X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

There has been so much news on the upcoming prequel, X-Men: First Class, that I decided to do a breakdown of who will be playing who and to share some thoughts on this franchise.






First we'll start with the movie itself. This movie doesn't really need to be made, period. There is WAYYYYYY to much material in the comics to have to go back and do a prequel with all these young actors. Halle Berry said she would be down for another, Anna Paquin (Rouge), Shawn Ashmore (Iceman), Aaron Stanford (Pyro), Ellen Page (Kitty Pryde) and Kelsey Grammer (Beast) all signed on for three more sequels, so there is half the cast. Then James Marsden (Cyclops), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Famke Jensen (Jean Grey) and Patrick Stewart (Professor X) would all be very easy to convince to come back. The only one in question would be Hugh Jackman and I bet he would come back, and if he didn't then you could put Gambit in there to replace him.

See the problem is that Fox has had the rights to anything X-Men related for so many years and they screw up just about anything they touch. The original X-Men: First Class was, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast and Angel. There is a problem right there because Iceman and Angel are teenagers when the first three take place. Which that if fine that they did it that way. People want to see the more popular characters and Iceman and Angel aren't as popular as Wolverine, Storm and Nightcrawler. But now they are trying to backtrack and it's just not a very good idea. These movies make money because of the fans and they need to try to do a better job at giving the fans what they want instead of pursuing their stupid ideas.






It would have been so easy to continue on with a fourth film, bring everyone back and start a new story. There are so many villains in the X-Men universe other than Magneto. Seeing Apocalypse, Sinister or Onslaught on screen would be awesome to us fanboys and you could still have magneto in the film. You could also bring in Cable and Bishop and play with the time traveling story lines from the 90's. There are endless possibilities with this universe, but were being given First Class so for right now this will have to do. This film may turn out to be awesome, but I haven't heard one fan be very enthusiastic about this prequel.

So who is in charge of bringing this to the big screen? The answer is Matthew Vaughn. I think he will be capable of pulling this off. He has done Layer Cake, Stardust and Kick-Ass. Out of the three, Stardust and Layer Cake is often refereed to as underrated and Kick-Ass was pretty darn good in my opinion. This will certainly be an important film that could really help his career if he nails this.

So who will be the new faces portraying our favorite superheroes?









James McAvoy: Charles Xavier

McAvoy is best known for his role in Wanted. I personally don't really see him as a Professor X, he is a little to young to be in charge of a bunch of other young characters. I think they should have went with someone older, but I'm also not in charge of casting. I think he will do ok for the part, but it will be a stretch.











Michael Fassbender: Magneto

Fassbender had small roles in both 300 and Inglourious Basterds but other than that, he hasn't been in anything very recognizable. I do think that this guy is on the rise and I actually like this casting choice.











Aaron Johnson: Cyclops

Johnson is best known for playing Kick-Ass. I like this casting and I hope he can ditch the geek persona and come off as a strong leader in this film. I think he looks a little too young for the role, but I don't think they are really caring about age with all these casting choices.












Alice Eve: Emma Frost

Eve was recently in She's Out of Your League. She is very beautiful and I think will be a perfect fit for the role of Frost. However, I really don't see Frost fitting into this film.











Nicholas Hoult: Beast

This guy has been in nothing. He was in Clash of the Titans, but I don't even know who he played. Beast was not a blue furry creature in the beginning, he was a big guy who was a genius scientist and had super strength. This is totally wrong casting for that description.











Caleb Jones: Banshee
I have no idea who this kid is. I never liked Banshee in the comics, so I really don't care that he is going to be in this film. I don't consider the ability to scream loud a cool power I want to see on screen.











Jennifer Lawrence: Mystique
Lawrence is another actress who is supposed to be an up and comer. She was on The Bill Engvall Show which aired on TBS, so I'm not convinced by that alone. But she was recently in a film called Winter's Bone, and apparently had a stellar performance in it. Luckily with Mystique not a lot of acting is required, just beauty.










Kevin Bacon: ??????
Kevin Bacon is the most interesting cast member I think. His role hasn't been released yet, but he will be playing a villain role. I would like to think he is playing Mr. Sinster. He has the look, and it would be a pretty cool villain to see, but I don't have faith in Fox to take a chance and do that, so he will probably be some lame character.

Now I would expect that there will be more casting updates to come. I would assume Jean Grey will be in the film as well as some more villains. But as I look at this cast, it just doesn't get me excited. I mean who really wants to watch a bunch of young people play X-Men characters. Hopefully Fox will get this film off their chest because they have been wanting to do it for some time, and they can get back to making real X-Men movies. I would love to see a dark X-Men film with Apocalypse or with Bishop and Cable. One nerd can hope.