X-Men
Starring Patrick Stewart (Charles Xavier / Professor X), Ian McKellen (Erik Lensherr / Magneto), Hugh Jackman (Logan / Wolverine), Halle Berry (Ororo Munroe / Storm), Famke Janssen (Jean Grey), James Marsden (Scott Sommers / Cyclops), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), Ray Park (Toad), Tyler Mane (Sabretooth), Anna Paquin (Rogue), and Shawn Ashmore (Bobby Drake / Ice Man) with a special appearance by Stan Lee
Directed by Bryan Singer
Produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter
Written by David Hayter
Music By Michael Kamen
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Run Time: 1 hour and 44 minutes
World Premier: July 12, 2000 (Ellis Island)
Opening Weekend Box Office: $57 million (United States)
Worldwide Box Office: $296 million
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%
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Fun X-Men Facts
20th Century Fox acquired the film and licensing rights to Marvel’s mutants in the mid-1990’s, along with other Marvel characters such as Daredevil and The Fantastic Four. Marvel sold these rights in an effort to stay afloat as they faced potential bankruptcy. The upstart Marvel Studios, under the direction of Avi Arad arranged a seven-picture deal with Fox that would see Fox finance and distribute their Marvel films with Marvel Studios assisting in a production role that would give them a say in the script-writing process, the hiring of directors, and in casting.
In December of 1996: Bryan Singer was hired to direct X-Men.
In late-1998: Director Bryan Singer and Producer Tom DeSanto submitted their script for X-Men to 20th Century Fox. The Studio was pleased with their work, particularly the dynamic between the Erik Lensherr and Charles Xavier characters, which resembled the ideals of Civil Rights icons Doctor Martin Luther King Jr and Malcom X, along with the focus on the Rogue character, with her mutation leading to feelings of alienation. David Hayter ultimately wrote the X-Men screenplay which adapted the ideas of Singer and DeSanto.
On September 22, 1999: X-Men commenced filming.
In October of 1999: Three weeks into filming, actor Hugh Jackman was cast to portray Logan / Wolverine. Dougray Scott had initially been cast for the role but had to back out due to scheduling conflicts related to the filming of Mission: Impossible II.
On March 3, 2000, filming on X-Men wrapped.
X-Men‘s $54 million debut at the United States box office set a record for superhero / comic book films at the rime, eclipsing the record that had been previously set by Warner Brothers’ Batman Forever in 1995.
X-Men was the ninth highest-grossing film of 2000.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
On September 6, 2005, Marvel Enterprises became Marvel Entertainment; a reflection of the company’s new initiative to finance its own motion pictures through Marvel Studios. Two X-Men films had been made by Sony and Marvel Entertainment at the time of the announcement: 2000’s X-Men and 2003’s X2: X-Men United. A third film (X-Men: The Last Stand) was already in active development at the time of this announcement. Marvel Studios would work in conjunction with Fox on The Last Stand, honoring the terms of their initial agreement, and X-Men: The Last Stand would be released in the Spring of 2006.
Beyond X-Men: The Last Stand, the working agreement between Marvel Studios and Fox on the production of X-Men films as it had once been ceased to exist as the Marvel Studios team concentrated on the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe while Fox’s team did their own thing. A fourth X-Men film was released by Fox in 2009: X-Men Origins: Wolverine after which a decision was made to reboot the franchise with 2011’s X-Men: First Class. 2013 saw the release of The Wolverine, and then in 2014, the past and present X-Men Cinematic mythologies collied in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Ensuing X-Men films by Fox included 2016’s Deadpool and X-Men: Apocalypse, and 2017’s Logan.
On December 17, 2017, the Walt Disney Company announced that an agreement had been reached with 20th Century Fox that would see Disney acquire Fox’s television and film divisions, among other things. Disney had acquired Marvel Entertainment at the end of 2009, and Marvel Studios with it. The lucrative Fox deal therefore landed the film rights to Marvel’s mutants under the Disney / Marvel Studios umbrella. Fox shareholders unanimously approved the transaction on July 27, 2018, and the deal was finalized on March 20, 2019. In the meantime, Deadpool 2 was released theatrically in 2018, followed by Dark Phoenix in 2019, and New Mutants in 2020. New Mutants marked the thirteenth X-Men film and the last X-Men project produced by the previous regime at Fox.
