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In which the first X-Men film turns 25 (and holds up remarkably well).
X-PLAINED:
- A startling absence
- The X-Men’s big-screen debut
- An X-film that might have been
- X-Men (2000), in general; and related publications
- Some very casting
- What makes a good adaptation
- Wolverine’s hair
- Those costumes
- The cinematic X-Men
- The cinematic Brotherhood
- Sabretooth’s eyebrows
- Condensed backstories
- The movie magic of magnetism
- The worst toy of all time
- Going to school with superheroes
- Things we’d like to have seen in the movie
NEXT EPISODE: The origin of Thunderbird! (Not that one.) (Or that one.)
The visual companion to this episode is the film X-Men (2000).
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Good stuff, guys! Not sure I can watch it again given Singer, but maybe I’ll try sometime. I remember X2 being even better. Trivia: Kevin Feige’s first producer credit. And we had no idea what was to come.
That toy is called Newton’s Cradle. Also, I’ve only seen James Marsden in this and Westworld. Between those roles, he has big runner up energy. Does he have a good starring role anywhere?
Personally, I think Marsden is excellent in 2004’s “The 24th Day”, the screen adaptation of a stage play which is basically a two hander between him and Scott Speedman. It’s about a guy confronted by someone he might, or might not, have infected with HIV. The critics weren’t very kind overall, and it might make you more interested in seeing it on stage than anything, but I liked it.
He’s got an amusing, but sadly miniscule bit in “Enchanted” as the very VERY Disney Prince for whom things don’t quite go the way he’d been brought up to believe they would (And the fact he and Idina Menzel had a subplot, and a musical number, which was basically excised remains a baffling directorial choice)
He’s also in “Superman Returns” where he plays the guy who Lois Lane got engaged to after Superman buggered off into space for five years. It’s a thankless role as he comes across as a thoroughly admirable chap, who genuinely loves Lois and who, truth be told, seems a much better partner for her than Clark (Richard, for example, DIDN’T bugger off into space for five years with telling her, which is a bit of an improvement over Clark)
Other than that, he does seem to excel at bouncing off CGI characters, being in “Hop” opposite Easter Bunnies voiced by Russell Brand and Hugh Laurie, as well as, of course, being the “dad” in all three Sonic the Hedgehog movies.
Marsden is just – IMO – infinitely charming. (Also love him as Corny in Hairspray). I’m curious which X-character would be best suited by his talents… (Weirdly, I’d say Mastermind IF you’re casting him as the guy who Phoenix falls for…)
Building off these comments about Marsden, 100% agree! He’s a perfect leading man that’s somehow not been given his due. I’d also like to add his performance in the US version of ‘Death at a Funeral’. He put did really well despite the “comedians telling jokes” style that movie went for. Marsden could’ve been dropped into the UK version from a few years prior, no problem (although that would mean replacing Alan Tudyk!)
Oh, and I just dug out Patrick Stewart’s autobiography. When Lauren Shuler Donner approached him in 1997 he had no idea about the X-Men, and wasn’t interested in more sci-fi. But then he got talking to Singer and aired all his issues. Singer then talked him around by pitching similarities between Picard and Professor X. At that time, Stewart didn’t know McKellen very well either!
Further, he met Hugh Jackman right before Jackman did his test. Stewart, McKellen, Berry, and Marsden all thought he had that ‘it’ factor. Afterwards, Jackman thought he failed until a producer announced that he was Wolverine.
Then Stewart met the rest of the cast. He remembered Paquin from the Piano, but no mention of meeting Jannsen in TNG. Maybe he mentioned that earlier, in the TNG section. Singer was a focussed and borderline authoritarian director, but it turned out great in the end.
Chapters 20 and 21 if anyone goes looking for it.
It’s more of an X2 and X3 thing I think, but I love that neither Patrick Stewart nor Ian McKellan could actually play chess at all, so all their clever (and real) chess games were choreographed beforehand and they just had to remember to move the pieces correctly.
