1. The Roster
Come on! Who can really argue that a Havok (who isn’t even Cyclops’s brother), an Angel Salvadore (who really shouldn’t exist in this timeline), a Mystique (who had a far from bad ass beginning than had been promised to us in the original trilogy) and an Emma Frost (who was more like a bond girl than the White Queen we all know and love from today’s comics) are a better group of characters than Jean Grey, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, Angel, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Storm and Wolverine?
Regardless of whether or not you thought what they did with the characters in First Class was better than in The Last Stand, we can at least agree over which film had the better X Men, can’t we?
Also, in a weird twist of fate, when First Class was first mentioned as a film, everyone assumed we would be seeing younger versions of Cyclops and Jean Grey (Prof X’s original students), but they didn’t even feature in the films. Professor X’s original team, the one he should have been recruiting in the First Class movie, actually all (ALL!!!) appear in The Last Stand. And despite Angel’s characterization in The Last Stand (disappointing to say the least) at least this film had the better Angel… right?
Hopefully we will get to see some of the better characters in X Men: Days of Future Past… but does anyone really want to see Havok as Cyclops’s dad… because I have an annoying feeling this will probably happen.
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27 Comments
Ballsy article Daniel.
I agree with your points.
The biggest issue I think with Last Stand was that it was so dissappointing compared to what it could have been.
Thank you. I am surprised that anyone agreed with me. I don’t think either films are that terrible to be honest but I completely agree with you. I think the reason why everyone remembers hating The Last Stand so much was that is was a lot worse than X Men and X2. However, First Class was the start of a film franchise (kind of) so had nothing directly to compare it to.
Well, the roster might be better in X-Men: TLS, but that’s because it had already been that way in the first two films. In fact, it would make much more sense for you to compare X-Men to X-Men: First Class, as they’re both starting points. You can’t really discuss casting for X-M:TLS, because it’s the same cast with minor additions. I like both Gammer and Page, but they were given next to nothing to do and were VERY shoehorned characters with no backstory whatsoever. But you shouldn’t use a two-person cast rule against an entire film’s: it turns out to be a weak argument. And I really enjoyed Lucas Till’s Havok. Being in another movie is a moot point.
The feet thing isn’t a plot hole. A plot hole is defined as an inconsistency within the flow of the script, and Beast wanting not to have mutant feet doesn’t interrupt or combat the story. At the end of FC, Mystique changes sides because she realizes Magneto was right all along. Quite frankly, if I were someone who lived my life thinking humans were good, and then found them all firing atomic missiles at me because I was a mutant, yeah. I’d be fairly pissed enough to change sides. That’s what makes her character so tragic. At the end of FC, it’s sort of like evil wins. It’s not the regular Hollywood ending.
The reasons there were so many character deaths in TLS is because, basically, the series ended and the writers assume “death” = “shock” which isn’t always the case. I felt cheated when Cyclops and X were killed. It didn’t progress the plot, it wasn’t done in a clever way, and the scenes weren’t particularly memorable. I don’t see movie deaths as a reason to like a movie over others, because I don’t go to the movies to see any characters die. I go to see awesome justice. There was justice in Magneto’s kill in FC, there was absolutely nothing to the deaths in TLS.
And I think FC’s success without Wolverine proves that the series doesn’t need Hugh Jackman as much as everyone suggests. He’s fine, but an X-Men movie with him as the glory hog is too anti-X-Men for me.
Decent article, i agree with your points but for some reason i still think first class was the etter film despite the points. Last stand had te better roster and casting and what not. The scne you mention when jennifer lawrence names all the xmen IS the worst scene ever thought up and i wished tey just bypassed it completely. Another point, magneto turning a dish round and lifting a submarine out the water isnt impressive once youve seen the big man lift the golden gate bridge up with his army of mutants on it and float it across the sea
Magneto lifting a bridge is more impressive than turning a dish which he is being taught to do for the first time… Especially because he has had so many decades to perfect his abilities…
I’d say that the expansion of the relationship between Professor X and Magneto was the best thing about First Class, and in fact was better than any character conflict in The Last Stand. I mean cosmetically, sure the “roster” is more “classic” and recognizable, but so what, they just shoved as many as they could into there. multiple man, angel, juggernaught, shaddowcat, moira mctaggert, the phoenix, phylocke… I mean the list goes on, and just because they filled the movie with recognizeable names does not make it a movie about those characters. both movies failed to give real emotional character arcs to the team, but the X/Magneto relationship introduced a very compelling tension, because you know how those “friends” end up… What did Last Stand have going for it? Wolverine didn’t want to kill Jean Grey but then does? rogue has to decide if she wants to get the cure and then does? cool! great movie. TL/DR: both movies suck.
