Things the MCU can do different with the X-Men and Fantastic Four

Alright! The X-Men and Fantastic Four are going to be in the MCU - it might not be until 2023 or 2024, but they will be here. However, there have been 3 Fantastic Four films and 12 X-Men films. None of them have ever really nailed all the check marks, however. Even X2.

Juggernaut

The Juggernaut has only appeared twice in the X-Men movies. Once as a minor subplot/fan appreciation, and once as CGI Ryan Reynolds. However, neither really got it right. The Last Stand's Juggernaut was honestly over blown. His relationship with Charles was non-existent. And in First Class, he never appears or is talked about.
Most of this was retconned in Deadpool 2 where he says that Charles is his brother, but you never get to see the unstoppable force the Juggernaut is. Because in a movie, he needs to be stopped to have a resolution, be it making him run into a wall or electrocution.

The MCU can do this differently. He can be a Juggernaut. He can wear his red costume.

Not make the Fantastic 4 suck

So, the Fantastic 4 films have had a bumpy road. The first two were extremely campy (But pretty well cast), and the reboot was too dark. The MCU has had a thing where they take something thought campy and make it realistic (See: Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Guardians). This treatment needs to be done with the Fantastic Four. Also, please don't do a naked Susan Storm gag. That's been done twice and she's a brilliant scientist who deserves more than that.

Shy away from Wolverine and Mystique

With such a large X-Men cast, it's impossible to let each be important. But Wolverine has been the main character for 6 movies, and appeared in 9. And Mystique's been a main character for 3.
The only ones that don't focus on the two are Deadpool and Deadpool 2, which obviously focus on Deadpool, and Dark Phoenix, which only did not focus on Mystique because Jennifer Lawrence was way too famous at that point.
Seriously though, let some other characters shine. Especially when Wolverine and Mystique have been portrayed so iconically be Hugh Jackman and Jennifer Lawrence.

But if they were to recast, Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, or Keanu Reeves. Please.

Fantastic 4 Villains

The Fantastic Four villains are major weak points of their films. Doctor Doom has never been more than a stock villain, or creepy robot(?) guy in the films, and Galactus was a space cloud. Seriously. A space cloud.

There are tons of amazing Fantastic Four villains, like Annihilus, Namor, or Kang the Conqueror.
But this is a case where they need to redo something. Doctor Doom is a villain mastermind and one of the greatest villains ever. And Galactus is a giant threat, one that demands respect, and possibly Phase 6.

X-Men Villains

Once again, the X-Men really reused the same villains. While Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender did amazing jobs as Magneto, there are other villains.
Like Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix (Again again), Sabertooth, Silver Samurai, Toad, Blob, the Brotherhood of Mutants, and the Hellfire Club.

There are a lot of cool X-Men villains that are powerful and good enough to merit a movie other than Magneto and Dark Phoenix.
However, the film that proabably got the villain the most wrong is X-Men: Apocalypse. A great villain and extremely powerful, yet turned into stock villain #5.

Emma Frost

Emma Frost is a classic X-Men character. A villain, a good guy, she is an important person. But in the X-Men films, she appears once, and is defeated halfway through the film. And then in the next film, she's just dead. Died off-screen.
The MCU can go a way different route here. She is a rival for Scott's affection, she is a telepath, she is a very powerful mutant, and a very popular character.

All the cameos

Angel, Colossus, Kitty Pryde, and Jubilee are all character who were short changed in the films, despite appearing in often large roles.
They just never got to be interesting. They were just characters. Angel is one of the original X-Men, Colossus and Kitty Pryde are a thing, and Jubilee has never been referred to by name on screen. These are very cool B-list characters that have the potential to be A-list.

Cast older people as the Fantastic 4

To be a respected scientist takes a while. Tony Stark was 40 in Iron Man, and if you have a reputation for being one of the greatest scientists ever, you need a lot more than "Generic prodigy" the films went with. Just a regular child genius.

Reed Richards, while potentially perfectly cast as Ioan Gruffud, and seriously miscast as Miles Teller, really needs to be portrayed as a mature, older character. His hair is gray at the sides, dudes.

He is recognized as the smartest person in the Marvel Universe, and his main trait is his leadership skills, not his stretchy abilities. Because stretching is a pretty lame power (Unless you're Elastigirl), and the movies should stop focusing on that.



Susan Storm is also a respected scientist, Ben Grimm is as old as Reed, and Johnny Storm is actually 16, so while him being in highschool with Peter Parker would be awesome, or teaming up in a future Spider-Man film, he shouldn't be that young. Maybe mid-20s.

Okay, dream cast: John Krasinski as Mister Fantastic, Kristen Bell as Invisible Woman, Dacre Montgomery as Human Torch, and David Harbour as the Thing.

Cyclops

Focusing on Wolverine was particularly bad for one character: Cyclops. Cyclops is the main character of the X-Men. He is their leader. But in the films, he's more of a foil to Wolverine, one-dimensional, and most often defined as "Jean Grey's boyfriend."

Like, even in Dark Phoenix, where Wolverine and Mystique are finally gone, he gets more screentime, and yet he is still one dimensional. Don't do him dirty like that again.

The MCU could do this better by not focusing on Wolverine, who is extremely hard to replace, by focusing elsewhere. This is case where he should by played by someone younger, not older.

Dream casting: Ansel Elgort, Tye Sheridan (Yes, again), Josh Hutcherson, Alden Ehrenreich, and Zac Efron

Have them interact with MCU characters

One of the biggest appeals and one of the biggest things they can do differently here is have MCU characters appear. While it's a shame there will be no Iron Man or Captain America interactions, we still get to see them interact with Spider-Man.

Yes, them interacting with Spider-Man is actually one of my most anticipated things about this. Especially Johnny Storm/Spidey team ups, or Spidey/Deadpool, or even other people, like seeing Reed Richards talk to Professor Hulk.

Just a lot of awesome things that we need to see.