Draft:Mutant (Marvel Comics) in film

X-Men in film dates back to as early as 1994, when 20th Century Fox acquired the feature film and television rights to the team from Marvel for $2.6 million USD after several unsuccessful attempts to adapt the characters at other film studios and distributors. Fox released X-Men in 2000 to critical and commercial success, with the film being credited for rejuvenating mainstream interest in movies featuring and adapting comic book characters alongside other licensed Marvel films released earlier in the decade. X-Men's success allowed the studio to launch a film franchise centered on the team and associated characters which included a trilogy with the initial cast until 2006, four prequel films (2011-19), a trilogy of Wolverine films (2009-2017), two Deadpool films (2016-18) and the spin-off film The New Mutants (2020), which concluded 20th Century Fox's franchise after a two-decade run.

In 2005, Marvel Studios was formed as an independent arm of the company that intended to house the production of various films using Marvel Comics characters, leading to the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) franchise. Marvel was later acquired by The Walt Disney Company in December 2009 for $4 billion USD, but did not regain the film rights to the X-Men comic books due to Fox's existing licensing deal, barring the team and associated characters from appearing in the MCU or other internally-produced Marvel media. In March 2019, Disney completed their acquisition of 21st Century Fox for a final total of $71.3 billion USD in order to secure 20th Century Fox's various entertainment licenses, including the film rights to the X-Men alongside the Fantastic Four and Deadpool. Control over the characters' film appearances was transferred to Marvel Studios, leading to multiple Marvel-based films at Fox to be stalled and subsequently cancelled, with plans to instead integrate the respective properties into the MCU franchise.

Development

Nelvana/Orion Pictures

In 1982, Nelvana optioned the film rights to the X-Men comics from Marvel Entertainment. As early as 1979, Marvel's former vice president of business affairs Alice Donnenfeld Vernoux, had been tasked by former editor-in-chief Stan Lee with attempting to license off various Marvel Comics properties for adaptation in film and television in light of recent blockbuster successes such as Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977) and Superman (1978). Nelvana founder Michael Hirsh had expressed significant interest in adapting X-Men for live-action film as a fan of the source material, and Nelvana, a studio primarily known for animated television, was similarly transitioning towards theatrical releases with their first animated feature Rock & Rule (1983). The deal between Marvel and Nelvana stipulated that the latter studio would handle production duties on the film, while Marvel would handle responsibilities in merchandising and promotion.

Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants writer Chris Claremont was hired by Hirsh to pen the film's screenplay, ultimately producing two story outlines. Both outlines featured a team roster comprising Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Wolverine alongside Professor X and Kitty Pryde as a new member. The first version of the film, tentatively titled Rite of Passage and dated for June 1982, featured Kitty Pryde as the audience surrogate character as she navigated the X-Men's world and came into conflict with her father, who became possessed by the mutant Proteus and exercised his political influence to incite mutant prejudice. Pryde would've helped the X-Men save a captive Xavier and redeem her father by the end of the film. The second outline, dated for 1983, de-emphasized Pryde's significance in favor of a plot that broadly explored the physical and ideological conflict between the X-Men and their adversaries, the Brotherhood of Mutants led by Magneto. Set during the Cold War, the narrative would've depicted Magneto using his powers to, raise an island from the ocean, destroy a Soviet submarine, and set off a volcano as an intimidation tactic. His tactics would've almost resulted in Pryde's death, at which point he saw the errors of his ways and sought redemption by the film's conclusion.

The film's production eventually stalled as Claremont chose to prioritize his work on the X-Men comic books in addition to writing novels. Nelvana then brought on Marvel Comics writers Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway to take over scripting duties, with Conway later admitting he wasn't aware of Claremont's prior involvement. At this point in the project, Nelvana had secured a deal to distribute the film through Orion Pictures, and two producers had boarded the project. Thomas and Conway's first draft combined elements across Claremont's two previous outlines, including Kitty as the primary point-of-view character for the world of mutants and Proteus as the primary antagonist from the first treatment, as well as a battle between the X-Men and Magneto's Brotherhood from the second treatment.