Days of Future Past The official Michael Fassbender / Magneto thread

[craigdbfan]

Heh, it's starting to be a requirement to be well endowed in order to play Magneto.

We've heard the rumors about McKellan's junk and now we all know about Fassbender's "Assbender" after seeing Shame...

"Small peckers were never an option!"

 

[Mrs Vimes]

Found this interesting bit:

Erik Talks To People - a transcript

A few months ago, I was having a discussion with a friend about Erik's feelings about Moira in XMFC. Does he respect her, does he put up with her because Charles likes her, does he think she's less awful than most flatscaners, etc.

But it's almost impossible to tell what Erik thinks of any character in XMFC other than Charles and Shaw on a personal level without making a lot of things up, because he talks so little to anyone else. So little that we could actually transcribe it.

I mean, he only holds actual, honest to god conversations with six people. Two of those are nazis he kills in a bar, another is a banker with whom he plays dentist.

So if you take out his interactions with the two central figures of his life in XMFC AND the nameless dudes he's threatening/killing, you have -

Alex

0

Angel

Erik: We were thinking more "we will show you ours if you show us yours."
Angel: Baby, this is not the way it works around here.

Banshee

Erik: Here, let me help.

---

Sean: You back right off!

Beast

Erik: Never looked better, man.
Beast: Don't mock me.
Erik: I wasn't.

Darwin

Darwin: Where to, fellows?
Erik: Richmond, Virginia, please.

Darwin: That's a six hours drive.
Erik: That will give us plenty of time to talk.

Emma

Erik: So then you can just tell us. Where's Shaw?

---

Erik: I know we've had our differences...
Emma: Where's your telepath friend?
Erik: Gone. Left a bit of a gap in my life, if I'm to be honest. I was rather hoping you'd fill it. Join us.
Emma: Erik, I believe.
Erik: I prefer Magneto.

Moira (*)

Moira: Plane leaves for Russia in an hour.
Erik: I'm telling you, these kids are not ready for Shaw. [Talking to both Moira and Charles here.]

---

Moira: Erik!
Erik: She's his right hand woman, that's good enough for me.
Moira: The CIA invading the home of a senior soviet official? Are you crazy?!
Erik: I'm not CIA.

---

Erik: You. You did this.


Oliver Platt's Character

OPC: My mission has been to investigate the application of paranormal powers in military defense.
Erik: Or offense.

---

OPC (to Charles): (...) help us find other mutants for our division.
Erik: What if they don't want to be found by you? / If a new species is being discovered, it should be by its own kind. Charles and I find the mutants. No suits.

Raven

Erik: By the way, if I looked like you, I wouldn't change a thing. [I'm putting this one here even though he's actually looking at Hank.]

---

Erik: If you're using half your concentration to look normal, then you're only half paying attention to whatever else you're doing. Just pointing out something that could save your life. You want society to accept you, but you can't even accept yourself.

---

Erik: Well, this is a surprise.
Raven: The nice kind?
Erik: Get out, Raven, I want to go to bed. Maybe in a few years.
Raven: How about now?
Erik: I prefer the real Raven. / I said the real Raven. / Perfection.
Raven: Could you pass me my robe?
Erik: You don't have to hide. Have you ever looked at a Tiger and thought you ought to cover it up?
Raven: No, but...
Erik: You're an exquisite creature, Raven. All your life the world has tried to tame you. It's time for you to be free.

Riptide/Azazel

0


(*) Moira gets an asterisk because Erik mentions her name in a conversation with Charles - "You think they're all like Moira."​

 

[Nerial]

Found this interesting bit:

Ha--that's funny. You're right; most of Erik's conversations are with Charles. And that's just fine, because those two carried the movie, anyway.

 

[Mrs Vimes]

I did think when watching the movie that Erik was a bit of an outsider in the team; I mean we see X-kids talk to each other and Charles interacts with them quite a lot, but we don't see much interaction between Erik and the kids.

 

[The Original Bamfer]

I think it was pretty obvious that Erik had anterior motives when he decided to work with Charles and the kids. He respects and cares for Charles, but the kids are just key parts in his scheme to kill Shaw. I think he manipulated the incredibly-vulnerable Raven so he'd have someone who would adopt his beliefs and stand by him. I never realized how little he actually converses with her, but it still feels like there was a lot of interaction between the two, perhaps moreso due to what Raven said to others.

 

[Mrs Vimes]

I wouldn't go as far as to say that Erik only saw the kids as key parts. I just thought that he was an outsider mostly because of his aloofness. Plus, to say that he manipulated Raven just so that she could stand by him kinda suggests that he was already planning to break away from Charles, and I think that's the last thing he wanted.

