I’m a huge X-Men fan. I grew up on animated TV shows, then I started reading comics, then I watched movies, etc. Being a huge X-Men fan means I have particular favorite characters like Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Iceman and Shadowcat. When I found out that the next X-Men movie wouldn’t have any of these characters because it’s technically a ‘prequel’, even though it feels more like a reboot, like many X-Men fans around the world, I was pretty upset.
There are so many great characters that the X-Men movie franchise has stomped on or completely ignored, and now we’ll have to settle for second-rate characters like Banshee and Darwin. (Really, Darwin?) I’m not going to boycott the movie or anything because I’m still very excited about it, but to have faith in 20th Century Fox again, they’re going to need to use X-Men: First Class. franchise wisely, and here are three things they must do:
1) Repair broken continuity:
Like many big movie franchises that spawn at least three movies or more, there are often mistakes in the movie continuity. The X-Men franchise is no exception to that. The idea of ​​filmmakers pretending things aren’t happy so they don’t have to correct their own mistakes infuriates me. It’s lazy, cheap, and insulting to the audience. This is why I hate the Star Wars prequels so much. The X-Men movies have so many mistakes in continuity like, for example, how the short hair and saber-toothed trench coat seen in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Liev Schreiber) turns into the animal fighter he becomes. sees in the movie X-Men (Tyler Mane). Or better yet why Saberoth and Wolverine don’t recognize each other even though they’re supposedly brothers. How about how Hank McCoy looks in X-Men 2 in human form even though he’s shown fully mutated in First Class? I hope Bryan Singer and company realize how inconsistent their franchise is and at least try to fill in the gaps.
2) Make it gritty:
Fox put a hole in his own foot by making Wolverine’s adamantium origin not dark enough. Too afraid to push the limits of a 12a rating, Wolverine packed himself full of metal and was ready in a matter of minutes. Wolverine’s operation should have been as hinted at during flashbacks in the first two movies. Now they get a second chance at Magneto and hopefully we’ll finally see a character with a truly horrific origin (since it’s based on the Holocaust) to make the characters more believable. Hopefully, the same should have been done with Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and what motivates her to join Magneto?
3) Dedicate the third movie to Cyclops, Jean and Storm:
One of the big flaws with the previous trilogy was that iconic X-Men like Cyclops and Storm didn’t get enough character development. This was because the movies focus heavily on Wolverine throughout the trilogy. Now that he’s off on solo adventures (or development hell), we finally get a chance to see more of the original X-Men. Not anytime soon, unfortunately, but the X-Men: First Class franchise would do a lot of good if it gave some of the iconic cast members the movie they deserve in at least the third act. I spent the first two movies going through the breakup of friendship between Professor X and Magneto, then when part three comes along we’ll be ready for some fresh blood.
Hopefully X-Men: First Class will be a sign of redemption for Fox and the X-Men franchise. Maybe we’ll finally get a mutant movie to rival the magnificence of X-Men 2.
Or we could invent another Origins.