X-Men: First Class (Earth-41120)

X-Men: First Class is the second film in Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It follows the formation of the X-Men, a group of teen mutants led by Charles Xavier, to fight the forces of Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants. The film was proceeded by Iron Man: Masks and is succeeded by Captain America: Super Soldier.

Plot

The film opens in the mid-1970’s as two young men both answer a newspaper advert looking for people with special abilities. The two begin talking, introducing themselves as Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr. Charles explains that ever since puberty he had the gift of telepathy, which he demonstrates to Erik through completely reading his thoughts, which Erik is impressed by, but also irritated about Charles doing this without his permission. Erik then shows off his powers – having complete control of metal, able to move the material around with just a thought. The two bond over their mistreatment throughout their whole lives, with Erik admits to Charles that his powers first developed after he watched his mother murdered during the holocaust during World War Two.

Then, in the 1990’s, Charles and Erik, now older men, are debating a member of congress, who is looking to pass an anti-mutant bill. Mutant rights have not improved at all since Charles and Erik were younger, in some ways they’re getting worse since more and more people are growing aware of mutant’s existence. Although Charles and Erik are eloquent speakers, they remain unable to shift the congressman’s deep-rooted hatred of “mutant freaks”. After the talk, Charles and Erik begin arguing, with Charles defending that eventually humans and mutants can live in harmony, while Erik deciding that humans will always be afraid of them, and that mutants need to band together and claim their rightful place at the head of society. As they debate their points, a crazed man rushes at them with a gun, screaming about how mutants don’t deserve to live. As he fires at Erik, the master of magnetism is easily able to flick away the bullet. However, Erik accidently moves the bullet towards Charles, which hits him in the back.

Finally, in the late 2010’s, Erik, now an old man, is addressing a large crowd of people, most of whom having visible mutant features. He explains how for decades humankind have discriminated against them, but no longer, and that soon Magneto and the Brotherhood of Mutants will take back what is theirs, as the shot zooms out to show that this is all taking place on a large island in the middle of the ocean. Meanwhile, Charles Xavier is shown watching this from the middle of the crowd, but Magneto seems to sense his presence and dons a scarlet helmet, which quickly shunts Xavier out of his mind and back into his mansion, in Westchester County, New York City. Now in a wheelchair after the incident in the nineties, Xavier grimaces, muttering about how Eric is starting a war.

Two months later, teenager Scott Summers is in the middle of a high-school football game. He perfectly manages to command his team to victory, but as they’re winning, Scott collapses to the ground in agony, clutching his head. The game is called off, and while the rest of his team are changing, Scott is still suffering from an awful headache. As the pain becomes unbearable, Scott suddenly releases a laser blast from his eyes, directly into the ceiling. There’s a tense silence before the rest of the football team run from the locker room, yelling that “Scott is a mutant!” Upon hearing this, the headmaster of the school consults a brochure – “What to do if Your Student is a Mutant” and calls the number printed on the front. Terrified about what had just occurred, Scott hides in a store cupboard, still feeling the pain in his head.

A van arrives at the school, and dozens of armed men pile out, all with Mutant Response Division printed on their uniforms. They all begin checking the school, looking for Scott, and eventually two guards find him in the cupboard. As one pulls out a tranquiliser gun, the other knocks him to the ground, before shapeshifting into a blue-skinned woman. She introduces herself as Mystique, saying that she is also a mutant, and they need to leave now. The two run through hallways, avoiding MRD guards, and finally escape from the building. Mystique directs Scott towards an unmarked vehicle, but as they run towards it, one of Scott’s friends from the football team sees him. Without hesitation, Mystique pulls out a gun and shoots him dead. Scott is horrified at this, but Mystique casually remarks that all humans would do the same thing. However, Scott still refuses to go with her, unwilling to ally himself with someone who commits this level of violence so uncaringly, even as MDR soldiers begin running outside with their guns trained on the two mutants.

Suddenly, all of the soldiers are frozen in place, as Charles Xavier wheels himself into view. He and Mystique exchange cool pleasantries, until Charles asks if Mystique is here on behalf of Erik. Mystique says no, she’s here on behalf of Magneto, and that the citizens of Genosha no longer go by their human names. Scott is confused by this, and Charles explains that Magneto is a mutant terrorist who runs the island of Genosha, gathering mutants to go to war against mankind, while Charles wishes to promote peace between the two species. Scott says that he prefers the ideals of Xavier, but Mystique laughs, insisting that he’ll be coming with them. As she says that four more mutants arrive, with Quicksilver, a mutant with super-speed zooming into the courtyard with his sister, the Scarlet Witch, a mutant with some sort of hex-based abilities. Avalanche also runs in, who demonstrates the ability to cause small seismic disturbances, while an Australian young adult who calls himself Pyro also arrives. Xavier insists that he isn’t looking for a fight, but Mystique simply says that there won’t be one if she leaves with the boy.