2022’s Marvel Studios film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw Marvel Studios cast actor Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier / Professor X twenty-two-years removed from the first X-Men film. Stewart had portrayed Xavier in X-Men, X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Logan. The version of the Xavier character that Stewart portrayed in Multiverse of Madness however, has been described as a Multiversal Variant (from Earth-838) of the Xavier seen in the previous X-Men films. Even though this version of Xavier was not from the 616-Universe, the inclusion of Xavier in the Doctor Strange sequel was historically significant, as it marked the first appearance of a mutant character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Furthermore, the Xavier from Earth-838 was not only the leader of The X-Men, but also a member of the esteemed Illuminati which consisted of Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), Captain Carter (Peggy Carter), Black Bolt, Captain Marvel (Maria Rambeau), and Karl Mordo (who replaced Earth-838’s Doctor Strange), and the film treated longtime Marvel movie fans with a unique opportunity to see Xavier share the screen with MCU veterans such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Hayley Atwell, and Elizabeth Olsen.
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My X-Men Review
These days, X-Men is famously known for being the first motion picture that current Marvel CCO Kevin Feige ever worked on. Feige would go on to revolutionize Hollywood through the creation of the MCU!
Times were quite different for Marvel films back in 2000 compared to the way things are today.
Back then, Feige was learning the ropes of filmmaking, as was the Marvel Studios team, which was in its infancy. X-Men was the second Marvel film released under the upstart Studio following 1998’s Blade which was produced in conjunction with New Line Cinema. Marvel was counting on X-Men to make a big splash so that other projects based on Marvel properties would enter into production. Needless to say, X-Men was a splash, and a strong case could be made that had this film failed, the Marvel Cinematic Universe would not exist today. X-Men was a huge hit however, both critically and financially and this movie is near and dear to my heart!
Early on in my Marvel fandom, this was one of my most favorite films.
The X-Men were long among Marvel Comics’ most popular characters, particularly throughout the 1990’s, and a lot of people were excited to see Marvel’s mutants in live action and in their own film.
I loved so much about X-Men!
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First and foremost, the casting was great! Patrick Stewart was a popular fan choice for Professor X at the time and he lived up to every expectation that fans had after he was cast. Meanwhile, Ian McKellen complimented him perfectly as Magneto, with their unique relationship providing a solid foundation on which the X-Men franchise could be built.
I also want to say that I thought Anna Paquin was perfect as Rogue.
The two characters that most stole the show for me though, were Rebecca Romijn as Mystique and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine!
Mystique was unlike anything I’d ever seen before in movies. Her costume was more or less body paint, and her transformations were pulled off flawlessly. She moved and fought in a sort of animalistic way, but there was also a lot of grace in the way she walked and talked. She was mysterious, she was a little feisty, and she looked really cool!Â
As for Hugh Jackman, though he was lamented by fans at the time for being âtoo tallâ and âtoo handsomeâ to bring the Wolverine character to life faithfully, I thought he nailed the role. Watching Jackman slice and dice his way through the film was an absolute treat and the fact that he had the right attitude and physicality for the role was far more important to me than his general looks and stature.
Beyond the casting, the story was solid as well.
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While it’s nowhere near as deep and complicated as most Marvel films are these days, it was pretty great for its time. In the Marvel comics, mutants had always allowed Marvel writers to express their feelings on things such as gay persecution, racism, and general bigotry, and that translated into the film with X-Men boasting a strong underlying message of acceptance while encouraging its viewers to be themselves and to accept themselves for who they are. This film starts in a Nazi Concentration Camp, and that unsettling opening sequence set the tone and let viewers know that this movie was going to deal with some very complex and mature subjects, and it did!
From the 1940’s and the initial emergence of the mutant powers of the young boy who would become Magneto, we jump ahead several decades where we catch up with United States Senator Robert Kelly and his campaign to convince Congress to push the âMutant Registration Actâ into law. Much like the Accords that we would see 16-years later in Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Civil War, this was a piece of legislation that would force all mutants to register their mutations with the United States Government after which it would be determined whether or not they were a threat to public safety. Senator Kelly is approaching the notion of mutants with fear and dread, and these proceedings are quietly overseen by both Magneto and Charles Xavier.
