Stars: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult, Kevin Bacon, Jason Flemyng, Zoë Kravitz, Lucas Till, Morgan Lily, Oliver Platt and Edi Gathegi
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: June 3, 2011
Plot Summary: X-Men: First Class unveils the epic beginning of the X-Men saga – and a secret history of the Cold War and our world at the brink of nuclear Armageddon. As the first class discovers, harnesses, and comes to terms with their formidable powers, alliances are formed that will shape the eternal war between the heroes and villains of the X-Men universe.
With X-Men: First Class hitting theaters in a couple of weeks I'm sure there are questions about which characters we will be seeing in the film and the back-stories in which these characters have. This film will eventually lead to more films in the franchise so First Class gives an origin story of some of your favorite Marvel mutants so with that said lets get started.
PROFESSOR X
What You Should Know: An original member of the X-Men, bald, paraplegic Professor X, aka, Dr. Charles Xavier, is the founder of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, a scientific genius, and the putative leader of the group. He is an extraordinarily gifted telepath who can read and control minds. He uses his powers to promote peaceful co-existence between the mutually distrustful human and mutant races.
In the Marvel comics mythology Charles Xavier is the son of a Brian Xavier, a nuclear scientist and Sharon, a housewife. When his biological father dies, Sharon Xavier remarries Kurt Marko, a colleague of Brian’s, who brings his son Cain along and into the family. Sharon later dies and a fight between Xavier and Cain results in a lab fire that kills Kurt Marko. Cain never forgives Xavier and wrongfully blames him for his father’s death. Cain later is transformed into the Juggernaut (played by Vinnie Jones in X-Men: The Last Stand, though there appears to be no familial connection in that mythology).
Charles fights in the Korean War alongside his stepbrother Cain, and, after the war is over, works as an orderly in a clinic for Holocaust survivors in Haifa, Israel. There he meets Eric Lehnsherr, the future Magneto. Xavier realizes that Lehnserr is a very powerful mutant and that, though fast friends, they have very different views on the mutant-human relationship. Lehnsherr sees in humans their potential to commit genocide, something he fears will be done with mutants. The friends part ways.
Xavier travels to the Himalayas where he encounters an alien named Lucifer who is planning a full-scale invasion of the planet. Charles thwarts Lucifer’s plans and the alien retaliates by dropping a stone block on him, leaving him forever crippled. Returning to the United States, Xavier founds his School for Gifted Youngsters. His first students are Beast, Iceman, Angel, Cyclops and Marvel Girl; the original X-Men. He also creates Cerebro, a special machine that augments his powers and allows him to detect mutants the world over.
MAGNETO
What You Should Know: A powerful villain who appears at the very dawn of the X-Men comic mythology, Magneto is really Holocaust survivor Max Eisenhardt. He is an extremely powerful mutant who has the ability to generate and manipulate myriad forms of magnetism.
In the Marvel universe Max sees his entire family murdered before his eyes and then is sent to Auschwitz where he witnesses the full expression of the Holocaust horror. He survives the ordeal and meets a gypsy named Magda. They move to the Ukraine and later produce a daughter, Anya. Further persecution from a mob causes Max’s powers to first burst forth. He slaughters the mob (and, incidentally, half the village) that has set fire to his home but he can’t save his daughter, who perishes. Magda flees him, terrified of his power, although she carries his unborn twins (later to become the Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver). Eisenhardt changes his identity to Eric Lehnsherr and leaves the U.S.S.R.
It is in Haifa, Israel where meets his friend and lifelong nemesis, Charles Xavier, aka Professor X. They both work as orderlies at a clinic for Holocaust survivors and tentatively discuss hypothetical scenarios about mutant humans. They eventually reveal their secret gifts when opposing a Nazi hunting for Third Reich gold. But their opposite views of humanity drive them apart, Xavier believing that humans and mutants can peacefully co-exist while Eric is convinced that they are Homo-superior and the eventual, logical, evolutionary expression of mankind. Xavier leaves to continue his travels and Eric with the Nazi gold, which he uses to bankroll his future. Lensherr then creates The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (aka The Brotherhood), a collective of like-minded mutants who believed themselves besieged. They included his—unbeknownst to him—children, The Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver, along with a shifting roster of characters including Mystique and Toad.
Much like Xavier’s school, Lensherr tries to establish a home for mutants, using an asteroid, a conquered South American country, an orbital satellite and eventually, the island of Genosha. The island rises as a beacon to mutants who wish to live separately from humans and, under Magneto, becomes a powerful nation. But, the island is mercilessly attacked by Cassandra Nova, Xavier’s evil twin sister (one unbeknownst to him), and the Sentinels, giant mutant-hunting robots (that appear during the simulation scene at the beginning of X-Men: The Last Stand). An estimated 16 million mutants are killed in the genocide. Later battles leave Magneto the island’s only inhabitant.
