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I have been sort of learning Japanese for many years but I never got very far. Not even enough to pass the easiest level of the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) out of 5 levels.
In the comics Storm is T'Challa's wife. Also, the actor that plays Toad is martial artist Ray Park, who prior to this role is best known as Darth Maul from Phantom Menace. In fact, he throws a nod to Darth Maul in this movie when he twirls the staff. As far as Wolverine, his bones are covered in Adamantium, which means he does naturally also have claws, but his claws are normally made of bone. Lastly, in the comics Adamantium is far stronger than Vibranium. Captain America's shield is originally a mix of Adamantium and Vibranium. Ultron's final form in the comics was made of solid Adamantium making him nearly invulnerable.
Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto, is without a doubt my favorite "Villain" in any comic book or superhero property. He has the most backstory. The most nuance. He's just sooooooooooo complex and believable. And he just has so many great lines and interesting philosophies. He's also very often an anti-hero or just straight up hero themselves despite being cast as "villain" because he's so multidimensional and realistic.
@@HereJune Willem Dafoe yeah good actor Green goblin was much like a power rangers villain and doc oc and Spiderman 2 is actually rated as one of the best comic book films of all time
He's definitely in my list of top 'villains' for those reasons. I just have a real soft spot for well intentioned extremests I guess. In that same list goes the Agent from Serenity and Price Nuada from Hellboy 2.
Watching her paranoia grow each time Mystique revealed herself is enjoyable, in a good way. It's hard to react to it like that when we've grown up watching this movie dozens of times. We just know what to expect.
Nice reaction Addie! Fun fact...the evil mutant "Toad" was played by Ray Park, who also played Darth Maul is Start Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace!
I still remember watching X-2 on the day it came out, and I knew exactly what was happening to a certain character ( don’t want to possibly spoil anything for Addie lol ) at the beginning lol
I'm pretty partial to the Phoenix color palette design in the 3rd one though. Scary but beautiful, shrouded in shadow with a red glow embedded in it, like a nebula or something. Friggin love it so much.
I can still remember going to see X-Men at the theatre when I was still in school. I was a longtime fan of the comics and the girl I went with was really fond of the animated X-Men TV show. Even though there were differences in the movie we were both amazed by how true this movie was to the spirit of what the X-Men are all about.
Honestly, most of the movies are more accurate to the comics than some people think. At least they are as accurate as they can be (although they probably should have made the costumes a bit more flashy) since the comic book fans only make up of like 20% of the audience, not to mention this is the movie that kickstarted the Hollywood superhero craze and the movie was made in a time before nerd culture was cool and aside from a few moderate critical successes like Batman Returns, The Mask and Blade, comic book movies during the 90's were considered a joke. Anyway, these movies are accurate enough to be satisfying for fans despite a few slipups. Heck, comic book legends Stan Lee and Chris Claremont, the latter being the one who made the best X-Men stories, had nothing but good things to say about this movie. In fact, Chris Claremont sprung up from his seat and applauded when Wolverine said that the claws hurt him every time he uses them. According to him, that was a small but quintessential detail that sums up how Wolverine is defined by pain and suffering. Claremont also praised most of the other films. The only X-Men films that he hated were X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Apocalypse.
Yeah, this, Spider-Man, and Blade proved that comic movies could actually be really good movies in their own right. I don't think we'd have gotten the MCU if without these movies.
@@xyex Blade had very little impact on the industry other than delaying Marvel's bankruptcy, which the success of X-Men saved it from. Blade was also only a moderate hit that later gained a cult following. Kevin Feige has said that Marvel Studios owes its existence to Bryan Singer's X-Men while Iron Man owes its success to the successes of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man and Nolan's Batman Begins. Not to mention the reason Daredevil, Hulk and Batman Begins were dark and gritty is because X-Men essentially modernized the dark, gritty comic book movie formula. I also disagree with your statement that Spider-Man and Blade proved that comic book movies can be good. That honor goes to Donner's Superman movie. And we have Tim Burton's Batman movie to thank for the way superhero movies are marketed. For example, the first X-Men teaser we got was simply a poster with a giant X logo on it. That marketing tactic was inspired by the way Warner Bros released the first Batman teaser as a simple black poster with the Batman symbol on it.
@@vetarlittorf1807 Blade only gets the credit simply because it had the luck to not get held up in development hell like X-men and Spiderman did. Even back when it came out, not one person I knew then in high school had any idea that Blade was a comic book property. We liked it because vamps, but as far as it being a worthy comic adaptation, no one I knew acknowledged it.
Fun Fact: Ke Huy Quan (the same actor who played Short Round in INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM and Waymond Wang in EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE) was one of the stunt choreographers for this film.
Fun fact #1: this was filmed mostly in Toronto, including the opening scene in ‘Poland’ (an old abandoned distillery called Gooderham and Worts). Fun fact #2: Ian McKellen says one of his fave shirts is a tee that a fan sent him emblazoned in big letters with the phrase “I am Gandalf AND Magneto”. Lots more movies in the franchise to get through.
Unfun fact: I found out they'd be filming X-Men in my town, using the local Science Center as the base for Magneto (it was built out of a mine) in the next few months. Unfortunately my family was moving away that month.
I just love the scene with Xavier and Magneto at the start, especially Magneto’s hat. When I saw it for the first time, I knew they’d get the rest of the film right.
You'll get more Magneto backstory as you go through the films. It is really tragic and compelling. Ironically it is so very human. He has all the best lines.
In the X-Men movies wolverine is the younger brother of sabertooth (the mutant who attacked wolverine and rogue). Magneto is Wanda and her brother quicksilver's father.
Notice the symbolism in the final scene and how it sets up the moral ambiguity of the series. Magneto is wearing white but his chess pieces (representing the Brotherhood of Mutants) are black while Xavier is wearing black but his chess pieces (representing the X-Men) are white.
FYI: in the comics, Wolverine had a small, metal insert placed on his knuckles that keep the skin from closing after retracting his claws or from tearing it open when unsheathing them. It cut down on the pain. I think it would have been cool to have at least a trickle of blood run down from the opening and down the claw at least once, for the “oooooh” factor
This movie was the last time I went to the theater with my mom🙂 So glad this was a good movie, you never know when the last time is, when you have time with people 🥰
That's actually curious when you know that both actors have many performances of Shakespeare's plays in their background. It certainly showed on screen.
The clash of philosophies between Charles and Eric (and the fact that they're both kind of right), along with the stellar acting of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen really elevates an otherwise average superhero movie. They took what might have been just another quickly-forgotten, live action adaptation and turned it into a film franchise.
In terms of connections to the greater Marvel universe the X-Men in the comics (Earth-616) exist within a shared universe with Avengers, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, etc. Characters like Wanda and Pietro Maximoff who you know from the MCU are Mutants in the comic's originally members of Brotherhood of Mutants lead by their "father" Magneto an idea that's been retconned a few times but originally Magneto was the father to the Maximoff twins. They later joined the X-Men and Avengers which created a fun loophole for the MCU as Fox owned the rights to the X-Men/Mutants BUT Wanda and Pietro are also Avengers meaning they could technically be used by Marvel Studios in the MCU Marvel Studios just couldn't refer to them as Mutants or mention X-Men. This is why they're referred to as Enhanced Individuals in Age of Ultron instead of Mutants a term that's been used to refer to many Individuals with unexplained powers in the MCU. In theory they could still be Mutants in the MCU it's just Marvel Studios couldn't refer to them as Mutants. This has changed now that Disney own the rights to the X-Men so they could easily say that Wanda was always a Mutant. Now that Disney owns X-Men they're free to include X-Men and Mutant related content in the MCU it's just a case of how they'll introduce Mutants and the X-Men. They could say that Mutants and X-Men were active all along in the background like Spider-Man or they could pull them from another universe into the MCU. My guess is they'll do the "They've always existed in the MCU we just haven't seen them" which will take alot of explaining like why didn't they help with Thanos to why haven't we heard anything about X-Men or Mutants as a whole. So believe it or not The X-Men were way more popular than The Avengers both in animation and comics at that time from the 1980s to the 1990s early 2000s. Studios did not want characters like Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, etc. Hulk is really the only Avenger who caught on having his own classic TV show that introduced him to the more mainstream audience back in 1978. It wasn't until Iron Man in 2008 that the Avengers started to become more well known and popular all coming together in 2012 with The Avengers movie that just blew up pushing the Avengers beyond X-Men. There's a few reasons why X-Men was so popular for one the New Mutants comics were being released in the 1980s introducing a younger class of characters focused on really cool teenage mutants while also introducing some really cool characters like Deadpool and Cable. We then got the amazing X-Men Animated Series in 1994, series was massive even crossing over with the 90s Spider-Man show. Then we got the Fox X-Men movies in 2000 bringing the X-Men to the more mainstream audience but these films moved away from the more comic book look and feel so for comic fans of the comic's it was a little disappointing seeing them outfitted in black leather. This was at a time when Studeios and creators were very unsure about how the mainstream au dice would react to comic designs so alot of the comic look and feel was replaced with a more tame rendition of the X-Men. The 2000s Spider-Man movie did the opposite diving deep into that bright colourful comic book look using Spider-Man's classic Red and Blue outfit along with a fun tone mixed with darkness. 2008 Iron Man did an amazing job at using comic designs something the MCU has followed really well something DC has also done really well as far back as Batman 1989.
