Why it's time for the X-Men franchise to mutate; Guardian, 6/16/16

Ben Child, Guardian; Why it's time for the X-Men franchise to mutate:

"At the same time, the clamour for superhero movies to modernise has never been louder, especially since Marvel and DC Comics have already led the way in print. The current comic-book Ms Marvel is a Muslim Pakistani-American, while Gail Simone’s bravura 2011 reboot of Batgirl gave Barbara Gordon a transgender best mate. Meanwhile, several of the X-Men are gay in at least some versions of the comics. You’ll no doubt have seen the Twitter campaign urging Captain America to be given a boyfriend on the big screen: its point, I think, is that Hollywood’s superhero vision is inexcusably blander, hokier and tamer than what’s often seen in print.

Directors such as Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn have warned against the idea of suddenly making every superhero movie an R-rated, “edgy” Deadpool rip-off. But in the case of X-Men, delivering a more grown-up take seems like a natural progression, especially since the saga’s colourful mutants have always made the most sense as an oh-so-subtle metaphor for the existential struggle of the societal outsider."