Since it was announced, it's been hard not to have mixed feelings over X-Men: First Class. On the one hand, I was glad to see that the franchise would be getting a reboot after what were, in my opinion, three not that good movies. On the other, the fact that Bryan Singer would be involved along with a few other titbits of news and rumours, left something of a bad taste in my mouth despite the brilliant announcement of Matthew Vaughn as director. Despite that, it's still far too early to judge this movie as we still know very little about it. That is why I thought now would be the perfect time to do another of my "Top 10" lists in order to share with you guys the things that I most want to see in the upcoming movie!
10. Alice Eve/Emma Frost’s Cleavage Ok, so I admit that I got to 9 things and started to struggle. Maybe it's because I'm just not
that enthusiastic about this movie or everything below is enough to keep me happy. Either way, that's how I ended coming up with this. And to be fair, I think I would actually quite like to see this in the movie...A LOT! I really didn't like their choice for Emma in
X-Men Origins: Wolverine and I'm glad to see they've gone for the beautiful (and British) Alice Eve this time around. Regardless of whether or not you like this casting decision though, you've gotta admit she'd look pretty damned amazing in that costume! In fact, it would be worth the price of admission alone! It’s far from ideal that Emma is being introduced as the love interest of Charles and Erik as it once again messes with the comic book continuity. So, to help us get over them once again disregarding the source material, they can at least give us something nice to look at come 2011!
9. A Shared Marvel Studios Fox Universe I’ve come to accept that it’ll probably be a very, very long time until we see characters like the X-Men back in the hands of Marvel Studios. So, to make the best of a bad situation, I’d like Fox to start to combine the characters they hold the rights to into their own shared universe. I suppose the best example of how they could do this would be with the Fantastic Four. A reboot of the franchise (titled “Reborn”) has already been reported this year so a fresh start of both that series and now this one would be the ideal place to start! I’m not talking about anything too blatant at this point but perhaps a mention of the Baxter Building or the four’s powers which resemble those of mutants. I know that this all sounds like it should be under my “Easter Eggs” suggestion but I’ve given it it’s own place here simply because of the myriad of possibilities it opens up. I have a feeling that the title of the planned reboot could mean that the FF will also be teenagers to fit in with the direction of both
First Class and the Ultimate Universe. Far from what I want to see, but it makes sense. If anything though, that would make it even easier to combine the two franchises and I could probably just about stomach the fact we’d have a younger version of the FF if it meant seeing the characters together at some point! Of course, they could also do this with an older version of the team but either way it’d be awesome to see The Thing cameo in a future X-Men movie or Cyclops to pop up in the FF! Just imagine if Magneto and Doctor Doom were to team-up…
8. Easter Eggs I’d usually use this part of my list to share my thoughts on all the characters that I want to see introduced or mentioned in order to set them up for future movies. Well, if
X-Men Origins: Wolverine proved anything, it’s that too many cameos can end up ruining things and with a large amount of mutants already announced as being in this film, it’s probably best not to add any more to the mix! Instead, I think that they should use
X-Men: First Class to develop new storylines for any future instalments. I’m talking about stuff like “Days Of Future Past“, “Dark Phoenix” and “Age Of Apocalypse” There are literally dozens of hints that they could drop to at least plant some seeds for any of these potential classics to be adapted in future! Those are just a few of the better known ones off the top of my head, but there are also plenty of smaller scale stories they could use as well. And I know that I just mentioned cutting down on the cameos but they could still mention a mutant in Russia who can turn to steel (Colossus) or a Canadian superhero team of mutants (Alpha Flight) for example. My point is, drop a few hints that us comic book fans will easily pick up on and simultaneously leave the door open for new characters to be introduced at some point in future!
7. No Wolverine Hugh Jackman is a great Wolverine. Despite the flaws of the past X-Men movies, he's always delivered a great performance (even if he is too tall, lol!) and it's clear that it's a character he cares a lot about. Regardless, I don't think that I want to see him in
X-Men: First Class! it's bad enough that he was given too much if the spotlight in the past three, without stealing the show again here! No, a cameo wouldn't be the end of the world and if done properly they might even be able to find a good role for Logan but I'd still be happier if they just focused on the first class of mutants...precisely what this film is supposed to be about after all! he is too tall, lol!) and it's clear that it's a character he cares a lot about. Regardless, I don't think that I want to see him in
X-Men: First Class! it's bad enough that he was given too much if the spotlight in the past three, without stealing the show again here! No, a cameo wouldn't be the end of the world and if done properly they might even be able to find a good role for Logan but I'd still be happier if they just focused on the first class of mutants...precisely what this film is supposed to be about after all!
6. Cyclops As A Leader, Not A Whiner! I know that there are some of you who don’t really think much of Scott Summers as a character and I can understand that to an extent. I’d love to once again go off on one about how Bryan Singer focused too much on him and Wolverine fighting over Jean Grey rather than showing him to be the capable leader that he is but I cant completely fault him for focusing on that aspect of the character as he’s often been portrayed that way in the comic books! Since Grant Morrison killed off Jean a few years back, Cyclops has been able to lose that aspect of his personality. Don’t get me wrong, he’s always been a master strategist etc but I’ve enjoyed reading him a lot more since he hooked up with Emma Frost and stepped up to lead pretty much the entire mutant race! What I’m getting at here is that is how I think, and want, him to be in Vaughn’s upcoming movie. This is obviously a much younger Scott, and my whole point would probably be more relevant if this was to do with an adult version, but despite that it’s about time we see him step up and show us why he’s actually a pretty damn awesome comic book character who can rival the likes of Captain America when it comes to leadership!