I've got an issue with mutants and X-men being in the MCU all along. If that's true, why didn't we see Wolverine, Sabertooth, or Magneto in Captain America: The First Avenger???? Both Wolverine and Sabertooth fought in World War 2 while Magneto was imprisoned as a child at a Nazi concentration camp. Captain America would've bumped into those guys at some point during the movie. Why isn't Apocalypse in the Eternals film??? The Eternals would've witnessed him building the pyramids and dominating over all of ancient Egypt. They could've done something to stop him. How come Evan Peters's Quicksilver didn't show up in Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness??? He was already in WandaVision so he should've been in this movie. Another missed opportunity is putting the X-men themselves in this movie since they already brought in Professor X.
Charles Xavier -- Professor X (telepath extraordinaire) Marie -- Rogue (can absorb life force/powers thru physical contact) Logan -- Wolverine (mutant: healing & keen senses; claws: were implanted) Ororo Monroe -- Storm (power over weather) Jean Grey -- "Marvel Girl", never used in movies -- (telepathy/telekinesis) Scott Summers -- Cyclops -- (energy beam from eyes) Bobby -- Iceman -- (power to produce ice & snow) Eric -- Magneto -- (magnetic powers) Mystique -- (shape shifter) Sabertooth -- (incredible strength) The love triangle between Scott, Jean & Logan was established in the comics. I subscribed to many of the X-Men books (including Alpha Flight, Excalibur, New Mutants; & X-Man) for several years, until the comics became too expensive. These movies were created by people who genuinely love the source material!
Blade (1998) and X-Men (1999) are responsible for the success of high-budget Marvel movies. Up until then, there really wasn't a mainstream interest in comic book movies. People who liked comics were looked down upon as geeks and pretty ladies wouldn't have been caught dead liking these characters. Now, well, here we are. It's more popular and lucrative than ever imagined.
The actor who played Toad was the actor who played Darth Maul in Ep 1 and Solo. His scene with the staff was a nod to ep 1 which came out the year before this movie did.
Over 20 years later and this movie still holds up well. The themes mean much more these days and for a movie that was made its effects were still well done for its time. And Hugh Jackman no one could have been chosen better to play Wolverine all these years. Funny thing is people did not initially believe Hugh could play the character as in the comics Wolverine is 5ft short and Hugh Jackman is a huge jacked man. But he truly embodied the swagger that masked a soul broken by pain and loss the loner who doesn’t usually like many people but fights to keep those he cares for safe. Hugh was to Wolverine what RDJ and Chris Evans were to Iron Man and Captain America.
in the comics, Logan is like 5 feet tall. Hugh Jackman is so good at playing him, many choose to ignore this detail. and they're correct. he's perfect.
The X-Men comic is an allegory of the Civil Rights Movement, Magneto being Malcom X and Xavier being MLK. *** Magneto is not a “villain” despite being the antagonist.
Fun Fact: When Rogue asks wolverine if his claws hurts when it comes out and he replied by saying "Everytime", he ment both physically and mentally especially the fact that he was experimented on and lost everyone he loved overtime
Great movie that treats its source material with respect and with a great cast. Instant movie star making turn from Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. The sequel X2 remains one of my absolute favourite superhero movies.
Fun fact: Actor that played Toad was also Darth Maul in Star Wars Phantom Menace. After he knocked Storm down the elevator shaft towards the end of the movie, he did a spinning trick thing with the metal stick that was keeping the elevator door open. That was a callback reference to Darth Maul and his double sided lightsaber.
You're into it for good reason... Louise Jones Simonson was a writer and editor for the comics and had a lot of influence over the stories in the mid-to-late 1980s, an era known for several signature X-Men stories.
Wolverine doesn't have super strength, at least in the movies. In the comics it's more debatable, since it can be argued his skeleton allows him to lift more than a normal human, and he doesn't show any real "extreme" examples of strength. They've also changed his powers a lot since this movie came out (It was revealed he's part of some lupine type race, and can survive being flatted by a truck, healing almost instantly as the tires come off him, etc.) He can heal extremely fast, the adamantium skeleton (which he only survives cause of his healing), peak human strength (again, cause of his healing), also heightened senses like an animal like smell.
Here is some Marvel comic book trivia to catch you up and help you understand: 1.) In the Marvel comics and 1992 Fox TV X-Men cartoon, Rogue is shown having superhuman speed, strength, and stamina. She got this from fighting Miss Marvel (aka Captain Marvel) and prolonged physical touch during combat made her absorb Carol's powers permanently. 2.) In the OG Marvel comics (Earth-616 story line), Wolverine's main outfit was brown. The "yellow spandex" was his old outfit when he first got out of the Weapon X program and he decided to return to it when he joined the X-Men. 3.) If/when you watch Deadpool, you'll see many references to Wolverine. The reason is because in the comics, Deadpool was also in the same Weapon X program as Wolverine and they became Weapon X alumni "friends". 4.) Wolverine's enhanced strength and stamina are due to his body adapting to the heavy Adamantium that was injected into him. He also survived the Adamantium injection surgery thanks to his enhanced mutant self-healing powers. 5.) In the Marvel comics, Captain America's shield was made from Proto-Adamantium (Vibranium & iron alloy mix). However, other attempts to duplicate the successful shield resulted in the creation of "True Adamantium" which was the metal bonded to Wolverine's skeleton. 6.) Throughout the comics, the X-Men, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc. have all had guest appearances and cameos in each other's respective franchises. However, Fox owns the X-Men franchise broadcast rights and Sony owns Spider-Man so only recently have these franchises gone from being standalone movies to profitable collaborations like you saw in Civil War and Infinity War/Endgame. 7.) In the 1991 Infinity Gauntlet Saga, Thanos turned Wolverine's skeleton into a sponge after Wolverine stabbed him (which did nothing). What you saw in Infinity War (2019) was nothing compared to the bloodbath of what Thanos did in the1991 IGS comics. 8.) 19:20 - In the Fatal Attractions (1993) comics, Magneto pulls out all of Wolverine's Adamantium. This is a nod to the scene in the train where Magneto bends Wolverine's claws.
18:37 Fun Fact: The train station scene was filmed at the Liuna Train Station in my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, up here in the Great White North. I was one of the extras outside watching the roof get blown off. A few years later I met Ray Park (Toad) and we chatted for about 10 minutes about this movie as well as "The Phantom Menace", as he also played Darth Maul. After he signed my Darth Maul action figure package and got photos taken, I was about to pay him for the autograph and pics...he stopped me and said "Don't worry about it, they're on me. We co-stars have to stick together, right?"
Wolverine has regeneration, adamantium skeleton and highly developed senses. His scent lets him smell and track people. His senses also give him a heightened awareness of his environment.
Yea,. the next one is on par with this and from there, they all go down hill. They are interesting from a background perspective and there are a few scenes within each that are evocative, but they aren't good overall.
Rogue is seriously underpowered in this movie. In the comics, she held onto Captain Marvel (yes, that Captain Marvel) and absorbed her powers permanently and put her into a coma for quite some time. The comics Captain Marvel doesn’t have Tesseract enabled abilities but can fly and has super-strength.
I read and loved these comics growing up. As kids on the playground we’d cast the then non existent X-Men movie and we always said “Obviously Captain Picard will be Professor X” so when I was 17 and this movie got announced with him in the role I felt very happy.
The guy that dropped Rogue off at the cage fight bar and slept on the bench, voiced Hank, (Beast), McCoy in the animated series. The the cop on the megaphone that Magneto held the bullet to his head, is Nic Cage’s brother.
Fun fact: the X-men were originally meant as a metaphor for black people and their social issues in the 70s. Professor X and Magneto were specifically inspired by MLK and Malcolm X: two crusaders with a valid cause, but one committed to the ideals of peace and the other a lot more comfortable with violence as a tool.
I also heard they were also a metaphor for gay people. They find out something different about them, mostly in their teens. They are often discriminated cause of it, mostly their parents who kick them out and they go out to find communities of them.
19:06 I could be mistaken but I don't think he can fly exactly, i think he is just lifting the metal in his suit, boots or whatever. 34:56 Yes, but wolverine also had the claws before the experiment, they were made out of organic material (bone if I remember correctly). The experiment they did on him basically covered all the bones of his body with an extremely strong (and rare) metal, including the claws.
