X-MEN FIRST CLASS (2011) BREAKDOWN! Easter Eggs & Details You Missed! | X-Men Rewatch

Welcome back to New Rockstars. I'm Eric. Voss, and this is a breakdown of 2011's. X-Men: First Class, the fifth. installment of our X-Men Snikt Snikt. Rewatch, as we break down all 13 of the. Fox X-Men and Deadpool films ahead of. Deadpool 3. This movie was a. prequel/reboot. to the X-Men films that came before, and. so it recasts some high-profile roles. for a look at the start of Charles. Xavier's school and his friendship and. subsequent rivalry with Erik Lehnsherr, Magneto. Let's break down this film. scene by scene for all the Easter eggs, the links to the MCU, and as always, if. you want to avoid any potential Deadpool.

3 spoilers, I will leave all of that. conversation for the danger room at the. end of this [music] video. And to. celebrate this X-Men rewatch, we are. doing a special X-Men themed merch. release, which is really the best way to. support New Rockstars. Grab one of these. designs by clicking the link in the. description. The film opens in Poland in. 1944. Director Matthew Vaughn recreated. the opening sequence of the 2000 X-Men. film shot-for-shot with different. actors. This time, the sequence. continues after young Erik Lehnsherr is. knocked out. The camera pans up to show. Sebastian Shaw, played by Kevin Bacon, watching out his rain-soaked window.

while sipping a cup of tea, like the. Kermit the Frog meme, but you know, a. Nazi. We're also reminded of the. American officers toasting with. champagne during Wolverine's origin. story. Matthew Vaughn had been hired to. direct The Last Stand originally, but he. backed out due to some time constraints, and he said later a fallout with Fox. executives over a bogus fake script. designed to trick Halle Berry, but he. was thrilled to be brought back for this. film. He actually came on to this movie. having just finished directing Kick-Ass, a movie known for having both. Quicksilvers in it, Aaron Taylor-Johnson. and Evan Peters. Hey, remember in. WandaVision when Wanda said Kick-Ass and. we all lost our minds? Around the same.

time Erik Lehnsherr's powers are. manifesting in Poland, a young Charles. Xavier sleeps in his lonely but cozy. castle in Westchester, New York. Next to. his bed are a baseball, a book, and. framed photos of Charles Darwin, whose. namesake appears later in this film, and. Rita Hayworth in a still from the film. You Were Never Lovelier, and Albert. Einstein. Though this particular photo. of Einstein wasn't taken until 1947, 3. years after this particular scene is. set, we all learned exactly what. Einstein was doing at this point in his. life from the movie Oppenheimer. Also, in the last stand, Kitty Pryde discussed. Einstein with Professor Xavier and he.

responded, "Yes, but Einstein was not a. mutant as far as we know." The actor. playing 12-year-old Charles is Lucas. Till, who was cast after Charlie Rowe. dropped out due to conflicts with. shooting the film Neverland. Young. Raven, future Mystique, breaks into. Charles' house looking for food and. takes on the form of his mother. He. immediately knows it's not really his. mom since she'd never be this warm to. him. His quick distress is something in. line with their relationship in the. comics. After her husband's death, Sharon Xavier remarried Dr. Kurt Marko. who had a son from a previous marriage, Cain Marko, Juggernaut, who we saw in. The Last Stand. Dr. Marko was abusive.

and drove Sharon to alcoholism and. depression, so she became neglectful of. Charles. So, yeah, she probably wouldn't. be in the kitchen making him hot. chocolate. Charles is thrilled to meet. another mutant and Raven is thrilled. that he's not immediately afraid of her. in her natural blue-skinned form. He. essentially adopts her as a sister, kind. of like Wendy did with the Lost Boys in. Peter Pan and without proper legal or. parental permission. In the comics, Mystique and Charles' relationship. varies. Sometimes they're childhood. friends and sometimes they're enemies. They were technically married at one. point, but that's been pretty much. ignored. Meanwhile, Sebastian Shaw plays. "La Vie en Rose" by Edith Piaf on the.

phonograph. Like the photo of Einstein, this would be anachronistic. That song. was actually recorded in 1946, 2 years. after this scene takes place. The song. though is about seeing the world through. rose-colored glasses, finding the. positives or beauty in everyday life. Other Edith Piaf songs have been. featured in Loki, Agents of Shield, Falcon and Winter Soldier. This song. featured in Inception. Shaw will later. play the same song later on in the. Hellfire Club in 1962. Ironic though. that he's playing it there, which would. be the most awful setting possible. Sebastian Shaw offers Erik some. chocolate. This is something Nazi.

