I’ll start off by saying it again, this post outlines some of the plot of the new X-Men film, not the ending though. So if you STILL want to read it, don’t moan that I’ve ruined some of the surprise.
Okay, so for those of you interested, Mathew Vaughn was speaking to EW and, well he had some verrrry interesting things to say. Some good, some…. maybe not so good, depending on the reader. First of all, the film (which he described as “X-Men meets Bond, with a little bit of Thirteen Days thrown in for good measure”) starts with young Charles and Erik as children in 1942, and works its way to 1962.
Heres an excerpt from the interview.
In the beginning of the film, no one knows that mutants exist, and all the mutants don’t know that each other exist. They’re all in hiding. Kevin Bacon plays a very megalomaniac mutant [Sebastian Shaw] who decides that he can take over the world and that mutants are the future. Erik and Charles then meet each other and hook up with the CIA to try and prevent World War III. You find out everything about what went on between Erik and Charles.
He goes on to descibe the characters of Charles and Erik, saying “For me, Magneto is the good guy in the film, but he’s a sort of a good bad guy. He literally kicks off the movie, and Xavier goes along on the ride trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and trying to persuade Erik that you don’t have to kill everyone.” I like the sound of that! You can see where the unmade Magneto Origins film influences this one. As I said yesterday (and got roasted by some of you lot for, haha), I haven’t exactly loved the X-Men series of films, but I’m getting pretty excited for this, ‘specially since Vaughns directing.
Finally, heres that lil bit I said was perhaps not so good, take this however you want.
And, please, one more story tease?
It’s got a lot of teenage angst. The Twilight girls will like it.
Any thoughts on all of this?
The only thing that can really save First Class is if there is some sort of alternate reality/time travel thrown into the mix: a la Star Trek. This fact this is FIRST CLASS and NOT featuring EVEN 1/2 of those X-men who actually made up the first class is a little disconcerting… I’m hoping Singer/Schwartz/Vaughn, whoever, have come up with some nifty trick to explain the otherwise MASSIVE timeline anomalies.
If we get an alternate reality setting, I’ll be VERY happy, because then we can forget X3 (Scott dying? HELLO?!) and brace ourselves for a 2nd, 3rd, 4th class. Young Cyclops? Young Jean? Young Storm? YES PLEASE
I also think this is the only way they can get around all of the timeline issues from the original X-men franchise (Angel is meant to be an ORIGINAL X-man, he gets a bit part in Last Stand?! Not good enough, Marvel!) By finding a loophole in First Class, they could right some wrongs… And make some great movies.
Here’s Hoping!
The ‘kids’ bit could be troublesome, but I think a possible answer is seen at the end f Last Stand. Having (temporaily?) lost his power, Erik seems to have “aged” a little, becoming near frail (that’s how I interpted it) and we know other mutants age slow. So isn’t it possible that :as kids” could mean something like that?
Just a theory.
(indeed, in the first X-Men, boh characters would be pushing 80!)
Im hoping that when they say “as kids” they mean after Erik gets out of the concentration camps and the war is over. We saw a very young Erik being separated from his family in the beginning of the first film.
This is not supposed to be a reboot, so I hope it at least lines up with that.
Rodney it might be before the camps. If it’s 1942, they may have met before Erik and his family were taken. Then they may meet up again sometime later after Erik’s experience in the camps. If I’m correct, the Germans”Final Solution” didn’t really get started until sometime in 1942. I’m with you though, they really need to put this aspect of Erik’s history in there because it is integral to his ideology and character.
I thought in the comics Xavier and Erik didn’t meet until after the end of WW2 when they were helping with counseling survivors of the war.
I don’t much about X-Men outside the animated TV series and films, but it sounds good to me.
Sure Sebastian Shaw could be the villain of the movie. But it leaves question to the role of Azazel in the movie.
I’m an x-men fan, no matter how bad the film is, I’m going to pay to see it, I just hope they dont try to jam any major story arks into one film, Thats one of the many things that distroyed X3 (pheonix saga without scott…:() this looks like it could be cool I’ll just have to wait and see.
Ian did you mean 1942 as the year they were kids? Sounds interesting if done correctly. This one is kind of touch and go for me. But I’m hoping for the best.
Thanks Knossis, I’ll go fix that now bud :)