Addie, my first Xmen movie that i saw was Generation X (1995) which was the second junior Xmen team in the 90s after the New Mutants in the 1980s . so you can watch that one last if you want , after you get through the 20 years of Xmen movies that lead up to it.
In the 90's Marvel declared chapter 11 bankruptcy. To keep from going under, Marvel sold off the movie rights to a lot of their characters. Sony bought up Spider-Man and Blade. Fox got X-Man, Fantastic Four, and Daredevil, and Universal got The Incredible Hulk. That's why the first Marvel Movie was Ironman. No one wanted the rights to Ironman, he was a C list character at the time. They made a deal with Universal to make their Hulk movie, which is why we've never gotten another solo Hulk movie. Since Disney bought Marvel, they have been buying back the properties that where sold... in some cases by simply buying the studio that owned them.
Hi Addie! Actually, i believe Wanda from the Avengers is actually a mutant as was her brother, and they both were originally part of the xmen universe in the comic books. If you notice, no human in the Avengers have latent powers they were born with. I was surprised when her character first appeared in the Avengers..
So technically right. Wanda was first introduced as a mutant and she was Magneto's daughter. But in the comics they've retconned her origin several times, so she is currently not a mutant in the comics.
When these movies were being made, Fox owned the X-men rights, Sony had Spider-Man and Marvel studios had begun recollecting the rights to the rest. Now, Marvel has finally bought the X-men back and so have begun reintegrating all the different universes.
Yeah, in the official canon of the comics Wanda and her brother are Magneto's kids and mutants. The MCU didn't have the movie rights for mutants when they added them in Age of Ultron, so they sort of skirted around that.
One of the funniest things about this movie is that they made James Marsden stand on crates all through this film. Wolverine is supposed to be short, but Hugh Jackson is over 6’ tall. Famke Janssen (Jean Grey) is 6’ tall, so they made James stand on apple crates.
Hey, Addie! The X-Men are Marvel Comics superheroes created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963. The film rights were sold to 20th-Century Fox studios in the 1990s. Therefore, no other Marvel characters could appear in them when the MCU came into existence later and nothing mutant-related could exist in the MCU. The X-Men movies proved team superhero movies were viable and are the reason we have an MCU and DCEU. One major problem with the franchise is that there was no plan going in to make a coherent saga so there are MANY CONTINUITY ERRORS! Another problem is that there is little FIDELITY to the comics other than surface level stuff and the franchise became a showcase for HUGH JACKMAN's Wolverine as the central focus; the comics are much more ensemble pieces. Wolverine is hugely popular among comic readers but the movies became largely his vehicle. When the franchise was rebooted with a younger cast to clear up continuity and fidelity issues, the only explanation for discrepancies between the two sets of films was that they were taking place in MULTIPLE TIMELINES. Despite the confusion, X-Men films are all very ENTERTAINING including the duds and boast terrific action and INCREDIBLE CASTS. Now that Disney owns the film rights, fans are excited to see Kevin Feige adapt them properly. As always, since these are films based on Marvel Comics, STAN LEE has a cameo in most of them. In "X-Men", he was a hot dog vendor on the beach when Senator Kelly emerges from the surf. X-MEN TIMELINES: Egypt --> 1845 --> Nagasaki --> First Class --> DOFP --> Origins ------------------------------------------------> X1 --> X2 --> X3 --> Wolverine ----------> New Mutants ----------------------> Logan Egypt --> 1845 --> Nagasaki --> First Class --> DOFP ----------------> Apocalypse --> Dark Phoenix ------------------------------------------------> Deadpool --> Deadpool 2 -----> DOFP Utopia Egypt --> 1845 --> Nagasaki --> First Class --> DOFP --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> DOFP Dystopia DO NOT WATCH THE FILMS IN RELEASE ORDER!!!!! FOLLOW THIS RECOMMENDED ORDER!!!!! It keeps the multiple timelines orderly. RECOMMENDED VIEWING ORDER: X-Men X2: X-Men United X3: The Last Stand X-Men Origins: Wolverine X-Men: First Class The Wolverine: Extended Cut X-Men: Days of Future Past: The Rogue Cut X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Dark Phoenix Deadpool New Mutants Logan Deadpool 2
You can see this 'series', along with the Spider Man series around the same time, is what finally gave Disney the confidence to join in. I'll echo many posts with the sentiment: Ian McKellen is simply amazing.
I really liked a lot about this film (the characterization of Wolverine, Professor X, and Magneto) but a lot of the other members suffered (Sabertooth, Storm, Scott, and Rogue). But I think the strength of this film is in its premise and fairly accurate take on X-Men. The franchise really has its ups and downs but there's a lot to like here.
This film is so close to my heart because it reminds me of one of my favorite childhood memories. I didn't get to see it in theaters but since I loved X-Men, my family rented it on video when it was available and I fell in love with the movie. For my birthday that year they gave me what felt like a million dollars and told me to run into Toys R Us and grab whatever X-Men toys I wanted. I still remember walking out with 2 big bags (the X-Men toys came in these huge boxes) and for Christmas they got me the X-Jet and the Statue of Liberty playset. My family always struggled, but always knew how to make me feel like the luckiest kid in the world.
Great reaction Addie. You have immediately caught on to the larger themes of X-MEN, including the civil rights allegory and the cost of mutant heroes. As you noticed, most mutant powers inflict a heavy cost. These movies are mostly pretty good, though there are some duds near the end. I'll let you decide which are which when you get there.
The Brotherhood of Mutants, in the comics, is called The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, something Stan Lee always regretted, because no villain looks in the mirror and sees a villain, every villain is the hero of his own story. And this is especially true for Magneto. His aims are, really, exactly the same as Charles Xavier's: create a world where mutants don't have to live in fear, victims of prejudice and hate crimes. It's their methods that differ, Magneto preferring violent revolution and exterminating humans if that's what it takes, Charles wanting to find the road of peace, coexistence, and cooperation. And given Magneto's backstory, that he's literally seen human prejudice at its worst, you can understand why he believes the way he does, and even if you're more sympathetic to humans (because you probably ARE one), you might even agree that he has a point, and our track record of being able to get along with the "other" is pretty damn dismal. I love that the films mostly kept that aspect to him. That even when Magneto is at his worst, you can usually sympathize with his motives, and understand why he believes what he does, even if you don't agree with it.
In the comics, Rogue first absorbed the powers of Ms Marvel (now known as Captain Marvel). She basically has a similar base power set as Captain Marvel, with also the ability to drain others of their powers.
I remember watching these just a few months ago and, even though i have seen these films many times, only then managed to realize the social commentary in these movies
You can't imagine what it was like seeing this movie come out in 2000. It was something a lot of us could never FATHOM. Hell, we couldn't even imagine the MCU! We all had misgivings about Hugh Jackman because he was SO freakin' tall and Wolverine is only supposed to be 5'3", but man--does that all seem so silly now that we CAN'T imagine ANYONE else in the role. The rest of the casting was phenomenal as well, even though many characters ended up being underdeveloped or underutilized during the course of the franchise. And it's all so funny because Marvel had SUCH a hard time trying to sell the X-Men to film and TV. They tried two backdoor pilots within Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends that went nowhere, and then did a full pilot episode that ALSO went nowhere (but at least became the basis for an AMAZING arcade game). It wasn't until Margaret Loesch, who worked for Marvel's animation division, became head of Fox Kids that she was able to get X-Men: The Animated Series made and suddenly the X-Men became VERY appealing. So, minor spoiler alert: the X-films, unfortunately, don't all maintain an even level of quality. When they hit, they HIT. And when they miss, hoo-boy. You should have an entertaining journey through them--especially with an MCU background under your belt now to truly compare and contrast how things evolved from these humble beginnings.
27:36 - I am glad u got the scene when they were regrouping and the words between Cyclops and Wolverine: Wolverine: "Hey, hey it's me." Cyclops: "Prove it." Wolverine: "You're a dick." Cyclops: "Ok" Best part of the movie.
