X-Men: First Class: Difference between revisions

* [[A Minor Kidroduction]]: The film starts by accentuating the ''very'' different childhoods Charles and Erik experienced. And we get cute little girl Mystique.

* [[Adaptive Ability]]: Darwin's [[Defense Mechanism Superpower]]. {{spoiler|It does not make him as powerful as you would think.}}

** [[Big Bad|Sebastian Shaw]], whose energy-absorbing powers keep him young... somehow.

** Also Mystique/Raven to a point, who ages at a very low rate due to the ability of her cells to alter their function, which makes more sense than Shaw's immortality in the framework of the established rules of the universe.

* [[Black Dude Dies First]]: {{spoiler|Darwin is the first mutant to die (and the only person on the team who dies), which is all the more ridiculous because his powers are all about survival.}}

* [[Body Horror]]: [[Transformation Sequence|When Hank McCoy turns into Beast.]]

* [[Break the Cutie]]: Charles Xavier. When the movie starts he's a friendly, happy-go-lucky, idealistic Oxford grad whose only interests are protecting his sister, drinking yards of beer and picking up coeds. His initial reaction to meeting other mutants is a puppyish eagerness to find others like him, as well as a gung-ho enthusiasm to [[They Fight Crime|work with a superhuman team to fight evil.]] During the climax {{spoiler|he gets smacked around in a variety of ways including telepathically experiencing Shaw's gruesome death at Erik's hands and getting shot in the spine... and having the US government, his best friend, and his adopted-sister figure all turn against him. By the end of the movie [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|his government is trying to hunt him down,]] his [[Face Heel Turn|best friend is preparing for a war against humans]] and he's crippled for life in a wheelchair.}} We know from future installments that he never quite abandons his ideals, but he's frighteningly subdued and obviously much more cautious about who knows his secrets.

* [[Broad Strokes]]: They've outright said that they're giving story a much higher priority than continuity.

** Also Rebecca Romijn, the original Mystique.

** A blink-and-you'll-miss-it case: One of the mutants shown during the first test run of Cerebro appears to be a very young Storm, and another looks like Cyclops.

** Xavier also initially gets Cerebro from the CIA and Beast rather than building it himself with Magneto, though that Cerebro is destroyed in Shaw's attack on the CIA, and a new one located at the mansion would have been needed anyway.

*** It is possible the two could have, at least temporarily, resolved their differences long enough to build Cerebro in the mansion together. This could also explain why they're still somewhat chummy at the opening of ''X3''.

*** Although if you look closely at Beast's uniform in X3 it is identical to the one in First Class. He even lampshades the fact that he is now twice the size by pointing out it no longer fits him like it used to.

** Magneto obtains the helmet from Shaw and Xavier is fully aware of how it blocks telepathy, in ''X-Men'', Xavier is shocked at Magneto's helmet being able to block his telepathy.

** And regarding the Cerebro montage, Cyclops is a teenager in ''Wolverine'' and in his late 30's/early 40's in the original trilogy, which, if one does the math, would put him at infancy or at most, toddler age in the early 1960's, not the pre-teen we see playing ball. Ditto for the girl made to resemble Storm, who looks like she's a teenager in this film.

* [[Chest Blaster]]: Havok's "training wheels" are designed as one.

* [[Coming Out Story]]: Charles accidentally outs Hank as a mutant.

'''Hank:''' [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|You didn't ask, so I didn't tell.]] }}

* [[Compliment Backfire]]: Erik tries to compliment Hank's Beast form, but Hank takes it as sarcasm. Erik is remarkably understanding about the mistake.

* [[Composite Character]]: The movie's version of Sebastian Shaw is a composite of Shaw and Mr. Sinister. He combines Shaw's powers, personality, and slick businessman persona with Mr. Sinister's immortality, history with the Nazis, and obsession with mutant genetics.

* [[Continuity Cameo]]: Rebecca Romijn showing up as an "older" Mystique.

* [[Continuity Nod]]: The first scene with Erik in the camp is mostly identical to the first scene of X-Men, even down to some of the shots.

