5 Genres for Marvel Movies to Tackle After the Horror of The New Mutants

The thing is: comic fans know that the medium—even narrowed to encompass only superhero comics—encompasses far more genres than just the sci-fi action thrillers that make up most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. to whit, The New Mutants is based on one of many groundbreaking moments in X-Men comics over the years—the Demon Bear saga, which reshaped a series that had largely been about kids honing their mutant powers, into a more psychological book about the traumas of adolescence. Long-time X-scribe Chris Claremont wrote the story, but the groundbreaking art by Bill Sienkiewicz sold it with disorienting visual style, suggesting the mind of a teenager is basically a horror movie. The comic arc follows Dani Moonstar, a Native American mutant with the power to create illusions based on the emotions of others, who goes on the hunt for the demonic bear that killed her parents. A centerpiece sequence involves a nightmarish trip to a hospital, which the movie seems to have taken to the extreme.
So, if Marvel films can do horror, what else can they do? Here are five more genres we’d love to see grafted onto the superhero blockbuster.

Romantic Comedy!
It’s no insult to say Marvel’s comics are among the soapiest of superhero stories. That’s part of the fun. It also means any relationship that goes on long enough inevitably ends in tears. And then, not infrequently, starts up again. Before ending in tears again. The curse of being a character who doesn’t age is that sadistic creators have plenty of time to fill your life with heartache.
The long history of Vision and the Scarlet Witch grew increasingly convoluted over the years, so much so that it was, for quite a while, pretty charming. Wanda Maximoff was the mutant daughter (usually) of Magneto, the evil (usually) leader of the extremist kill-all-humans faction of mutantkind. She was a bad guy for a while, before redeeming herself through a long association with the mighty Avengers. The synthezoid Vision was, similarly, created by the evil (almost always) robot Ultron to defeat the heroes, but very quickly broke good. She was powerful and confident, but mindful that some would always view her first as a villain and mutant; he wanted desperately to be accepted as a real boy. The two fell in love, married, and literally moved to the suburbs to start a family (something to do with Wanda’s powers). They were Marvel’s most insufferably cute couple for a time, fighting crime and intolerance in between snuggles. There’s a delightful, if incredibly weird, movie to be made about this era: it’s got a meet-cute between two unlikely soulmates, and plenty of obstacles to overcome before they get together for good. If you like a happy ending, it’s important that you stop exploring the relationship sometime before the couple move to the west coast in the very late ’80s and find out that their kids were never real. Until they were. It’s wildly complicated from then on.
We’re seeing hints of this now, as the essential characters have appeared in Avengers: Age of Ultron—but how about a standalone movie?
Cyberpunk!
Is Ready Player One a genre? The X-Men (and other Marvel U heroes) have taken many an unwanted trip to Murderworld—a cool name if nothing else. It’s the playground of the villain Arcade, who over the years has constructed a series of increasingly elaborate (and, presumably, expensive) amusement-park style deathtraps. Though originally styling his “rides” specifically after carnival attractions, Arcade has become increasingly clever in his designs, challenging the heroes to a wide variety of murder-related games, and even concocting a kill-or-be-killed arena that left many mutants ashamed of their actions. I’m imagining The Hunger Games set at a carnival, but with video games added to the challenges, for a modern spin.

Black Ops!
Created by Grant Morrison and Igor Kordey, Fantomex is a French(-ish) mutant based largely on the dashing early 20th century anti-hero Fantomas. In his first appearance, he’s a super-thief on the run who offers Professor Xavier sensitive information about a modern super-soldier program—for a cool $1 billion. He eventually joins up with a rebooted X-Force team, a black ops subsidiary of the X-Men created and later disavowed by Cyclops, with the purpose of running shady, very off-the-books missions. On one run, they’re tasked with assassinating the mutant messiah Apocalypse. Which doesn’t sound so bad, until it’s revealed the villain has been reborn as a child, with only a passing knowledge of his previous life. A stylish action thriller along those lines could succeed where Suicide Squad (mostly) failed.

Monsters!
When I say “monsters,” I mean Dracula. Not vampires in general (since we did already get the fairly successful Blade trilogy)—just Count Dracula. He’s part of the Marvel Universe, the subject of his own solo book in the 1970s and, particularly, an enemy of Blade. In his Marvel appearances, he’s instantly recognizable to anyone who’s ever seen Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee throw on a cape and ruffled shirt for a night out. He first met the X-Men in 1982, when Storm was brought low by a mysterious attacker only to find herself avoiding the daylight. With some help from her friends (including a crucifix-wielding Nightcrawler), she ultimately triumphs over her would-be master, with Dracula himself acknowledging her superior willpower. I’d watch the hell out of Storm vs. Dracula vs. Blade.

Mutants in Space!
While the Guardians of the Galaxy films are certainly in the space opera realm, they’re also fairly connected to the ongoing story of Thanos. How about something a bit more out there? Though you’d never know it from the more grounded (relatively) film series, the X-men of the comics have taken many a trip into outer space. In the ’70s, Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum introduced the Shi’ar: a vast and powerful empire with a then-corrupt ruler determined to conquer the universe. The X-Men were having none of it, and joined in to help Lilandra Neramani, the much-more-reasonable sister of the Emperor, claim the throne. The team has had a variety of adventures involving cosmic goings-on ever since, to the extent that Professor Xavier was himself, for a time, married to Empress Lilandra. The Starjammers, a space-traveling team of heroes, is even lead by the father of Cyclops. With high technology and pulp sci-fi style, the empire is constantly under threat from within and without. The X-folks are usually on hand to help out, or just to entangle themselves in the Shakespearean politics of the aliens. There’s a fun movie to be made starring mutants in space.
What genres would you like to see Marvel films tackle next?