FUN FACT (No spoilers, because none of this ever comes up in the movies, ....because the movies completely waste the character): Mystique AKA real name Raven Darkholme is from the Victorian Era. Her wife is the mutant Destiny AKA Irene Adler. Raven and Irene are supposed to be Rogue's adoptive parents. During the Victorian Era, Raven worked as a detective, and Irene was her assistant. It's HEAVILY implied that Raven DarkHOLME used the identity of Sherlock Holmes. Irene Adler (famously the name of Sherlock Holmes' lover) recorded Mystique and Destiny's investigations as the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and she published them under the pseudonym "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle". In the published version of their adventures, Destiny takes the roll of both herself-Irene Adler (Sherlock's lover) as well as Dr. John Watson (Sherlock's partner in solving mysteries). Mystique is ALSO the biological mother of one of the X-Men that you'll meet in X-Men 2. I think you'll figure out which one. But again, the movies only BARELY even hint at it, and basically let that whole storyline go completely to waste. Mystique has one of the most awesome backstories of ANY character, and somehow these movies COMPELTELY waste it. 🤷♂ There's also an iconic X-Men villain (who doesn't appear in the movies) named Mister Sinister, who was ALSO from the Victorian Era. He started out in the Victorian Era as a hyper-malevolent mad scientist named Dr. Nathaniel Essex, who preformed all sort of ultra weird experiments on people. In SOME Marvel continuities he's responsible for creating Jack The Ripper as one of his creations. And he would send The Ripper out into the night to do his bidding. It turns out that the mysterious Whitechapel murders, and their mysteriously surgical nature was Jack The Ripper murdering prostitutes and stealing their organs and body parts for use in Dr. Essex's mad experiments. It's a story that's never been told in the comics, and the comics only VERY briefly touch on the Victorian histories of these characters, but I've always thought that one of the coolest possible Disney+ series would be a Mystique origin story set in Victorian London, exploring her backstory with Destiny as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, and ESPECIALLY delving into Mystique investigating and battling Jack The Ripper and Dr. Essex. It would be dark, crazy, fascinating, mysterious, creepy, steampunk, and WILDLY different from anything we've seen in the MCU. And, since they're rebooting the X-Men into the MCU, and very very very VERY few people know Mystique and Mr. Sinister's backstories, and instead they only know the WILDLY different (and fairly mundane) movie Mystique backstory, it would blow people's minds!
One thing X-Men is known for especially in the comics is their depiction & call out for some social issues like discrimination that mirrored the times then when they were released.
So I guess the line "You know what happens when a Toad is struck by lightning, the same thing that happens to everything else" was supposed to be a running gag with Toad saying something like that before whatever he was gonna do but it was all cut out and made Storm look kinda stupid like... "Storm what does that mean?" lol
Yes AND no. The original team wore identical yellow and black uniforms from 1963-67, before switching to individual costumes until the book was cancelled in 1970. The yellow uniforms returned when the X-Men made appearances in other books between 1972 and 1974. (The X-Men comic had been revived in 1971 as an all reprint book so the look of the team reverted to match the uniforms in the reprint series.) The All-New, All-Different X-Men, who debuted in 1975 and on whom the films were based, wore individualized costumes from Day One, with yellow, black and blue being Wolverine's signature look. (Yellow was used as an accent color on other characters, but their costumes were primarily other colors.) The original yellow uniforms were revived in 1982 for the New Mutants spin-off book, before they, too, got individual costumes several years later. And now that's more than anyone needs to know about the X-Men and yellow spandex.
Scott Summers aka Cyclops can't shut off his eye beams. He has to wear special ruby quartz glasses or a visor that adjusts it's output to keep them from firing off.
X-men are my favorite group of any superhero group, the movie versions of them aren’t really that good representation of them except wolverine,professor X,and Magneto but some of the movies are still good
Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman, appears in 9 films: - X-Men - X2: X-Men united - X3: The Last Stand / X-Men: The Last Stand - X-Men: First Class - X-Men: Days of Future Past - X-Men: Apocalypse - X-Men Origins: Wolverine - The Wolverine - Logan In more than half of these films, Wolverine/Logan is a main character, or THE main character. There are a few of these films in which his appearance is either a cameo, or is not central to the story. Charles Xavier also appears in each of these films. The best of these films, are: X2, Days of Future Past, and Logan. The events of the first X-Men trilogy are envisioned as occurring within a year or so of one another. The events of the second three films are envisioned as occurring over a 20-year period, from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. The events of ‘The Wolverine’ are envisioned as occurring some time after X3: the Last Stand. The films •can• be viewed as self-contained, stand-alone units... but, that's not ideal: because events build on one another over time, it couldn’t hurt to view them either in the order listed above, or in release order. For ex, if a person viewed 'X2', without having first seen 'X-Men,' then, among other things, they would miss the story of Magneto and what he did in the first film, which is part of the back story for the second film. •••• My understanding is that when the first X-Men comics were created in the early 1960s, Stan Lee conceived ‘mutants’ as being a sort of parallel with blacks during the Civil Rights era (then underway). Xavier and Magneto, the two leaders in conflict, were conceived of as rough stand-ins for Martin Luther King Jr, and Malcom X, respectively (Which the X-Men film tacitly acknowledges, by having Magneto say the exact phrase that is the title of Malcolm X’s book, “By any means necessary.”)
Before Hugh Jackman forever became Wolverine because of this movie, he was in New York playing a very different character. He was playing Curly in a production of Oklahoma on Broadway. It's well known now, but when he came onto the movie scene, it wasn't revealed until later that Hugh is a big song-and-dance man. He was well known in his native Australia as a stage performer. He was the original Gaston when the stage version of Beauty and the Beast premiered in Australia. Recently, he did a run on Broadway doing The Music Man. It was delayed because of Covid, but when the curtain finally rose, it was very well received. Hugh also said that he would've jumped at the chance to play Wolverine in The Avengers. He's returning to the role apparently when mutants are revealed in the MCU. We'll see what happens. The X-Men film franchise gets a little muddy with the jumping around in time after The Wolverine. Here's hoping for a more stable continuity within the MCU. I met Famke Janssen (Jean Grey) a few years ago at a convention. Lovely lady from the Netherlands. Met Ray Park too. Super nice guy. A little underused here. There are other comic book movies that deserve more recognition that were done in the 1990s. Some are admittedly a bit campy, but still a fun watch. Excluding the Batman films from that decade, I recommend the following: The Rocketeer(based on the comics by Dave Stevens), The Phantom(based on the long-running comic strip), and The Shadow(based on the radio show from the 1930s) which starred Alec Baldwin when he was more likable.
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Great reaction. Thank you. The Wolverine origin movie spells everything out. Best Wolverine movie ever.
I have been sort of learning Japanese for many years but I never got very far. Not even enough to pass the easiest level of the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) out of 5 levels.
"I wish I could stop you but you're in a movie"
24:17 yes, yellow and blue, so that was a joke for the fans.
In the comics Storm is T'Challa's wife. Also, the actor that plays Toad is martial artist Ray Park, who prior to this role is best known as Darth Maul from Phantom Menace. In fact, he throws a nod to Darth Maul in this movie when he twirls the staff. As far as Wolverine, his bones are covered in Adamantium, which means he does naturally also have claws, but his claws are normally made of bone. Lastly, in the comics Adamantium is far stronger than Vibranium. Captain America's shield is originally a mix of Adamantium and Vibranium. Ultron's final form in the comics was made of solid Adamantium making him nearly invulnerable.
Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto, is without a doubt my favorite "Villain" in any comic book or superhero property. He has the most backstory. The most nuance. He's just sooooooooooo complex and believable. And he just has so many great lines and interesting philosophies. He's also very often an anti-hero or just straight up hero themselves despite being cast as "villain" because he's so multidimensional and realistic.
Heath ledger joker? Dark knight
Alfred Molina Doc Oc? SM2
@@totterdell He's right. Magneto has the most backstory, which establishes his motives and to a point, valid justification for his actions.
@@totterdell molinas doc ock isn't that good tbh, green goblin was way better
@@HereJune Willem Dafoe yeah good actor Green goblin was much like a power rangers villain and doc oc and Spiderman 2 is actually rated as one of the best comic book films of all time
He's definitely in my list of top 'villains' for those reasons. I just have a real soft spot for well intentioned extremests I guess. In that same list goes the Agent from Serenity and Price Nuada from Hellboy 2.
Your reaction to the Unknowable Threat of Mystique made my whole dang day.
Well that's sad lol.
@@iwatchyoutube6539 Can't you just be glad for me that I've found a bit of joy?
Watching her paranoia grow each time Mystique revealed herself is enjoyable, in a good way. It's hard to react to it like that when we've grown up watching this movie dozens of times. We just know what to expect.
@@greencello599 EXACTLY that!
Or if you are just familiar with Mystique in general, I wasn’t shocked by her powers having read the comics
“I think I can read his mind right now”
Addie for Jean Grey casting whenever the MCU does X-Men.
or Madelyne Pryor
she seriously does look like her
Nice reaction Addie! Fun fact...the evil mutant "Toad" was played by Ray Park, who also played Darth Maul is Start Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace!
He was also Mauls performance capture in the S7 mandalore fight
And Snake Eyes in the first two G.I. Joe movies.
He also did the Headless Horseman fights in Sleepy Hollow - I even recognised his style when he twirled his weapons.
@@Cau_No he was the one on foot. The one that rode the horse was another stuntman.
@@crispy_338 that fight on Mandalore was epic
X2 is still the jewel of this trilogy. X-Men: First Class and Days of Future Past are really well done as well
I still remember watching X-2 on the day it came out, and I knew exactly what was happening to a certain character ( don’t want to possibly spoil anything for Addie lol ) at the beginning lol
The first 5 minutes of X2 are absolutely EPIC.