scientist Josef Mengele would actually. do to children before conducting. horrible eugenics experiments on them. And he says, There is an actual X-Men comic series. called Uncanny X-Men: The New Age. written by Chris Claremont in his return. to the X-Men world. He was responsible. for creating a lot of Magneto's. backstory, so this line about the new. age might be the film's way of paying.

homage to him. Unlike the first X-Men. when Charles opened the film talking. about evolution and mutation as a. natural occurrence, Shaw is trying to. force mutation through any means. necessary. While the Nazis want to use. eugenics to breed traits like blonde. hair and blue eyes, he wants to use it. to create more mutants. There's a really. cool reveal when the camera flips to. show that this whole conversation has. been taking place next to a lab with. various weapons and medical torture. devices. It makes the audience realize. that Shaw has just been doing this whole. act, offering chocolate, distancing. himself from the Nazis with this looming. threat negating everything. Shaw tries.

to get Erik to move the coin using only. his mind and in a true Chekhov's gun. moment, this is the very coin that Erik. will use to kill Shaw later. After he. shoots Erik's mother and activates his. powers, Shaw actually hands him the coin. to keep, the instrument of his own. destruction. The image of the coin in. Erik's palm flips up to reveal the title. of the film and then we fast forward 18. years to Geneva, Switzerland in 1962. Erik now uses his powers to move the. coin through his fingers, which is. reminiscent of him keeping the Newton's. cradle balls swinging using only his. mind in the first film. It's the sort of. mental busywork that successfully shows.

mastery over his powers. He has a board. with all the Nazi players he wants. revenge on and some string connecting. them all. There's a hand-drawn picture. of Shaw, which Erik presumably drew. himself, and black and white photos of. some other people. The fact that there's. no photo of Shaw makes me think that he. keeps a low profile. We find out later. that his powers keep him young, so it. would make sense that he doesn't want. photographic evidence of his seeming. immortality. Erik drives the coin into. the photograph foreshadowing Shaw's. death at the end of the film. At a bar. in Oxford University, a now 24-year-old. Charles Xavier played by James McAvoy.

uses his knowledge of mutations to hit. on Amy, a coed with heterochromia, a. mutation producing two different colored. eyes. Jason Stryker, William Stryker's. son, had one green eye and one blue eye. just like this woman does. I wonder if. she's somehow related to him. She's. played by Annabelle Wallis, who played. Grace on Peaky Blinders and was also the. lead in the crazy horror film Malignant. James McAvoy was the first actor cast. for this film and after he got the role. he shaved his head before learning that. it was a period piece and they wanted. him to have 60 style hair. So they had. to give him hair extensions for much of. the film before it grew back. He would.

shave it again correctly this time for. X-Men: Apocalypse. After Charles orders. Amy a drink he touches his temple. indication that he's using his powers to. see what she likes. Raven bristles at. this flirtation and at Amy who obviously. isn't real mutant saying that they. should reclaim the word and coining the. phrase mutant and proud. Mutant and proud. Or is that only with. pretty mutations or invisible ones like. yours? If you're a freak, better hide. This actually comes up a few times for. Mystique but it connects to X2 which it. tells Nightcrawler that they shouldn't. have to hide who they are. Then why not stay in disguise all the.

time? You know, look like everyone else. Cuz we shouldn't have to. X-Men has always had parallels to both. the civil rights movement and with the. film starting in 2000 LGBT rights and. the phrase mutant and proud is similar. to sentiments like gay pride or other. LGBT slogans like we're here, we're. queer, get used to it. Raven asks. Charles if he'd date her as her true. self and is definitely hurt that he. avoids answering. This sets up how much. it means to her later on that Eric wants. to be with her in her true form and. helps explain her loyalty to him over. the years. Although she does sell him. out in the last stand after she gets.

shot with the cure and he abandons her. The Swiss bank manager that Eric goes to. get information from is played by James. Faulkner Randall Tarly from Game of. Thrones. His photo is actually one of. the ones on Eric's board in his hotel. room. Eric is able to prevent him from. pressing the bank alarm because he's. wearing a watch with metal in it. Big. mistake. Melting down gold fillings was. horribly actually something the Nazis. did. Eric turns it on the bank manager. here and we get a shot of the metal. filling flying out of his mouth from. inside his mouth. Sebastian Shaw's club in Las Vegas is. called Atomic. In the comics Children of. the Atom was a phrase used to refer to.

