Some eXciting First Class details


I just glanced over on the official Facebook page for the upcoming X-Men First Class movie and stumbled across a Q and A with actor Oliver Platt who plays “The Man in Black”, and he managed to spill a few more details regarding some of the plot of the movie that I find rather interesting.

Source: X Men Movies Official Facebook Page

  • Here’s the question we all want to know. Who exactly is the Man in Black?
    The Man In Black runs a super secret division of the CIA devoted to investigating the application of mental telepathy and paranormal power in military defense. He has long been a laughing stock of the Agency because of this. His department is known as ‘Division X’.
  • How does your character fit into the mutant universe?
    When Charles and Mystique become ensnared with the Agency, the Man in Black diverts them to his division with a deft bureaucratic sleight of hand. Erik soon joins them and The X-Men flourish under MIB’s protection.
  • They also hurled some questions at Rose Byrne who will be playing this films’ Moira Mactaggert

  • In the comics Moira MacTaggert has been the love interest of both Charles Xavier and Sean Cassidy (Banshee) Are these relationships explored in the script?
    We explore the relationship of Moira and Charles but not with Banshee – at least not yet!
  • Moira didn’t have the accent in Last Stand, so I can only assume she won’t be having it in First Class?
    No, Matthew Vaughn was adamant she be American – despite James McAvoy’s slight disappointment as he is Scottish.
  • Will we get a chance to see Muir Island?
    Sadly no, not in this installment.
  • You know what? This is more information than I bargained for. If I recall correctly there’s a suggested history between Professor X and Mystique in the comics similar to her and Wolverine and I’m wondering exactly how the Prof and Mystique initially get entangled with the CIA rather than he and Erik.

    The other thing is the fact that they won’t be visiting Muir island in this flick. I don’t know why but I presumed it would be featuring the locale of Muir island if it’s exploring the adventures of a young Charles Xavier, as a lot of his early research was rooted directly into his relationship with Moira on the island.

    What the hell is going to happen in this movie??
    Radar. Overload.

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    8 thoughts on “Some eXciting First Class details

    1. I’ve always had an issue with the X-movies. Mainly because they’ve just given the big middle finger to X-men cannon and basically used the characters in stories that have for the most part, made little sense to me. For the most part, I’ve found the movies entertaining, but it seems like Fox doesn’t even try to draw from the over 40 years of comic history at their disposal. If they do, it’s in the broadest sense possible. I really have no problem with updating the back-stories of character, i.e. Iron Man. I’m sure I’ll see this movie when it comes out but it’s hovering just above Green Lantern on my excitement meter. Why not make Moria Scottish? She’s been Scottish for 40 damn years and since when are all these character only a few years younger the Prof X and Magneto? This may end up being a great movie, but in my opinion the Xmen movies are movies with comic book characters in them, not comic book movies. End Rant.

      1. While I agree with you on the small detail of Moira being scottish. I think it would be hard for any studio to pull anything from decades of X-man cannon. The X books have been a continuity nightmare for decades now. They have a million alternate universes and the X ranks are filled with time travelers, the dead come back to life and Angel can’t decide between a Blue or Pink pigmentation. These books while fun to read could be a mess to faithfully translate to the screen. Given the X-men’s crazy comic history, I think Fox has done a good job adapting the source material.

        1. You are right knossis, people who read the comics know that the books themselves are a convoluted nightmare. There are too many frauds out there who watched the 90’s animated series and then swear they read the comics. This isn’t so. Every ten years or even less all of the stories reinvent themselves with twists. Developing a movie with the X-Men feel and certain strong character points is all you need really. Just look at it as a different artist and writers take on the comic, it happens all the time!

        2. knossis, I agree that the X-Men comics are a continuity nightmare. The number of alternate futures and displaced time travelers is crazy. Heck, I can think of at least three versions of Cable alone, Cable; Nate Grey and Stryfe and let’s not start with the number of times Jean Grey has died and come back.

          I’m not looking for a direct translation to any one storyline. My problem with the movies has been the apparent random changes made to characters ages and characterizations. In the comics, Scott Summers is a very strong character with leadership skills on par with Captain America. In the first set of movies, he was an afterthought at best. How in the hell are Havok, Darwin, Emma Frost and Beast hanging out with Professor X and Magneto as young men? Professor X has always been portrayed as a father figure to the X-men, not a big brother. Character changes in comic movies are inevitable, but the changes in the X movies have made the least amount of sense (Not counting Super Child in Superman Returns). I’ve learned to turn off my comic geek when watching these movies. I look at them as X-men “What-If” movies. I repeat, I’ve enjoyed the movies, but there are still little things that bother me and take away from the movies.

          @Roman, I’ve been reading comics for over 30 years so I hope you weren’t counting me as one of those frauds.

      2. I see your point. When you mentioned the 40 years I thought you were meaning 40 years of story telling. You’re centering more on characterization. I totally agree with you on the Cyclops front. They totally wasted him in the movies. I loved what Joss Whedon did with Cyclops during his run. Cyke was a bad ass in during that. When it comes to our beloved comic properties I think we should just separate the movie universe from the comic universe. They will never match up completely. Even Marvel studios have found they have to change some things so the general public can jump aboard. Although they have stayed more faithful than any movie studio ever has. I agree that Fox should have at least kept some continuity in regards to which characters arrived on the scene first.

        1. Exactly! Changes are going to happen and one would be silly to expect a direct translation from the comics to a live action movie. All I ask is for the studios to stay true to these characters that have been around for decades. It’s something that Nolan’s Batman series and the Iron Man series have done very well. I don’t have a problem with changing or combining comic storylines for the sake of creating a movie. With FOX and the X films it seems like they haven’t taken the time to learn or simply don’t care about the history or characterizations in the comics. It feels like FOX takes a list of characters and their powers and fits them into a story, whereas they should take the characters first and build a story around they relate to one another. The X films have been fun, but in my opinion, something has always felt off about them. I don’t get the same feeling while watching TDK or Iron Man.

          I will say, that FOX has done a good job with the Professor X / Magneto relationship and Jackman as Wolverine (His movie sucked, but he’s nailed the character), but there’s a lot more to the X-Men then those three characters.

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