Nicely done, both of you! I came over from Spotify to put the name of the Newton’s Cradle, but you guys got here first! I eagerly await future anniversary episodes!
Stewart has told this story a few times, I don’t know if it’s in the autobiography per se. The first time he talked to Lauren Shuler Donner…
I walked in the door, Lauren picked something up from her desk and held it up. And I looked at it, and I said, “What am I doing on the front of a comic book?” And she said, “Exactly.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/patrick-stewart-on-x-men-days-of-future-past-76458/
Okay, in no particular order:
The office desk toy with the metal balls is called a Newton’s Cradle (Since it’s based on the principles of the conservation of momentum and the conservation of energy which Sir Isaac Newton formulated). (We also know that Magneto IS fond of magnetic desk toys, since his means of indicating to Principle Darkholme that he was present in X-Men: Evolution was remotely playing with her magnetic desk toy)
I honestly don’t think the Rogue/Mystique link would have worked in the movie as it would mean that one of the FIRST villainous mutant she meets, out of all possible contenders, is her adoptive mother? Stretching things a bit too far IMHO.
I also like that this Rogue only had her original, disadvantageous power, the power and memory draining. Giving her Carol’s flying brick powers would have given her too much utility, and I like that this version (and the X-Men Evolution one) were baseline human until they actually drained someone, which they always hated doing. It added some genuine angst.
I remembering smiling when Cyclops and Storm showed up and then a little surprised when I realised that they basically WERE the X-Men’s entire roster. It didn’t seem to me that Jean, since she had a full time job as a medical doctor and consultant with Xavier, went into the field too often, but even if we include her, that makes Storm and Cyclops 66.67% of the X-Men… which seems less like a team and more like a badly attended after-school club.
I will give James Marsden extra credit (and not just because.. well… woof!) because he was saddled with trying to emote as an actor deprived of the most emotive aspect of an actors face; his eyes, and he really sold it. (And the scene in the railway station where he smiles at the kid is just “Yup, he’s the one Jean, pick Logan over this guy and you are an idiot, and you are NOT an idiot”)
I think reading an early X-men comic made me look up wolverine in the dictionary so I knew it wasn’t a wolf, but more like a badger (and also that “nightcrawler” as a name makes no sense for a German-native, Europe based circus performer, as it’s a word which only has meaning in America)
The bit I loved about the X-costumes is mentioned in one of the DVD extra’s. Being leather, they were so rigid and inflexible that in the scene at the Statue of Liberty where they’re walking along and have to step over a two foot wall, NONE of them could do it because the leather trousers would not allow them the required flexibility. They basically had to shoot the scene in two parts before the wall and after the wall and gloss over the bit in the middle.
As such, I think Storm’s outfit not fitting quite right was possibly because they had to have some way for Halle Berry to lift her arms above her head, which I’m pretty sure none of the others could.
I’ll also mention the thing I’ve heard a few times is that the infamous “Do you know what happens when a toad is struck by lightning” line and it’s follow up “The same thing that happens to everything else that get’s struck by lightning” doesn’t work precisely because they tried to give it gravitas, when it’s a Joss Whedon penned “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” type quip. The dramatic build up is fine, but the reply should have been tossed casually over Storm’s shoulder as she walks away, Toad already forgotten.
Gods yes, that Senator Kelly figure is the stuff of tactile nightmares, I can STILL feel it haunting my fnigers. It’s like the opposite of a fidget toy, in that it makes you want to STOP touching it as soon as possible, possibly by hurling it out a window and into a blazing fire, in those that cleansing flames will destroy it (though it would probably release toxic fumes as it did)
I can’t remember if it’s this movie or X-2 which has the cute moment of the teleporting kid playing basketball with himself, so he throws the ball, disappears, reappears to catch it, passes it again, disappears, and reappears to catch it again. I thought it was cleverly edited scene of the same kid three times, but then found out they’d done it by hiring identical triplets and then editing out the two they didn’t need from each moment.