You make some pretty interesting points, and while I’m still not convinced that last Stand is better than First Class, you do have me wanting to watch the two again in order to try and compare them.
Off the top though I’d like to say a few things.
The first is that Last Stand is an incredibly poorly written film. The new characters had no development whatsoever, aside from the absolutely terrible “flashback” that tried to set up Angel and his father. We had outstanding characters like Dr. Kavita Rao, Psylocke, Angel, Beast, Arclight, Juggernaut, Leech, Madrox, etc., reduced to shadows of their comic counterparts. On top of this, there are the characters that have been turned into abominations. Callisto was some cracked out amalgam of her comic namesake, Quicksilver, and Caliban, a combination that proved terrible. Then there was the so-called “Kid Omega,” who was actually Quill. Can you imagine how awesome a properly executed Quentin Quire would’ve been on film? Now, that isn’t to say First Class had stellar character development, but it was at least true to their comic counterparts.
As far as the rosters go, of course Last Stand had the better line-up, the writers were trying to cram as many characters into the flick as possible. And while the first series of films did flat out say that Xavier’s first class included the likes Cyclops, Jean, Storm, and Beast, and First Class had only one of those characters, that might not have been an accident. One thing that the X-films have not been afraid to showcase is that Xavier is a BASTARD. He put a block in Jean’s powers in LS, and at the end of FC he ERASED MOIRA’S MEMORY. What’s to say that in the upcoming DotFP, something terrible happens to his students, something ala Deadly Genesis, and THEY ALL DIE. This would open the gate for a massive mind wipe of any students that may survive (Beast plus new recruits Scott, Jean, and Storm perhaps?).
As for the deaths in the films, I’d say that yes, while Last Stand had the balls to off three main characters, and that yes, they did it in ways that were fairly memorable, they still felt inorganic, especially that of Cyclops. The deaths in First Class, while predictable and clichéd, felt real to the story. Shaw killing Darwin was a testament to his character. Shaw isn’t about the betterment of anyone but himself. He works to further his own agenda, and no one is standing in his way, least of all some kid. As for Shaw’s death, it was a payoff to Magneto’s arc. Magneto has finally exacted vengeance on the man who caused him so much pain all those years ago.
In both films, there are atrocious casting choices and there are great casting choices. In Last Stand, the entirety of the Omega Mutants gang was terrible, but Kelsey Grammer’s Beast was spot on. In First Class, January Jones and Zöe Kravitz were laughable, but James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Kevin Bacon were inspired choices for leads. Both films also had great actors cast in roles that went completely undeveloped. Last Stand had the incredible Ellen Page and Ben Foster, in roles that offered little more than glorified cameos. In First Class, nearly all of the students were little more than touched on, but they did great for what they were given. And don’t even get me started on the waste of characters that Azazel and Riptide were. Much like Sabertooth and Toad of the first X-Film’s Brotherhood, they were mere filler to this one’s Hellfire Club. That’s one thing all of these films have in common: the underdevelopment of their “bad” characters that aren’t the lead.
As for plot contrivances, all films have them. And these two are not short on them. Yes, almost entirely ignoring XMOW was probably a mistake on the part of First Class’s producers, but when that film sucked so bad, people were screaming for it to happen. So it did. Not only did First Class ignore it, but word is that The Wolverine is as well. Not to mention the cold reboot of the Deadpool character in his own film. First Class was just the first film to do what we all wanted to happen: forget that XMOW ever happened.
