Why are we making all of the X-men American?

Didn't really talk enough to establish his
Cajun-ness. Which was part of the problem.

It’s something that’s bugged me since X-men 1 and has continued with each of the sequels. “Why are we making all of the X-men American?” Sure, guys like Wolverine, Sabertooth, Magneto, and Nightcrawler all keep their nationalities but they are the only ones. The multinational X-men are reduced to one guy from Germany, one from Canada, and everybody else from the USA. Fighting a Pole, an evil Canuck, and a bunch of Americans. Where is the fun in that?

The question is, why? There are a number of reasons but I don’t think any of them are very good. The first one is by far the laziest, it’s cheaper. Granted, I am aware that a special effects heavy movie like X-men are pretty expensive to make, but come on. Would it be so hard to find one Aussie to play Pyro? I’m sure you could find more than a handful of Australian actors willing to play Pyro. And despite Toad’s grossness I’d be willing to bet you can one Brit willing to do it. Furthermore, learning an accent isn’t too difficult. A few training sessions and I’m sure most actors could develop a reasonable fake accent. Not so good it could trick someone from that region, but all I’m asking for is a so-so fake.

Could anyone relate to Toad ?
I seriously doubt it.

The second major idea I can think of is especially silly. The idea that making characters American makes them more relatable. If you think this is true, then I’m here to tell you that that is wrong. Colossus and Nightcrawler have been fan favorites for DECADES before the movies. Furthermore, even if this makes sense, you have to remember we live in a bigger, more connected world. People all over the world see these movies, and I bet they’d be more than happy to see their ethnic demographic represented in the movies.

The third and by far the dumbest reason I can think of is that they thought we wouldn’t care. They thought that having the character name was enough. Remember, there are members of the X-men fandom that were pissed because Hugh Jackman is too tall to be Wolverine. And to that I say, Catwoman. Remember that? Catwoman with Halley Berry? The one where she just had the iconic name but little else in common with the actual character. Yeah, that bombed, for a number of reasons, but the most annoying one being that she wasn’t Selina Kyle. The original Catwoman, for those who don’t recognize the name.

He didn't speak, but that is hardly an excuse.

You’re probably thinking that I’m just being too nitpicky about this whole thing. Let me stop you right there. One of the major things about the X-men is that it is a multinational thing. The X-men franchise has always been comparable to the gay rights movement, which includes the whole, “Anyone, anywhere, can be one,” aspect. An aspect that is fundamentally weakened when it just seems like people born in North America or German/Polish area have a chance of getting mutant powers.

Now you are probably wondering, how many characters they could possibly have altered in this manner? A lot. Here’s a short list. Pyro is Australian. Toad is English, a Cockney at that. Sebastian Shaw is English, though I will give them turning him into a Nazi since it did help to give Magneto someone specific to hate. Colossus is Russian. Storm is Egyptian. Banshee is Irish (Representin!). Moira MacTaggert is Scottish. Gambit is Cajun. Azazel is a freakin’ demon, more or less. And yet all of these guys lose their diversity and are just American in the movies. Granted, Halley Barry at times did seem to try to do an accent but she drops it as often as she had it. You’re probably wonder, why does it matter?

For one thing, it kind of weakens the whole argument of tolerance, and accepting everyone for who they are when your group consists of mostly Americans. Acceptance is kind of global issue, I don’t think I need to give you a few examples. It’s kind of obvious. On that note I’ll also mention that this trend shrinks the X-men from a worldwide sort of group down to something that American’s have to deal with. Apparently we're the only ones that have screwed with radiation enough to justify the human genome mutating. I mean, who else has even tried? Cough-Russians-cough. Achoo-Japan. Yawn-North Korea. Sorry, that was a weird string of bodily noises.

First they take away his Brogue
Then they didn't even put him in movie 2, oh the shame.

And finally, it is just boring. Removing cultural heritage from a character makes them more generic and more generic characters are boring. Pyro in X-men 2 and 3 bored me almost to tears since he was just a generic angry teen. Pyro of any of the TV series was at least interesting because he was not only a raging psychopath but an Aussie. He’s not someone you see all the time.

                In summation, I just don’t get it. The characters are good the way they are. Their ethnic background is what adds a level of complexity and uniqueness to the X-men stories. I can see very few benefits to the changes. The cheaper angle is the only one that has any real merit to it, and that one I still think is rather lazy. It’s an irritant for me, but I can see why some might not care. Just needed to vent. Next time, Graydon Creed, a villain with issue. 

 http://marvel.com/universe/Gambit

 http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120420211521/avengersalliance/images/f/fe/Toad_Marvel_XP.png

 http://marvel.wikia.com/Azazel_%28Earth-10005%29

 http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/iceman-shadowcat-pyro-vs-havok-banshee-beast-1559573/