It’ll be curious how Fox, which is now a part of Disney, will handle the various X-Men properties under a new administration. The X-Men universe has become more television based now, with Legion and The Gifted hitting airwaves as the X-Men movies find themselves in a state of limbo next to the Deadpool franchise. Fox was willing to take risks, of course, that Marvel proper wasn’t willing or able to do because they had to compete with the box office goliath that was the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It wasn’t enough to be successful; they had to be different and their television route was much different than Marvel’s.
Marvel, with the Defenders focused universe, has taken a more reality-based viewpoint into a world with superheroes in tights saving New York. Fox? Fox has crafted its two most television series in much different ways. Legion is a reality bending, unreliable narrator driven show. The Gifted imagines us in an alternate reality where the main denizens of the X-Men universe have disappeared. The government is now hunting down the rest of mutant kind and a resistance has formed.
Our vantage point is through the Strucker clan (Stephen Moyer, Amy Acker, Natalie Alyn Lynd, Percy Hynes White), who’s two children have developed mutant powers. On the run from a government agency tasked with handling mutants, the family delves into the world of the mutant underground and a world where mutants are on the run.
It’s an interesting idea and allows for this particular universe to avoid the signature members of this world, instead mining the universe for characters who haven’t had a substantial impact in the film series. With the X-Men and the Brotherhood both gone it allows for a more interesting world; Professor X and his team aren’t going to save the day and lines on both sides get crossed.
It’s a genuinely intriguing and interesting show, as good as the Netflix series from the MCU proper.
None included.
20th Century Fox presents The Gifted (Season 1). Created by Matt Nix. Starring Stephen Moyer, Amy Acker, Sean Teale, Natalie Alyn Lind, Percy Hynes White, Coby Bell, Jamie Chung, Blair Redford, Emma Dumont, Skyler Samuels, Grace Byers. Run Time: 446 minutes Not rated . Released on DVD: 9.25.18
