Between his X-Men FX series LEGION coming to end, the show FARGO starting back up again, and his new movie LUCY IN THE SKY coming out, Noah Hawley is an incredibly busy man. No matter how much he has on his plate he’s always looking to the future, which for him possibly includes a seat in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he revealed that he’s spoken with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige about being their “R&D department."
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During a lengthy profile in The Hollywood Reporter about LEGION’s final season (which finally sees the arrival of Charles Xavier), Hawley talked about how he spoke with Feige about the future of the incredibly successful series of movies, offering up all the different storytelling devices the movies could utilize down the road.
I did sit down with [Marvel Studios' president] Kevin Feige recently and I said that I look at myself as sort of the Marvel R&D department. I know the genre can do all of these amazing things that [the Marvel Cinematic Universe] is doing, but my feeling is, what else can we do with it? Can we make it surreal? Can we make it musical? Not as a gimmick, but all of these techniques are about putting you into the subjective experience of these characters."
Two years ago Hawley got heads turning when he said he was working on a DOCTOR DOOM script for Fox, which has since been absorbed by Disney, meaning the character (and his greatest adversaries, the Fantastic Four) could make their appearance in the MCU. He said they’re “still talking about making it,” and that what he finds interesting about characters like the X-Men is that they are “concerned with the true nature of human evil. It's not just some cosmic force bringing about the end of the world.” It’s through this lens Hawley believes these movies can dig into real issues that matter in the world.
There are different stories and characters who will bring about other themes. I wrote a script about Doctor Doom, an antihero story I really like, and we're still talking about making it. I'm trying to get out from under this movie I made and this last season of Legion, and Fargo is coming back up… but for better or worse, these are the stories we want to hear right now. I think you can bury your head in the sand and say, 'That's unfortunate for our culture because they're simplistic.' Some people say that. I don't look at it that way. I think they are morality tales on a larger scale, and it's better to be part of the conversation than pretend the conversation isn't happening."
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Sounds like Hawley has some pretty bold visions for what the MCU could be doing in the future, and perhaps that vision would be best used on bringing the X-Men into the fold. While past movies have dipped their toes into the socio-political themes from the comics, they've never really quite nailed that angle of what it means to truly be a mutant in the world. That kind of storytelling (mixed with more unique costumes) could be the key to reinventing them in this new space they're in, especially with a mind like Hawley in the development room.
The first episode of LEGION's final season aired on Monday with new episodes arriving every week.