X-Men’s Bid to Dominate All Media

by Staff & Contributors on November 29, 2015

in Gaming

Ever since the comic book genius, Stan Lee, created the X-Men for Marvel Comics in 1963, this group of superhero mutants has gradually been growing in cultural prominence.

And with everything from billion dollar blockbusters to the latest Vegas games bearing traces of their mutant charms, it’s clear that we’re increasingly living in an X-Men inspired world.

But how did this gang of comic book outsiders reach the point where everyone knows their Magneto from their Wolverine?

Although the X-Men comics in the early 1980s reached some pretty impressive sales figures, it wasn’t until Brian Singer took on the challenge of directing a big budget X-Men movie in 2000 that things really kicked off.

The original X-Men movie starred movie legends like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, and Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry cemented their reputations with iconic roles as Wolverine and Storm. And when the franchise hired the world’s highest paid actress to join in the action, it was clear just how serious 20th Century Fox were about making X-Men a long-standing success.

But even having a string of blockbuster movies isn’t enough to ensure sustained cultural relevance in the 21st century. And Marvel have been quick on the case in releasing an inexhaustible supply of licensed video games to augment their X-Men cinematic titles.

The superheroes’ antics have made them perfectly suited to a string of action-based console games like Activision’s X-Men: The Official Game that gave us all the chance to play the parts of Nightcrawler, Wolverine and Iceman.

Marvel have also shown themselves willing to enter the wildly successful mobile gaming realm with the Uncanny X-Men title for iOS and Android provide plenty of platforming fun. And whilst a genuine Vegas atmosphere permeates many of the casino games at Coral’s gaming site, the X-Men live casino game took a somewhat different route to pave the way to some big winnings.

It’s not just Vegas games that illustrate how Marvel are looking to move beyond the perceptions that they are just a kid’s brand. This is because 2016 saw X-Men’s foul-mouthed Deadpool being joined by the sinister Doctor Strange movie that showed that Marvel can handle grown-up movies too.

And with streaming TV services like Netflix being slowly filled up with Marvel creations like Daredevil and Jessica Jones, there are also interesting news that an X-Men TV show could be in the pipeline. All of which shows that the brand’s blockbuster movies, Vegas games and console hits are just a few of the ways that the X-Men are looking to change our world.

JustSayin November 30, 2016 at 2:03 am

This article has so many inaccuracies. Jennifer Lawrence wasn’t even known when she joined X-Men First Class, Hugh Jackman got his start from Wolverine, and Berry was just becoming recognized after X-Men. Also, Brian Singer didn’t get shit rolling. The 90’s Cartoon made X-men super popular.

You’re a shitty Journalist.

TJ November 30, 2016 at 9:52 am

Re-read the article. Jennifer Lawrence was indeed known and recognized for her acting with an oscar nomination in Winter’s Bone; She is however not even mentioned in the article, so your point is moot.

‘Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry cemented their reputations’ states the article, because they had already established a rise to fame. Hugh Jackman was just becoming more known to American audiences.

The 90’s cartoon wasn’t as mainstream. The movie provided that wider audience appeal and was marketed as such, especially since DVD’s sales were becoming popular. The cartoon wasn’t nearly as successful. Keep in mind, even ‘EarthWorm Jim’ & ‘Ace Ventura’ had a cartoon.

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