When X-Men was first released in 1999, it ushered in a new age of superhero movies. A Golden Age so it were. (Unless those racist serials in the 1940s were the Golden Age, the era from Superman: The Movie (1978) to Batman & Robin (1997) was the Silver Age, and this is the Bronze Age. Some might argue that Blade (1998) really started it all, but at most, the R-rated vampire action movie was a test run for more established, mass friendly, superheroes.)
Whatever the case, the success of that film changed the entire film industry for the next decade and into the current one. Every year we must contend with a summer landscape peppered by everyone from Spider-Man to Scott Pilgrim. In 2011 alone, we met The Green Hornet in January, and over the next several months we will encounter Thor (May 6), Priest (May 13), X-Men: First Class (June 3), Green Lantern (June 17), and Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22- though it should be released for the July 4 weekend- stupid Transformers: Dark Of The Moon).
In hindsight many people look back at X-Men with disdain due to its anticlimactic finale, small scale, focus on Wolverine, and “Do you know what happens to a toad when it's struck by lightning? The same thing that happens to everything else." But its impact remains notable, it was good for the time, and still places in the top two X-Men movies. X2 in 2003 corrected many of the problems from the first film by drastically expanding its scope. And the conclusion featuring the Phoenix logo led to countless geek squeals and palatable anticipation for the next entry in the series.
Then director Bryan Singer left the franchise (for the blunder Superman Returns), and X-Men: The Last Stand ruined everything. Directed by the passionless Brett Ratner, X-Men: The Last Stand killed most of the best characters, turned Dark Phoenix (one of the greatest comic storylines in history) essentially into Bane from Batman and Robin, and made Rogue into a coward willing to abandon everything that made her unique.
When the remaining X-Men took their last stand, it was with two main characters (Storm (poorly played by Halle Berry) and Wolverine (the face)), two essentially cameo characters (Colossus and Iceman), and Kitty Pryde (arguably a newcomer having been played by different actors in all three films). In this final battle against hundreds of evil mutants, the very least we should have gotten was for Rogue to get over her angst, absorb the powers of several mutants, and rise to the air as the Ms. Marvel-powered Rogue from the comics. But we didn't. Of course, when the vast majority of the bad guys' powers seem to be jumping awkwardly, we probably wouldn't have gotten that joy anyway.
Although X-Men: The Last Stand made the most money out of all the X-movies, it essentially killed the franchise- at least as far as sequels go. Guess that's what happened when you shuffle Professor X, Cyclops, and Jean Grey off this mortal coil.
Nevertheless, FOX squeezed more life out of the series. 2009 saw the release of the nonsensical and disappointing prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Hugh Jackman will pick up the claws again for 2012's non-sequel, non-spinoff, stand-alone movie Wolverine directed by Darren Aronofsky, one of the few directors whose involvement obliterates prior misgivings. The studio also planned to develop other prequels- one with Magneto and one with Professor X- but those were abandoned in favor of X-Men: First Class, a set-in-the-1960s origin story of the X-Men.
The announcement of X-Men: First Class was met with understandable doubt. The franchise had already been squandered. Trying to match up a prequel with its earlier sequels is a difficult fete at best, just ask Wolverine. Or George Lucas. At least a flat-out reboot would give a new director the chance to get it right again without destroying the potential of the Dark Phoenix saga. The selection of Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) as director and writer was interesting. The cast (consisting of Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, Kevin Bacon, and topped off with James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Professor X and Magneto, respectively) was surprisingly good. But even combined, this was not enough to overcome the ill will that many had towards the concept.
FOX released the X-Men: First Class trailer on February 10, 2011. For the most part, fans reacted positively. The film had a color and style unlike the previous four films. The X-Men wore actual costumes and not padded leather suits. The movie, against all odds, looked as though it might actually be good.
So wherein lies the problem? It comes from how FOX refuses to let the movie stand on its own. From the start of the trailer to the posters, everything has to do with whom Erik and Charles will become, rather than who they are. We need not, we should not be reminded us of the franchise that once existed, but rather imagine the series that this can become. We needn't shots of Professor X's wheelchair or Magneto's cape to convince us to see it; the name X-Men and the footage from the movie should be enough.
These two are the worst posters for any movie in the history of film.
Where the Star Wars prequels failed (well, one of the thousands of places where the Star Wars prequels failed) was their inability to do much other than prey on our nostalgia. Somewhat similarly, Marvel blundered with Iron Man 2 by linking it too closely with its future project, The Avengers. This tact sapped a lot of the interest in Tony Stark's journey and has already made people wary of Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, fearing that those movies will also end up as commercials for the next film. And who can blame them? Captain America punched Hitler in 1941 and with that subtitle he comes across as an afterthought.
From the little we've seen of X-Men: First Class, the film itself does not seem like it follows either of those two paths. It has a vibe and personality of its very own. And the marketing people should respect, and work with, that.
X-Men: First Class will hit theaters on June 3, 2011.
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