Xavier says that if Scott doesn’t want to leave with her, then he won’t be. As Mystique reloads her pistol, Xavier shouts “To me, my X-Men” as four teens in yellow jumpsuits also appear in the courtyard. The two sides run at each other, with one of the X-Men quickly demonstrating his mutant abilities as two white wings sprout from his back and he takes off into the air after Avalanche. Similarly, another turns pure white and creates ice to freeze a jet of flames launched by Pyro. One boy shows some animalistic abilities as he lunges at Mystique and hits her head with his large feet. That leaves Scott and a girl with red hair to fight Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. As the girl fends them off with her telekinetic abilities, she casually converses with Scott, introducing herself as Jean Grey, and asks If he can give her a hand. Scott remarks that he barely knows what he can do, let alone how to control it, but as he says that he accidently launches another optic blast, this one hitting the side of a building. After some coaching from Jean, Scott manages to focus his powers, and a lucky shot hits Quicksilver in the chest as he runs around the courtyard, launching him backwards. Upon realizing that the X-Men have the upperhand, Mystique calls the Brotherhood off, with Avalanche destroying the school with his abilities, letting the Brotherhood escape.

Scott returns with the X-Men on the Blackbird, a private jet owned by Xavier. He is introduced to the rest of the team, including Hank McCoy, or Beast as he calls himself, with animalistic abilities as well as being a total geek. Warren Worthington, heir to a large fortune, with the codename Angel due to his wings. He and Scott clash over Warren's immediate dismissal of Scott. Finally, Scott meets Bobby Drake, or Iceman, the youngest member of the team and a total prankster. Jean says that her codename is Psyche, although she prefers just using her real name, and says that Scott needs a name. The team eventually settle on Cyclops

The Blackbird then lands in Xavier's Mansion and Xavier explains that his family left him this estate and he plans to turn it into a school for mutants. Scott is swiftly introduced to Moira MacTaggert, the school's nurse who checks over Scott to make sure he wasn't left with any injuries after the battle. During the examination, Moira explains that she herself doesn't have any mutant abilities but has known Xavier for years and whole-heartedly agrees with his message. Scott is offered the chance to go home by Xavier but Scott insists that he'd rather stay here; he lives in an orphanage and the man in charge was incredibly anti-mutant. Unfortunately, Scott is still unable to control his powers, with random optic blasts damaging areas in the school. However, Hank nervously approaches Scott that evening with a ruby visor which he explains should stop the random blasts from happening, as well as give Scott more control over when he can use his powers. Scott thanks Hank generously and the two become friends.

Meanwhile on Genosha, the Brotherhood return, anxious about failing to reclaim Scott. However, upon meeting with the group, Magneto insists that it is not a problem now that he knows Xavier's plan to stop him involves mere children. He remarks that he had hoped that Xavier would work with him but if he refuses to then he must be eliminated. He then explains that soon they will strike and sends the Brotherhood away to prepare for their next attack. However, he calls over Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, who after discussing their early lives - growing up with a gypsy family in Greece, and then being almost killed by a mob of angry townsfolk before being saved by Magneto - reveals that Erik is actually their grandfather who says that after mutants become the ruling class then he hopes that his grandchildren will rule alongside him as a family, which they hesitantly agree to.

The next morning, Senator Robert Kelley, a prolific anti-mutant politician, is making a speech on the tragedy of the Brotherhood's attack on Scott's high school, insisting that this shows that there needs to be tighter mutant laws in place, with imprisonment and labor camps being on the table. While most other members of congress detest the idea of labor camps, they do agree with the general message that mutants are dangerous. However, during their discussion, the Brotherhood attack, injuring and killing the politicians, although Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are focusing more on property damage than killing people, with Quicksilver even secretly saving a woman from falling rubble.

At Xavier's Mansion, the X-Men see this attack on the news and want to help since it isn't far from the mansion. However, Xavier insists that the team isn't ready yet and demands that they stay at the mansion. However, the group secretly sneak out anyway as they all want to stop the Brotherhood. Upon arriving at the battle, the two teams square off. Cyclops and Angel bicker over differing leadership skills, with Cyclops being used to leading his football team whilst Angel was the previous de-facto leader. Despite their bickering, however, the X-Men seem to have the upper-hand. That is until Magneto himself shows up, more than a match for the inexperienced teens. Erik swiftly defeats the group, but says that this time he won't kill them since they are only children. He then leaves, with the Brotherhood following suit. Returning to the mansion, with their hopes shattered, they are shocked to find the mansion ransacked, MacTaggert unconscious and Xavier missing entirely. The group quickly realizes that Magneto must have taken Xavier to Genosha, causing Scott and Warren to argue again, with Warren blaming Scott saying it was his idea to attack the Brotherhood while Scott defends himself, saying it was a group decision. Jean quickly breaks up the argument saying it doesn't matter who's fault it was, they just need to work out what to do next.

The group decide that the only way to recover Xavier is to fly to Genosha and confront the Brotherhood head on. They all board the Blackbird and Hank begins flying to the island. At Genosha, Xavier wakes up to find himself imprisoned in a cell being watched over by Magneto. Erik monologues that he wants Xavier to join him in his crusade to better the lives of mutants, revealing his plan to have Charles telepathically assassinate the world leaders allowing Magneto to rise up in charge of the planet. Charles immediately rejects this plan, calling it abhorrent, so Magneto calls in Wanda, demanding that she mentally torture him until he goes along with them. Wanda is horrified by this but begins preparing to do as her grandfather said. Wanda finds herself unable to do it, which Magneto is about to comment on, until Pietro zooms in, exclaiming that the Blackbird is hovering over Genosha.