Absolutely right!
I'm pretty partial to the Phoenix color palette design in the 3rd one though. Scary but beautiful, shrouded in shadow with a red glow embedded in it, like a nebula or something. Friggin love it so much.
@@tooluser BAMF!!
I can still remember going to see X-Men at the theatre when I was still in school.
I was a longtime fan of the comics and the girl I went with was really fond of the animated X-Men TV show.
Even though there were differences in the movie we were both amazed by how true this movie was to the spirit of what the X-Men are all about.
Honestly, most of the movies are more accurate to the comics than some people think. At least they are as accurate as they can be (although they probably should have made the costumes a bit more flashy) since the comic book fans only make up of like 20% of the audience, not to mention this is the movie that kickstarted the Hollywood superhero craze and the movie was made in a time before nerd culture was cool and aside from a few moderate critical successes like Batman Returns, The Mask and Blade, comic book movies during the 90's were considered a joke.
Anyway, these movies are accurate enough to be satisfying for fans despite a few slipups. Heck, comic book legends Stan Lee and Chris Claremont, the latter being the one who made the best X-Men stories, had nothing but good things to say about this movie. In fact, Chris Claremont sprung up from his seat and applauded when Wolverine said that the claws hurt him every time he uses them. According to him, that was a small but quintessential detail that sums up how Wolverine is defined by pain and suffering.
Claremont also praised most of the other films. The only X-Men films that he hated were X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Apocalypse.
The best thing they did that differed from the comics is that they excluded Jubilee 😂
Yeah, this, Spider-Man, and Blade proved that comic movies could actually be really good movies in their own right. I don't think we'd have gotten the MCU if without these movies.
@@xyex Blade had very little impact on the industry other than delaying Marvel's bankruptcy, which the success of X-Men saved it from. Blade was also only a moderate hit that later gained a cult following.
Kevin Feige has said that Marvel Studios owes its existence to Bryan Singer's X-Men while Iron Man owes its success to the successes of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man and Nolan's Batman Begins. Not to mention the reason Daredevil, Hulk and Batman Begins were dark and gritty is because X-Men essentially modernized the dark, gritty comic book movie formula.
I also disagree with your statement that Spider-Man and Blade proved that comic book movies can be good. That honor goes to Donner's Superman movie. And we have Tim Burton's Batman movie to thank for the way superhero movies are marketed. For example, the first X-Men teaser we got was simply a poster with a giant X logo on it. That marketing tactic was inspired by the way Warner Bros released the first Batman teaser as a simple black poster with the Batman symbol on it.
@@vetarlittorf1807 Blade only gets the credit simply because it had the luck to not get held up in development hell like X-men and Spiderman did. Even back when it came out, not one person I knew then in high school had any idea that Blade was a comic book property. We liked it because vamps, but as far as it being a worthy comic adaptation, no one I knew acknowledged it.
Fun Fact: Ke Huy Quan (the same actor who played Short Round in INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM and Waymond Wang in EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE) was one of the stunt choreographers for this film.
Now THAT'S a fun fact!!😍
Fun fact #1: this was filmed mostly in Toronto, including the opening scene in ‘Poland’ (an old abandoned distillery called Gooderham and Worts).
Fun fact #2: Ian McKellen says one of his fave shirts is a tee that a fan sent him emblazoned in big letters with the phrase “I am Gandalf AND Magneto”.
Lots more movies in the franchise to get through.
Unfun fact: I found out they'd be filming X-Men in my town, using the local Science Center as the base for Magneto (it was built out of a mine) in the next few months. Unfortunately my family was moving away that month.
RIP Michael Kamen
He made Logan and Rogue's moment feel so special
I just love the scene with Xavier and Magneto at the start, especially Magneto’s hat. When I saw it for the first time, I knew they’d get the rest of the film right.
I think it's one of my favorite scenes in the series.
The only problem with the scene is that Stewart and McKellen sound so similar that it can be hard to tell who's talking.
Bobby being a student and not a full fledged X-men annoys me still, but aside from that a great movie.
You'll get more Magneto backstory as you go through the films. It is really tragic and compelling. Ironically it is so very human. He has all the best lines.
Always hire Shakespearean actors for the deeper roles. Hero and villain. The delivery of the best lines are done by them.
In the X-Men movies wolverine is the younger brother of sabertooth (the mutant who attacked wolverine and rogue). Magneto is Wanda and her brother quicksilver's father.
Notice the symbolism in the final scene and how it sets up the moral ambiguity of the series. Magneto is wearing white but his chess pieces (representing the Brotherhood of Mutants) are black while Xavier is wearing black but his chess pieces (representing the X-Men) are white.
When Logan said it hurts every time his claws come out he didn't mean physically.
"How Many Times Can This Guy Get Stabbed And Still Survive?"
Just like Wolverine, Sabretooth also has rapid healing
Fun fact: Mystique is naked in these X-Men movies, they just painted the blue looking suit right on to her bare skin.
FYI: in the comics, Wolverine had a small, metal insert placed on his knuckles that keep the skin from closing after retracting his claws or from tearing it open when unsheathing them. It cut down on the pain. I think it would have been cool to have at least a trickle of blood run down from the opening and down the claw at least once, for the “oooooh” factor
This movie was the last time I went to the theater with my mom🙂 So glad this was a good movie, you never know when the last time is, when you have time with people 🥰
The sequel provides a lot more information regarding Wolverine's background. Also he gets a lot more ripped, haha.
Your Mystique paranoia is hilarious (and probably justified). 😝
Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen was like watching Shakespeare on screen with those two
That's actually curious when you know that both actors have many performances of Shakespeare's plays in their background. It certainly showed on screen.
I remember when this movie first came out. I was so excited because everything finally came together to give us a good live action X-Men movie.
The clash of philosophies between Charles and Eric (and the fact that they're both kind of right), along with the stellar acting of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen really elevates an otherwise average superhero movie. They took what might have been just another quickly-forgotten, live action adaptation and turned it into a film franchise.
In terms of connections to the greater Marvel universe the X-Men in the comics (Earth-616) exist within a shared universe with Avengers, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, etc. Characters like Wanda and Pietro Maximoff who you know from the MCU are Mutants in the comic's originally members of Brotherhood of Mutants lead by their "father" Magneto an idea that's been retconned a few times but originally Magneto was the father to the Maximoff twins. They later joined the X-Men and Avengers which created a fun loophole for the MCU as Fox owned the rights to the X-Men/Mutants BUT Wanda and Pietro are also Avengers meaning they could technically be used by Marvel Studios in the MCU Marvel Studios just couldn't refer to them as Mutants or mention X-Men. This is why they're referred to as Enhanced Individuals in Age of Ultron instead of Mutants a term that's been used to refer to many Individuals with unexplained powers in the MCU. In theory they could still be Mutants in the MCU it's just Marvel Studios couldn't refer to them as Mutants. This has changed now that Disney own the rights to the X-Men so they could easily say that Wanda was always a Mutant.
Now that Disney owns X-Men they're free to include X-Men and Mutant related content in the MCU it's just a case of how they'll introduce Mutants and the X-Men. They could say that Mutants and X-Men were active all along in the background like Spider-Man or they could pull them from another universe into the MCU. My guess is they'll do the "They've always existed in the MCU we just haven't seen them" which will take alot of explaining like why didn't they help with Thanos to why haven't we heard anything about X-Men or Mutants as a whole.
So believe it or not The X-Men were way more popular than The Avengers both in animation and comics at that time from the 1980s to the 1990s early 2000s. Studios did not want characters like Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, etc. Hulk is really the only Avenger who caught on having his own classic TV show that introduced him to the more mainstream audience back in 1978. It wasn't until Iron Man in 2008 that the Avengers started to become more well known and popular all coming together in 2012 with The Avengers movie that just blew up pushing the Avengers beyond X-Men.
There's a few reasons why X-Men was so popular for one the New Mutants comics were being released in the 1980s introducing a younger class of characters focused on really cool teenage mutants while also introducing some really cool characters like Deadpool and Cable. We then got the amazing X-Men Animated Series in 1994, series was massive even crossing over with the 90s Spider-Man show.
Then we got the Fox X-Men movies in 2000 bringing the X-Men to the more mainstream audience but these films moved away from the more comic book look and feel so for comic fans of the comic's it was a little disappointing seeing them outfitted in black leather. This was at a time when Studeios and creators were very unsure about how the mainstream au dice would react to comic designs so alot of the comic look and feel was replaced with a more tame rendition of the X-Men. The 2000s Spider-Man movie did the opposite diving deep into that bright colourful comic book look using Spider-Man's classic Red and Blue outfit along with a fun tone mixed with darkness. 2008 Iron Man did an amazing job at using comic designs something the MCU has followed really well something DC has also done really well as far back as Batman 1989.