mutants. There was even a video game. with this title released in the 90s. Moira MacTaggart recast here as Rose. Byrne sticks it out. Matthew Vaughn. wanted this film to be sort of a soft. reboot of the franchise if necessary so. he told the actors not to study or base. their performances on the actors who. came before them. He nixed Moira's. Scottish accent that she had in the. animated series and in the Last Stand. when she was played by Olivia Williams. This is also why James McAvoy, who. actually is Scottish, has a slightly. different accent than Patrick Stewart. used. Moira isn't a scientist here, she's a CIA agent keeping tabs on some. major players. Is that Colonel Hendry?

Yes, it is. That's three mob bosses, the. Italian ambassador, and the CEO of. Lockheed. They cannot all be communists. The Hellfire Club's got to be something. else. This is the first mention of the. Hellfire Club in the X-Men film. franchise. In the comics, the Hellfire. Club was a secret society introduced. during the Dark Phoenix Saga in Uncanny. X-Men number 129. Over the years, they. worked both with and against the X-Men. depending on whether their interests. aligned. Colonel Hendry is played by. Glenn Morshower, who also played General. Jacobs in Agents of Shield and has a. recurring role in the Transformers. movies as General Morshower. He plays a.

lot of military guys. Emma Frost greets. him at the door. She's played by January. Jones, who when this film came out was. better known as Betty Draper from the. Mad Men series. And while perfectly cast. in my opinion in that show, she really. doesn't As. Sebastian Shaw big dogs Colonel Hendry. to pressure him into putting Jupiter. missiles in Turkey, he once again plays. La Vie en Rose. So, this is clearly his. preferred music to hear before doing. terrible stuff. Hendry's been drinking. champagne like the military men during. the Weapon X procedure in Wolverine's. X-Men flashbacks. There's also a bowl of. M&M's on the table and there are blue.

ones in there even though blue M&M's. weren't introduced until 1995. Hey, maybe we're just in an alternate. timeline where, you know, everything. just kind of got jostled around a couple. years. In the room with them is also. Janos Questad, aka Riptide. We saw this. character briefly at the end of X-Men. Origins. In the comics, he can spin his. body super fast and he has the ability. to generate bone-like growths that he. could release when he was doing that. hurricane thing. For the film, the. growths were taken out and now he can. just spin hurricanes from his hands. He. also wore a lot of purple in the comics. and the suits he wears in this film. often have a purple tinge to them. Moira.

finds Russian documents that translate. to something like report contains. strategic missile forces defense. capability preventative deployment. Emma. Frost's diamond skin looks different. from the effect used for Emma Silverfox. with the diamond skin from the end of. X-Men Origins. Visual effects designer. John Dykstra said that this is because. in Origins, she was only seen briefly. and didn't move much. For this film, they wanted to make sure that she had. full range of motion and facial. expressions. Frost whistles for Azazel. and he teleports in. He's played by. Jason Flemyng, who's been in a ton of. stuff including The League of. Extraordinary Gentlemen as Dr. Jekyll.

and Mr. Hyde, a character Charles brings. up later in this film, as well as the. guy Richie banger Lock, Stock and Two. Smoking Barrels, which also starred Last. Day and Juggernaut actor Vinnie Jones. and was produced by Matthew Vaughn. Vaughn considers Flemyng something of a. good luck charm because the movies he. puts him in have historically done. better than the movies that he's not in. In the comics, Azazel and Mystique are. the parents of Nightcrawler. He clearly. got the teleporting from his dad and the. blue skin from his mom. Simon Kinberg, who wrote this film, said that he and. Bryan Singer wanted to make Azazel. Mystique's father in these films, but it. never made it into the finished product. In the war room, James Remar plays the.

unnamed US general. He was also in. Oppenheimer and he played Dexter's dad, Harry on Dexter. The war room looks very. similar to the one in Dr. Strangelove. That was also a movie about preventing. nuclear war with the Russians. The guy. on the phone even kind of looks like the. president in Dr. Strangelove, who of. course is played by Peter Sellers. Charles gets the title that everyone. knows him by in the first film, Professor of Genetics, Charles Francis. Xavier. In Argentina, Erik catches up. with two more men on his Nazi murder. board. They're played by Ludger Pistor. and Wilfried Hochholdinger, who also. played Nazis in Inglourious Basterds,

which also starred Michael Fassbender. and had a similarly awesome scene set in. a bar. Now, a deleted scene would have. shown Erik arriving at the Argentinian. airport and flashing back to a memory of. him with his mother. [music]. He actually brings this memory up later. in this film as one he had forgotten. after Charles unlocks it, so it makes. sense why they would delete him. remembering it here. This insanely tense. scene in the bar, where we're just. waiting for something to happen, is. absolutely awesome. But unlike the scene.

