The Fox X-Men movies portrayed dozens of Marvel mutants, but one major villain never really got his due. However, the MCU could change that.
In bringing the X-Men to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios needs to go in a much different direction from 20th Century Fox’s take on the property. Fox’s X-Men films often struggled to adapt Marvel’s rich mutant mythos within their limited runtimes, and that meant villains often fell to the wayside. It’s important to make space for these iconic antagonists, especially when they’re as powerful as someone like The Blob. The Fox movies did the character wrong twice over, and it’s up to the MCU to correct those mistakes.
During both of The Blob’s appearances in the Fox franchise, he was little more than a disposable joke. X-Men Origins: Wolverine introduced him as a member of Weapon X alongside Wolverine, a dim-witted mutant granted enhanced strength and durability, seemingly building him up as though he would be a formidable force in combat. However, when the film jumped forward in time, The Blob packed on a ludicrous amount of weight, used as a training dummy against Wolverine while drinking a Slurpee. X-Men: Apocalypse later reused the villain as disposable fodder, defeated by Angel in a cage match almost entirely off-screen.
The MCU Should Give The Blob Room for Character Development
The Blob was a substantial threat when he was first introduced in Marvel Comics, effortlessly shrugging off bullets, cannonballs and just about anything the X-Men could throw at him. The powerhouse mutant even gained a reputation over the years as the “immovable object,” able to bind himself to the ground by manipulating gravity. Though somewhere along the way, The Blob lost any semblance of being a real threat, becoming a tasteless joke rarely given depth to his characterization.
Now that Disney has acquired the rights to the X-Men, there is finally an opportunity to do The Blob justice on the big screen. Shifting trends toward body positivity reveal the cheapness of making The Blob’s size the target for such an easy joke. This could even be integrated into the character’s MCU story arc, which could explore the effects of body shaming. Blob’s relationship with his body creates the perfect opportunity to explore the parallel between mutant prejudice and the innumerable real-world prejudices it so often serves as an allegory for.
How the MCU Could Better Handle The Blob’s Character
If the MCU plans to form a Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, then one of the most meaningful divergences it could make from Fox would be to flesh out the group members with actual backgrounds and motivations. Too often, the Fox films introduced characters just for the sake of listing them in the credits, so it’s a shame that The Blob suffered from this treatment more than once.
With Deadpool 3 in the works, it could be the perfect opportunity to give The Blob as memorable a treatment as Deadpool 2‘s Juggernaut. Similarly reduced to little more than a joke in X-Men: The Last Stand, the Deadpool franchise righted a wrong by giving the character the level of power that makes an impression on audiences. By embracing not only his power but his character as well, the MCU could do the same for Blob.