And speaking of Wolverine, or the lack of, thank God for that. The Wolverine from the first series of films was great, but Last Stand turned him into something he has never been: a leader. He felt out of place and awkward. Following this, they tried to make him the leader in a cartoon and in the comics, and those attempts didn’t quite work out either.
Basically, people can argue till they’re blue in the face over which X-Film is the best. Personally, First Class is my favorite, followed by 2,1,3, and I don’t even consider Origins. I know someone who calls Wolverine better than not only Last Stand, but also better than X1. All of the films have their strengths and weaknesses, some are just more glaringly obvious than the others. I’m looking at you, Wolverine.
First of all I’d like to thank you for not only reading the article, but responding with a reply almost as long as the article itself.
You make a lot of very good points and you expose a lot of the weaknesses that perhaps I overlooked about X-Men: The Last Stand. You also have a knowledge of the X Men which I’m not ashamed to admit is probably better than my own.
And I agree with you, Last Stand is poorly written and much too short to effectively give justice to a lot of the characters, and the end of that trilogies Phoenix Saga (which yes, was an embarrassment, however the comic is so loved that I doubt a film could ever live up to such high expectations, and I think DoFP will probably suffer from similar criticisms because of how many people, myself included, love that storyline).
However, even despite all of this, I can’t agree with you, and I still don’t like First Class all that much. I guess it’s probably because there is no one in that film that I cared all that much about, and TLS had the benefit of two really good films which could build up the characters and make me care for most of them by the time TLS came around.
I also think FC is probably the poorer written film, especially in terms of dialogue. However, I can agree that FS has some very good scenes and isn’t the worst comic book movie I’ve seen- far from it. Maybe I had too high expectations going into that film because I really liked the trailer and really wanted it to be much better. In case you were at all interested, personally my favorite X Men film is X2, then 1, 3, FC and then XMOW.
Well said and I totally agree…
I like First Class better than any of them, but you make A LOT of sense. There were something’s I wish they could have changed. And I hated the character Angel. Ugly!!
Umm.. Have I missed something of late or what?
I thought Singer made it clear, that First Class is in essence a reboot, and was not even intended to mix with the original trilogy?
At least that’s the conclusion I’ve always come to, and I think that’s what he said in an Empire interview.
So talking about continuity between First Class and the original trilogy seems kind of pointless to me, in that perspective.
Have you seen the film? Hugh Jackman and the original Mystique appear in it. Also, the sequel, Days of Future Past is rumored to link the original trilogy with First Class even more. I am almost certain you are wrong… but maybe you are right? Maybe they changed there minds? However if you are right, that just makes First Class that much worse.
I’m pretty sure you are wrong though.
Yes, I’ve seen all of the X-Men films.
Both the original Mystique and Wolverine are only cameos. Romjin is just a phase in Mystique shifting to her normal self. It doesn’t mean anything continuity-wise, just a throwback to the fans I suppose.
Wolverine as well, he’s a fan favourite but I think they didn’t want to only rely on his success, plus I think Jackman wasn’t available at the time either.
I’m just pretty sure it’s a reboot of the franchise, and even if Days of Future Past ties in with the original trilogy, it doesn’t mean that only one needs to be canon, if it’s a time travel/alternate universe-concept. That way they’re both just as canon as the other, just in different timelines/universes.
I thought First Class was (excuse the pun) class. It is not was a lot were expecting, but that just made it all the better, for me at least. The acting was pretty solid, in my opinion, and I especially liked Fassbender’s Magneto and McAvoy’s Xavier (which I had huge antipathies in advance, mind you).
But I’ll just wait and see what comes out of the sequel though..
I still enjoy both First Class and the originals, I never had a compelling need to compare them since I always considered them to be non-related, canon-wise.
Also, this is what Vaugh said:
My main goal was to make as good a film that could stand on its own two feet regardless of all the other films.” said Vaughn. “However I thought anything that worked in all the other movies, and I could have some fun with nodding towards, I would. But my main rule was, ‘You know what, we’re trying to reboot and start a whole new X-Men franchise’ and therefore, making a film work on its own two feet was far more important than trying to be referential to the prior movies.”
http://xmenfilms.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/matthew-vaughn-calls-x-men-first-class-a-mixture-of-prequel-and-reboot/
So I have been justified in judging the movie on its own merits, and not just in comparison to the other films.
