10 Greatest Opening Scenes In Comic Book Movie History

6. Young Magneto - X-Men: First Class

The most compelling enigma in the X-Men franchise is the past of Magneto, and how he went from a concentration camp in Poland to become one of the world's most feared mutants. X-Men: First Class begins by offering a window into this question (expanding upon a similar scene from the start of the first X-Men film), with a young Erik Lehnsherr using his magnetic powers to bend a fence when he ends up separated from his mother. He is knocked out by a guard and brought to Dr. Schmidt (who later becomes Sebastian Shaw), who wants to see Erik show off more of his powers by moving a Nazi coin with his mind. Erik cannot do it, so Schmidt gives Erik added incentive by having his mother hauled in, and giving him until the count of three to move the coin. Erik again fails, and so Schmidt shoots his mother dead, causing Erik to completely lose it, levitating all the metal in the office and killing two guards. Schmidt likes what he sees, and this sets in motion all that is to follow: Shaw's stature as the antagonist, Magneto's powers being tied to his emotions, and the gory role that the coin has to play at the very end of the film.