* [[Early-Bird Cameo]]: Wolverine appears for a very brief scene and only gets one line. (However, it's one of the funniest lines in the movie).

** Blink and you'll miss her, but when Charles uses Cerebro to look for mutants for the first time, a young girl version of Storm can be seen.

** Charles, compared to his wiser, more grounded persona in the chronologically later films, is not only much more idealistic but also something of a cocky beatnik.

** Young Erik has little qualms using guns alongside his powers. Not to mention much angrier than his older self, given his still-raw experiences of the Holocaust and his powers being fueled by raged.

* [[Epic Fail]]: Banshee's first flight... is ''not''.

* [[Epic Flail]]: Erik tries to sink Shaw's ship with its own anchor.

* [[Evil Costume Switch]]: After completing his [[Face Heel Turn]], Magneto dons his iconic [[Evil Overlord]] costume that [[Mythology Gag|he wore in the first issues of the comic book]]. Also, Mystique performs an [[Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains|Evil Costume Ditch]] after siding with Magneto.

* [[Evolutionary Levels]]: All over the place, usually invoked by Shaw.

* [[Explaining Your Power to the Enemy]]: Shaw's nice enough to explain his energy-absorbing powers to Colonel Hendry (and the audience), even noting how they make him ageless, {{spoiler|before promptly using them to turn Hendry into a human firecracker}}.

* [[Exposition of Immortality]]: There's Wolverine's cameo during the Xavier and Magneto seeking out mutant recruits montage; it's the 60s and Wolverine looks exactly like he has throughout the films.

* [[Eye Scream]]: Azazel holds the point of his tail at a victim's eye.

* [[Fake Nationality]]: British Jason Flemying as the Russian Azazel, and German-born Irish raised [[Michael Fassbender]] as Polish Magneto.

** [[Fake American]]: Scottish James McAvoy as Oxford English speaking Xavier, Australian Rose Byrne as Moira McTaggart and British Nicholas Hoult as Beast.

** Magneto and Mystique's [[Face Heel Turn]]s.

** Even more painful is the fact that people who read the comics are quite aware that {{spoiler|the subplot with Hank's serum [[Gone Horribly Wrong|will go horribly wrong]],}} and that Charles is going to be crippled by the end of the movie. It's almost like a Foregone [[Trauma Conga Line]].

** {{spoiler|When we first see Erik as an adult, he is staring at a picture of Shaw while handling a coin and uses his powers to [[Dartboard of Hate|slam the coin into the picture's forehead]]. This is how he kills Shaw in the end... but much slower.}}

** Charles compares Hank to Jekyll and Hyde. {{spoiler|Hank goes on to develop a serum which accidentally makes him even more beastly.}}

** Justified at the crucial moment because he separates revenge from his ideals, which is why he's able to compliment Shaw's vision while still hating the man to his core. Shaw the man wronged him terribly but Shaw the visionary is inspirational.

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Professor X and Magneto, believe it or not.

** [[Twilight]] fans may be surprised to find that Laurent is Darwin

** And fans of [[Red Alert]] will notice that Ray Wise is still in the U.S. government, taking the strategic fight to the Soviets [[Wild Mass Guessing|(maybe the storylines co-exist in an alternate reality [as the RedAlert universe is shown to have psychics and mutants], and before he became ''President'' Dugan, he served as United States Secretary of State.)]]

'''Hank''': You look beautiful ''now.'' }}

* [[The Lancer]]: Erik to Charles for much of the film. Havok to Beast somewhat.

* [[Left Hanging]]: What happened to all the other mutants between this film and the rest of them? Given the forty year gap between this and the principal films, anything could have gone down. Room for a sequel, of course.

* [[Light Is Not Good]]: Emma Frost, ([[Ms. Fanservice|scantily]]) clad in white and able to turn her body into a mass of shining diamonds, is not a ''good'' girl.

* [[Lingerie Scene]]: Moira's Hellfire Club infiltration technique. And Emma Frost in most of her scenes.

* [[Love Triangle]]: Raven and Hank hit it off almost instantly, but the moment he refuses to accept his mutant form (and ''her'' mutant form) drives her to attempt to seduce Magneto, who prefers her appearance just the way it is.