I think Avalanche might have worked as a replacement for Sabretooth since he’s all about appying kinetic force and doesn’t need to get close to do it.
Come to think of it, I don’t think a Rogue/Mystique-link would have worked in this movie. In the comics, Rogue’s timeline is basically: born, grows up, hits puberty, gets overly friendly with boy and almost kills him when her power manifests, runs away, gets picked up by Raven and Irene who groom her into becoming a supervillain, attacks Ms. Marvel a few years later and drains her nearly to death and gets her powers permanently, gets mental issues because of Carol’s memories, seeks help from the X-Men, gets punched into orbit. There’s never really a point where she has a *secret* link to Mystique – that part is always pretty overt. And in the movie, that timeline becomes interrupted because the X-Men recruit her first, so she and Mystique never get to build a relationship.
This is unlike Mystique’s relationship with Nightcrawler, which is biological and dates to his birth. That would work better as a mystery relationship.
Man, you two make me wanna do a rewatch. Also, the Rogue cut of DoFP is still sitting in my DVD collection unwatched and I should watch at some point…
Jay’s description of the Senator Kelly “toy” as “deeply upsetting” is never not hilarious.
Re: Costumes – I will say my reaction when you talked about Claremont approving of the outfits was “OF COURSE he’d be cool with everyone in leather!” But also, what Jay says makes a lot of sense (and explains why Spider-Man tends to have struggled the least with teh comic to film look consistently).
It was homophobic to give Storm that bad of hair. Batman & Robin may have “killed” the superhero film (for like…3 years? 1 if we count Blade??), but damn, they should’ve gotten whoever did Uma’s wigs to give Storm some volume.
In many ways, the biggest way X-Men may’ve affected the comics is that it apparently is what led to Harras being ousted as EiC in favor of Quesada (due to his failure to capitalize on the success of the film – earned a WHOPPING 56 million opening weekend. And that was HUGE at the time). And Quesada’s 00s run as EiC of Marvel is notable for some MAJOR MAJOR swings (some good, some less so, arguably some still lasting like decompressed stories and less narrative covers) and then his tenure post EiC in Marvel is, well, *gestures at Marvel in the 2010s*….
Some additional context on Logan lending Rogue his healing factor. The original comic is when the X-Men are invited to his and Mariko’s wedding, and he’s surprised that Rogue shows up and is, as you say, completely shitty to her. However, Mariko is a perfect host and treats Rogue as an honored guest.
Anyway, there’s a dinner a day or so before the wedding… and it turns out the drinks are poisoned. Storm didn’t have time to drink so she’s OK, and Rogue’s invulnerability makes her OK and Wolverine’s healing factor makes him fine-ish, but the rest of the team are out of commission. So Storm goes to find the miscreants who did this, and in the process runs into Yukio who teaches her a thing or two about enjoying life and costume design. Rogue and Wolverine stay behind because this is clearly an attempt on Mariko’s life and they probably won’t stop. Eventually Viper, Silver Samurai, and a bunch of ninjae attack (I believe there’s a scene where Rogue is being a decoy for Mariko), and eventually Viper gets a bead not on Wolverine, but on Mariko and is about to shoot her when Rogue pushes her and Wolverine out of the way and tanks the energy beam. So it’s not because she took a bullet for *Wolverine* he helps her, it’s because she took one for *Mariko*.
Anyway, the next day Storm shows up in her punk outfit, Kitty cries, and Mariko calls the wedding off for Reasons.
Hard as it is to say how the movie would’ve turned out, Bob Hoskins could have made a really good Wolverine. I get what was said about impressions. I wasn’t allowed to see WFRR as a kid, so Hoskins was always Mr Smee from Hook for me. Around 2005 I started seeing more of his older work & became a huge fan. Check out The Long Good Friday & Mona Lisa particularly. You couldn’t have gotten better for a late 80s/ early 90s Logan.
