The film delves into the story of how Claremont broke into comics and got the task at Marvel of reviving a title, X-Men, that had been left nearly for dead and on the verge of cancellation. He not only resurrected the book but made comics history with it, writing it for 16 years (1975-1991) and penning such classic stories as “Days of Future Past” and “The Dark Phoenix Saga.” He also created or co-created many new mutants during his run, including strong female characters like Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost, Mystique, and Jubilee, plus male personnel such as Gambit, Legion, Pyro, Sabretooth, and more. Den of Geek: This documentary is called Chris Claremont’s X-Men. It’s not called The Chris Claremont Story or Chris Claremont Unveiled or something like that. Were you more interested in exploring your work as a subject rather than just a telling of your life story? Chris Claremont: Oh, the most egocentric response is my life story’s not even…no one would have done that, I hope. The X-Men is a significant chapter. So, if people want to look at it, mazel tov. I suppose it comes down to what one means by meaning. There’s the meaning that, it was a tremendous and in some way a very long living for a good long time, and hopefully again. They were cool characters. It was an unparalleled opportunity to work with some of the finest artistic talents in the comic book industry of those days and, in my opinion, of any day. So the pluses are ridiculous and undeniable. Has the industry changed in such a way that it’s more difficult for somebody to stay like for 16 years or 17 years on a book like the way that you did? Aside from Charles Xavier being the mentor and Scott Summers showing up to run the shop, everything was brand new. And the way the industry is structured now, the way that Marvel or DC or Image are structured now, that’s unlikely to happen again. You don’t have that mainstream series that you can recreate in public before everyone’s eyes and come up with something completely new and different. So I don’t think that opportunity will come again. I just happened to have the ridiculous good fortune of being in the precisely great place at the precisely great time, and I got to run with it. As the franchise expanded onto the screen, which of the films or animated series do you think maybe came closest to the vision you had of the characters and stories? So far, I would say Days of Future Past is certainly the film I’ve enjoyed the most out of all of them so far. Legion (the TV series) is right up there with it. I can’t say anything about the ones that haven’t come out yet. There’s some good films, there’s some films that could be improved. So we keep trying until we get it right. That’s the nature of storytelling, whether it’s on paper or on film. On the other hand I’ve seen my characters portrayed by some of the finest actors in modern cinema, so I’m not going to argue with that. It’s generally agreed that the first X-Men movie was the one that kind of heralded the new era for these films. Are you glad to see that the Dark Phoenix story is getting a second chance on the screen? Yes. I know Simon Kinberg is working hard on it. I’ve seen the stills that been publicly released and they look really cool. I’m intrigued. But like everyone else I’ll find out what’s happening when it’s out in November. What are your thoughts on the merger of Disney and Fox and the X-Men universe potentially being folded into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and how do you think that’ll affect them going forward? I guess I think it’s cool. I mean, if for nothing else than the sheer economic rationale that once the X-Men are back in the Marvel pantheon, top bottom and sideways, ideally Marvel and Disney will promote and merchandise it. And since I’ve created more characters in the X-Men franchise and the Fantastic Four franchise than I care to think of or Marvel cares to count, that is not an inconsiderable amount of possibilities. So fingers crossed. We’ll see. But it’s like anything else, there are many pitfalls between point A and point Z. So hope for the best and expect the worst. When you look back, are there any stories that you feel were sort of left unfinished or that you would go back and change if you had a chance? It would be the same, I would suspect, if Len were coming back to write X-Men himself, or Stan, or Roy Thomas. Everybody has their own unique version of who the characters are and where they’re going and how they’re getting there and what should happen along the way. Every new writer has an equally different vision. What are you currently working on yourself? Chris Claremont’s X-Men is out now on VOD.
