X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class is a 2011 Superhero movie which tells the story of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr's first meeting and their class of Mutants. It is a prequel to X-Men, X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the fifth film to be released in the X-Men series.

Plot
At a German concentration camp in occupied Poland during 1944, young Erik Lensherr is separated from his parents by Nazi guards. The child's desperate mind remarkably bends a metal gate until a guard knocks Lensherr unconscious. German Scientist Dr. Schimdt (AKA, Sebastian Shaw), who has observed this through a window, calls Lensherr up to see him. Placing a metal coin on a desk, he orders Lensherr to use his magnetism power to move it. When Lensherr cannot, despite his best efforts, Shaw shoots and kills Lensher's mother in front of him. In his rage, Lensherr's out-of-control magnetic power kills the two guards and destroys two rooms, to Shaw's delight. Around this same time, in a Westchester County, New York, mansion, a young Charles Xavier meets a young, shape-shifting girl named Raven, disguised as his mother scrounging for food in the kitchen. Overjoyed to meet someone else "different" like him, he says she can come live with his family.

In Switzerland in the movie's present-day of 1962, Lensherr forces a banker to trace a bar of Nazi gold to Shaw's address in Argentina. In a tavern there patronized by former German soldiers, Lensherr kills three men as he learns that Shaw has a yacht in Florida. Meanwhile, in England, Oxford University graduate Xavier is publishing his thesis on mutation; his foster sister Raven, a waitress, lives with him. Simultaneously in Las Vegas, Nevada, CIA agent Moira MacTaggert and The Man in Black follows U.S. Army Colonel Hendry into what appears to be playboys club, but is really the Hellfire Club, where she sees a now-young Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost, and Azazel. After Shaw threatens Hendry, Azazel disappears with the officer; moments later he is in the War Room, advocating that U.S. install nuclear missiles in Turkey.

MacTaggart seeks Xavier’s advice on mutation, and takes Xavier and Raven to the CIA to convince the chief that Shaw is a threat. After convincing them that mutants exist they are to be taken to a covert facility, but first Xavier tracks down Shaw. In Florida aboard his Yacht, shaw kills hendly after displaying his energy absorbing mutant power. Lensherr attacks Shaw, and when Shaw escapes in his submarine Lensherr tries to stop him, but Xavier stops him so that he does not drown. Lensherr joins Xavier and Raven at the CIA facility, where they meet Hank McCoy, another mutant that Xavier accidentally outs. McCoy and Xavier use a prototype Cerebro to locate mutants and recruit several of them to train to stop Shaw.

Shaw plans to meet with a Russian general, but sends Frost instead, who is then captured by Xavier and Lensherr. The facility is attacked by Azazel, Riptide and Shaw, with all the guards being killed. Shaw offers the young mutants a chance to join. Shaw is succesful in recruiting Angel but then the others attack him. Shaw then kills Darwin with Havoc's energy. When Lensherr and Xavier return they begin to train the mutants, though Raven is conflicted about hiding her natural form. Hank, in the meantime, has been working on a cure that would supress some of his mutation, but it backfires and makes him blue and furry.

President Kennedy institutes a blockade around Cuba to prevent the soviet union from shipping Nuclear warheads. Shaw travels with the Russian fleet to ensure that the missiles get to Cuba. Xavier, MacTaggart, Lensherr and the rest of the team fly to the blockade to stop the fleets from engaging. Shaw uses a nuclear core to charge himself up and a helmet to block Xavier’s telepathy. While Azazel kills the crew of the Russian missile ship, Xavier uses his powers to make a Russian ship destroy the missile ship before it crosses the line. Lensherr pulls Shaw’s submarine from the water, but an attack forces the jet and submarine to crash. Lensherr finds Shaw and removes his helmet and Xavier takes control of Shaw. Lensherr puts on the helmet, then kills him by forcing the coin that Shaw taunted him with through his brain slowly killing him. The two fleets fire their missiles at the mutants, but Lensherr, now fully in control of his abilities, holds the missiles in the air, then turns them on the fleet. In the ensuing fight Xavier manages to distract Lensherr, but when MacTaggart fires at Lensherr he deflects the bullets, with one hitting Xavier's spine and paralyzing him. Lensherr takes Raven, Riptide, Angel and Azazel and leaves. Xavier and the mutants return to the mansion, where he will open a school. He wipes MacTaggart’s memory, and Lensherr breaks Frost out of the CIA headquarters, and in his new uniform he tells Frost to call him Magneto.