My first memory of Bob Hoskins was as one of the leads in a prime-time adult literacy program of fifty ten-minute episodes the BBC ran in 1975. He played a good-natured, working-class chap with literacy difficulties who was trying to learn to read properly.
He was funny, earthy and warm in a very family friendly series, so to discover his roles in “Mona Lisa” and “The Long Good Friday” was quite the surprise!
On Hugh Jackman’s casting: the penultimate person to almost be Wolverine in the film was Dougray Scott, who had to be let go when filming on Mission Impossible 2 ran over. https://www.flickeringmyth.com/the-true-story-behind-dougray-scott-playing-wolverine-in-x-men-and-why-hugh-jackman-took-over/
I’ve always found it fascinating that two of the biggest stars of the turn of the century, Hugh Jackman and Viggo Mortensen, each walked into key roles in big ensemble casts (with Ian McKellan!) as late replacements.
On Magneto’s plan: I’ve always found “turn human leaders into mutants so they care about what happens to us” an incredible comic book plot. I was amazed I’d never seen that one in an actual comic, and that it took so many decades for someone to come up with it!
On the film’s marketing: on the other hand, could there be a tagline more antithetical to the themes of the X-Men than “trust a few, fear the rest”? Oof!
Great episode, a good time was had by all.
Patrick Stewart does an excellent job and I truly have no notes for his performance, but at the time I could not shake the suspicion that he was cast as Professor X solely because he was our most prominent bald actor at the time and famously bald actor = famously bald character. And everything I’ve learned about how movies are cast since then has only reinforced that idea.
I gotta say though, I disagree entirely on Ian McKellan. He’s obviously one of the greats, and I could absolutely dig on an ultra-campy take on Magneto but, as you say, the movie takes itself relatively seriously and I find his performance at odds with the rest of it. The Vincent Price comparison is excellent, but exactly my issue because it feels like he’s been imported into this movie from one of those and I find it somewhat distracting—like he’s never Magneto, he’s Ian McKellan ACTING™. But that’s not even my real problem with it. My real problem with Magneto in this film is that he never really feels like much of a direct threat. That’s not entirely on McKellan though—the whole plot is built around him needing Rogue because he’s not strong enough to power the machine and Mystique operates as his muscle and basically does all the legwork to make it happen. It gives off real “Why does Mystique, the largest friend, not simply eat Magneto?” energy, which does a major disservice to both characters. And having listened to your podcast since near the very beginning, it’s extremely clear to me that Magneto—even as the headmaster of a boarding school and ostensible good guy—is ALWAYS goddam threat (and at least a little bit sexy) AT. ALL. TIMES. Comics Magneto would power the machine himself while declaiming the entire time and daring Death to try and take him and we would all get a touch of the vapors watching it happen. And while I absolutely agree with Jay that a good adaptation makes considered changes that improve the character for the medium and audience, I think this change only diminishes him.
My favorite thing about Hugh Jackman is that before he was Wolverine, he was basically Australian Fred Astaire. And yeah, the most shocking thing about watching this film in 2025 is him running around the basement shirtless with a very fit, but relatively normal human man physique.
The thing about the costumes is that various studios HAD taken swings at comics accurate costumes, and they DID look pretty bad (Japanese Spider-man and the mentioned Captain America are good examples). To this day, just throwing spandex on a human body does not result in a very heroic silhouette even on extremely fit folks. AFAIK, the Raimi Spider-man was the first movie to figure out that using the contrasting, extremely visible texture technique Jay mentioned and filling out the form head-to-toe with silicon molds could make it work, but that wouldn’t be for another year or two. The other thing I think aside from the obvious influence of The Matrix is that in 2001 we were all Very Serious™ and trying very hard to take our comic books Very Seriously™ and colorful costumes would not have been Very Serious™. I’m marginally obsessed with Cap’s MCU costumes because they got it so right in the first movie and then keep trying to reinvent the wheel with such wildly mixed results. Like, how did the get it so right in the first movie and then let him walk on the plane looking so deeply silly for the big battle at the end of The Avengers?!?