 

[The Original Bamfer]

I think he knew he was going to due to their differences. Magneto just presents the sentiment of sticking together because he just paralyzed his best friend...

 

[Loganbabe]

I really got the impression Erik was using them all, including Charles. Yes, he cared about Charles to some point, but he cared about his revenge mission much more. That's way he cut Charles so unceremoniously when he put he helmet on - he knew there would be no turning back and he still proceeded. So he was planning to break away from Charles the moment he met him, unless Charles agreed on being "by his side" - less as a friend like Charles expected, more like an allie.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I wouldnt say he was using them personally, just that revenge was his focal point rather than helping these kids develop their powers. Magneto seemed confident of killing Shaw in a one-on-one confrontation, he obviously didnt know Shaw's powers or the limits of them.

What made me think this was his fearlessness going into the sub and then the reactor room, and also his looks of surprise when he punches Shaw and the rippling effect happens, and when his powers seemingly have no use against Shaw. I think once he killed Shaw he would have been ready to go back to the mansion with Charles and the kids but then the humans, Russians and Americans, who had been enemies 5 mins earlier, launched a unified attack against the mutants. Charles was sensible enough to realise that these men were following orders, but Erik's views are more extreme and as I have pointed out before, he views anyone who attacks him and his kind as Nazi's who need exterminating.

 

[Nerial]

I really got the impression Erik was using them all, including Charles. Yes, he cared about Charles to some point, but he cared about his revenge mission much more. That's way he cut Charles so unceremoniously when he put he helmet on - he knew there would be no turning back and he still proceeded. So he was planning to break away from Charles the moment he met him, unless Charles agreed on being "by his side" - less as a friend like Charles expected, more like an allie.

I wouldnt say he was using them personally, just that revenge was his focal point rather than helping these kids develop their powers. Magneto seemed confident of killing Shaw in a one-on-one confrontation, he obviously didnt know Shaw's powers or the limits of them.

What made me think this was his fearlessness going into the sub and then the reactor room, and also his looks of surprise when he punches Shaw and the rippling effect happens, and when his powers seemingly have no use against Shaw. I think once he killed Shaw he would have been ready to go back to the mansion with Charles and the kids but then the humans, Russians and Americans, who had been enemies 5 mins earlier, launched a unified attack against the mutants. Charles was sensible enough to realise that these men were following orders, but Erik's views are more extreme and as I have pointed out before, he views anyone who attacks him and his kind as Nazi's who need exterminating.

I think Erik is right smack in the middle of both of the perspectives here.

Although Erik definitely gives off a "it's my way or the highway" view, you can genuinely see the sadness on his face when Charles refuses to be by his side. And while it can be argued that Erik might have wanted Charles there because of Charles' powers, even at the end of the movie, Erik admits to Emma that Charles has left a bit of gap...that's not something most men would even admit.

And as another example, when Erik tells Raven that her true form is, "perfection," I totally believe he feels that way. I don't think he ever manipulates her, but rather, convinces her to join his cause. I don't think he ever calculated that if he flatters Raven that night, she'd join his rogue cause the next day. His only goal at that point was to kill Shaw.

But yes, his quest for vengeance is more important to him than his friends or allies, or anything else, really. I will argue, however, that he made up his mind about humans before he ever killed Shaw--while talking to Shaw, he admits that he agrees with everything Shaw says. He was ready to break away from humanity before he left the sub, but the humans trying to kill all of them gave further weight to his cause. I wouldn't say that Erik intended to stay with Charles and the other mutants...but instead, wanted them to join him. There's a difference.

 

[Mrs Vimes]

I think that both Charles and Erik go into that final day in Cuba totally convinced of the rightness of their positions; Charles believes that if they defeat Shaw and risk their lives in doing so it will put them on humans' good side, while Erik is convinced that once humans realise what the mutants are capable of they'll turn on them in a flash. And they probably both think (or hope) that once the events play out the way they think, the other person will see the light, so to speak, and join their side. As it turned out, Erik's assessment was right on the money, but of course even though the humans' betrayal is a horrible blow to Charles he still doesn't want to be against them. I think BTW that Charles would have forgiven Erik the coin through his brain, so I don't think that putting on helmet on was a point of no return for their relationship, but Erik trying to blow up the ships definitely was.

