i want you to hit me as hard as you can in 1999 hollywood was heating up with the rising
popularity of comic book film adaptations after the release and massive success of blade in 1998
but with marvel having sold the film rights to the majority of their most popular ip to
the highest bidders in tinsel town it was only a matter of time before box
offices boomed with live adaptations of our favorite comic book heroes
blade success showed moviegoers of the days of camp and lighthearted adventures were gone
and the age of black leather and darker characters was upon us what would you prefer yellow spandex
this caused executives at fox to dig into their own treasure trove of marvel ip and make plans
to bring their own super powered adventure to the big screen but with comic book movies still
not having found their identity in live-action cinema studios were searching for the right
crew to helm the massive undertaking of hollywood's next superhero blockbuster
x-men but how did these outsiders go from the pages of marvel to holding on to a more than
20-year stretch of fandom that is widely regarded and beloved by
many moviegoers to this day find out in today's episode of marvel revisited
mutants were first introduced into the marvel family in the summer of 1963 with their first
appearance being in a self-titled series known simply as the x-men by stan lee and jack kirby
stan lee had said that he wanted to introduce a new super team in the marvel universe but didn't
want to write individual backstories for each character explaining how they got their powers
stan's answer to this was to create mutants mutants are super powered humans but instead
of radioactive spider bites or gamma radiation mutants are born gifted and their powers are
genetic this certainly allows a special advantage with the x-men in that you don't have to explain
each character's origin and that makes it easy to introduce mass amounts of characters
which is clear based on the hundreds of characters that have joined xavier's school
of gifted youngsters over the years the x-men comic books started circulating in the summer
of 1963 and while originally fans were interested in the adventures of these super-powered misfits
they weren't the hit with readers that marvel was expecting this led to the original run of
the x-men comic being cancelled in 1970 only to be revamped in 1973 with chris claremont as
the new project lead this shot the x-men into the stratosphere and became one of marvel's
most recognizable and successful comic book franchises in the mid-1980s a screenplay for a
live-action x-men film was written by marvel's jerry conway and roy thomas for orion pictures
the film seemed promising but in the late 1980s orion ran into some financial issues which caused
production on the film to halt then in the early 90s stan lee and x-men figurehead chris claremont
began talks with carol co pictures on a new x-men film to be directed by katherine bigelow who had
established a name for herself as a director with films like near dark and blue steel at
one point james cameron was even attached to the project as a producer but that would fall
apart when stanley reportedly inspired cameron to pursue his aspirations of directing spider-man
the original treatment included many elements that would eventually come to fruition in the
film and after the success of the x-men animated series the film rights to x-men were sold to
fox who already on the cartoon this led to fox beginning development on the long-awaited and
so far unlucky x-men live-action film thank you for visiting joe blow if you like the show
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let's get back to the show in 1996 the film's development was tortured with problems and a lot
of people getting attached to the project only to walk away before shooting for any number of issues
occurring during the development but after years of nightmarish efforts to get this movie made
brian singer was eventually signed on to adapt a screenplay written by tom desanto and david hayder
and it was finally time to cast our x-men fox's original casting choice for wolverine was misfits
front man glenn danzig who producers thought had the right look and build for a comic book accurate
wolverine however danzig declined to audition due to the dreaded scheduling conflicts with his band
producers also sought actors like russell crowe and doug ray scott but were ultimately
sold on a friend of russell crowes an unknown australian actor by the name of hugh jackman
jackman was actually the last person cast in the film which is ironic considering that
hugh jackman has appeared as wolverine in more of the franchise's films than
any other character patrick stewart was always singer's first choice for professor
x though funnily enough the king of pop michael jackson himself was actively pursuing the role
nobody took him seriously james martin was completely unaware of any of cyclops
defining character traits but did study the comic books and said he wanted to bring a
boy scout approach to the character actress anna paquin was originally scheduled to star in tart
but she dropped out in order to play rogue the very first mutant that we saw in cinema
she nailed the performance and it's a shame that we saw less and less of her as the movies went on
singer had previously worked with cinema legend sir ian mckellen on apt pupil and he was singer's
first choice as the big bad of this movie magneto is that what they say we also get
the talented and iconic holly berry as storm and famke janssen as jean grey who's just come
