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.

Lauren Shuler Donner, producer of the first three X-Men movies as well as X-Men Origins: Wolverine, says "It is the first class of Xavier's school, way back when, so it's young Scott, young Jean, young Beast and that'll be really fun. I think (the plan) is to follow some of the characters into their own stories, and weave them back into the X-Men world. And hopefully First Class will become its own franchise and we can follow them as they grow up."

In a later interview she notes that she enjoys producing movies about kids and that it provides a lighter touch to the franchise.

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. Scientist 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, 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 MacTaggart follows U.S. Army Colonel Hendry into 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. 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 recruits Angel and kills Darwin. When Lensherr and Xavier return they begin to train the mutants, though Raven is conflicted about hiding her natural form.

President Kennedy institutes a blockade. Shaw travels with the Russian fleet to ensure that the missiles get to Cuba. Xavier, MacTaggart and Lensherr 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. 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
 * Andy Callaghan as a member of the Hellfire Club
 * Tony Rich as Thomas
 * John F. Kennedy (himself, archive footage)
 * Hugh Jackman as Logan (cameo)
 * Beth Goddard as Mrs. Xavier

Crew
The first draft of the screenplay is being written by Josh Schwartz, who was also asked to direct the movie but refused. Schwartz' writing credits include Gossip Girl and The O.C.. 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".

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

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.
 * Storm has a cameo in the movie, but she is a teenager. This movie is set in the 1960s, while X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where Storm is a little girl, is set in the 1970s. However Storm was only seen in trailers for X-Men Origins: Wolverine not the final cut of the film.
 * 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.
 * The X-Mansion is not the same as the Mansion in the first three movies.
 * Storm and Cyclops appear as children when Charles uses Cerebro for the first time, in 1962. Both mutants are children, which would place their adult selves in the first film at older than they actually were.
 * In X-Men, Xavier doesn't know why he can't find Magneto using Cerebro, but in First Class Xavier witnesses the effects of the helmet Magneto wears, though the helmets are different designs.
 * 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 30's.
 * In X2 Sebastian 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 (40 years earlier). 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 Shaw died in this film but appears in a very brief cameo in X2.
 * Beast 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.
 * In The Last Stand, it is only implicit that the diplomat Hank McCoy was a scientist: he has a doctorate, reads a Scientific American article on tracking genetic mutations, mentions a "mutant antibody," and corrects Storm with, "Well, scientifically speaking ...;" in First Class, Hank is a child prodigy, graduating from Harvard University at the age of 15 with his "super intellect," and works as a researcher for the CIA's Division X, wherein he designed the Blackbird and Cerebro, and, as part of the X-Men, he develops a mutant enhancement serum.
 * Magneto is multi-lingual and plays chess with Xavier in the movie, but does not have the scientific sophistication shown in X-Men, such as revealed in his statement regarding a "copper conductor" and Xavier stating that he helped him build Cerebro.
 * In X-Men, Xavier says he worked with Magneto to build Cerebro, and Magneto recounts the same in X2: X-Men United, while in First Class Hank McCoy builds it, though this is explained by "Xavier's and Magneto's Cerebro" being a completely different design from "McCoy's Cerebro".
 * 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 1980, 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 this cancels out The Last Stand's flashback.
 * In X-Men: The Last Stand, Moira MacTaggert is portrayed as being a British Doctor while in First Class she is an American CIA agent.

Videos
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