MYSTIQUE
What You Should Know: Raven Darkhölme, aka Mystique, is a blue-skinned, yellow-eyed shapeshifter and mimic. She cannot only imitate nearly everyone, she also has excellent athletic prowess and knowledge of martial arts, making her a dangerous adversary. She is an assassin who eliminates many mutant affair officials and is one of the leaders of The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
In the comic mythology, Mystique’s origins are shrouded in mystery; no one knows her true age. She is married to an infertile German baron but he discovers she has been shapeshifting to have dalliances with other men and she kills him.
She later also has a female lover and companion named Destiny (aka Irene Adler), whose power is to be able to foretell the future. Together they raise the orphan Rogue from a child to young adulthood. But Mystique is also the lover of Sabretooth (aka Victor Creed) and the mother of several other heroes and villains in the Marvel universe including (SPOILER ALERT: Nightcrawler).
BEAST
What You Should Know: One of the original X-Men, Beast, aka Dr. Henry “Hank” McCoy, is a mutant intellectual stuck inside the body of monstrous, constantly evolving, creature.
Beast appeared in X-Men #1 in September of 1963. Originally Hank McCoy looked like a man, though with ape-like hands and feet. He was agile and dexterous on all four limbs which, combined with great strength, coordination and speed, made him more like a hairless simian-turned-gymnast than the Beast we know today. Regardless, his combined talents made him a welcome addition to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. At the Academy he was able to concentrate on his studies and improve his substantial intellect. Outwardly, over time, Beast grew more animalistic. He became hirsute, with the color turning from grey to blue. Later, his entire physiognomy changed and he went from being ape-like to a hulking feline form, with pointed ears and canine teeth.
Inside of Beast, however, is a Renaissance man. McCoy is, at once, a scholar and a super-scientist, specializing in genetics, mathematics and biochemistry. He is the science and math instructor at Xavier’s School for the Gifted.
He appears, albeit briefly, and in human form, in X2, being interviewed on the TV in a bar where Grace (really Mystique) picks up Magneto’s brutal prison guard. X-Men: The Last Stand he was played by Kelsey Grammer, where he had a much more prominent role as the Secretary of the Department of Mutant Affairs, a special envoy to and diplomat for the President of the United States.
EMMA FROST
Played in X-Men: First Class by: January JonesWhat You Should Know: Emma Frost, the scantily clad superhero with a predilection for white outfits, was originally a villain in the X-Men mythology. She appeared as the telepath, The White Queen, a member of an elite worldwide organization of the super-rich called the Hellfire Club, run by the ruthless mutant, Sebastian Shaw.
Frost was one of four children born to demanding, wealthy parents in Boston. Somewhat a rebel, Emma rejected the family business, her inheritance, and her comfortable upbringing. She did not reject, however, the world of money and power. Ever resourceful, she moved her way up in the world of business and academia using her brains, her looks and her mental telepathy. She eventually became the CEO of her parents’ company , head of the Hellfire Group, and headmistress of the Massachusetts Academy, a mutant school which competed with Xavier’s School for Mutants. Frost changed radically, however, after one of her own sisters, Adrienne, tried to blow up the Massachusetts Academy, killing some students. Enraged, Emma hunted down and killed her sister in cold blood.
Emma then moved to Genosha, the mutant refuge created by Magneto, and became a teacher there. After Genosha was attacked by the Sentinels (the mutant-hunting robots) and most of the population was wiped out, Frost again transformed. She gained the ability to turn her outward shell into pure diamonds, making her nearly invulnerable (save for one flaw in one diamond, her Achilles’ heel). Now accepted by the X-Men, Frost began a psychic, non-physical affair with Scott Grey, aka Cyclops.
Even after the affair was exposed, Emma Frost remained a member of the X-Men, probably because of the outfits.
Frost was played in X-Men Origins: Wolverine by Tahyna Tozzi. In the film, she is the younger sister of Kayla Silverfox, which is different than the comics.
AZAZEL
What You Should Know: A demonic mutant from ancient times, Azazel is a villain in the X-Men mythology and the father of Nightcrawler (we’ll leave the identity of Nightcrawler’s mother out, since it may be a spoiler for some). Azazel has the ability to teleport across long distances, sometimes even from dimension to dimension.
In the comics Azazel is an extremely powerful creature who claims the entire world as his own. In addition to his teleportation abilities he can generate bolts of energy, as well shapeshift. Trapped by angels in another dimension, Azazel found he could breach the void for brief periods of time using his powers. He further discovered that he could access a world more easily if he had fathered a child in it.
In an attempt to free his demonic brethren of old, Azazel summoned his numerous children, including Nightcrawler, to the Isla Des Demonas where he expected them to sacrifice themselves. Their deaths would ensure that the portal to the prison dimension would be opened. His plans were thwarted by the X-Men and Azazel vanished.
First Class is the first on-screen appearance of the character in the four live-action X-Men films.
DR. MOIRA MACTAGGART
What You Should Know: Dr. Moira MacTaggart is one of the foremost authorities on human genetic mutation. She lives and works on Muir Island, off the coast of Scotland. In the books, she is now deceased, the first human casualty of the Legacy virus. Rahne Sinclair, her former ward, was a member of the New Mutants, X-Force, and X-Factor. Dr. McTaggart was known for her fierce determination, her sympathy to the mutant cause, and her ability to argue even Professor Xavier down.