Charles is concerned of course, because he is a mutant advocate that runs a school where young mutants are taught how to both control their abilities and cope with their respective mutations. He is also concerned, because he knows that if such a piece of legislation were to be pushed into law, the war that his longtime friend Erik has warned him about will come to fruition. Magneto would see this is an act of provocation, and there would be dire consequences.
From there, we soon meet Rogue, happening upon the young character just as her mutation manifests. We see Rouge going through the motions of teenage romance, experiencing her first kiss with her boyfriend. What should have been a pleasant memory that would stay with her for some time, turned into a living nightmare, however.
Rogue’s mutant âpowerâ as it turns out is her inability to physically touch someone without harming them, and as her mutant gene activates, the touch of her lips nearly kills her boyfriend! We don’t see him again, but it is reference that he survived.
It is here where the film establishes a distinct divide within the mutant community. Some, like Magneto, believe mutation is the next step in human evolution. Mutations are to be warmly embraced and outright celebrated. People who become mutants should be proud of their extraordinary heritage. There is another side though, where being a mutant is seen as a curse. This is the camp that Rogue falls into. She can’t manipulate metal or read minds â she simply hurts whoever she touches, and this means that she can never be touched. This is extremely isolating and depressing for her, and there is no bright side. Charles Xavier falls somewhere in the middle. He understands fully the complications and frustrations that come with being a mutant, but he strives to show even those mutants that most feel cursed that there is an upside to their situation. Xavier is an extremely empathetic character, who simply wants normal people to understand that mutants are nothing to be feared, while hoping to create a world in which mutants likewise understand that normal people aren’t to be feared.
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Charles simply wants equality, acceptance, and peace,
Magneto believes this is impossible because he knows that people generally fear what they don’t understand and that fear breeds hatred.
Rogue ends up running away from home in a panic and she hitches rides to Canada where she stumbles into a smoke-filled bar that hosts cage fights. There, she happens upon Wolverine!
I absolutely love this scene with Logan dominating the loud and overbearing individual that steps into the cage with complete confidence. The filmmakers perfectly created an aura around Wolverine and clearly showed just how formidable he was. Wolverine is comprised of Adamantium (which is more or less like Vibranium; a virtually indestructible form of metal) and this makes him virtually indestructible as his skeleton was bonded with the metal years earlier. Wolverine’s mutation is two-fold. He boasts a pair of animalistic claws that extend from out of his hands that have since also become coated in Adamantium, and he boasts a remarkable healing factor that allows him to recover from just about any physical wound. On top of all of this, Wolverine has no memory of how or why he became what he became. He knows only that his name is âLoganâ due to the dog tags that he possesses that date back to the time before his memories start.
Anyway, Wolverine is soon confronted by the recovering individual whose ass he whopped, and this guy wants the money that he wagered back. As the confrontation escalates, the man attempts to stab Wolverine, prompting Rogue to warn Logan, who unsheathes his claws, provoking the owner of the bar to pull a gun on Wolverine. Logan easily dismantles the gun with his claws and leaves without causing any further bloodshed. Rogue covertly hitches a ride with Logan, and this is a nice sequence where you see the common ground that these two share.
They both see their mutations as a curse.
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Soon, Wolverine and Rogue are ambushed by a pair of fellow mutants: Toad and Sabretooth, under orders from Magneto. Rogue gets a glimpse of Logan’s remarkable healing abilities and is trapped in Logan’s crashed truck. Assistance soon arrives in the form of more mutants: Storm and Cyclops. These two are members of Charles Xavier’s mutant superhero team: The X-Men and they take care of Toad and Sabretooth and then take Logan and Rogue back to the X-Mansion out of which Xavier’s school operates.
There, Logan meets Jean Grey, whom he is instantaneously infatuated with. Jean has similar powers to those that Xavier possesses, and she is also a skilled doctor. She is of course baffled by the state of Wolverine. Logan soon meets Jean’s boyfriend Cyclops and Professor Xavier himself, who explains what the purpose of his school and The X-Men are.
Logan finds all of this laughable if not outright absurd, but the mind-reading Xavier woos Wolverine with promises to help Logan unlock the secrets of his past. So, Wolverine stays at the X-Mansion, as does Rogue. Meanwhile, Magneto â with a huge assist from Mystique â abducts Senator Kelly and reveals his sinister plan to use a massive machine to transform world leaders into mutants. He uses the machine on Kelly and successfully transforms Kelly, believing this will force the Senator into seeing the error of his ways. Powering the machine nearly kills Magneto however, and he realizes that he needs someone else to power the machine.
