Upcoming Movies

Right, so three X-Men films happened, third one sucked. Then there was another sucky film about Wolverine's origins. Then there was First Class, which for multiple reasons, seemed to be a reboot, since shit just doesn't line up with the other movies. Stuff like Beast building Cerebro, stuff like the circumstances Xavier gets crippled (not bald, and young). The school is established After magneto and Xavier go their seperate ways. The only thing to suggest otherwise was the marketing, and the cameo appearance by Hugh Jackman.

Anyhow, now we have a sequel to X-Men first class called X-Men: something about Days. We also have The Wolverine coming, which appears to be a sequel to X-Men: Origins: Wolverine. So are we currently seeing 2 separate representations of the X-Men in movies? Or are they going to continue to wrongly play these off as being in the same series? Or were they ALWAYS supposed to be in the same series, but the writers of First Class just forgot to watch the other movies before writing that one? Seriously, what the shit is going on?

Ok, so here's the deal. The first three X-Men movies and X-Men Origins: Wolverine are all in the same timeline. Wolverine is first followed by the trilogy.

X-Men: First Class is in its own universe and has no bearing on the original trilogy. If you look at the characters they introduce or the timelines, they don't add up. For instance, Emma Frost appears in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as a teenage girl in the late 70s (1979 if Wikipedia is to be trusted). In First Class, she is an adult in the 1960s. Xavier and Magneto are young adults in First Class but elderly in the trilogy. Also, at the end of Wolverine, he runs into Xavier who is still played by Patrick Stewart and is bald and crippled. There is no way Xavier from the First Class universe could have aged that rapidly in 10 - 15 years.

It seems like Fox has themselves a nice ace in the hole since they can keep doing First Class or Wolverine movies for the foreseeable future without having to relinquish the rights to Marvel. I imagine Marvel would have to pony up a lot of money to acquire the rights.

Hopefully that explains the situation better.

Didn't First Class come around as a "Oh Shit! We have to make a movie or we lose the license!" type thing? Like Superman Returns or The Amazing Spider-Man, only instead of being mediocre they somehow managed to strike gold.

The fun thing about timelines and different takes on Superheroes is that Marvel and DC can say this takes place in a different universe. DC has its multiple Earths that range from minor changes of characters to crazy shit like Batman is a vampire or Superman is a Communist. Same thing with Marvel. The standard comic Universe is 616 but you also have the Ultimate, Marvel Zombie, and my favorite where all the superheroes and villains are apes universe.

I believe there is a site that tracks and numbers all the different multiverses in Marvel Comics. It covered everything from every What If comic to Newspaper Spider-Man and beyond. I am talking about obscure and weird stuff like that comic where Archie met The Punisher, Marvel 1602, and even Spider-Ham. I wish I could remember that website.

@Ghost_of_GhostDad said:

Didn't First Class come around as a "Oh Shit! We have to make a movie or we lose the license!" type thing?

It's partially that but it originally started out as an X-Men Origins: Magneto. That project never materialized fully so the end result was First Class.

This might be off-topic, but I never really realized that I actually first got introduced to Jennifer Lawrence who played Mystigue in X-Men: First Class. I'll always remember her as Katniss in The Hunger Games, though, because she was amazing as the lead character.

anyway, I'm really looking forward to the First Class sequel. I read a plot summary, and it sounds like a really ambitious movie.

I'm thinking the multiple universe thing too. It was just their need to market First Class as a prequel, and the needless Hugh Jackman cameo that bothers me. If they do actually believe they know what they are doing, I wish they would come out and just say it. Either way, the "First Class Universe" is the one I will follow. Why anyone would even bother with a follow up of X-Men Origins is beyond me, that film sucked, and now there is a superior new story thread they follow to get their X-Men money. I feel the existence of "The Wolverine" as a movie will just create X-Men fatigue.

@RadioactiveGazz said:

I'm thinking the multiple universe thing too. It was just their need to market First Class as a prequel, and the needless Hugh Jackman cameo that bothers me. If they do actually believe they know what they are doing, I wish they would come out and just say it. Either way, the "First Class Universe" is the one I will follow. Why anyone would even bother with a follow up of X-Men Origins is beyond me, that film sucked, and now there is a superior new story thread they follow to get their X-Men money. I feel the existence of "The Wolverine" as a movie will just create X-Men fatigue.

I don't think the film ever tried to market itself as an X-Men prequel. I think it's pretty clear if you had seen all of the X-Men related movies, there was no way this could be a prequel. I think it will be interesting to see what direction they take the First Class sequel.

As far as a sequel to Wolverine goes, the film may have sucked but it made a shit ton of money. Fox needs to bank on that while Hugh Jackman is still able to play the role. I guess he could keep doing it once he gets older though I would hope they take an Old Man Logan approach to it.

the storyline they are using is called Days of Future Past. what could happen is both timelines could be mushed and then end up creating one new timeline

I think they're in the same timeline, just with a whole lotta retconning, just like how comic books do. Anyways, most of the stuff that was phased out was in X-men 3 and Wolverine, and I don't think a lot of people care about what story they change from those movies.

@dOm_CaTz: That would be a cool movie, though I think it would be a stretch to combine the universes because Days of Future Past was its own universe too.

@BjornTheUnicorn: There are way too many inconsistencies for First Class to exist in the same timeline. Even with retconning, I don't see it. If they wanted to do an X-Men 4, the possibilities are still out there. I wouldn't mind seeing one, considering the mostly crap fest that 3 was. It had its merits, but overall was not a great way to end the series. I think Sentinels could have been introduced in 4 as a result of what happened in 3.

It's annoying, because a lot of the actors from the original trilogy are so perfectly cast, shame Last Stand messed things up so royally. I say they just continue on with First Class timeline and leave the other in the dust, Fassbender and McAvoy are excellent and damn can he pull off that helmet, hopefully the same can be said about a bald McAvoy.

what mutants, will be in the movie? Sentinels!

@rem25: well david shore said they are using the days of future past storyline as a base so i guess it's still up in the air on how it will unfold

My interpretation? There are no timelines or continuities anymore in the Fox X-Men films. They're just telling the stories they want to tell now.

@Little_Socrates: which isn't a bad thing, i mean look at the dark knight? I just wish we had a Sentinel.

there is something to be said about days of future past, i mean it was only 2 issues, in 1980, and look at it's impact?

@Watcherg44: No, I agree, it's not a bad thing. I generally prefer it to the "see-all-of-the-movies-or-else" attitude Marvel's got right now, and I'm planning to keep skipping movies until characters I care about are in them and do things I'm interested in.

I just read an announcement that the "Days of Future Past" movie is going to reunite a lot of the actors from the original X-Men trilogy in their roles.