SEBASTIAN SHAW
What You Should Know: A mutant, Shaw possesses the ability to absorb kinetic energy and transform it into raw strength. He is the leader of the New York branch of the Hellfire Club, an exclusive secret society bent on world domination, although to the public, he is a legitimate businessman and ordinary human. He once funded the mutant-hunting Sentinel program to keep it under his thumb.
ANGEL SALVADORE
What You Should Know: Driven out of home by her abusive step-father, fourteen-year old Angel Salvadore slept in the woods, where her mutant nature manifested itself in the form of a protective cocoon. Emerging, Angel was shocked to discover she had grown fly-like wings. She was found by the U-Men, a group of humans who harvested mutant body parts to graft onto themselves. Before they could make Angel their next unwilling donor, she was rescued by Wolverine and taken to the Xavier Institute. Angel reluctantly enrolled as a student, and was soon forced to help the Stepford Cuckoos and Beak oppose an assault by the alien Shi'ar Imperial Guard. Angel was subsequently placed in the Special Class taught by the mutant healer Xorn.
Later, during a flight class, Angel accepted a dare to kiss Beak, unintentionally causing him to fall in love with her. To her own surprise, Angel began to fall for him as well, and on a school camping trip they snuck away to have an intimate encounter before they were attacked by U-Men. With Xorn's help, the U-Men were defeated, and the Class returned to the Institute in time to help quell a riot fomented by Quentin Quire. Angel subsequently told Beak she was pregnant, and laid eggs on the ceiling of a shack on the school's grounds. She was implicated in an attempt on the life of teacher Emma Frost just before her eggs hatched, but it was ultimately revealed that she had been mentally controlled by rogue Stepford Cuckoo Esme.
Soon after, Xorn was coerced by an unknown party into believing he was the X-Men's nemesis Magneto, and the Special Class were convinced by Esme, one of the Stepford Cuckoos, to serve as his Brotherhood until his defeat by the X-Men. Later, Beak became unhinged from time and joined the reality-hopping Exiles team, leaving Angel and the children to believe he had abandoned them. During the Scarlet Witch's reality warp, Angel lived a life as a successful and childless plus-sized model with no memory of Beak. She was briefly possessed by the reality-altering mutant Proteus before he was forced out of her body during an encounter with the Exiles. Near death, Angel was healed by a regenerative serum the Exiles had obtained. After reality was restored, both Angel and Beak discovered they and all of their children, excepting Tito, had lost their mutant powers.
HAVOK
What You Should Know: Alexander Summers AKA Havok is the younger of the two sons of Christopher Summers, a United States Air Force Major and test pilot, and his wife Katherine Anne. The family were flying back from a vacation in their vintage airplane when they crashed into a scout ship of the intergalactic Shi'ar Empire, setting the wooden plane ablaze. Their mother pushed the brothers out of the burning plane with the only available parachute, allowing them to escape capture by the aliens.
The two boys were hospitalized for injuries they sustained during their landing. Alex left the hospital after two weeks and was placed in an orphanage in Omaha, Nebraska that was secretly run by the master geneticist Mister Sinister. Alex was soon adopted by the Blanding family, who had lost their son Todd. However, the family were still traumatized by their loss, and treated Alex as if he were Todd. (Unknown to Alex, his brother Scott would become the hero Cyclops and join the X-Men.)
Sinister continued to monitor Alex whilst he lived with his foster family. When he noticed the first stirrings of Alex's mutant powers, Sinister incited the local school bully Vincent, who had caused Todd's accident, to attack Alex. The subsequent stress caused Alex's mutant powers to manifest and he incinerated Vincent. Sinister then placed a genetic lock upon Alex to curtail the development of his powers.
Havok generates powerful “plasma blasts”, an ability he has had difficulty controlling. He is the son of Corsair, the younger brother of the X-Men’s Cyclops, and the older brother of Vulcan. He often resents Cyclops’ authoritative attitude and reputation as a model X-Man. In contrast, Havok and his longtime love interest Polaris have had a love/hate relationship with the team, often finding themselves roped into it. Both were also members of the 1990s-era Pentagon-sponsored mutant team X-Factor. After X-Factor disbanded, Havok starred in Mutant X, a series in which he explored a strange alternate reality. He has since returned to the X-Men, later taking over his father's role as leader of the Starjammers to bring Vulcan's reign over the Shi'ar to an end.
BANSHEE
Played in X-Men: First Class by: Caleb Landry Jones
What You Should Know: An Irish mutant, Banshee possesses a "sonic scream," capable of harming enemies’ auditory systems and causing physical vibrations. He is named after the banshee, a legendary ghost from Irish mythology, said to possess a powerful cry, although the banshee spirit is invariably female. A former Interpol agent and NYPD officer, Banshee was always a decade older than most of the X-Men and had only a relatively short tenure as a full-time X-Man. He was, however, a mentor of the 1990s-era junior team Generation X.
So there you have it. Hope this helps identifying these characters in the film when X-Men: First Class hits theaters on June 3rd!
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