in Inglourious Basterds, where Michael. Fassbender is worried about Nazis. finding him out, they have turned the. tables now, and the Nazis are now the. ones who are sort of under cover, but. not really. We just haven't really seen. Eric kick ass in this way yet, since in. the early films he was mostly using his. powers or relying on the Brotherhood to. do the physical fighting. The guy who. claims to be the pig farmer says in. German, "We've got orders." A common. refrain of people who have done horrific. deeds, and it's interesting that these. men are playing checkers, whereas Eric. Lehnsherr is almost always shown playing. chess. Like, they literally cannot.

compete with him on his level. And like. he did with the cops in X-Men 2000, when. he turned their guns on them, Eric. forces this bartender's gun to the man. claiming to be a tailor, and mentally. pulls the trigger. We get a point of. view shot down the barrel of the gun, just like when Eric pulled out the. banker's fillings. I just love that in. the midst of all this, Eric takes the. time to finish his beer. Like, you see. Eric playing out the fantasy that he had. played through in his mind for years, and just savoring every moment of this. And once again, we get a contrast with. Eric's life and Charles's life. As Eric. is hunting down Nazis, drinking a beer. after a kill, Charles is drinking and.

partying in a bar. Definitely shows how. these men were just on separate paths. long before they met. Charles, again, is. hitting on someone by telling her she. has, quote, "a very groovy mutation.". James McAvoy said that he was playing. this Charles almost like a different. character than Patrick Stewart, and. here, he's a little bit of a dog. Like, he used that line on Moira even while. the woman he used it on earlier was. sitting a couple feet away, clearly. waiting for him. Moira ain't buying this. crap, though. She's all business. In. Miami, Hendry turns down Shaw's offer of. champagne this time, much like Stryker. refused drinking X2. These are both men.

who've seen some crap. They know better. than to drink around mutants. A deleted. scene would have shown Hendry arriving. to find Shaw casually hanging out with a. bunch of Cuban military leaders. Ahoy, Colonel Hendry. Good to see. Oh, tranquilo, tranquilo. Everything's. fine. We can all be friends here. Good to see you again, Colonel. Shaw's boat, which we saw a photo of in. the bar earlier, is the Caspertina. Matthew Vaughn also named the flying. boat in the film Stardust starring. Charlie Cox the Caspertine. The names.

are a mashup of Vaughn's children's. names Casper and Clementine. Charles. meets with some very important people at. CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. But this Langley facility wasn't. actually built until 1968, but you know, it probably felt more cinematic to show. than the random series of buildings. where CIA headquarters were before then. Also, you know, the timeline just got. like shaken up. And things got all kind. of inaccurate and stuff. Whatever, Matthew Vaughn clearly just doesn't. care. As Charles gives his presentation. on human genetic mutation, the graphic. image on the left hand side of the slide. actually looks like the X-Men logo. This. is an X-ray crystallography image of the.

DNA molecule. Charles shows off his. powers. I didn't really expect you to believe. me, given that all you could think about. during my presentation was what sort of. pie they were serving in the commissary. It's apple pecan. The other man in the room is William. Stryker Sr., papa of future Wolverine. creating villain from X2 and X-Men. Origins. To convince them that he's. telling the truth, Raven turns into. Stryker Sr. just as she would years. later into his son when he was played by. Brian Cox. And the way that she tortured. the like half the people in the US. government. The one other guy in the. room who's excited to meet the mutants. is played by Oliver Platt, credited only.

as man in black suit. Oliver Platt, I. love this guy. He's been in everything. FX Fargo series, The Bear. Oh, he also. played the general counsel on The West. Wing. Charles mentally communicates with. Moira after freezing everyone else. around her, a trick that he pulled in X2. in the museum, and with the president in. the Oval Office at the end of that film. Back at Shaw's boat, Eric half emerges. from the water. And this entire sequence. is very reminiscent of something you. might see in a James Bond film. Composer. Henry Jackman actually based his score. on John Barry's work in those 007 films. in the '60s. Another connection comes up. in the end credits.

