Friday, October 13, 2017

When Worlds Collide: X-Men/Game of Thrones Crossover

The next X-Men movie spinoff, The New Mutants, features Maisie Williams as Wolfsbane. This sets up an earth-shattering possibility. It has taken me some time to figure out how to explain this, but stay with me.

Ms. Williams is best known for her role in HBO's A Game of Thrones. Another young English actress, Sophie Turner, is in a very similar situation, portraying noblewoman Sansa Stark in A Game of Thrones and mutant Jean Grey in the X-men franchise (including the soon-to-be-released  X-Men: Dark Phoenix). The two are sisters in A Game of Thrones, but in the X-Men films..... who knows?

Let your imagination run wild. Imagine an X-Men movie in which Wolfsbane (Williams) encounters Jean Grey (Turner). They discover that each of them also exist in the  Game of Thrones universe. They have the power to move between these parallel universes. This would be a bit like those "crossover" issues of comic books, in which one character suddenly appears in another's story arc (e.g. Spiderman meets Thor, or Doctor Strange meets Sergeant Fury and his Howling Commandos).
Archie Meets The Punisher

This would be no mere combination of comic book characters. My fevered daydream envisions a crossover between a comic-based film franchise and a fantasy television series. Sansa Stark could appear in an X-Men film, or Wolfsbane could be in a Game of Thrones televison show.  What happens when these two worlds collide?

Yes, that's pretty far-fetched. But on the most mundane level, it would set the stage for sequels, a mind-numbing string of films stretching off into the distant future and ensuring job security for these two actresses. Envision Maisie and Sophie becoming confused between their dual characters, unsure which universe they're in, spouting Game of Thrones dialogue in the midst of  an X-Men movie or vice-versa, and driving directors insane.

In a way I feel sorry for these young actors caught up in comic book movies at such an early stage in their careers. I'm sure they're making plenty of money, but they become committed to multiple installments of films which may or may not be any good. It holds the potential to limit their careers and the way they are perceived by directors and audiences. Shailene Woodley had the same predicament with the Divergent films, and Natalie Portman with the Star Wars movies.

Further Reading:
The New Mutants
X-Men: Dark Phoenix
The Twelve Weirdest Comic Crossovers Ever
DC vs. Marvel Comics Crossover Series

2 comments:

Rondo Hatton said...

Maybe you should try spending some time in L.A. and pitch this around town. You never know...

Sonny said...

Intriguing idea. I could propose a package deal: I'll give them my idea for a low, low price if they give me a role in the picture... or even just a meeting with Sophie Turner. Seriously, thanks for reading my blog.

Sonny
http: castledangerous.blogspot.com