Is X-Men: First Class a
Reboot?
Donner says film features young Scott, Jean, and
Beast.
by
Scott Collura
US, April 15, 2009 -
Lauren Shuler Donner, one of
the producers of the
X-Men films and
X-Men Origins:
Wolverine, spoke recently about the planned next picture
in the franchise:
X-Men: First Class. And
the news coming out of that talk is a bit illuminating regarding
which characters might actually show up in the film.
"It is the first class of Xavier's school, way back when, so it's
young Scott, young Jean, young Beast, and that'll be really fun,"
Donner says in an interview on Fox Movie Channel's
Life after
Film School, as relayed by
Comics Continuum.
"I think [the plan] is to follow some of the characters into their
own stories, and weave them back into the X-Men world. … And
hopefully
First Class will become its own franchise and we
can follow them as they grow up."
Huh. Donner is of course referring to Scott Summers (Cyclops),
Jean Grey (Marvel Girl,
Phoenix, et al.), and Hank McCoy, three of the original members of
the X-Men in the comic. And
First Class began life as a
Marvel Comics series that chronicled the early adventures of that
very same original X-Men lineup -- Cyclops, Iceman,
Beast, Marvel Girl, and
Angel. But
when Variety
broke the news last November that
Gossip Girl and
Chuck producer
Josh Schwartz was writing
the film, the trade paper said that the movie would likely "enlist
such characters as Iceman, Rogue, Angel, Colossus, Jubilee and
Shadowcat, who have appeared
prominently or made cameos in prior pics."
So assuming that the producer of the film actually knows what she's
talking about, it looks as though
Variety had it a bit
wrong with that synopsis -- Rogue and the rest would barely be out
of diapers, if even, when the Beast was a young man. Also, the
continuity of the
X-Men films dictates that Iceman and
Angel couldn't have been part of the original team, unless the
filmmakers decide to ditch all of that and start from scratch --
which would make the film a reboot. Or could it be that the young
Cyclops who shows up in
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is
intended to be some kind of tie-in to
First Class?