The parallels between Shaw and who Eric. will become are evident in this scene. Both have strong female bodyguards. standing at their side protecting them. Shaw says, "We don't harm our own kind.". which Eric has also said. And obviously. both of them did and do harm other. mutants. There are a bunch of other. similarities throughout the film that. I'll go into more. Charles saves Eric. from drowning and reveals to Eric that. there are other mutants and the relief. on Eric's face. Fassbender is just such. an amazing actor and these two guys are. really like a perfect pairing. I mean,

it's hard to match the skill and the. chemistry of Ian McKellen and Patrick. Stewart, but I really think they're. doing it here. I thought I was alone. Eric, you're not so alone. The man in the black suit brings the. gang to a covert CIA research base. He's. kind of like a Fox Mulder type, if you. ask me, investigating the paranormal and. getting made fun of for it. And now, he's got a team of mutants, so screw the. haters. So, we're to be the CIA's new mutant. division, yes? Something like that. New Mutants is the name of a mutant. team, also created by Chris Claremont, as well as one of the movies we'll get. to later in the series from 2020. It.

featured an all new, all different cast. of X-Men, including Cannonball, Mirage, Sunspot, and Wolfsbane. Similarly, this. film features an all new cast of X-Men, many of whom hadn't appeared on screen. before. Producer Lauren Shuler Donner. said that they originally started to. talk about doing a young mutants movie. while they were filming X2, with the. idea of it being that the characters. we'd already seen, like Cyclops, Jean. Grey, Storm [music] in their early days. at Charles' school, when they were still. teenagers. After delving into that idea, she decided it wasn't really working and. instead they needed to explore new. mutants with new powers the audience.

hadn't seen yet. She agreed that the. ones in First Class don't really go. together at first glance, but the way. they and their powers interact just make. it work. We meet young Hank McCoy, played by Nicholas Hoult, and Charles. immediately outs him to his boss. How wonderful. Another mutant already. here. Hank? Didn't ask, so I didn't tell. This is kind of a reference to the don't. ask, don't tell military policy that. Bill Clinton adopted during his. presidency, which was considered. somewhat progressive at the time, but in. hindsight, not really. Hank shows. everyone what he can do and Raven has a.

Mary Jane Watson moment. You're amazing. [music] You are. amazing. Hank later flirts back in the most nerdy. scientist way possible, taking a blood. sample while enjoying a romantic meal of. Twinkies and Coke, but he's flirt. blocked by Eric. Did I hurt you? Kinky. By the way, if I look like you, I. wouldn't change a thing. And Raven's interest starts to shift. Magneto was always very supportive of. his followers celebrating their. mutantness, and of course in the. original movies Mystique was very. comfortable in her normal appearance, so. we're starting to see the seeds of that.

getting planted here. The helmet Shaw. wears was designed by the Russians and. keeps pesky telepaths from reading his. thoughts and influencing him. It's black. and gray here before Eric will give it. his paint job. Eric steals some CIA info. on Shaw and tries to leave like a thief. in the night, but Charles stops him. I felt your agony. I can help you. I don't need your help. Don't kid yourself. You needed my help. last night. It's not just me you're. walking away from. Here, you have the. chance to be part of something much. bigger than yourself. Charles makes a similar offer to. Wolverine in the first film, if you. remember.

Logan. It's been almost 15 years, hasn't it? Living from day to day, moving from. place to place. with no memory of who or what you are. Shut up. Give me a chance. I may be able to help you find some. answers. Around here, there was a deleted scene. that would have shown Charles. unsuccessfully hitting on Moira again. This is my job, Charles. I completely respect your decision. Read my mind now.

Right. Yeah, probably best they left that one. out. In the original X-Men 2000 film, Charles said Eric helped him build. Cerebro, but here it seems like Hank did. a lot of the work. I call it Cerebro. Yep. [laughter]. As in the Spanish for brain? Yes. The spherical room calls back the design. from the original movies. It also kind. of looks like the Spaceship Earth dome. in Epcot. Hank asks Charles if he won't. let him shave his head, one of several. references throughout the film to the. fact that he'll later be totally bald. There are a few familiar mutants when. Charles uses Cerebro the first time, including Storm with her long white hair.