That someone turns out to be Rogue, as Magneto â again with a huge assist from Mystique â discovers that beyond Rogue’s mutation preventing her from touching ordinary people without harming them, it also allows her to absorb the abilities of the mutants that she touches.
This fact is revealed to viewers through a fantastic sequence in which Rogue tries to comfort Wolverine through a violent nightmare, only to be inadvertently stabbed by a startled Logan when he awakens. Rogue used her abilities to heal herself by temporarily absorbing Logan’s healing factor through touch. Mystique â disguised as Rogue’s crush Ice Man â guilt’s Rogue into fleeing the X-Mansion and Magneto sets out to abduct her.
Rogue has backup in Wolverine, but the Adamantium coursing through Logan’s body makes him an easy adversary for Magneto to control. The X-Men soon arrive to defend Rogue, and this leads to a great fight where among other things, we see Xavier commandeer the mind of Sabretooth (he can’t overtake Magneto’s mind due to the specially designed helmet that Erik wears). This keeps the situation from getting worse than it has already been, but Rogue is abducted, nonetheless.
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From there, Senator Kelly â now a mutant â ventures to Xavier’s school where his mutation kills him. Mystique continues to wreak havoc on The X-Men in the meantime, sabotaging Xavier’s mutant-locating machine Cerebro. When Xavier goes to use the machine to locate Rogue, he is poisoned.
Rescuing Rogue prompts Wolverine to join The X-Men and Magneto is confronted on Ellis Island by the team. There is lots of action â and drama â as The X-Men take on Magneto’s Brotherhood, and along with an epic fight between Logan and the shape-shifting Mystique and a fight atop the Statue of Liberty between Wolverine and Sabretooth, the highlight of this sequence is Wolverine finally reaching Rogue and forcing her to touch him so that she can be saved from the brink of death. The music and emotion are really great here, and Logan proves himself a hero that Rogue can trust, and that Magneto knows to respect.
In the fallout of the battle at Ellis Island, Wolverine and Professor X recover while Magneto is taken into custody and imprisoned within a plastic jail. Mystique meanwhile impersonates the late Senator Kelly, effectively undoing a lot of the political damage that he had done. We see Xavier visit Erik in his plastic prison, and we see Wolverine set out to investigate his past after getting pointed in the right direction by Xavier.
I thought that X-Men was a really great origin for Marvel’s mutants! A lot of characters were introduced here on both sides of the mutant conflict, and I think the film has a great balance and does a great job of explaining the respective viewpoints of all involved.
My only knocks on this movie were in terms of select character adaptations. I didn’t like the execution of Toad or Sabretooth. Toad was sort of silly and Sabretooth was sort of stupid, and they were very generic villains compared to Magneto and Mystique. I will also say that I think X-Men could have been at least 15-minutes longer, but really, that is just a nitpick on my part. Overall, the film accomplished everything that it set out to.
Looking back, X-Men debuted at a time when the lingering superhero memory of the general populace was Joel Schumacher’s Batman films, so we went from bat-suit nipples and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s goofy Mister Freeze to Wolverine’s claws and Mystique’s shapeshifting, so yeah, X-Men was certainly a game changer for the genre! For the sake of history, it should also be noted that X-Men also featured Stan Lee’s first cameo in a feature length, theatrically released Marvel movie. The first of many, many more to come over the next 20-years!
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Highlights of X-Men:
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
Rebecca Romijn as Mystique
Anna Paquin as Rogue
The unique dynamic between Professor X and Magneto
Themes from the Comics perfectly adapted to Film
The overall execution of the Mystique character in terms of makeup and special effects
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Notable MCU Concepts and Characters Introduced:
X-Men serves as an origin story for a Universe of characters that are rumored to be formally introduced in Marvel Studios’ upcoming film Deadpool 3, including a purported Variant of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Meanwhile, the MCU’s Earth-838 version of Charles Xavier / Professor X (seen in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) looks nearly identical to the Professor X from this Universe, with both characters portrayed by actor Patrick Stewart.
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