10 Prequel Movies That Improved The Original

10. X-Men: First Class

Even though X-Men: First Class and the ensuing run of prequels stretched credibility to snapping point with regard to the mutants' ages, it did a fantastic job of exploring the dynamic between younger versions of Professor X and Magneto, played so wonderfully by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, respectively.

In addition to lending some much-needed context to their relationship, which in turn fleshes the characters out as we see them in the mainline X-Men films, First Class also brings considerably more dimension to Mystique, performed with aplomb by Jennifer Lawrence - a far cry from her tired work in the role in most of the sequels.

In addition to all this, Matthew Vaughn's prequel brings a meaningful historical flavour to the franchise, with a neat 1960s setting that cleverly invokes real-world history, making the Cuban Missile Crisis a pivotal part of the finale.

It ain't perfect, but for all of the pre-release hand-wringing about an X-Men prequel, Vaughn knocked it out of the park while retroactively making the original X-Men trilogy more poignant.