I've got an issue with mutants and X-men being in the MCU all along.
If that's true, why didn't we see Wolverine, Sabertooth, or Magneto in Captain America: The First Avenger???? Both Wolverine and Sabertooth fought in World War 2 while Magneto was imprisoned as a child at a Nazi concentration camp. Captain America would've bumped into those guys at some point during the movie.
Why isn't Apocalypse in the Eternals film??? The Eternals would've witnessed him building the pyramids and dominating over all of ancient Egypt. They could've done something to stop him.
How come Evan Peters's Quicksilver didn't show up in Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness??? He was already in WandaVision so he should've been in this movie. Another missed opportunity is putting the X-men themselves in this movie since they already brought in Professor X.
@@loudboy317 that would've been too much in winter soldier and possibly ruin how great the movie was
@@HereJune
I'm talking about First Avenger, not Winter Soldier.
Charles Xavier -- Professor X (telepath extraordinaire)
Marie -- Rogue (can absorb life force/powers thru physical contact)
Logan -- Wolverine (mutant: healing & keen senses; claws: were implanted)
Ororo Monroe -- Storm (power over weather)
Jean Grey -- "Marvel Girl", never used in movies -- (telepathy/telekinesis)
Scott Summers -- Cyclops -- (energy beam from eyes)
Bobby -- Iceman -- (power to produce ice & snow)
Eric -- Magneto -- (magnetic powers)
Mystique -- (shape shifter)
Sabertooth -- (incredible strength)
The love triangle between Scott, Jean & Logan was established in the comics. I subscribed to many of the X-Men books (including Alpha Flight, Excalibur, New Mutants; & X-Man) for several years, until the comics became too expensive. These movies were created by people who genuinely love the source material!
Claws were not implanted. He had them before. They were only covered in adamantium
If you didn’t know Ray Park (Toad) was also Darth Maul in Starwars ep1
Before these movies, all my X-Men knowledge came from the early 90s cartoon. It was awesome.
I'm excited for you to see X-men 2 X-men united
Hi Addie, Magneto cant fly. He controlled metal from what his wearing, example belt, make it rise & down, so just like fly
There were other Marvel movies and superhero movies before the X-Men movies, but these are what really started the modern superhero craze.
Blade (1998) and X-Men (1999) are responsible for the success of high-budget Marvel movies. Up until then, there really wasn't a mainstream interest in comic book movies. People who liked comics were looked down upon as geeks and pretty ladies wouldn't have been caught dead liking these characters. Now, well, here we are. It's more popular and lucrative than ever imagined.
yes the "yellow spandex" is a callback to Wolverine's old costume in the comics. good catch.
Not just Wolverine's, but all of the X-Men.
The actor who played Toad was the actor who played Darth Maul in Ep 1 and Solo. His scene with the staff was a nod to ep 1 which came out the year before this movie did.
Over 20 years later and this movie still holds up well. The themes mean much more these days and for a movie that was made its effects were still well done for its time. And Hugh Jackman no one could have been chosen better to play Wolverine all these years. Funny thing is people did not initially believe Hugh could play the character as in the comics Wolverine is 5ft short and Hugh Jackman is a huge jacked man. But he truly embodied the swagger that masked a soul broken by pain and loss the loner who doesn’t usually like many people but fights to keep those he cares for safe. Hugh was to Wolverine what RDJ and Chris Evans were to Iron Man and Captain America.
You’re in for another wild ride.
25:44 Everyone said that. LOL.
in the comics, Logan is like 5 feet tall.
Hugh Jackman is so good at playing him, many choose to ignore this detail. and they're correct. he's perfect.
Fun Fact: The actor who played Toad, Ray Park also played Darth Maul in Phantom Menace.
and his iron bar spin is an homage to Maul's double-bladed saber
31:45 "Your hair is in your mouth" That toc kicking in
I love Addie!!
The X-Men comic is an allegory of the Civil Rights Movement, Magneto being Malcom X and Xavier being MLK.
***
Magneto is not a “villain” despite being the antagonist.
Fun Fact: When Rogue asks wolverine if his claws hurts when it comes out and he replied by saying "Everytime", he ment both physically and mentally especially the fact that he was experimented on and lost everyone he loved overtime
Great movie that treats its source material with respect and with a great cast. Instant movie star making turn from Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. The sequel X2 remains one of my absolute favourite superhero movies.
Addie, you'll get your wish. There's plenty of Wolverine in the upcoming movies. He even has some of his own movies which includes an origin movie.
Fun fact: Actor that played Toad was also Darth Maul in Star Wars Phantom Menace. After he knocked Storm down the elevator shaft towards the end of the movie, he did a spinning trick thing with the metal stick that was keeping the elevator door open. That was a callback reference to Darth Maul and his double sided lightsaber.
You're into it for good reason... Louise Jones Simonson was a writer and editor for the comics and had a lot of influence over the stories in the mid-to-late 1980s, an era known for several signature X-Men stories.
Yay! Can't wait for the X2 reaction! Love your channel - thanks for all your hard work!
X-Men is my favorite comic series of all time. Been reading since the early 80s
Wolverine doesn't have super strength, at least in the movies. In the comics it's more debatable, since it can be argued his skeleton allows him to lift more than a normal human, and he doesn't show any real "extreme" examples of strength. They've also changed his powers a lot since this movie came out (It was revealed he's part of some lupine type race, and can survive being flatted by a truck, healing almost instantly as the tires come off him, etc.)
He can heal extremely fast, the adamantium skeleton (which he only survives cause of his healing), peak human strength (again, cause of his healing), also heightened senses like an animal like smell.
Here is some Marvel comic book trivia to catch you up and help you understand:
1.) In the Marvel comics and 1992 Fox TV X-Men cartoon, Rogue is shown having superhuman speed, strength, and stamina. She got this from fighting Miss Marvel (aka Captain Marvel) and prolonged physical touch during combat made her absorb Carol's powers permanently.
2.) In the OG Marvel comics (Earth-616 story line), Wolverine's main outfit was brown. The "yellow spandex" was his old outfit when he first got out of the Weapon X program and he decided to return to it when he joined the X-Men.
3.) If/when you watch Deadpool, you'll see many references to Wolverine. The reason is because in the comics, Deadpool was also in the same Weapon X program as Wolverine and they became Weapon X alumni "friends".
4.) Wolverine's enhanced strength and stamina are due to his body adapting to the heavy Adamantium that was injected into him. He also survived the Adamantium injection surgery thanks to his enhanced mutant self-healing powers.
5.) In the Marvel comics, Captain America's shield was made from Proto-Adamantium (Vibranium & iron alloy mix). However, other attempts to duplicate the successful shield resulted in the creation of "True Adamantium" which was the metal bonded to Wolverine's skeleton.
6.) Throughout the comics, the X-Men, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc. have all had guest appearances and cameos in each other's respective franchises. However, Fox owns the X-Men franchise broadcast rights and Sony owns Spider-Man so only recently have these franchises gone from being standalone movies to profitable collaborations like you saw in Civil War and Infinity War/Endgame.
7.) In the 1991 Infinity Gauntlet Saga, Thanos turned Wolverine's skeleton into a sponge after Wolverine stabbed him (which did nothing). What you saw in Infinity War (2019) was nothing compared to the bloodbath of what Thanos did in the1991 IGS comics.
8.) 19:20 - In the Fatal Attractions (1993) comics, Magneto pulls out all of Wolverine's Adamantium. This is a nod to the scene in the train where Magneto bends Wolverine's claws.
18:37 Fun Fact: The train station scene was filmed at the Liuna Train Station in my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, up here in the Great White North. I was one of the extras outside watching the roof get blown off. A few years later I met Ray Park (Toad) and we chatted for about 10 minutes about this movie as well as "The Phantom Menace", as he also played Darth Maul. After he signed my Darth Maul action figure package and got photos taken, I was about to pay him for the autograph and pics...he stopped me and said "Don't worry about it, they're on me. We co-stars have to stick together, right?"
Fun Fact Addie: In the comics Magneto is the fanther of Wanda and Quicksilver.
6:42
There's a double meaning when Logan says it hurts every time.
It hurts him, and hurts the ones he uses them on, every time.
Also magneto is the father of pietro and wanda in the comics
Was. That was retconned out some years ago. Now it’s… complicated.
And even Magneto being their father was a retcon.
From 1974 - 1979, they were the children of Golden Age superheroes the Whizzer and Miss America.
Wolverine has regeneration, adamantium skeleton and highly developed senses. His scent lets him smell and track people. His senses also give him a heightened awareness of his environment.
Addie I think you have the mutant ability of spotting Mystique. Before you knew she was even a character, you knew!
Yea,. the next one is on par with this and from there, they all go down hill. They are interesting from a background perspective and there are a few scenes within each that are evocative, but they aren't good overall.
