Now I haven't seen "Days of future past" yet. And my instinct is that it's going to be pretty good, which does make it a bad time to make a post like this but I thought it up just now so here it goes.

The X-men movie was a trailblazer, it was like Spider-man (which came out 2 years later) one of the movies that proved the genre viable in a modern audience. Making good use of modern movie making techniques to give characters realisticish looking powers. And perhaps most importantly it had Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman which was a casting decision on par with Robert Downy Junior as Tony Stark. With these things the franchise started off as a huge successes, and Hugh Jackman stole the show. Problem is Hugh Jackman stole the show.

In the Marvel universe the X-men are like a universe within that universe. There are literally thousands of characters directly affiliated with the X-men. The X-men is such a self sustainable franchise that many people argue that the X-men should be their own universe, the reasoning for this is that it doesn't make sense that mutants would be persecuted while the Avengers and FF are treated like celebrities. And while that may or may not be true the only thing that makes this argument possible is that the X-men are big enough that they could be their own universe.

Despite this fact FOX treats the X-men like it all revolves around one central character. Now don't get me wrong, even though I have a cyclops avatar I love Wolverine, in fact I think I'm only a Cyclops fan because I think it's hip(ster) to be. Wolverine is pretty much the Clint Eastwood of the X-men, but the franchise has faltered and stuttered under heavy criticism and fan backlash. There's nothing wrong with Hugh Jackman though, and it is possible to create a good X-movie without him (see First class). But a key problem will remain which is giving all the characters room to grow.

There's about two dozen first tier X-men who deserve more time on the screen, but it's extremely challenging to make a story for:

Colossus

Gambit.

Night-crawler

Wolverine

Storm

Cyclops.

Jean Grey.

Rouge.

Xavier

Ice-man.

Kitty Pryde.

Angel.

Psylocke.

Forge.

Sorry if I missed anyone's favorite character I know that doesn't include what a lot of people consider "main" X-men and doesn't even begin to cover characters from the new mutants, generation X and other characters like that. Of the ones listed all of these characters with the exception of Forge I think (once again I haven't seen days of future past). have been at one point or another included in the franchise. But the only characters who I think get any serious plot development are Wolverine, Xaiver, Ice-man, Rouge, Storm and Cyclops. The other get secondary roles and a few get justice done to them in that time while the others are almost just cameos or Easter eggs.

But it's unfair to expect directors to cover that many characters well in about 2 hours. The only way to give all the characters the development they deserve is to have a television show. A show that each episode can focus on either the same or different characters would create an environment that can take advantage of the X-mens rich history instead of trying to cover everything at once. You'd have the main X-men working on the big missions and stuff but you could also show the students. The show could be called "Xaiver academy" or something like that.

The problem with this is obvious. You can't put as much money into a T.V show as you can with a movie. Thankfully most X-men have relatively simple powers. It's extremely easy to create an effect for Shadow cats powers, and telepathy doesn't even need special effects. The money would go into making stuff like Colossus's skin and projectile mutants but if their resourceful they can accurately show these characters powers. They'd still have to put alot of money into it of course, but only as much as was put into Star Trek Next generation or Falling skies.

If people like this idea I'm going to send it to Fox, I realize points could easily be made against my opinion and I'm willing to back up my claim but I'm not going to get into a flame debate with anyone.

A live action X-Men tv show could work. For me Fox's X-Men movie franchise has been hit and miss that I would be happier to see it as a tv show, though Fox shouldn't have any part in it.

The Tv show could work but I wonder about the budget

Budget is definitely a huge challenge to overcome. Strength, speed, telepathy, all easy to do....but the editing for even teleportation would be a challenge.

Add to that the fact that Marvel and DC both are hesitant to throw big name characters out for TV shows because of the risk of what could happen if they under perform..we'd probably end up with a cast full of C-list mutants led by a B-lister (though X-Men's C and B list characters are pretty awesome).

Too much of a budget. We're better off with getting an X-Men series on a good channel that can last for at least 5 years. It's about the time a comic world has a great animated series last for more than 3-4 seasons.

I think the biggest issue with turning X-Men into a live action series is that they would have to worry about the cost to do special effects. It would be great if they had another X-Men cartoon for the next TV series.

Personally I would love to see both continue, but have a companion TV show as well to showcase many mutants that get background treatment in the movies *cough* Colossus *cough* or just haven't been in the movies period.

I don't know but the movies are doing just fine.

They are but with the TV series you have more chance for storylines, fights, and character development.

If it's directed by JJ Abrahms or Joss Whedon.

HBO has the budget...my fear for a network tv version would culminate in cheap and cheesy effects like Charmed, everyone just shooting little light balls and fire balls and meatballs...all covered with cheeeeeese.

I'd like to see a spin/combo on the New Mutants/Gen X/Young X-Men. Some things would have to get shifted around in compliance with established movieverse continuity.

It could start with students from around the globe arriving in Muir Island for tutelage under Moira McTaggart and a newly reformed Emma Frost (played by anyone other than January Jones). They are relocated for their own protection after Magneto's attack on the White House.

Moira's son, Proteus, is so powerful he's quarantined like the boy in the bubble.

Xavier's son, Legion, is troubled by his myriad of psychic powers and wears a dampener designed by Moira. (neither Xavier nor David may be aware of their relation)

Wolfsbane is Moira's adopted daughter and she's constantly conflicted by her lycanthropic, feral nature after being convinced by her ultra religious father that she's a demon dog.

Any number of characters could work to round out the cast: Mirage, Karma, Magik, Cypher, Magma, Cannonball, Siryn, Boom Boom, Rictor, Jubilee, M, Husk, Chamber, Synch, M, Penance, Mondo, Nocturne, Pixie, Dust, Anole, Hellion, Elixir, Wallflower, Wither, Rockslide, Mercury, Surge, Prodigy, The Cuckoos, Quentin Quire...you get the gist, although probably no more than 5 or 6 from this list.