And yes I agree that to Erik his quest for revenge was the most important thing, even though I'm also convinced that he cared about Charles as much as it was possible for him to care about anyone. One does need to take into account the fact that Erik is one screwed up person; we of course don't know what his life was like in between the camps and when we first see him as a grown-up, but by the looks of it he's a loner with no ties or connection to anyone and his vengeance mission seems to be all he's living for, and violence and killing come frighteningly easy to him. This kind of life, to put it mildly, is not a recipe for a balanced personality or being able to relate to people in a normal way; I suspect that even if mutant/human tensions weren't an issue and all ended well in Cuba, Erik would have struggled to have a normal life without a burning single-minded cause to drive him. I also don't think he'd be able to connect with Charles the way he did without Charles' telepathy, and I think it's kinda telling that he seeks to replace Charles with another telepath. And it would have been nice to think that a few weeks of friendship and a tender moment with the dish could have changed Erik's priorities, but it was never realistic.

BTW, not that I'm saying that Erik and Charles were in a romantic relationship, but I think that in a way their relationship is a rather brutal reversal of that old romantic trope where a damaged person is made good and whole with the power of loooooove.

 

[Mrs Vimes]

So he was planning to break away from Charles the moment he met him, unless Charles agreed on being "by his side"

Well I think it took some time for Erik to actually figure out his ideology, because when he first meets Charles he doesn't know that there are others like him and that he in fact belongs to a different species. Until then, yes he's aware that he has unusual powers but I think that he still sees himself primarily as Jewish. That whole change of identity is a lot to wrap your head around, I think.

 

[StarkTheProdigy]

 

[Hugebear]

So how should they handle Magneto in the sequel? Some people don't want him to be front and center in the sequel, so Charles can get the main attention this time. Which is reasonable. But if they push Eric to the side, wouldn't we be getting the same situation/same thing we got before in X-men United and X-men Last Stand?

Magneto was there before involved in the main plot and on the side. One of the things that made Magneto different in First Class was that he was the main focus or one of the two main characters. I guess he will still be a different Magneto than what he will become later, but will changing the focus back to the X-men and Charles cause some concern?

 

[TheComicbookKid]

So how should they handle Magneto in the sequel? Some people don't want him to be front and center in the sequel, so Charles can get the main attention this time. Which is reasonable. But if they push Eric to the side, wouldn't we be getting the same situation/same thing we got before in X-men United and X-men Last Stand?

Magneto was there before involved in the main plot and on the side. One of the things that made Magneto different in First Class was that he was the main focus or one of the two main characters. I guess he will still be a different Magneto than what he will become later, but will changing the focus back to the X-men and Charles cause some concern?

I think the contrast in how they use their power will be a good focus for the film. Undermining each others efforts and building their teams. I think a greater focus should be on Charles since he suffered the most setbacks from FC, and the X-Men really didn't win. It was kind of a draw/loss.

 

[Mrs Vimes]

I think that they could simply reverse the way they handled the characters in FC - i.e., both characters have about the same amount of screentime but one of them has a more dramatic arc than the other, with Charles being the latter in the sequel. While still keeping their relationship as the heart of the movie - they'd be utter fools not to considering how much praise FC got for the chemistry between the leads.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I actually want Charles and Erik to team up again in the sequel to take on a bigger threat. They need to build Cerebro together in the mansion just to link it a bit more to the other movies and Erik needs to see what he did to Charles at the end of FC, as he left the beach before it was realised Charles is paralysed.

 

[TheComicbookKid]

I actually want Charles and Erik to team up again in the sequel to take on a bigger threat. They need to build Cerebro together in the mansion just to link it a bit more to the other movies and Erik needs to see what he did to Charles at the end of FC, as he left the beach before it was realised Charles is paralysed.

Dang. This is the first time I realized that he doesn't know Charles is paralyzed does he?

 

[Godzilla2000]

Dang. This is the first time I realized that he doesn't know Charles is paralyzed does he?

He knew that the bullet he deflected hit Charles, the part of knowing whether or not he suffered a paralytic injury is uncertain. I would think though by the time frame of the sequel he'd have learned of Charles' condition.

 

[chamber-music]

OMG

Edit: This is one of 4 covers for GQ's Men of the Year Issues. I'm subscribed to the mag but I haven't received my copy yet. With my luck though I'll get that Timberlake & Fallon cover...

Young Ian Mckellan

 

[Loganbabe]

They really don't resemble each other...I actually think that Ian has more features in common with James.

 

[Avenger]

Agreed. But I don't think McAvoy looks much like Patrick Stewart, either. So it evens out.

 

[Mrs Vimes]

I actually had no idea what young Ian McKellan looked like, it's like for me he's always been old t:

Fassbender looks nothing like him, but I think that the boy who plays teenage!Erik in the opening sequence actually does.

 

[Loganbabe]

Agreed. But I don't think McAvoy looks much like Patrick Stewart, either. So it evens out.

He certainly doesn't.

 

[GuestStar2004]

Isn't it time to bring this thread back?