This is going to be a bit of a recurring theme in this list, but for a hot minute there it looked like the X-Men movie franchise was dead in the water. Before Days Of Future Past came back and revitalised the series the films had taken a serious nosedive first with the Brett Ratner-directed The Last Stand, followed by the continuity-wrecking X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Hugh Jackman did his usual stand-up job in the starring role, it's just that everything surrounding him was absolutely bloody awful. Which was a real shame because, along with nearly killing off the whole X-Men series, it was also the final nail in the coffin for a potential Magneto solo film. Set to star Ian McKellen, using the age revitalising CGI that allowed him to appear years younger during the flashback scenes in The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Magneto would've covered some of the character's backstory not covered by the previous films. With David Goyer in the director's chair the film would've taken place between 1939 to 1955, tracing Magneto's journey from the Auschwitz death camps up until the moment he meets Charles Xavier, with a whole lotta Nazi killing in between. Elements were absorbed into X-Men First Class, McKellen might be a bit too old now, and there's little chance of this being resurrected. Shame.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
