X-Men: The Real Ones

I just got back from seeing X-Men: Days of Future Past and I have to say that I was a bit disappointed. They may as well call it WOLVERINE (and those other mutant guys). It never ceases to amaze me how the public latches on to the most insane, homicidal, and mentally disturbed characters and make them the popular ones. Wolverine, Punisher, Deadshot, the Joker, etc. All of these characters are seriously flawed and most began their careers as villains - many of them remain villains. Now Marvel was notorious for making classically flawed characters; it's what set them apart from the DC Heroes and other "shining examples" of heroism in the Silver Age of comics. But they've taken it a step too far in my opinion.

What is wrong with telling the story of the mutants from the beginning, in sequential order, as it was done in the comics? Obviously there were elements of good storytelling there or else it would never have become popular. But, the funny thing is that the X-Men title was never all that popular. It was almost cancelled many times during its initial run in the 1960s and 1970s. It wasn't until the team was revamped in 1975 with Giant-Sized X-Men #1 that the team became popular as the "Uncanny X-Men." I started with this new team when I first got into comics at the tender age of 5 or 6 years old. My uncle had bought me many comics before this - the Invaders, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, Super Friends, Aquaman, Batman, etc. - but this team of mutant heroes seemed more dramatic, more powerful, and even dangerous. They were outlaws, apart from society and feared by many but still fighting the good fight against the mutant menaces in the world. In essence, they were still heroes. Anti-heroes were only just becoming part of the comic scene.

With the coming of more flawed mutants - Wolverine, Thunderbird, the ex-criminal Banshee, the bizarre-looking Nightcrawler, and the arrogant Sunfire - came a host of new personalities. One of the greatest tools of the comic-book writer was the "non-background." It enabled characters with "cool costumes" to be inserted with little or no back-story, to be fleshed out during the telling of the comic book serial. Wolverine started as little more than a beer-swilling runt with an attitude. All we X-Men fans knew was that he originated in Canada and had unbreakable metal claws. If you were lucky enough to have read his introduction in the Incredible Hulk you might have had more information, but for the majority of us readers, he was just a man in a blue and yellow tiger suit with metal claws. Let's face it, not the most interesting of powers or abilities when his teammates could hurl lightning bolts, become solid metal, blast things to pieces with eye beams, or teleport in a puff of smoke.

When I first read of Wolverine I was less than impressed. I was much more eager to learn of the other, older X-Men rescued from Krakoa Island. These mutants looked interesting! Angel, Polaris, Havok, Iceman, Marvel Girl - all of these characters seemed to have a history, a reason for being there and behaving the way they did. The dramatic battle with the mutant-island Krakoa demonstrated teamwork, interpersonal relationships between the various older X-Men, and just how ineffective some of the newer X-Men (namely Wolverine, Thunderbird, and Nightcrawler) really were in a battle of powers. Although I can't really say much for Angel, the other original X-Men all had very definite, visually appealing abilities when it came to raw power (and the most important for a comic book story). Even Beast, the least visually appealing of the X-Men (big hands and feet, some mutation) was later altered to be blue and furry, and then quickly ushered off the team and into the Avengers as a support character at the mansion.

The new movie sought to correct some previous story lines that they had taken in weird directions - killing off main characters, altering storylines, and confusing origins. I have to ask why the original stories behind the characters weren't enough? They could have started with Giant-Sized X-Men #1 and just covered the older X-Men in flashbacks. Magneto as a villain is really downplayed in the original movies, but the current young version of Magneto portrayed in Days of Future Past is more on the mark with what he was like in the original comics - seeking mutant domination over humanity and proclaiming that Homo superior was the next evolutionary step. I actually liked the X-Men: First Class movie, not because it was true to the comics, but rather it was true to the time period and made some sense in the story told thus far.

Now we come to the part of the movie that irked me. They just undid the entire story of the X-Men told thus far in the previous movies. The ONLY movies that were relatively unaffected were the Wolverine movies. Again, the X-Men comic was the vehicle that catapulted Wolverine to stardom; now the movies have done the same. I'm glad that the older X-Men are shown more respect in this movie, but at the same time I feel that the previous movies are now completely disrespected. Again, starting over with GS X-Men #1 would have been the way to go. They don't have to follow the story to the letter, and once it is told they could have taken it in other directions. However, it's hard to feel for Scott and Jean during the Phoenix saga when you really only just met the characters in the last movie. This mucking with the story is one of the reasons why I hate stories with time travel. Not only do they undo the past, they muck up the future and make the present a very confusing thing. One needs to know where they've been before they can see where they're going. History and continuity are very important to stories and the human condition!

Despite all my criticisms and complaints, I believe that the X-Men franchise of movies has done good things for the comic industry. It has rekindled interest in the characters and brought another generation of children in touch with heroes of my childhood. The casting of the X-Men has been phenomenal for almost every character, although I wish they got their info right on the main characters (Alex Summers was not older than Scott, Angel and Iceman were original members with Hank "Beast" McCoy, etc.). It would be awesome to see a computer-animated X-Men series that introduces the younger generation to the ACTUAL story of the X-Men in chronological order. Some of the less important or non-essential stories could be skipped or seen in flashbacks, but the major points of the X-Men history should be told!