Jensen Ackles from Supernatural with Marvel's X-Men on his left and the 2000's X-Men movie cast on his right

A Marvel concept trailer recasts the X-Men movie from the 2000s with a whole new slate of actors. While the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie timeline has become the most successful superhero franchise in this generation, prior to 2008, the genre looked very different in Hollywood. One of the missing components in the MCU, for the time being, is the X-Men, which got their live-action dues long before Marvel Studios was a thing.

The 2000’s X-Men movie cast consisted of major stars like Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, and an unknown Hugh Jackman at the time. However, in a Marvel concept trailer from Stryder HD, the YouTube editor pitches a very different group of actors for the original X-Men movie.

Stryder HD’s X-Men 2000s concept trailer features other actors who were either in their prime or still making their names in Hollywood. Many of the actors listed did end up getting cast in other Marvel roles, including Josh Brolin as Thanos and Cable (in the X-Men movie timeline), Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin, and Tom Hardy as Venom, along with Idris Elba as Heimdall, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster and Scarlett Johansson in the MCU. The 2000s X-Men movie concept trailer also includes a handful of members from X-Force, with someone completely different imagined as Deadpool.

How The Early X-Men Movies Were Crucial To The Superhero Film Genre

The cast of X-Men 2000 in black spandex suits looking at the viewer

When the first Fox X-Men movie arrived in 2000, it played a pivotal role in getting more studios to invest time and money into adapting various comic book IPs. Even though the X-Men film from 2000 was a bit grittier than the comics, the Marvel adventure still helped set a foundation for where comic book adaptations could go in the later years. Before the MCU existed, the X-Men universe, along with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies and a handful of Marvel one-offs (such as Daredevil and Elektra), were all that existed in Hollywood, at least from the Marvel side.

Even though each film had its ups and downs, the X-Men movie characters were also how the mainstream audience was introduced to these characters in live-action outside of the comics. Despite 20th Century Fox’s X-Men era being a mixed bag at this point, it still plays a crucial part to this day in the superhero movie landscape. Even 20 years later, the franchise is getting celebrated, referenced, and honored in new releases, which will be the case in this summer’s Deadpool & Wolverine movie.

As the MCU is getting ready to reboot the X-Men now that the character rights are finally back with Marvel Studios, it will be fascinating to see which direction they go with the iconic mutants. Given the big success Marvel is currently having with the X-Men ’97 TV show, they are definitely off to a great start. But until the MCU brings in the mutants, the world can relive all of the X-Men movies through Blu-Ray/DVD and streaming.