5. Sabretooth And Mystique's Relationships
Filmmakers often encounter a host of problems when it comes to creating prequels to established works, one of which is that the fate of main characters is known before events even begin and there can therefore be little in the way of shocking and unpredictable plot developments. Prequels do allow characters to be developed into the ones that audiences are familiar with from earlier works, however, though the versions of Sabretooth and Mystique developed in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men: First Class respectively are considerably different from the versions seen in the original trilogy, with little to no explanation. In Origins, it is revealed that Sabretooth is the half-brother of Wolverine and that they have a relationship/rivalry spanning more than a century, yet in the original X-Men film (set a few decades after Origins), Sabretooth is merely a mindless minion who serves as muscle for Magneto and no mention is made of his connection to the films anti-hero. In X-Men: First Class, meanwhile, Mystique is shown as a childhood companion of Professor X. She eventually joins with Magneto, whom she continues to serve in the original trilogy, though no mention is ever made of her familiarity with the professor or the burgeoning relationship she once had with Hank McCoy. Two prequels. Two major characters. Two starkly different characterisations that dont make a lot of sense if every film is meant to take place in the same continuity.