Cast

 * James McAvoy as Charles Xavier/Professor X
 * Laurence Belcher as young Charles Xavier
 * Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto
 * Bill Milner as young Erik Lehnsherr
 * Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw
 * January Jones as Emma Frost
 * Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert
 * Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy/Beast
 * Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkholme/Mystique
 * Morgan Lily as young Raven Darkholme
 * Rebecca Romijn as adult Raven Darkholme (cameo)
 * Caleb Landry Jones as Sean Cassidy/Banshee
 * Lucas Till as Alex Summers/Havok
 * Edi Gathegi as Armando Muñoz/Darwin
 * Jason Flemyng as Azazel
 * Oliver Platt as "The Man in Black"
 * Zoë Kravitz as Angel Salvadore
 * Álex González as Janos Quested/Riptide
 * Ray Wise as the Secretary of State of the United States
 * John F. Kennedy (himself, archive footage)
 * Nikita Khrushchev (himself, archive footage)
 * Hugh Jackman as Logan (cameo)
 * Beth Goddard as Mrs. Xavier
 * Éva Magyar as Edie Eisenhardt
 * Annabelle Wallis as Amy
 * Glenn Morshower as Col. Hendry
 * Matt Craven as CIA Director McCone
 * Rade Sherbedgia as Russian General
 * Michael Ironside as a U.S. Navy Captain
 * James Remar as a U.S. General
 * Don Creech as William Stryker, Sr.
 * Brendan Fehr as Communications Officer
 * Aleksander Krupa as a Russian Navy Captain

Crew
The first draft of the screenplay was written by Josh Schwartz, who was also asked to direct the movie but refused. Schwartz' writing credits include Gossip Girl and The O.C.. The final script was worked on by Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, and Matthew Vaughn. X-Men and X2: X-Men United Director Bryan Singer was signed to direct "X-Men: First Class" in December 2009, but he was only able to produce the film due to an engagement to direct "Jack The Giant Killer". The film was then helmed by Layer Cake and Kick Ass director Matthew Vaughn, who ushered it through production to a June 3, 2011 theatrical release.

Taglines

 * Before he was Professor X, he was Charles. Before he was Magneto, he was Erik. Before they were enemies, they were allies.
 * Witness the origin.
 * The story begins.
 * Witness the beginning.
 * Their powers would make them different. But destiny would make them allies.

Production
The film was shot in Jekyll Island, Georgia, The UK and Russia.

Continuity and References to Earth-10005

 * Scene of the camps is the same as X-Men.
 * Logan, played by Hugh Jackman, has a cameo.
 * Rebecca Romijn appears as an alternate appearance for Raven.
 * Magneto's tattoo is the same number (214782) as in X-Men: The Last Stand
 * There are possible cameos from both Storm and Cyclops.

Dialogues
-Beast: "Should we have to hide?"
 * Beast and Mystique

-Mystique: "We shouldn't have to"

-Mystique to Nightcrawler in X2: "Because we shouldn't have to"

-Magneto to Shaw in First Class: "You're right. We are the future" -Magneto to Charles in X1: "We are the future, Charles. Not them. They no longer matter"
 * Magneto to Shaw


 * As Charles is testing out cerebro and Hank talks him into shaving his head but Charles replies "no touching of the hair". And at the end when Charles jokes that next thing is he'll go bald.


 * "Want to press your luck, Charles? I don't think I can stop them all." - This quote from X1 suddenly becomes tragic with the knowledge of how Xavier is paralyzed.

