CHARACTER SWAPS / CHANGES:
- Sebastian Shaw is replaced with Nathaniel Essex / Mister Sinister.
- Havok is replaced with Cannonball.
- Angel is replaced with Marrow.
- Riptide is replaced with Blockbuster.
- ‘Man in Black’ is named Fred Duncan.
Nathaniel Essex has been experimenting on mutants for years, and allied with Nazi Germany under the alias Klaus Schmidt during WWII where he encounters young Erik Lensherr.
- He is nicknamed is “Mister Sinister” due to his cruel experimentation in the camp.
- Mister Sinister is able to absorb energy, which also keeps him young (yes, he has Shaw’s powers). When he absorbs a huge amount, his body distorts at a molecular level which harkens back to (some of) Sinister’s comic-accurate powers.
The film’s prologue opens the same. When young Erik cannot move the coin, despite his best efforts, Mister Sinister (as Klaus Schmidt) shoots and kills Erik’s mother in front of him. In his rage, Erik’s out-of-control magnetic power kills the two guards and destroys two rooms, to Sinister’s delight.
Hank McCoy creates the Cerebro prototype used to find the First Class. Later, in the X-Mansion, Erik will make a passing reference to helping Xavier build a new model in the basement—a tongue-in-cheek reference to the
X-Men (2000) continuity.
- Sam / Cannonball is found locked away in prison (by his own choosing) and afraid of his own powers.
- Sean / Banshee & Darwin are introduced in the same way as the film.
- Sarah / Marrow is introduced as a dancer, same as Angel is the film.
- Shiro / Sunfire is beloved in his town, a local celebrity—“Sounds like fun.”
- Wolverine cameo is still featured to close the montage—“Go **** yourself.”
The Hellfire Club's roster is slightly changed--Mister Sinister, Emma Frost, Azazel, and Blockbuster (replacing Riptide).
- Azazel is still menacing but has a flirtatious charm (as we see in the Club's intro sequence in Las Vegas, and when he confronts the First Class at the CIA Compound). The additional personality traits and recasting with an actor closer in age to Jennifer Lawrence will make a future pairing between Mystique & Azazel more believable (though not explored in this film).
- Blockbuster provides a better physical confrontation for the First Class than Riptide (ideally this would have been Juggernaut / Cain Marko, but X-Men: The Last Stand continuity prevents that).
- The Hellfire Club foot soldiers are present in the 60s and operate The Hellfire Club's submarine.
Magneto and Xavier corner Emma Frost in Russia (as in the film). Xavier and Frost then have a psychic duel on the Astral Plane in a 60s-psychedelic & mind-bending sequence:
- Before she can be defeated, Frost transforms into her diamond form where her mind is impenetrable. (her clothes do not also turn diamond—minor nitpick!)
- Magneto proceeds to choke her with a metal post until she reverts to her human form so Xavier can extract Sinister’s plan from her mind.
During Sinister’s assault on the CIA compound, Sunfire is killed due to his arrogance (Darwin survives). Marrow leaves with the Hellfire Club.
- At their first introductions, Sunfire is the one who has the most power (and control) amongst the first class. Of course, this feeds his arrogance/ego which ultimately is his demise against Mister Sinister.
- When Sunfire falls to Sinister, the team is at its lowest point. Not only have they lost a new friend, but they’re down a heavy-hitter. The mutants’ abilities are not necessarily offensive in nature, so this will make the training sequence at the X-Mansion more necessary.
Mister Sinister creates the ‘Magneto’ helmet; it’s not a “gift from the Russians.” As a mutant geneticist, he’s uniquely qualified to create a shield against mutant psychic powers.
Hank’s insecurity over his mutant appearance is more subtlety written and he’s less tone-deaf in his conversations with Raven; although the divide between the two still exists and leads to their parting when she eventually leaves with Magneto.
Hank does still experiment on himself the night before the mission, thinking that he’s developed a suppressant with Raven’s blood/DNA (maybe it’d even be a useful tool against Essex as a last resort, Hank argues).
- Like the film, the serum itself exacerbates his mutation & he’s transformed into the blue & furry Beast (better prosthetics & CGI than the film version, closer to X-Men: Days of Future Past but not as bright).
After the X-Jet crashes on the beach in Cuba,
Mystique vs. Marrow:
Close, hand-to-hand fighting.
Beast vs. Azazel:
Beast uses both his smarts and his animalistic powers to defeat Azazel.
Cannonball & Banshee vs. Blockbuster:
Long range attacks to avoid Blockbuster’s reach — Sam gets in trouble when he flies in too close.
Darwin vs. Hellfire Club foot soldiers:
His mutant ability makes him a safe target to draw away gunfire from his teammates.
Inside the submarine, Mister Sinister is adorned is his full comics-accurate blue costume with the ‘Magneto’ helmet. The confrontation plays the same with Erik slowly passing the coin through Sinister’s skull.
Xavier is paralyzed on the beach after one of Moira’s deflected bullets strikes his spine— she was trying to stop Magneto from unleashing the missile payload back onto the US and Russia warships.
Mystique leaves with Magneto and Marrow, Azazel, & Blockbuster. Army helicopters are heard and seen coming from distance.
- Before they BAMF away, Mystique kisses Beast goodbye. She then quietly says to him “Mutant and Proud” in a moment for only them and not shouted across the beach.
We later see the X-Men (Cannonball, Darwin, & Banshee) moving into the X-Mansion in an outro montage for their characters.
A wheelchair-bound Xavier and his mutants are at the mansion, where he intends to open a school. Moira promises Xavier never to reveal his location and they kiss; later at a CIA debriefing, she says she has no memory of recent events.
- She leaves the Bureau and we see her packing up her cubicle with several genetics textbooks as well as Xavier’s doctorate thesis— foreshadowing her future in mutant research at Muir Island.
The movie ends with Magneto breaking out Emma Frost from the CIA prison with his newly formed Brotherhood of Mutants: Mystique, Marrow, Azazel, & Blockbuster.
Magneto is dressed in a classic, comics-accurate, costume.
THE X-MEN WILL RETURN.