Thanks for this.
It seems like Vaugh is a little confuse whether or not this film is technically a reboot or not. Because of the X Men cameos plus the constant nodding foward I still wouldn’t say his film is strictly a reboot. In a sense it is, but I still think it is supposed to be considered as a prequel to the earlier films. Plus, from what I’ve heard of DoFP it seems like they are really going in this direction. Maybe they won’t though? But I’d wish they’d have a more clear direction on what they actually want to do.
Dude, don’t be such a pussy. You’re writing as if you might be wrong..you’re not. Personally I hated the first two xmen films.. I thought they were intolerably boring! Ian mckellan is a great actor but way to old and frail to be magneto..also cyclops one of my favorite characters of all time and the only time I believed James marsden to be cyclops was in the 5 minutes he had in Last Stand.. Not BC he isn’t a talented actor but BC like you said he was grossly underused! First Class was so pathetic I was overjoyed I didn’t waste time or money seeing it in theaters. Fassbender and Mcavoy did really well but it just wasn’t enough. From the first Xmen movie this whole franchise has been ALL over the place and I’ve almost completely lost interest. What I will say is this Last Stand was by far the best and my fav BC out of all the crap fest versions it was the only one that actually felt like Xmen!
Oh and btw…January Jones makes me want to kill myself. She was absolutely awful in every way! But honestly ALL of the casting save Fassbender and McAvoy was absolutely pitiful and lazy
Ha thanks for this. And a lot of what you say I agree with.
I love Ian Mckellan and think he was an interesting choice but he was probably too old and frail to play the role perfectly.
Also, although I do prefer X1 and X2… to me, The Last Stand did feel more like the comic books than the other films, and for that reason I really really enjoyed it when I saw it in the cinema’s. Where as, when I saw X2 (my favourite X Men film now) I was a little unsure whether or not I liked it. It grew on me a lot though.
Thanks for this.
I’m not going to speculate on which movie is better (it’s basically asking whether you like turd burgers or turd sandwiches more), but First Class should have been a reboot. There was absolutely no need to continue a franchise that had two exceptionally flawed movies (Last Stand and Origins) and deviated so much from the comics.
Also, I could not agree more with the miscasting of Emma Frost. My pick? Tricia Helfer.
I saw this from imdb and instantly though, hell no, but having gone through, especially the point on casting and making mystique uncool ( even though I’m a big fan of Jennifer Lawrence) good article, I’m tempted to re watch last stand
Thank you. You may be the only person who agrees and likes this article (well, one of… and you obviously don’t fully agree).
But thanks any way… and regardless of the fact that I think Last Stand is mildly better, I don’t consider it to be a great film (not too bad though).
I really liked this article. I am a huge fan of the first two films personally, especially X2 which is probably my second favorite superhero film after The Dark Knight. Although I think Fassbender is awesome, I thought his character was underdeveloped. It had potential to be the most interesting, but he spent most of the film vacillating between wanting to join Xavier and waging war against humans. Likewise, Jennifer Lawrence is great, but I prefer the Mystique of the earlier films, who basically served as the mutant MVP in any action scene.
Mostly, I found First Class too campy, which I don’t always dislike in superhero films, but it felt unnecessary since the earlier films were complicated and ultimately more intelligent while simultaneously remaining loyal to the comic books. The first two films explored a lot of modern day issues. In all fairness, not one film since X2 has even tried to continue posing thought-provoking questions to the audience.
I really liked this article. I am a huge fan of the first two films personally, especially X2 which is probably my second favorite superhero film after The Dark Knight. Although I think Fassbender is awesome, I thought his character was underdeveloped. It had potential to be the most interesting, but he spent most of the film vacillating between wanting to join Xavier and waging war against humans. Likewise, Jennifer Lawrence is great, but I prefer the Mystique of the earlier films, who basically served as the mutant MVP in any action scene.