off of the release of faculty the cast of this movie feels really nostalgic as many of these
characters have gone on to have huge success in other roles but at the time some of these people
were fresh faces in hollywood and it's great to see where some of them got their big breakout
performances the story introduces us to mutants in a very interesting way
instead of a heroic action sequence or epic swelling music the movie depicts the trauma
of these mutants we follow rogue as she's on the runaway from home after nearly killing her
boyfriend she makes it out of town and into a small dive hangout where a cage fighting
mutant by the name of the wolverine is using his skills to make money doing
this rogue feels alone and isolated on her journey until a bar fight breaks out and
we get to witness the very first time that wolverine pops his claws in live
action which gives audiences chills to this day
for audiences this is the definitive version of wolverine and it's absolutely incredible that
hugh jackman's career as wolverine would go on to become the most highly regarded of any of the
x-men franchise and after seeing his initial introduction fans knew that this character
was gonna be the one we wanted to follow after sneaking into logan's truck trying to hitch a ride
rogue and logan hit the road together and we get a chance to really see that bond between these
two people grow the believability of rogue and logan's dynamic is instant which makes it even
more disappointing that we don't see more of their relationship in the subsequent films
the first real action sequence of this movie happens very early on in the film which speaks
to the overall pacing of this movie it's here where we're introduced to more of the
movie's important characters both good and bad brotherhood of mutants are the primary
antagonists of this film and we get to meet one of them early as they attempt to kidnap logan
and rogue for reasons to be discovered it's here that we meet sabretooth no not that sabertooth
this one this is what comes to most fans minds when they think of the character in
live action and for good reason tyler mayne has made himself a career out of playing
scary and physically intimidating characters and sabertooth is just that scary and intimidating
just before sabertooth can nab our protagonists we're introduced to cyclops james marsden storm
played by halle berry and jean grey played by famke yanson audiences got to see their first
big x-men spectacle with a rescue mission that showcases the abilities of the core team right
away and in a manner that makes sense to the story this is something that the movie definitely
deserves praise for as not only were comic book movies still unknown territory but superhero
team-up movies were even more taboo in hollywood but this film made us believe in the potential
of movies like avengers and the eternals cyclops storm and gene bring an incapacitated logan and
rogue back to the x-mansion where hugh jackman really gets a chance to shine as the character
of wolverine as he wakes up from being knocked out but has to like kind of navigate and hunt
his way out however before he can find rogan escape professor x gets logan to hear him out
it's very interesting to revisit this movie and see hugh jackman's first take
on wolverine and see how it contrasts from his final appearance as wolverine and logan
this movie really leans on the political side too which some fans see as an absolute necessity in
any form of x-men media but others say is stale however at the time the concept was
fresh and it made for a believable existence for mutants and the need for xavier's team of
gifted heroes see the movie establishes early on that mutants are feared and made to feel foreign
xavier's mission is to give a safe space to mutants to learn to control their powers and
use them for good he ultimately wants mutants to co-exist with humans without fear it's a war
it's the reason people like me exist meanwhile we have the brotherhood of mutants which is
led by magneto magneto is both an enemy but also a childhood friend of xavier and
his whole motivation is to achieve equality for mutants by turning everyone in new york
into mutants which would therefore force them to empathize and adopt the mutant race magneto's
brotherhood consists of sabertooth mystique and toad who is equal parts creepy and fascinating
this movie's true conflict is that both parties want to achieve the same goal but
have two very different and extreme methods the characters reflect that in that the brotherhood
is underground and the team is unpolished and scrappy and dimly lit where xavier's team is
organized and brightly lit the movie has a nice layer to it where it almost seems like the entire
cold war that's happening between mutants and humans sometimes feels like it boils down to a
rivalry between just professor x and magneto all the while we have our second antagonist senator
kelly who's advocating against mutants and doesn't believe in mutant rights the character
is interesting because he's a mutual enemy of both the x-men and the brotherhood when senator
kelly is kidnapped by mystique magneto forcefully mutates him giving him a unique ability of his own
which was a mistake as kelly's ability allowed him to turn himself into a gelatinous blob who could
squeeze through the bars of his cell window and escape what the hell have you done to me
senator this is pointless where would you go who would take you in now that you're one of us
this was an important moment for the film senator kelly reluctantly seeks the
help of the x-men hoping to remain out of the public eye until he can figure out what to do
