Summary
- Fox’s
X-Men
movies were groundbreaking, successful, and resonated with audiences, thanks to their strong cast, unique approach, and themes of acceptance. - Bryan Singer’s directorial decisions make the films differ from typical superhero movies.
- The
X-Men
franchise stays relevant and influential, with the MCU version hopefully providing new views and addressing diverse issues.
People love to ignore the classics. They see a movie that happens to be a remake, and some assume it’s better than the original. Or they don’t like the rough CGI that existed early in the CGI process. There are many reasons for people to push the past aside and assume that the newest iteration will be the best. It’s a real cultural misstep.
However, we’ve recently discovered that the Marvel Universe will soon include the X-Men and mutants. For Marvel fans, this is a fantastic announcement. However, for the stalwarts who remember where all of this started, the pre-MCU days, nothing tops the original Fox X-Men movies. But what is it about the originals that created such a stir, and why do they still deserve your full attention?
Fox’s X-Men Featured a Great Cast
Here’s the thing about the Fox X-Men: They didn’t play. When Bryan Singer was given the director’s chair, he worked hard on the casting, plot, and look of the characters. When your superhero movie begins in a concentration camp, you know it won’t be all fun colors and happy characters. Singer brought in Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan, two powerhouses of stage and screen, as anchors for his film. Stewart was the fan-favorite to be cast as Professor Xavier and had been for years and went a long way to getting fans onboard.
The hard sell was a somewhat untested Australian named Hugh Jackman. He wasn’t anyone’s first choice for the character of Wolverine, and his casting upset a few die-hard fans because he was untested and too tall. How was a no-name going to pull it all off? Plus, who was going to be the central character? Rumors flew.
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Even More Changes and Questions
Singer also decided not to use the traditional costumes that had been shown in the comics until then. Instead, the characters would wear identical black leather uniforms. These uniforms established them as more grounded characters, much like Wesley Snipes’ Blade. This decision divided fans.
It was also a toss-up about which characters would actually appear. Would they be young students? Were they going to be the first class at Xavier’s school? Or would they be older and more established? Would Magneto be the only bad guy? People were frothing. They also knew that if the movie disappointed, it would probably mean that Hollywood wouldn’t take risks on any other superhero movies for a long time.
X-Men Was a Massive Financial and Critical Hit
X-Men
- Release Date
- July 13, 2000
- Runtime
- 104
When X-Men premiered in 2000, it became the third-highest opening day of any film, with over $21 million. It would go on to make $296 million on a budget of just $75 million. It was, by all measurements, a huge financial success. Also, audiences loved it and were completely taken by Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of their favorite character. When people watched him slowly release his claws around an unruly bar patron, seeing the three blades slide out from between his knuckles, it sent a shockwave through the nerd community. Superhero films had finally been made the way they wanted without even knowing they wanted it. Bryan Singer essentially told audiences that they might have had ideas about who and what the X-Men were, but he was going to show them the potential of what they could be.
Once Open, the Doors Stay Open
To say that Singer’s X-Men started a trend would be an understatement. It soon became very clear to 20th Century Fox that they had a goldmine on their hands. A second film was quickly greenlit, featuring even more core characters. These movies would also lean heavily on the new fan-favorite, Jackman’s Wolverine. This X-Men character would go on to be the centerpiece of nearly every subsequent film. Even the movie he was not technically in made sure to give fans quick Wolverine cameos. It made the actor an overnight sensation and created the groundwork for what continues to be a fantastic career.
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Other actors have come in and out of the series, with some being particularly amazing audience-based casting choices. Kelsey Grammar, known for playing Dr. Frasier Crane on the show Frasier, was cast as Beast, giving the character the perfect voice and cadence. He played the part in X-Men: The Last Stand, a later film, but was immediately a fan favorite. The movie also made sure to pull from well-known comic storylines. We were given Magneto, Sentinels, William Stryker, Bolivar Trask, and the Brotherhood of Mutants. It was an absolute bonanza of character arcs, crossovers, and even Days of Future Past, a comic book lover’s dream.
The Themes of the X-Men Still Resonate Today
The X-Men movies were hyper-aware of their message of acceptance and tolerance. The idea that mutants were outcasts meant that they could be representative of any number of marginalized groups. The queer community took the films particularly to heart, and in the second film, one mother, upon realizing her son is different, says the line, “Have you tried…NOT being a mutant?” which the others take as extremely offensive and hurtful, a sentiment that many felt during their own experiences of coming out to their loved ones.
This was always the purpose of the X-Men, and the movies only cemented this notion within the filmgoing community. People were ready to accept the message, and for people who had already taken the lessons from the comics, it was refreshing not to see them diluted for the screen.
Because of their representative nature, the X-Men will always be adopted by different generations. The MCU version will speak to an entirely different group of people and hopefully tackle issues the other MCU characters cannot. The team is non-homogeneous, with characters specifically being from various backgrounds.
The X-Men are meant to represent different cultures and mindsets. That is why 20th Century Fox, though defunct, created something that has yet to be duplicated. They took various X-Men storylines and gave them to the world in a way that refused to be watered down. The films featured heroes and important lessons; they were completely and utterly groundbreaking, and (most) of the movies in the franchise still hold up today. X-Men (2000) is streaming now on Disney+.
