The Summer of Superheroes is in full swing, with Thor already making his mark on cinemas and Green Lantern and Captain America arriving soon. Before those movies try to get new film franchises started, though, the X-Men attempt to revive their movie fortunes when X-Men: First Class hits theatres this Friday. Don’t know Professor X from Malcolm X, or Wolverine from Wolf Blitzer? Here’s a guide to help you navigate the movie’s take on nearly 50 years of comic book history. Impress your friends with your knowledge of the venerable comic franchise and earn the respect of the obsessive comic book geeks in your life (we’re everywhere, you know).
The “first class” isn’t really the first class.
When the X-Men debuted in their own Marvel comic book back in 1963, they were, as seen in three feature films, a spinoff, and numerous cartoons, superhuman “mutants” born with abilities that set them apart from normal humanity. Gathered together by their mentor, Charles Xavier – the telepathic “Professor X” – that first team of teenagers were taught to defend a world that hates and fears them. That basic dynamic is adapted in First Class, with a young Xavier recruiting his team… a team much different than its comic counterpart.
The comic’s original lineup consisted of Cyclops, Jean Grey (“Marvel Girl”), Iceman, Beast, and Angel – all of whom have appeared in the modern-set movies in one form or another. The X-Men of First Class are culled from nearly 50 years of X-Men comics.
Know your superheroes.
The characters featured in First Class may not be the classic lineup from X-Men #1, but they’re all drawn from the literally hundreds of X-Men that have come and gone from the comic books over the years. Most of First Class’s heroes made their comic debuts years after, with the adaptable mutant Darwin (played by Edi Gathegi) first appearing as recently as 2006.
Aside from leader/teacher Professor X and militant adversary Magneto, only two main mutants have links back to the original team. The movie’s winged “Angel” is not 1963’s blonde-haired, blue-eyed rich kid, but black teenage girl Angel Salvadore, introduced in 2001. The only “first” first classman to make the cut? That would be scientist/acrobat Beast, seen in his blue-furred glory in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, played by Kelsey Grammer. He appears here as a teen before an experiment gives him blue fur – at least for a little while.
It’s all history.
First Class is a prequel to the film series that began in 1999, this time detailing the adversarial relationship between a young, not-yet-wheelchair-bound Xavier (James McAvoy) and haunted concentration camp survivor Magneto (Michael Fassbender). Set in 1962, First Class uses a fictionalized account of the Cuban Missile Crisis as its central backdrop. This reflects the comics, which have always dealt with timely matters no matter what decade of publication. Magneto’s very first appearance had the “Mutant Master of Magnetism” launch an attack on Cape Canaveral prior to a rocket launch. In a later Cold War appearance, he sinks an entire Soviet submarine, referenced in the movie by Magneto’s assault on a fleet of warships. Just try not to think too hard about how some of First Class’s characters (Xavier, Emma Frost, Mystique, and others) match up chronologically with the later X-Men movies.
And it’s a family affair, too.
The comics are notorious for their complicated character relationships – be grateful the films have yet to bring in the alien and time travel elements from the comics – and there’s plenty of character links from the comics that make their way into First Class. Havok, able to unleash plasma bursts from his body, is the younger brother of the original comic’s Cyclops. This relationship is apparently flipped for the movies, since a 20-something Cyclops appears in 1999’s X-Men and its sequels.
Blue-skinned, yellow-eyed shapeshifter Mystique, played in famously very little clothing by Rebecca Romijn in the modern films, is actually the mother of a future X-Men: X2’s elfin blue teleporter, Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming). The father? That would be the demonic-looking Azazel, played in First Class by actor Jason Flemyng with a look and power set similar to his offspring’s. In a universe where characters tend to readily shift alliances, central movie villain Emma Frost, “The White Queen” ( January Jones of “Mad Men”) is currently a central character in the comics… as a hero, while First Class recruit Mystique is a hero or villain at her convenience.
Watch for cameos.
The X-Men tend to inspire rabid fans, and with such a deep and complex universe, there’s plenty of material to mine for cameos and Easter eggs. There’s no reference too obscure for the comic book faithful to latch onto; even a list of names on a computer screen in X2 caused some stir among the fan base. First Class’s period setting tends to preclude too many cameos from the more well-known characters, but there are plenty of ageless enemies and associates in the roster of X-Men characters that could conceivably make an appearance – one of whom is an amnesiac with metal claws named Wolverine.
X-Men: First Class hits theatres this Friday, June 3.
