What If X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE Had Been a Huge Success? Where Would It Have Left the X-Men?

What if X-Men Origins: Wolverine had been a massive success? Instead of becoming a divisive chapter in the X-Men franchise, the 2009 film could have completely changed Fox’s plans for the future. And one of the biggest beneficiaries might have been the young mutants introduced toward the end of the movie, particularly Cyclops and Emma Frost.

The film gave us a younger Scott Summers, who is rescued from William Stryker’s facility and eventually meets Professor Charles Xavier. That moment is especially interesting because it essentially establishes a younger generation of mutants being brought together by Xavier. If audiences had loved Origins, wouldn’t Fox have looked at that setup and thought, “We have the beginnings of another X-Men movie right here”?

A sequel could have followed Xavier as he began building this generation of students, with young Cyclops potentially serving as the central character. We could have seen Scott learning to control his optic blasts, discovering what it means to become a leader, and developing his relationship with Xavier. Emma Frost could have returned, giving the movie a different dynamic displaying her differing views towards Xavier’s dream of mutant-human coexistence. Perhaps, leading her to joining the Hellfire Club or Brotherhood of Mutants.

And then there’s the obvious question: Would Jean Grey have entered the picture? If Fox had continued down this road, introducing Jean as another young student could have allowed the studio to explore Scott and Jean’s dynamic relationship. Similar to X-Men: Apocalypse, we could have watched them meet, become friends, and fall in love.

The really wild possibility is that this could have become a totally different version of X-Men: First Class. Rather than rebooting the franchise with younger versions of Xavier and Magneto, Fox might have continued the existing timeline with a younger Xavier, Cyclops, Emma, and other familiar mutants. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine could have served as the connective tissue between the generations, occasionally crossing paths with Xavier’s students for X-Men: Evolution style adventures.

From a storytelling perspective, there was definitely potential. A successful Origins could have helped Scott Summers lead a new generation of X-Men movies.

Ultimately, the most fascinating alternate-history question is whether the young mutants from X-Men Origins: Wolverine were supposed to be the beginning of something bigger.