unfortunately for kelly his mutation doesn't seem to be stable as this happens
yikes this sets our x-men now joined by wolverine on an epic battle with the brotherhood as magneto
is staging a massive undertaking by kidnapping rogue in order to use her abilities to power a
device that will mutate the entire state of new york with the brotherhood working security the
x-men need to work together to save rogue and prevent an entire part of the country from being
mutated and killed the narrative of this movie is fairly familiar in today's superhero market
we have two sets of mutants with almost everything in common except for their ultimate goals charles
and the x-men want peace and coexistence with humans while magneto and the brotherhood want to
turn everybody into mutants which would abolish the hierarchy of anti-mutant politics the thing
that really shines through in this movie is that professor x isn't a gleaming hero in peak physical
condition and magneto isn't a mustache twirling bad guy who just wants to take over the world
in a way it's a story about two old friends whose abilities and ambitions led them to opposing sides
of the same coin cyclops storm jean and wolverine show up and battle their way through toad mystique
and saber-tooth only to be captured by magneto and subdued from saving rogue the final battle
of this film wowed fans as we got to witness eight mutants using the full extent of their abilities
to fight each other and it really makes for quite the spectacle the special effects used to recreate
the statue of liberty as well as the beautiful display of superpowers had the audiences saying
holy [ __ ] we also get a fair amount of comic book lore and foreshadowing for later installments
of the film in the final battle as wolverine is throwing down with sabertooth in order to
get to magneto he's knocked off the side of the statue of liberty and he stabs his claws into
the wall to keep from falling and his claws pop into the wall directly between cyclops and gene
referencing logan's growing interference in the relationship between gene and scott
stay away from my girl we also get a quick explanation for rogue getting her iconic
white streak in her hair this is something that x-men comic book fans were excited to see as many
would say that without the white streak there is no rogue we love what you've done with your hair
hey i'm sure somebody said that although this isn't the only easter egg we see in the final
battle it is a nice way to introduce the more comic accurate look for rogue
i kind of like it the ending of this film definitely sets up for a sequel but also
sets a solo wolverine adventure that would eventually be explored later in the franchise
x-men went into production in mid-1999 in toronto and hamilton ontario and the filmmakers did a
really good job of making it feel like upstate new york and even included the statue of liberty
as the battleground for their final battle sequence the action in this movie is a lot
of fun though it is criticized widely for being a bit too reliant on audiences suspense of disbelief
a lot of the fight sequences were seen as mediocre but the film still receives praise
to this day for the revolutionary design and makeup work for rebecca romain stamos as mystique
according to the filmmakers she had to wear over a hundred individual prosthetics for this role
the actress has admitted that it was not a good time for her getting into costume and even said
that she spent six hours a day in the makeup chair the movie was released at a time where cgi was
definitely being more widely adopted in cinema and in order to understand how to shoot the massive
action sequences for this film seeing her had to visit sets of films like titanic and star wars
episode 1 to see how studios use the cgi and green screen effects in revisiting the x-men the cgi is
pretty great specifically on senator kelly after he gets mutated and morphs into a big jellyfish
the film was received well by fans bringing in a worldwide box office total of 296.3 million
dollars off of just a 75 million dollar budget the good luck for this once seemingly cursed
film doesn't stop there as the movie also saw a huge payday after the dvd and video release
the success of this movie would garner demand for a sequel which singer was also hired to
direct despite having many reports of the director arriving late to the set as well as demonstrating
frequent mood swings and excessive use of painkillers on set you're a dick the film received
positive reviews from critics and fans and the anticipation for the sequel was high fans weren't
sure where the story would go next but all of us looked forward to more mutants more super powered
spectacles more wolverine and of course more x-men overall x-men is a wonderful film and the story
and plot for the time were fresh and a lot of fun to watch the action was acceptable and the special
effects still hold up the performances and cast of heroes and villains were entertaining and they
were genuinely making the best movie they could in a genre that was still looking for its identity
of course there are many more movies in the marvel catalog for us to revisit so we will be seeing
many of these wonderful characters again with the new found hype for comic book movies in the early
2000s studios immediately saw the potential of these movies and began ordering screenplays for
all of their comic book ip things like fantastic four daredevil and spiderman do those movies hold
up to today's standards well i guess we'll have to find out in the next episode of marvel revisited
you