Mostly, I found First Class too campy, which I don’t always dislike in superhero films, but it felt unnecessary since the earlier films were complicated and ultimately more intelligent while simultaneously remaining loyal to the comic books. The first two films explored a lot of modern day issues. In all fairness, not one film since X2 has even tried to continue posing thought-provoking questions to the audience.
If the next film really does open up the possibility of two worlds and allows for both the existence of the original trilogy and First Class in separate continuum, I hope there’s an X-men 4, because all First Class effectively did for me was reinforce the strength of the original films, even the significantly weaker Last Stand.
Thanks for liking the article and your response. I agree with pretty much everything you said. I also have nothing against campy superhero films done well, but First Class seemed a bit rushed and badly put together. And I agree, neither TLS or FC posed any though provoking questions.
I really really really want to see an X-Men 4.
While I agree with most of your article, my own opinion of all of the X-Men movies thus far is much more scathing. I had held hopes that FC would be a worthy reboot to what was already (to me) a horribly broken series. To me, none of the films have given any of the true X-Men respect. The first three always felt like they were basically Wolverine movies with some X-Men along for the ride.
FC was no different in that it had some really great potential and some scenes that made me really want to like it but overall was so incredibly shallow and campy I just couldn’t get behind it. In a way it was like watching bits of several different movies at once and only one of them was any good.
Kevin Bacon as Shaw was like a sucker punch to the gut. January Jones couldn’t act her way out of a wet paper bag, and their henchmen were barely one dimensional. I want to like Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique but she mostly comes off as childish (and whoever decided Mystique has to have that hair should be taken out and executed). Of the rest, Darwin turned out to be the most interesting and well played in my opinion (and I never liked Darwin in the comics) so of course he dies quick.
The entire movie really just came off to me as a Magneto origin story. He takes both the first and last scenes, he has the last word in every argument with Xavier, and he is the one to defeat the main villain, Shaw (which had me torn because why in the world would you kill such a great villain, but then how could you not want to kill such a horrible portrayal of such a great villain?).
Then you have the entire (supposed) premise of the movie that has an immortal, jet-setting, ex-nazi, Shaw, running around in a submarine (when he’s not hanging out in Vegas strip clubs or sailing his yacht) pulling strings to start WWIII to destroy all humans (and all of the infrastructure that fuels his extravagant lifestyle) and (allegedly) make mutants stronger complete with a peak at the dystopian future to drive home the point that he is evil. Honestly, Shaw isn’t really even Shaw here. The idea of mutants dominating humans was always Magneto’s dream in the comics. So now we’re supposed to buy that Magneto (for no apparent reason as his whole goal throughout the movie has been to get Shaw) suddenly has some kind of Stockholm syndrome where he sympathizes with Shaw even as he hates him and takes up his cause after he kills him. And the entire movie, rushed scenes, poor character development, and bad acting, was all just a vehicle to bring Magneto from tortured boy to arch-villain.
So while X3 had some terrible character development, some cringeworthy moments (I’m Juggernaut, bitch? really?), and generally just didn’t have much respect for X-Men who’s names weren’t Wolverine (and even that’s debatable as Jackman to me has always come off as too emotional to be a good Wolverine for me), at the very least the story was credible if not very good.
For the life of me I can’t see how FC gets such a passing grade.
Thanks for reading the post and for this essay long comment.
I have to say I don’t think I disagree with any of the points you made, however I do think X2 and to a lesser extent X Men 1 are good films… although I agree, they aren’t really all that similar to the comics and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine (though I like his performance) isn’t really the same character as in the comics.
Thanks again.
I can agree there. I actually somewhat like X1 and 2 in spite of myself. Seeing Wolvie being Wolvie (even if it’s just for the first ten or so minutes of X1) and then Nightcrawler well played, and glimpses of Colossus, and Shadowcat in X2 were small treats. I just don’t think they’ve done a very good job portraying the X-Men as a team. Looking at what Whedon did with the Avengers makes me a bit more wisftul. Honestly I wish they would just pick one of the various long term teams and tell their story. Instead they just seem to have gone with this ‘every mutant is an X-Man’ concept. Personally I’d be ecstatic if they’d just use Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Colossus, and Rogue but really any of the teams over the last 25 years would be preferable to this random selection they’re doing now.