Magneto strides outside and upon seeing the plane, uses his powers to throw the plane into the ocean presumably killing the X-Men. However, the team all secretly left the plane, leaving it as a distraction for Magneto. Upon the team finding a place to lay low, they begin plotting how best to take the Brotherhood down. Warren wants to take a stand now and overpower the Brotherhood, while Scott proposes taking a more secretive approach since Magneto is too powerful for them. Despite their previous conflict, Warren agrees to let Scott take the lead. In Pyro's room on Genosha, he and Avalanche are discussing the events thus far and whether it is right to kill a group of children, the two are hesitant about it, with Avalanche more regretful, but Pyro reminds him of how Avalanche saved him from his own flames in Australia and the two kiss, revealing themselves to be in a relationship. They then hear a noise from outside, and upon investigating get knocked unconscious by Iceman and Beast.

This event is secretly watched by Mystique, who shapeshifts into Angel and knocks him unconscious before taking his place in the group. The X-Men, including a hidden Mystique finally come into contact with Magneto and the twins and do battle. Magneto is easily more powerful than the X-Men and quickly gains the upper hand, but Pietro and Wanda refuse to fight. Cyclops' leadership allows a surprise attack to occur on Magneto, with the real Angel recovering from his injury and taking out the disguised Mystique and Cyclops taking off Magneto's helmet allowing Psyche to telekinetically throw him against a wall. The team frees Xavier and begin to travel towards a genoshan plane, until the island begins buckling underneath them. Magneto watches this and laughs, revealing that Genosha is more than simply an island, and after nuclear tests in the sixties, gained sentience. Genosha begins fighting against the "intruders" on it's body, forcing the X-Men and Brotherhood to work together, with even Magneto saving the occasional stray mutant from the wrath of the island. In the chaos, Mystique uses a young pink-skinned mutant to teleport herself and the other Genoshans away, while the rest of the two teams escape on a plane.

Flying back to America, Erik asks Charles what will happen to him, and Charles simply says that he will be imprisoned for a long time. Erik monologues about he witnessed imprisonment in his childhood and vowed to never let anything like the Holocaust happen again, saying that the treatment of mutants across the globe is exactly the same. While Charles agrees that humans are generally oppressing mutants, Charles will never let it get to a point where they are sent to death camps. Erik disagrees and so begins to use his powers to fly the plane directly towards the white house, exclaiming that he will be a martyr and will inspire mutants around the world to rise up and overcome their human subservients. He uses the metal in the plane to stun the X-Men, until at the last second Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch turn on and defeat their grandfather.

In the aftermath of the Brotherhood's defeat, Magneto, Pyro and Avalanche are imprisoned in a special mutant prison, although the government thanks the X-Men and promises that the three won't be mistreated. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver flee to Greenland, away from civilization. The X-Men form an official team and Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters opens, with the first class bonding even more.

Mid-Credits Scene: In Magneto's plastic jail cell, a guard approaches with some food, but upon making eye contact with Erik, their eyes flash yellow, signifying that they are secretly a shape-shifted Mystique.

Post-Credits Scene: Senator Kelley is looking over the events of the film, cursing to himself about the mutant menace. An aide walks him and hands him a document, saying it was delivered by Bolivar Trask. Kelley reads over it and laughs to himself, saying that the Sentinel Project will do just nicely.

Cast

• Giancarlo Esposito as Professor X (Charles Xavier)
• Caleb McLaughlin as Cyclops (Scott Summers)
• Sadie Sink as Psyche (Jean Grey)
• Gaten Matarazzo as Iceman (Bobby Drake)
• Noah Schnapp as Angel (Warren Worthington III)
• Finn Wolfhard as Beast (Hank McCoy)
• Charles Dance as Magneto (Erik Lensherr)
• Saoirse Ronan as Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff)
• Timothée Chalamet as Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff)
• Ruth Negga as Mystique (Raven Darkholme)
• Keiynan Lonsdale as Pyro (John Allerdyce)
• Nick Robinson as Avalanche (Dominic Petros)
• Emma Thompson as Moira MacTaggert
• Michael Keaton as Senator Robert Kelley

Gallery

Writing Room

• Senator Kelley was going to play a larger role in the film, being the one captured by Magneto instead of Professor X, but this was changed as it would be strange to have Xavier refuse to have the team fight the Brotherhood at congress but be fine with them flying out to Genosha.
• Genosha was originally Krakoa just like the comics, but this was changed so that the twist about Genosha being alive would be a larger shock to the reader.
• The Sentinel tease was added last minute to give Senator Kelley a slightly larger role in the film as well as better tease the X-Men sequel.
• Scott originally mentioned his brother Alex, but this was edited since Cleric didn't know if he wanted to include Havoc in his series or not, and if he did he could find a different way to add them.