Two weeks ago the first official look at the cast of X-Men: First Class hit the net in what can only be described as a messy concoction of negative reactions, even from the director of the film, who did not approve of the amateur photoshop work.
Matthew Vaughn did his best to spin something positive out of the situation, by talking about the film’s story, characters and costumes, while releasing some better images (actual stills) from the film. While Vaughn made a good effort to paint the film in a better light, inevitably our best measure of this film is going to come from the official X-Men: First Classtrailer.
While they started off the marketing on the wrong foot, and while the film is being rushed to make its critical Summer release date, the fifth installment in Twentieth Century Fox’s X-Men franchise looks to rectify the mistakes of the previous two films (X-Men 3and Wolverine) and re-launch the series in a new (and hopefully better) direction.
Watch and enjoy the X-Men: First Class trailer to see if they’re in fact heading in the right direction:
Surprisingly, the video is actually not too different from the leaked X-Men: First Classtrailer description from a month ago, which is a good thing, as what was described sounded pretty amazing. Now we know that it looks amazing as well, but how telling is it of the final product? I remember getting excited about the trailers for X-Men: The Last Standand X-Men Origins: Wolverine, only to be let down twice.
Here are key screen grabs from the trailer for a better look at the characters of X-Men: First Class:
X-Men: First Classtrailer description
Of the four major Marvel and DC superhero movies debuting this summer, two have already unveiled trailers and two have yet to. While we eagerly await our first real looks at Captain America: The First Avenger and X-Men: First Class, we at least have what may be a detailed play-by-play of what the trailer for the latter will present to fans.The X-Men: First Class trailer has been expected to debut early this year for quite some time and recent rumors had it possibly playing attached to screenings of The Green Hornetthis weekend. While we know that is not the case, we do know early unfinished versions of the X-Men: First Class trailer have been screened to a select few.
Ain’t It Cool News confirmed from talking to director Matthew Vaughn that a few versions of the trailer have been shown, but that they have not finished selecting what will be shown in the official trailer. Daily Blam however, put up a post earlier this week claiming to have what may be a detailed description of how one of the test trailers plays out, including details on key characters and their powers. Here’s what they had to say:
We see young Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) & Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) first meeting, them meeting Dr. Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult), interspersed with scenes of Erik angry and using his powers on objects and against people, with words of “One wanted peace” and “The other was too far gone” flashing on the screen.
We see shots of Azazel (Jason Flemyng), Nightcrawler’s red-skinned father, taking out multiple people with swords and later, Havok (Lucas Till) firing red energy beams from his chest.
In between those shots, we also see the Hellfire Club, with Emma Frost (January Jones) standing beside Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) and “Man in Black” (Oliver Platt).
Emma’s costume is described as being the same from her animated incarnation inWolverine and the X-Men, while Shaw & are “black aristocratic clothes.”
We see Hank McCoy in blue fur as the real Beast, flying the crashing Black Bird (from set photos earlier seen here) while incoming missiles head towards the island.
The final shot shows Erik putting on his Magneto costume, a black and red suit, followed by a black helmet.
No shots of Jennifer Lawrence’s shape-shifting mutant, Mystique, Edi Gathegi’s Darwin or Caleb Landry Jones’ Banshee but it’s best that they don’t reveal all in the first teaser.
Now, compare this rumored trailer description to the X-Men: First Class synopsis we reported earlier. The footage sounds bad-ass, but then again, many thought the trailers forX-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine were good. Those movies didn’t match up.
With Matthew Vaughn directing and Bryan Singer back involved, we can put much more faith that they will deliver a much higher quality comic book movie than the last to franchise installments.
The real X-Men: First Class trailer will arrive in the very near future and it’s possible that we’ll see a trailer during the Super Bowl in February. Then we’ll know if what’s described above is accurate.
X-Men: First Class: “Charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead at first the closest of friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop Armageddon. In the process, a grave rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.”
Xavier and Lensherr are teaming up against Armageddon, with a capital “A,” possibly referencing the actual Marvel character and not the word representing the end of the world (it is capitalized in the bible however). For those unfamiliar with the character, Armageddon (pictured below) was created by Apocalypse, arguably the most dangerous of X-Men villains. In the comics, Apocalypse used his own DNA as well as Jean Grey’s to create Armageddon in another reality. The film is seemingly deviating quite a bit from the comics and Bryan Singer stated that Jean and Cyclops are not in the film so that connection likely won’t be made.
The more interesting connection however, is that of Apocalypse, a character many diehard X-Men fans desired to be featured/introduced in X-Men 3 or X-Men 4 had it come to be. He could be used as a background villain if First Class is able to launch a franchise/trilogy of its own.
As for the other reality from the comics being used in the film, it may be a stretch but director Matthew Vaughn did hint at the possibilities of either time travel or alternate dimensions back when doing press for the Kick-Ass home video release. When discussed whether First Class is a reboot or still in continuity, he described Singer’s script as “clever” and referenced time, while comparing the film to what J.J. Abrams did with Star Trek(creating another dimension/continuity through time travel).
The other (and more likely) possibility is that Armageddon is referring to “Project Armageddon,” the Sentinel program (mutant hunting robots) supported by Sebastian Shaw’s Hellfire Club boss, Edward Buckman and hinted at in the intro to X-Men 3. Buckman, the White King of the Hellfire Club, had partnered with a man named Stephen Lang, a mutant-hating government-employed engineer who manufactured the Sentinels. Perhaps this is where actor Ray Wise’s Secretary of State character comes in?
Tying this all into the characters we know will appear in X-Men: First Class, in the comics Shaw uses Emma Frost to make Buckman kill the council and them Buckman himself so Shaw can become the leader. For years, Shaw supported the Sentinels as a way to have more power, despite being a mutant himself.
At this point it’s simply more food for thought and speculation. We should be getting images soon for the film, hopefully providing a look at the costumes of the movie.