24:17 Very good observation. Yes, it was a joke/jab at the old uniforms in Marvel Comics.
Rogue is seriously underpowered in this movie. In the comics, she held onto Captain Marvel (yes, that Captain Marvel) and absorbed her powers permanently and put her into a coma for quite some time. The comics Captain Marvel doesn’t have Tesseract enabled abilities but can fly and has super-strength.
Fun fact: Toad is played by Ray Park who you will know as Darth Maul from The Phantom Menace he’s a highly underrated actor and stuntman/Choreographer
Hey Addie, the actor who played Toad in this movie is Ray Park, the actor who played Darth Maul in Star Wars:Episode I
I read and loved these comics growing up. As kids on the playground we’d cast the then non existent X-Men movie and we always said “Obviously Captain Picard will be Professor X” so when I was 17 and this movie got announced with him in the role I felt very happy.
The guy that dropped Rogue off at the cage fight bar and slept on the bench, voiced Hank, (Beast), McCoy in the animated series. The the cop on the megaphone that Magneto held the bullet to his head, is Nic Cage’s brother.
Fun fact: the X-men were originally meant as a metaphor for black people and their social issues in the 70s. Professor X and Magneto were specifically inspired by MLK and Malcolm X: two crusaders with a valid cause, but one committed to the ideals of peace and the other a lot more comfortable with violence as a tool.
I also heard they were also a metaphor for gay people. They find out something different about them, mostly in their teens. They are often discriminated cause of it, mostly their parents who kick them out and they go out to find communities of them.
I'm really hoping Rogue shows up in the MCU soon and puts Captain Marvel into a coma like she did in the comics.
same
19:06 I could be mistaken but I don't think he can fly exactly, i think he is just lifting the metal in his suit, boots or whatever.
34:56 Yes, but wolverine also had the claws before the experiment, they were made out of organic material (bone if I remember correctly). The experiment they did on him basically covered all the bones of his body with an extremely strong (and rare) metal, including the claws.
Addie, my first Xmen movie that i saw was Generation X (1995) which was the second junior Xmen team in the 90s after the New Mutants in the 1980s . so you can watch that one last if you want , after you get through the 20 years of Xmen movies that lead up to it.
In the 90's Marvel declared chapter 11 bankruptcy. To keep from going under, Marvel sold off the movie rights to a lot of their characters. Sony bought up Spider-Man and Blade. Fox got X-Man, Fantastic Four, and Daredevil, and Universal got The Incredible Hulk. That's why the first Marvel Movie was Ironman. No one wanted the rights to Ironman, he was a C list character at the time. They made a deal with Universal to make their Hulk movie, which is why we've never gotten another solo Hulk movie. Since Disney bought Marvel, they have been buying back the properties that where sold... in some cases by simply buying the studio that owned them.
Hi Addie! Actually, i believe Wanda from the Avengers is actually a mutant as was her brother, and they both were originally part of the xmen universe in the comic books. If you notice, no human in the Avengers have latent powers they were born with. I was surprised when her character first appeared in the Avengers..
So technically right. Wanda was first introduced as a mutant and she was Magneto's daughter. But in the comics they've retconned her origin several times, so she is currently not a mutant in the comics.
Multiverse.
When these movies were being made, Fox owned the X-men rights, Sony had Spider-Man and Marvel studios had begun recollecting the rights to the rest. Now, Marvel has finally bought the X-men back and so have begun reintegrating all the different universes.
@@havok6280 Thanks for the additional history. I didn't know she was retconned so many times.
Yeah, in the official canon of the comics Wanda and her brother are Magneto's kids and mutants. The MCU didn't have the movie rights for mutants when they added them in Age of Ultron, so they sort of skirted around that.
One of the funniest things about this movie is that they made James Marsden stand on crates all through this film.
Wolverine is supposed to be short, but Hugh Jackson is over 6’ tall. Famke Janssen (Jean Grey) is 6’ tall, so they made James stand on apple crates.
Hey, Addie! The X-Men are Marvel Comics superheroes created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963.
The film rights were sold to 20th-Century Fox studios in the 1990s.
Therefore, no other Marvel characters could appear in them when the MCU came into existence later and nothing mutant-related could exist in the MCU.
The X-Men movies proved team superhero movies were viable and are the reason we have an MCU and DCEU.
One major problem with the franchise is that there was no plan going in to make a coherent saga so there are MANY CONTINUITY ERRORS!
Another problem is that there is little FIDELITY to the comics other than surface level stuff and the franchise became a showcase for HUGH JACKMAN's Wolverine as the central focus; the comics are much more ensemble pieces. Wolverine is hugely popular among comic readers but the movies became largely his vehicle.
When the franchise was rebooted with a younger cast to clear up continuity and fidelity issues, the only explanation for discrepancies between the two sets of films was that they were taking place in MULTIPLE TIMELINES.
Despite the confusion, X-Men films are all very ENTERTAINING including the duds and boast terrific action and INCREDIBLE CASTS.
Now that Disney owns the film rights, fans are excited to see Kevin Feige adapt them properly.
As always, since these are films based on Marvel Comics, STAN LEE has a cameo in most of them. In "X-Men", he was a hot dog vendor on the beach when Senator Kelly emerges from the surf.
X-MEN TIMELINES:
Egypt --> 1845 --> Nagasaki --> First Class --> DOFP --> Origins ------------------------------------------------> X1 --> X2 --> X3 --> Wolverine ----------> New Mutants ----------------------> Logan
Egypt --> 1845 --> Nagasaki --> First Class --> DOFP ----------------> Apocalypse --> Dark Phoenix ------------------------------------------------> Deadpool --> Deadpool 2 -----> DOFP Utopia
Egypt --> 1845 --> Nagasaki --> First Class --> DOFP --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> DOFP Dystopia
DO NOT WATCH THE FILMS IN RELEASE ORDER!!!!! FOLLOW THIS RECOMMENDED ORDER!!!!! It keeps the multiple timelines orderly.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING ORDER:
X-Men
X2: X-Men United
X3: The Last Stand
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men: First Class
The Wolverine: Extended Cut
X-Men: Days of Future Past: The Rogue Cut
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Dark Phoenix
Deadpool
New Mutants
Logan
Deadpool 2
I love Toad. He's literally one of my favorite mutants of all time.
You can see this 'series', along with the Spider Man series around the same time, is what finally gave Disney the confidence to join in. I'll echo many posts with the sentiment: Ian McKellen is simply amazing.
I really liked a lot about this film (the characterization of Wolverine, Professor X, and Magneto) but a lot of the other members suffered (Sabertooth, Storm, Scott, and Rogue). But I think the strength of this film is in its premise and fairly accurate take on X-Men. The franchise really has its ups and downs but there's a lot to like here.
This film is so close to my heart because it reminds me of one of my favorite childhood memories. I didn't get to see it in theaters but since I loved X-Men, my family rented it on video when it was available and I fell in love with the movie. For my birthday that year they gave me what felt like a million dollars and told me to run into Toys R Us and grab whatever X-Men toys I wanted. I still remember walking out with 2 big bags (the X-Men toys came in these huge boxes) and for Christmas they got me the X-Jet and the Statue of Liberty playset. My family always struggled, but always knew how to make me feel like the luckiest kid in the world.
30:16 the musical score ❤❤❤❤🔥
Great reaction Addie. You have immediately caught on to the larger themes of X-MEN, including the civil rights allegory and the cost of mutant heroes. As you noticed, most mutant powers inflict a heavy cost. These movies are mostly pretty good, though there are some duds near the end. I'll let you decide which are which when you get there.
Lore-wise, Cyclops eyes are a portal to another dimension,
and the beam is not a laser, but kinetic force.
"Your hair's in your mouth."
Every time I see that shot I think, "Really? You couldn't have done another take?"
The Brotherhood of Mutants, in the comics, is called The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, something Stan Lee always regretted, because no villain looks in the mirror and sees a villain, every villain is the hero of his own story. And this is especially true for Magneto.
His aims are, really, exactly the same as Charles Xavier's: create a world where mutants don't have to live in fear, victims of prejudice and hate crimes. It's their methods that differ, Magneto preferring violent revolution and exterminating humans if that's what it takes, Charles wanting to find the road of peace, coexistence, and cooperation. And given Magneto's backstory, that he's literally seen human prejudice at its worst, you can understand why he believes the way he does, and even if you're more sympathetic to humans (because you probably ARE one), you might even agree that he has a point, and our track record of being able to get along with the "other" is pretty damn dismal.
I love that the films mostly kept that aspect to him. That even when Magneto is at his worst, you can usually sympathize with his motives, and understand why he believes what he does, even if you don't agree with it.
In the comics, Rogue first absorbed the powers of Ms Marvel (now known as Captain Marvel). She basically has a similar base power set as Captain Marvel, with also the ability to drain others of their powers.
