I for one don't blame you, but he was previously Dr. Doom in Fant4stic. It wasn't a good performance, but the MCU loves taking actors who previously had roles in comic book movies that didn't work out and giving them a second chance. And the man is actually a really good actor. He's probably best known for his work as a motion capture artist. He did Kong in Kong: Skull Island. And he was Koba in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. And then look at him in The Sorcerer's Apprentice. He also played opposite Mark Strong in RocknRolla. But he is a bit older than I'd like at 39 years old. I also thought of Austin Butler. You wanna talk about range? Try going back in time and telling my younger self that the dude who appeared on all the Nickelodeon and Disney sitcoms I was watching at the time like Hannah Montana, Ned's Declassified, iCarly, Zoey 101, Zeke and Luther, and Wizards of Waverly Place would go on to be in The Dead Don't Die, Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood, and most recently, Elvis. The guy's definitely looking to expand his horizons. But in the end, I went with Taron Egerton. Dancer, singer, action hero, sassy British man, what more could you ask for? In the span of 6 years, he went from Kingsman: The Secret Service, to Eddie the Eagle, to Sing, to Robin Hood, to Rocketman. You try and find me 5 more different films an actor's done in that amount of time. The man has got range for days, and at this point, it'd be crazy for Marvel to not cast him in something. And hey, just because he doesn't fit my ideal Wolverine doesn't mean I don't think he couldn't play the character at all, or that he wouldn't also make for a fantastic version of Legion.

Betsy Braddock/Kwannon aka Psylocke
Oh boy, here's another character with a really complicated history. Once again, I must ask you to strap in because things are about to get crazy, but I will try and make this short. It all began with Betsy Braddock. A young British girl, and the twin sister of Brian Braddock, better known as Captain Britain. Initially, she worked alongside her brother thanks to her being a mutant. She worked as his pilot, but later down the line, not only did she become a model, but she also joined S.T.R.I.K.E., which is basically just the Britain equivalent of S.H.I.E.L.D. There was also a point when Betsy took up the mantle of Captain Britain. This didn't end very well because her time as Captain Britain was short-lived since one of her enemies ended up gouging her eyes out! Despite her psychic mutant abilities being able to make this less of an issue, she was eventually captured by the interdimensional supervillain, Mojo. Mojo restored her vision, but he also brainwashed her and dubbed her "Psylocke". Long story short, the New Mutants saved her, and after joining Xavier's Institute, and helping them defeat Sabretooth, she was made a member of the X-Men! But now comes the really confusing part. Through a very, very, very, very convoluted series of events that makes the comic origins behind how Spider-Man got the black suit look like nothing, Betsy ends up getting amnesia and then ends up in the hands (no pun intended) of the evil ninja clan, the Hand, and they transfer her mind into the body of a Japanese assassin named Kwannon. Because the minds of Betsy and Kwannon were now essentially "swapped", the new Asian Psylocke now had incredible martial arts skills and mutant powers. The downside? Once again, Psylocke is brainwashed, this time by the Mandarin, who was working with the Hand, but an encounter with Wolverine and subsequent battle with him caused her memories to be restored, and she was allowed to rejoin the X-Men. Over the years, through a series of even more convoluted events, Betsy in Kwannon's body and Kwannon in Betsy's body would often encounter each other, but in recent years, it seems they've both gone back to being in the original bodies, again, through a series of extremely convoluted events. With Kwannon taking up the mantle of Psylocke, and Betsy going back to being Captain Britain. Can you guys see why I'm not confident we'll see Psylocke in the MCU? If they really want to have a version of Psylocke with a fleshed-out story, then they'll have no choice but to simplify things. In terms of Psylocke's mutant powers, we've got ourselves another telepath. She can read, control and confuse minds, read thoughts, communicate telepathically, broadcast the thoughts of others, and create illusions by altering perceptions of others. She can also create psionic constructs. From being able to fire bolts of pure psychic energy to shooting a focused beam of telepathic energy at an opponent, striking them both physically and mentally. Once Kwannon came into the picture, she gained incredible martial arts skills. This is also combined with powers as, in addition to her already powerful and versatile psionic constructs, she could create her iconic Psychic Knife, which is exactly what it sounds like. I mention it because it's probably her personal favorite of all her abilities. Also, for whatever reason, when using her powers, a butterfly-shaped aura appears around her face. Over time, she would also gain shadow powers, mastery over the Astral Plane, and telekinesis. As for the character herself, Psylocke is another character who has been done dirty in the FXCU films. Meiling Melançon played the character in The Last Stand, and as much as I am willing to defend that movie, Meiling basically only played the character in name only. We're shown she has her shadow powers in one scene, but really, she basically does nothing worth mentioning, has a total of two lines, and then dies in the end. And she arguably had it even worse in Age of Apocalypse. Even though I liked Olivia Munn fine in the role, once again, the character was so insignificant that she didn't even need to be there. She has one memorable scene where she destroys a car, but that's about it. For an MCU version of Psylocke, what I think they'll do is fuse the characters of Betsy and Kwannon by leaving her past shrouded in mystery, but every now and then there'll be hints of it, and she'll simply go by "Psylocke" without revealing her actual name. And they'll hire an Asian actress who can speak with a British accent naturally. It would also help to have an actress who knows martial arts. For these reasons, I went with Selina Lo. She's known martial arts practically her whole life, and she's of Asian descent, but as far as I can tell, was raised in England, and thus speaks with an English accent. I really liked her as Guan Yin in Boss Level, and frankly, now I just want to see her in more things. She can certainly play a badass, but she can also add this element of playfulness to a role which I would say is needed for Psylocke. And when it comes to the roles that she's played, she definitely knows how to dress for the part. I mean just look at her in The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption. This is an actress who definitely knows how to dress to impress. Again, just watch Boss Level to see what I'm talking about. If not her, then probably Sonoya Mizuno. She's one of those chameleon actresses who shows up when you least expect it and she could easily blend into a role like Psylocke.

But now we've reached the halfway mark. With that, we have casted a good chunk of the most popular and semi-popular members of the X-Men. However, for every hero, there's just about another villain. Next time we get to the part of the fancast that I've been most excited to get to. Next time, we'll be getting into the X-Men's rogues gallery!

But until that next time comes my Children of the Atom (still not sure what that means), have a great night, be safe, and take care, true believers!