* [[Like Brother and Sister]]: Charles cites this when Raven, feeling insecure about her looks, asks if he would date her...although it falls a little flat coming right after he's answered the question with 'of course' in reference to her human form, before she clarifies that she means in her real form.

* [[Meaningful Echo]]: Mystique encountering Charles in a kitchen in her true form like when they first met. However, this time around, it is to show how they've both changed and are starting to grow apart in ideals.

** Also, shortly after they first meet, when Erik's about to go off on his own again, Charles tells him, "Shaw's got friends. You could use some!" Later, after Shaw's attack on the CIA when Charles wants to send the new mutant recruits home, Erik tells him "Shaw's got his army, we need ours."

** Kind of justified. Erik's father was taken away and he never saw him again. He knows what ''happened'' to his father, but his mother was murdered ''right in front'' of him, and he technically had a chance to prevent it, but didn't know how to consciously access his powers yet. It makes total sense that he would be more motivated by the memory of his mother than his father.

* [[Mental Affair]]: Emma Frost uses a [[Jedi Mind Trick]] on a Russian General to make him ''think'' he's having sex with her while she's actually sitting on his couch watching him make love to empty air on the bed. Charles thought that was a nice trick.

* [[Misfit Mobilization Moment]]: After circumstances force them to leave the CIA facility, the kids realize that they have to get their act together and learn to use and control their powers and work as a team.

* [[Mismatched Eyes]]: The first girl Charles tries to hit on.

* [[No Body Left Behind]]: {{spoiler|Darwin}} is vaporized immediately by the blast he took, and one of his teammates even said, "We can't even bury him."

* [[Nobody Touches the Hair]]: Said by Charles when Hank suggests Cerebro would work better if he were bald.

* [[Not So Different]]:

** Magneto and Shaw. [[Lampshaded]] in their final confrontation. Shaw is what Magneto would be if he was guided by power rather than ideals.

** {{spoiler|The look on Shaw's face when he realizes that Magneto isn't going to join him right after letting his guard down.}}

** For any audience member who knows [[Those Wacky Nazis|what made it famous]], the moment when the last line in {{spoiler|Charles's 'please don't kill those people' speech to Erik is [[Just Following Orders|"they were just following orders."]]}}

** [[Not Even Bothering with the Accent|Apparently Magneto's accent was partially deliberate.]]

** Nicholas Hoult slips here and there as well.

** When frustrated, Havok is heard to mutter, "Whatever..."

** {{spoiler|The [[Macross Missile Massacre]] fired at the end of the movie includes Harpoon and Tomahawk missiles, which entered service in 1977 and 1983 respectively.}}

** Some of the US sailors are wielding M16's, which were not officially adopted until the following year.

* [[Pretty Little Headshots]]: {{spoiler|That coin did make a pretty smooth journey through Shaw's head. Scarier when you realize that Erik is probably [[I Did What I Had to Do|very aware of the fact]] that he's causing [[Synchronization|excruciating sympathy pain]] for Charles.}}

* [[Ransacked Room]]: After Beast transforms into his blue furry form.

* [[Ready for Lovemaking]]: Erik walks into his room and finds a naked Mystique lying in his bed. When he says, "Maybe in a few years," she responds by shifting her appearance to that of an adult woman.

* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: Erik and Charles.

* [[Retcon]]

* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: Erik's initial mission was to hunt down and kill Shaw and his Nazi underlings.

* [[Romance on the Set]]:

** When Hank first demonstrates his power, he ends up [[Spider-Man (film)|hanging upside-down, right at Raven's eye level]]. Lampshaded, when Raven exclaims: "You're amazing!"

** Erik's "[[String Theory]] and [[Dartboard of Hate]]" scene is incredibly similar to a scene in ''[[Kick-Ass (film)|Kick Ass]]'', also directed by Matthew Vaughn.

