The X-Men are not currently part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but if they were, the
only X-Man to survive the Snap would've spelled big trouble for Thanos.
Speaking with IGN's Up at Noon show, Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo revealed
the one member of the team they would have left standing, and they have some pretty solid
reasoning behind their choice.
The Russos' conversation with IGN involved a thought experiment in which the pair were
asked about several groups of people, some fictional and some not, and which members
would have survived what Marvel refers to as the "Decimation."
When it came to the X-Men, they didn't hesitate to assert that only one mutant would have
made it: Wolverine.
Upon being handed a picture of some popular X-Men, Joe Russo said:
"This is going to be interesting.
I'm going to do something very controversial."
To the surprise of the hosts and encouragement from his brother, Joe began striking team
members willy-nilly, taking the time to point out that even through Thanos wiped out half
of all life in the universe, it doesn't necessarily mean that every specific group of people would
have been halved.
"Hawkeye's entire family disappeared.
So any given group, you could lose almost everyone in that group."
Russo then presented his handiwork to gasps from the hosts.
He explained the thought process behind his choice:
"I'd love to see a--" "I don't want to give you the rest of these cards."
"--fiercely motivated Wolverine going up against Thanos."
It stands to reason that nothing would motivate the near-indestructible hero quite like the
only family he knows being wantonly wiped out by a genocidal intergalactic warlord.
It would have been quite a contest.
We know that Thanos' mighty sword is capable of damaging vibranium, given what it did to
Captain America's shield.
But we haven't seen Thanos go up against adamantium, the metal that makes up Wolverine's claws
and covers his skeleton, in the MCU yet, though it has happened in comics.
After that difficult choice, the Russos were then presented with a series of similar scenarios,
revealing in each instance which members of popular groups they would have chosen to dust.
For the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Joe Russo claimed to own a copy of the very first
issue of the comic, saying "I love these guys."
But that doesn't mean he would have spared them all.
The choice was so tough he deferred to Anthony, who benevolently spared them all.
Lest the hosts think him soft, though, Anthony deadpanned:
"Remember, you're talking to the guys who iced Spider-Man and Black Panther."
Next up was Scooby-Doo and the gang.
Fred, whom Joe called "kind of worthless," and Shaggy both bit the dust, presumably leaving
Scooby, Velma and Daphne with unstoppable thirsts for vengeance.
After that, the duo was handed a photo of the cast of Friends.
As the Russos mused about the slim likelihood of an entire group having the misfortune of
being totally wiped out, Anthony marked an X over every face.
At least Ross wouldn't have to pine over a dusted Rachel for five years.
After briefly misidentifying a Member of the Backstreet Boys as New Kids on the Block's
Donnie Wahlberg, the directing brothers decided to leave only one standing: Nick Carter.
They didn't seem to have any particular reason for this; Nick just got lucky.
It's all random, anyway.
"I offered a solution."
"Genocide."
"But random.
Dispassionate.
Fair to rich and poor alike."
Having earned the attention of Marvel Studios partly due to their excellent work on the
beloved series Arrested Development, deciding which Bluths to wipe out had to have been
a tough choice for the Russos to make.
Maeby, Buster, and Tobias all bite the dust, with Anthony explaining that Tobias had to
go because he thought it would be funny to hear the blue man's final words, with David
Cross doing "40 variations" on the line.
"Oh my God, we're having a fire!
Sale!
Oh the burning!
It burns me!"
For the cast of another comedy the brothers worked on, Community, Pierce Hawthorne got
dusted, with Anthony noting that he, quote, "could use the five years."
Joe then mused over what choices would be heartbreaking narratively before finally choosing
to spare everyone else.
Disney's deal to acquire Fox didn't go through soon enough for an epic throwdown between
Wolverine and Thanos to become a reality, but Logan will surely be a part of the MCU
at some point in the future.
If Thanos ever manages to return, viewers might get to see them go head-to-head, and
Wolverine has gotten the better of the Titan once or twice in the comics.
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