10 Movies That Saved Their Respective Franchises

By the late 2000s, Marvel's mutants had been in a rut with films like X-Men: The Last Stand and Origins: Wolverine. The former wrote out numerous characters such as Cyclops while awkwardly combining two beloved comic book storylines. The latter, on the other hand, was a jumbled mess and featured Deadpool with his mouth infamously sewn shut.

It would take X-Men: First Class to bring the series back on track and restore the superhero team to their former glory.

The prequel focuses on younger versions of Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr before they truly became Professor X and Magneto, respectively. Though Xavier is our protagonist, Michael Fassbender steals the show as Magneto, with the film really serving as his origin story.

First Class was also lighter than the previous offerings, with the 1960s serving as a fun setting. Audiences got to see more banter and humor between the X-Men, while director Matthew Vaughn increased the action compared to the more sombre original trilogy.

Though not as financially successful as its predecessors, First Class' reception brought a lot of goodwill back to the X-Men. Its success led to the series continuing for a few more years, beginning with the smash hit, Days of Future Past.