** Erik's magnetism-using gestures run the gamut from [[The Matrix|Neo]] to [[Star Wars|Obi-Wan Kenobi.]]

** 'Beast, open the bomb bay doors!'

* [[Slipping a Mickey]]: Subverted: The NATO general responds to the Hellfire Club's first display of mutant powers with "What the hell did you put in my drink?!", thinking that he must be hallucinating.

* [[Something They Would Never Say]]: How kid Xavier pierces kid Mystique's disguise at the beginning of the film. Well, that and the telepathy.

* [[Start of Darkness]]: Magneto and even more so Mystique.

* [[Straw Man Has a Point]]: In-universe. Sebastian Shaw carries a mutant supremacy message that Magneto [[Foregone Conclusion|ultimately embraces.]]

* [[That Man Is Dead]]: The film ends with Erik outright proclaiming that he prefers his new moniker: Magneto.

* [[Too Dumb to Fool]]: In a deleted extension of the scene in Soviet Russia where the team is infiltrating, the search dog that the checkpoint guards have still sensed that something was amiss in the seemingly empty truck. Charles says that the reason is this pertaining to his telepathic power on dogs.

* [[The Tooth Hurts]]: Played with. Erik pulls out a Swiss bank manager's metal filling, throwing him into agonizing pain.

* [[Tragic Keepsake]]: Erik's Nazi coin.

* [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: Sort of. The trailers did show virtually every single scene from the climax—but edited them so as not to show exactly what was happening.

* [[Training Montage]]: When Xavier trains mutant youngsters to properly use their powers.

* [[Translation Convention]]: Averted for the most part: All the scenes with the Nazis/the Swiss bankteller/former German soldiers as well as the scenes with the Russians are spoken in German, French, Spanish, and Russian where approriate, with subtitles in English. A couple scenes use the technique of starting in foreign language, then shifting to English for the last few (and most dramatically important) lines.

** Unfortunately, the foreign lines are usually spoken with an atrocious pronunciation, most notably the scene at the beginning.

* [[The Ubermensch]]: Sebastian Shaw's ideal of a mutant.

* [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]]: Raven for Xavier. Xavier does a lot of flirting with other women, and Raven is clearly jealous. It's hard to tell whether she actually had strong romantic feelings for him, or if she just wants to establish that she's worthy of romantic interest, but either way he says that he [[Like Brother and Sister|can't see her as anything but a sister]] and [[Protectorate|someone to protect]].

* [[Verb This|Verb to This]]: Shaw to {{spoiler|Darwin, before killing him. Specifically: "adapt to this."}}

* [[Villain Protagonist]]: Magneto.

* [[The Voiceless]]: Riptide has no dialogue in the film and Azazel has only a few words although it doesn't stop either from being [[Badass]].

* [[We Can Rule Together]]:

* [[We Used to Be Friends]]: The plot focuses on Charles' and Magneto's friendship and fallout.

* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]:

** During the assault on the CIA facility where the younger mutants are staying, Shaw grabs one of the guards and demands to know where the mutants are. When backup arrives, he tosses the guy into the air. He never comes back down, and the backup starts firing like they've got clear line-of-sight. Did he pitch the poor bastard through the ceiling?

** Sebastian Shaw supercharged himself with the energy of an overloaded nuclear reactor. {{spoiler|Is that energy still stored in his dead body? Does it have a risk of going boom?}}

* [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]]: Averted with Magneto. Instead of having naturally white hair like his comic book counterpart, he's classic [[Tall, Dark and Handsome]].

* [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]]: While Charles isn't exactly naive, his idealism is accentuated by the fact that everyone else seems to have a far more pessimistic approach to mutant/human relations. Though, it's suggested that this is at least partly because he hasn't faced persecution in the same way. It sets up a nice contrast with his portrayal in the previous films, where he's an idealist but a lot more cautious about it now that he's had personal experience.

** The 2009 ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'' movie meets [[James Bond]].

** Perhaps it's more ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'' meets ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]''.

* [[You Are Better Than You Think You Are]]: Charles says this almost word for word to Magneto.

* [[You Killed My Father|You Killed My Mother]]: {{spoiler|Shaw should have known that Magneto was never going to let this go.}}

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