Why X-cution’s Song is the perfect basis for an X-Men movie

It’s fair to say I am an X-pert, an X-fanatic, and it all started when I was young in the 1990s. I know what you’re thinking: you watched the X-Men cartoon. You know what? You’re absolutely right — I watched the **** out of that ****, that show deserves an emmy for best everything, ever. I digress because that wasn’t what got me into the brand. I was an event unlike any other: X-Cutioner’s Song.

The name just sounds badass to start: X-Cutioner’s Song. My aunt would not let me purchase it because of the name, however, once she was done sitting my parents’ did because they were cool like that. I’m glad they did too, because X-Cutioner’s Song is not just an orgasmic eyefeast for a prepubsecent, it’s also a solid and meaningful X-Men story. On top of this, it is by far one of the best introductions to the brand, successfully using Apocalypse (and his Horsemen), Mr. Sinister, and Stryfe, as well as the full rosters of The Mutant Liberation Front, The Dark Riders, The Four Horsemen, X-Men (both teams), X-Factor, and X-Force. Whew — I am out of breath just typing that.

The event starts with perhaps one of the most on the nose cinematic ways of dealing with the mutant metaphor to civil rights: having civil rights leader Xavier gunned down by an assassin (minor spoiler is that Xavier obviously survives). It creates added intrigue by having this assassin presumably be Cable, although the audience knows better. Having the story start with an assassination, in a public park, during a charity contest, is a stroke of genius by writer Scott Lobell because it really grounds the narrative to something tangible to the real world. For a story that really embraced the wackiness and dialed the X-Treme o-meter up to 11, the opening page sets a grounded tone perfectly.

Brandon Peterson, as are the rest of the artists, just rock-solid throughout the event. Usually, in any comic event, there is a weak link, but not here. Not here at all. Moreover, with artists like Jae Lee, the artists don’t try to replicate themselves, which results in some absolutely bad-****ing-a** interior art.

This event rocks, period.

And the MCU should have the balls to do it. First, what they should do is have a series of Disney+ miniseries devoted to individual teams: The X-Men, X-Force, and X-Factor, maybe providing the backstory of how they formed, and introducing some of their villains. Then smash all the new toys together.

This story, if rewritten in the style of a Civil Rights film: think the recent Trial of the Chicago 7. We could have a sort of political thriller where the X-Men hunt down the killer only to open a much greater mutant Illuminati manipulating things behind the scenes (Sinister, Apocalypse, and Stryfe). With a film they would likely trim down to one villain, perhaps Mr. Sinister, however, the twist could be modified to work a number of different ways, such as shapeshifting.

Another good launch point for this story would be this: how have the X-Men and mutants existed in the MCU. If Xavier is “assassinated”, maybe Xavier has been using Cerebro this whole time to make humanity “forget” their existence. With him incapacitated, humanity realizes mutants exist.

The main thing I believe Marvel should look to from this story is how they drop you down into it. This story doesn’t provide massive backstory to explain all the players — it just provides enough character moments so you understand them. It utilizes them all to great degrees, and offers some great team-ups like Cable, Bishop, and Wolverine fighting side by side. That is a critical element to a good X-Men story.

If Avengers is a well-made souffle, then X-Men is a spicy chili — a mix of ingredients with a kick. It’s loud and unapologetic for what it is, something this story does well. In my opinion, that’s what the movie needs to do well.

There are many stories the movies have yet to adapt, but I think X-Cutioner’s Song is near the bottom of that list when it should be at the top. It’s very uncharted territory, and oft-forgotten by the fandom, which is weird because in a word, the event is uncanny.