5. Quicksilver And The Scarlet Witch I had mixed feelings about including these two on the list. And I think that it’s mainly due to my desire to see the duo in a future Avengers movie! The fact they’re mutants though makes that extremely unlikely due to Fox probably owning the rights to Wanda and Pietro Maximoff so I think that it’s about time they make a big screen appearance! At this point, we obviously don’t know whether Xavier and Magneto’s friendship will fall apart early on in the movie or at the end. If it’s the latter, then he’ll need a Brotherhood of Evil Mutants that I hope will be better than the groups we saw in the past three movies…and having two of his kids as a part of it will both add to the drama and be a great sight for us comic book fans! Their relationship could of course be handled in two ways. The classic 616 version or the slightly more bizarre Ultimate version where its heavily implied that they have an incestuous relationship. Either way, I think it could lead to some interesting scenes while their powers alone would surely look fantastic if adapted to live action. Just imagine Quicksilver fighting the X-Men at super speed or the Scarlet Witch using her reality altering powers - either way, it would make for a great visual treat!
4. Original Five Cyclops. Marvel Girl. Angel. Beast. Iceman. I know we’ve all had this discussion before and regardless of the events of the past three X-Men movies I still think it’s vitally important that they’re all there. I’m perfectly ok with changes being made to the source material in live action adaptations (because after all they’re sometimes necessary and often improve on some things) but as with
The Avengers, I think it’s an important nod to us fans and generally respectful to have the original founding members of the team there. The difference with that though is that despite how much I don’t like the thought of Hank and Jan not being there, it does make some sense that Marvel Studios’ want to wait until the
Ant-Man solo movie. In the case of
X-Men: First Class, the same rule doesn’t really apply. I’m perfectly ok with them being surrounded by mutants like those already announced (Havok, Banshee, Darwin etc) and if only two or three of the original five were there I guess it wouldn’t ruin the movie for me but for both the reasons above and as a fan of the comic books, it is something I’d really like to see on the big screen!
3. The Sentinels After three movies of seeing the X-Men fighting Magneto, it’s almost a relief to think that him and Professor X will be working together this time around! It’s not that I don’t want to see them fight Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants but both Bryan Singer and Brett Ratner didn’t exactly do a great job of delivering fight scenes as interesting or exciting as the comic books. Regardless, I’d rather see the X-Men take on a villain that’ll both challenge them more and will
really test them as a team. And the perfect choice for that? The Sentinels of course. Just imagine them fighting the mutant killing robots in the streets of New York or outside the mansion which is half destroyed during the battle. My point is, their involvement would lead to some truly epic fight scenes. Plus, if
X-Men: First Class is going to be the start of a new franchise (I’ve pretty much given up hope of ever seeing an
X-Men 4) then this would actually be the perfect villain, along with Bolivar Trask, that would drive Charles and Erik setting up their rivalry for a sequel!
2. Costumes Perhaps one of the biggest problems I had with Bryan Singer’s X-Men movies was the pathetic excuse for costumes that they had. It’s not that I necessarily dislike the idea of them not being in their colourful comic book outfits because in all honesty, a direct adaptation of some of them would look downright ridiculous in live action! It’s the fact that they were all so bland and had no individual characteristics that really pissed me off. I mean, Wolverine “borrowing” one of Cyclops spare costumes!? Unbelievable. If Singer was determined to put them all in those bland leather outfits, he could have at least given each of them an individual colour somewhere in there to at least give the characters some individuality. Regardless, I have a feeling that Matthew Vaughn is going to bring a whole different sort of tone to
X-Men: First Class so I actually think that a realistic, updated version of the classic costumes seen above would work well on the big screen. If not those, then at least something with some personality please! Something similar to the
Astonishing X-Men costumes would also work in my opinion!
1. Introduce Cable It’s about time we saw this character on the big screen! His slightly complicated and convoluted history might make it a little difficult to explain his origins in this movie but they wouldn’t necessarily have to right away. If they really are planning on making
X-Men: First Class a reboot in the style of J. J. Abrams
Star Trek then bringing Cable in to “change the timeline” would be the perfect plot device in order to do that. Yes, it’s not exactly necessary but if Kevin Bacon is going to play Mr. Sinister, or even if he’s not, Cable’s introduction would open up a pile of new storylines and if that would then lead to a solo movie or even…wait for it…a Deadpool/Cable movie, then I’m sure we can agree that would be awesome! Not only that, but with all the mutants that Matthew Vaughn is introducing, if Cable sticks around we could just end up with another spin-off in the form of either
New Mutants or
X-Force! The fact is, the introduction of this character would lead to a whole host of new opportunities and storylines for future X-Men movies!
So, there you have it! They’re pretty much all the things I’d like to see in
X-Men: First Class that would, along with a decent story and actors, keep me happy! If you’d like to vote for which of my ideas you like the most, I’ve included a poll below, but otherwise be sure to share your thoughts on mine as well as suggesting your own in the usual place! And as usual, thanks for reading!