Continuity Errors

 * Emma Frost is in the movie, while a similar character was also in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which is set in the end of the 1970s. In X-Men Origins: Wolverine she is only a teenager. Though the Emma in X-Men Origins: Wolverine is never referred to as Emma Frost in the film and does not show any telepathic ability, she is also the sister of Kayla Silverfox, so it can be assumed she is an original character based loosely on Emma Frost and thus they are different characters. There was promotional footage that stated the character was indeed Emma Frost, however, this footge was never released and therefore as of the X-Men: First Class's release, is not considered canonical.
 * X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men: The Last Stand show Charles Xavier being able to walk in the 70s and 80s, but First Class shows that he lost his ability to walk in the 60s. It’s possible he found a way to walk again in the 70s and 80s and lost it again before the first X-Men film but this is unlikely. It might be possible he created an illusion of himself (with the ability to walk) to meet and guide Scott while he was elsewhere, much like Emma Frost did in the bedroom. Charles is also shown to be bald in these flashbacks, whilst in X-Men: First Class he is shown with a full head of hair whilst being crippled.
 * The X-Mansion is not the same as the Mansion in the first three movies but the producers stated it is meant to represent the same location.
 * In X-Men Charles tells Logan that he met Erik when he was 17 years old. In the movie they met when they were in their late 20's.
 * In X2 "Mr. Shaw" is seen debating with Dr. Henry McCoy about the mutant phenomenon. X2 is set in the 2000s, while this movie is set in the 1960s. In the movie McCoy is already transformed, while he is a 'normal person' in X2. This could be explained by an image inducer or a reverse mutation, something that has been done numerous times in the comics. Also Sebastian Shaw died in this film but appears in a very brief cameo in X2. However, it can be retconned as the man on the TV could have been a descendant of Shaw as his first name was not seen or it could be a different character all together.
 * Beast has a different appearance in this film compared to X-Men: The Last Stand. He has blue eyes in X-Men: The Last Stand, while in X-Men: First Class he has yellow eyes and a less human countenance in furry form than Grammer's version. However, given Beast's cameo as a 'normal person' in X2, it is possible he found a way to reverse his mutation, before changing back before X-Men: First Class, with a slightly different appearance.
 * In X-Men, Xavier says he worked with Magneto to build Cerebro, and Magneto recounts the same in X2, while in First Class Hank McCoy builds the first one. It can be easily assumed that Xavier and Magneto constructed the second Cerebro inside Xavier's mansion.
 * Charles and Erik have not yet visited Jean Grey, while they did in X-Men: The Last Stand. In The Last Stand it is revealed that they visited her in about 1974, while X-Men: First Class is set in the 1960s. However, Erik and Charles split at the end of the film so unless they call a truce or become allies once again, which according to Michael Fassbender is very possible, this cancels out The Last Stand's flashback.
 * In X-Men: The Last Stand, Moira MacTaggert is portrayed as being a Scottish doctor, while in First Class she is an American CIA agent, operating in the 60s.
 * In X-Men, Xavier states that Cyclops, Jean and Storm were among his first students. In First Class, Havok, Beast, Banshee and Mystique are the first students taught by Xavier. However he could only be referring to the former three because they are the only three of his early students that are still a part of his school.

Reception
The film's trailers, poster, and other advertisment were recevied negativley by critics and fans alike. The film itself recived critical accliam. The film recived praise for the acting, writing, music, characters, and deemed a "saving grace" to the franchise. The film recived critcism for its length, rushed action scenes, and the performance by January Jones. Female critics bashed January Jones for her lack of personality, overly sexual attitude, costumes, and her excessiveness of showing cleavage. Jennifer Lawrence's nude scenes as Mystique were deemed "inappropiate" as well. The film was a box office success and grossed $353,624,124 worldwide. The film grossed more than the first film, but grossed less than Origins, X2, and The Last Stand.

Gallery

 * For images and videos from the film, see X-Men: First Class/Gallery.

Trailers

 * For more trailers, clips, interviews, and featurettes, see X-Men: First Class/Gallery.