Yes, that was definitely a reference to the comic book costumes.
"...because of Rights...." (followed by Jedi hand gestures.) Good one.
24:18 yes it is
I remember watching these just a few months ago and, even though i have seen these films many times, only then managed to realize the social commentary in these movies
Love how much you enjoyed this, can't wait to continue this Xmen journey with you❤
You can't imagine what it was like seeing this movie come out in 2000. It was something a lot of us could never FATHOM. Hell, we couldn't even imagine the MCU! We all had misgivings about Hugh Jackman because he was SO freakin' tall and Wolverine is only supposed to be 5'3", but man--does that all seem so silly now that we CAN'T imagine ANYONE else in the role. The rest of the casting was phenomenal as well, even though many characters ended up being underdeveloped or underutilized during the course of the franchise.
And it's all so funny because Marvel had SUCH a hard time trying to sell the X-Men to film and TV. They tried two backdoor pilots within Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends that went nowhere, and then did a full pilot episode that ALSO went nowhere (but at least became the basis for an AMAZING arcade game). It wasn't until Margaret Loesch, who worked for Marvel's animation division, became head of Fox Kids that she was able to get X-Men: The Animated Series made and suddenly the X-Men became VERY appealing.
So, minor spoiler alert: the X-films, unfortunately, don't all maintain an even level of quality. When they hit, they HIT. And when they miss, hoo-boy. You should have an entertaining journey through them--especially with an MCU background under your belt now to truly compare and contrast how things evolved from these humble beginnings.
27:36 - I am glad u got the scene when they were regrouping and the words between Cyclops and Wolverine:
Wolverine: "Hey, hey it's me."
Cyclops: "Prove it."
Wolverine: "You're a dick."
Cyclops: "Ok"
Best part of the movie.
FUN FACT (No spoilers, because none of this ever comes up in the movies, ....because the movies completely waste the character):
Mystique AKA real name Raven Darkholme is from the Victorian Era.
Her wife is the mutant Destiny AKA Irene Adler.
Raven and Irene are supposed to be Rogue's adoptive parents.
During the Victorian Era, Raven worked as a detective, and Irene was her assistant.
It's HEAVILY implied that Raven DarkHOLME used the identity of Sherlock Holmes.
Irene Adler (famously the name of Sherlock Holmes' lover) recorded Mystique and Destiny's investigations as the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and she published them under the pseudonym "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle".
In the published version of their adventures, Destiny takes the roll of both herself-Irene Adler (Sherlock's lover) as well as Dr. John Watson (Sherlock's partner in solving mysteries).
Mystique is ALSO the biological mother of one of the X-Men that you'll meet in X-Men 2.
I think you'll figure out which one.
But again, the movies only BARELY even hint at it, and basically let that whole storyline go completely to waste.
Mystique has one of the most awesome backstories of ANY character, and somehow these movies COMPELTELY waste it. 🤷♂
There's also an iconic X-Men villain (who doesn't appear in the movies) named Mister Sinister, who was ALSO from the Victorian Era.
He started out in the Victorian Era as a hyper-malevolent mad scientist named Dr. Nathaniel Essex, who preformed all sort of ultra weird experiments on people.
In SOME Marvel continuities he's responsible for creating Jack The Ripper as one of his creations.
And he would send The Ripper out into the night to do his bidding.
It turns out that the mysterious Whitechapel murders, and their mysteriously surgical nature was Jack The Ripper murdering prostitutes and stealing their organs and body parts for use in Dr. Essex's mad experiments.
It's a story that's never been told in the comics, and the comics only VERY briefly touch on the Victorian histories of these characters, but I've always thought that one of the coolest possible Disney+ series would be a Mystique origin story set in Victorian London, exploring her backstory with Destiny as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, and ESPECIALLY delving into Mystique investigating and battling Jack The Ripper and Dr. Essex.
It would be dark, crazy, fascinating, mysterious, creepy, steampunk, and WILDLY different from anything we've seen in the MCU.
And, since they're rebooting the X-Men into the MCU, and very very very VERY few people know Mystique and Mr. Sinister's backstories, and instead they only know the WILDLY different (and fairly mundane) movie Mystique backstory, it would blow people's minds!
One thing X-Men is known for especially in the comics is their depiction & call out for some social issues like discrimination that mirrored the times then when they were released.
So I guess the line "You know what happens when a Toad is struck by lightning, the same thing that happens to everything else" was supposed to be a running gag with Toad saying something like that before whatever he was gonna do but it was all cut out and made Storm look kinda stupid like... "Storm what does that mean?" lol
You missed Stan Lee's cameo as the hot dog vendor at 15:33, as Senator Kelly is emerging from the ocean.
Yes the xmen were typically portrayed in yellow before this movie.
Yes AND no. The original team wore identical yellow and black uniforms from 1963-67, before switching to individual costumes until the book was cancelled in 1970.
The yellow uniforms returned when the X-Men made appearances in other books between 1972 and 1974. (The X-Men comic had been revived in 1971 as an all reprint book so the look of the team reverted to match the uniforms in the reprint series.)
The All-New, All-Different X-Men, who debuted in 1975 and on whom the films were based, wore individualized costumes from Day One, with yellow, black and blue being Wolverine's signature look. (Yellow was used as an accent color on other characters, but their costumes were primarily other colors.)
The original yellow uniforms were revived in 1982 for the New Mutants spin-off book, before they, too, got individual costumes several years later.
And now that's more than anyone needs to know about the X-Men and yellow spandex.
Your reactions are by far the most genuine 🙂
Scott Summers aka Cyclops can't shut off his eye beams. He has to wear special ruby quartz glasses or a visor that adjusts it's output to keep them from firing off.
X-men are my favorite group of any superhero group, the movie versions of them aren’t really that good representation of them except wolverine,professor X,and Magneto but some of the movies are still good
The actor playing Toad, is the same actor who played Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I.
Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman, appears in 9 films:
- X-Men
- X2: X-Men united
- X3: The Last Stand / X-Men: The Last Stand
- X-Men: First Class
- X-Men: Days of Future Past
- X-Men: Apocalypse
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine
- The Wolverine
- Logan
In more than half of these films, Wolverine/Logan is a main character, or THE main character. There are a few of these films in which his appearance is either a cameo, or is not central to the story. Charles Xavier also appears in each of these films.
The best of these films, are: X2, Days of Future Past, and Logan.
The events of the first X-Men trilogy are envisioned as occurring within a year or so of one another. The events of the second three films are envisioned as occurring over a 20-year period, from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. The events of ‘The Wolverine’ are envisioned as occurring some time after X3: the Last Stand.
The films •can• be viewed as self-contained, stand-alone units... but, that's not ideal: because events build on one another over time, it couldn’t hurt to view them either in the order listed above, or in release order. For ex, if a person viewed 'X2', without having first seen 'X-Men,' then, among other things, they would miss the story of Magneto and what he did in the first film, which is part of the back story for the second film.
••••
My understanding is that when the first X-Men comics were created in the early 1960s, Stan Lee conceived ‘mutants’ as being a sort of parallel with blacks during the Civil Rights era (then underway). Xavier and Magneto, the two leaders in conflict, were conceived of as rough stand-ins for Martin Luther King Jr, and Malcom X, respectively (Which the X-Men film tacitly acknowledges, by having Magneto say the exact phrase that is the title of Malcolm X’s book, “By any means necessary.”)
Before Hugh Jackman forever became Wolverine because of this movie, he was in New York playing a very different character. He was playing Curly in a production of Oklahoma on Broadway. It's well known now, but when he came onto the movie scene, it wasn't revealed until later that Hugh is a big song-and-dance man. He was well known in his native Australia as a stage performer. He was the original Gaston when the stage version of Beauty and the Beast premiered in Australia. Recently, he did a run on Broadway doing The Music Man. It was delayed because of Covid, but when the curtain finally rose, it was very well received. Hugh also said that he would've jumped at the chance to play Wolverine in The Avengers. He's returning to the role apparently when mutants are revealed in the MCU. We'll see what happens. The X-Men film franchise gets a little muddy with the jumping around in time after The Wolverine. Here's hoping for a more stable continuity within the MCU. I met Famke Janssen (Jean Grey) a few years ago at a convention. Lovely lady from the Netherlands. Met Ray Park too. Super nice guy. A little underused here. There are other comic book movies that deserve more recognition that were done in the 1990s. Some are admittedly a bit campy, but still a fun watch. Excluding the Batman films from that decade, I recommend the following: The Rocketeer(based on the comics by Dave Stevens), The Phantom(based on the long-running comic strip), and The Shadow(based on the radio show from the 1930s) which starred Alec Baldwin when he was more likable.
Hugh Jackman returns as Wolverine in Deadpool 3.
27:08 that’s what you get for spitting mucus at Jean grey, 🐸! Hasta la vista, slimeball!