and Cyclops wearing sunglasses and. playing with a baseball. The girl with. the ponytail in the safe shot of Cyclops. is maybe supposed to be Jean Grey, but. it's not clear. There's also this little. kid sitting in a chair reading a comic. book. And we looked and we looked, and. we looked, and we tried to figure out. what exact issue of comics this was. All. I can really tell is that the guy in the. red suit with the muttonchops kind of. looks like the early versions of. Sebastian Shaw. So, the first mutant. that Eric and Charles recruit is Angel. Salvador, played by Zoë Kravitz. She. also played Leta Lestrange in the. Fantastic Beasts films and played Selina. Kyle in Matt Reeves' The Batman. In the.

comics, she has the powers similar to a. housefly, including the ability to shoot. digestive acid at people out of her. mouth, which we actually see her. demonstrate later. A deleted scene here. would have shown Charles using his. powers to make Eric appear like he's. dressed as a woman. [laughter]. It's good, isn't it? What? In Days of Future Past, we see a. screenshot of Angel's autopsy, which. puts her death at around 1 week after. the events of this film. Oh. Next, the. guys recruit Darwin, played by Edi. Gathegi, Dev from For All Mankind. He. has the ability of reactive adaptation.

Like, he should be able to adapt his. body to fit changing scenarios and. environments. But, we'll see later this. movie. doesn't let it. Then, they meet Lucas. Till playing Alex Summers, aka Havok. In. the comics, Havok is Cyclops' brother. He has the ability to transform plasma. energy into energy blasts. Till played. MacGyver in the recent reboot of that. show. Then, they approach Sean Cassidy, aka Banshee, played by Caleb Landry. Jones. In an interview, Jones said that. given his red hair and his freckles, he. always knew he'd never get to play. Batman or Superman. So, when he heard. what they wanted for First Class, he was. so excited to finally get to be able to.

play a superhero. The visual effect of. Banshee's scream was done through a. digital ring-like structure based on. ring rings of sound waves. Then, we get. what is many people's favorite part of. this movie, this awesome cameo from Hugh. Jackman as Wolverine. Excuse me. I'm Erik Lehnsherr. Charles Xavier. Go [ __ ] yourself. Jackman said that when he was approached. to appear, he knew that this movie was. PG-13 and was excited that he was going. to get to say the one and only [ __ ] in. this film. The scripted line was [ __ ]. off, but he did one take where he. improvised a slight variation, and. that's the one that made it in. This. cameo makes him the actor who played the. same comic character in the most X-Men.

films. And since this is in the '60s, this would be before James Howlett ever. came across Team X or William Stryker. Notice how over his shoulder there's a. neon sign for Marv's Beer, which is a. reference to Matthew Vaughn's production. company, Marv Films. Charles and Eric. play chess in front of the Lincoln. Memorial. They play chess many times. throughout these films. Also, the World. War II Memorial is visible in front of. the Washington Memorial, even though the. World War II Memorial wasn't built and. open to the public until 2004. At the. research base, the mutant youths give. themselves code names. They are comic. monikers. It's a cool scene that shows.

the characters goofing off and having. some fun and revealing the identities. that they'd had to keep secret for so. long, but also just a nice way of. showing us what everyone is capable of. Gives some context for the action that. follows. Alex demonstrates his powers. with the others watching, doing the sort. of peeking around the corner stacked. heads thing that is very John. Hughes-esque. Get back. Lauren Shuler Donner had said that when. the concept for the film was still Teen. Mutants in School, one of the reasons it. wasn't working was because it just felt.

too much like a John Hughes movie. But, we would see in the MCU, John Watts. totally used John Hughes inspirations to. make the Spider-Man trilogy as good as. it was. Alex has trouble aiming his. power. This is part of his arc in the. film and is also shown in the comics. You can actually see some scorch marks. on the side of the building from where. he missed his target with one of the. blasts. They immediately get busted for. partying and general teen shenanigans. On their way to the Russian military. retreat, Charles uses his powers to make. it seem like there's no one in the back. of the truck. This is from an extended. scene that was actually cut down. The. deleted part would have shown the dog. knowing they were there.

Can't you control it? Doesn't work on animals. Too stupid, I think. Another deleted scene would have shown. more of Eric using his powers against. the soldiers in the military retreat. Charles gets uncomfortable with Eric's. brutality as he uses metal to choke Emma. until she shifts out of her diamond. form. Charles uses his powers to see. what Shaw is planning. An extended. version of the scene would have also. shown Shaw sitting in the White House.

Shaw's plan is pretty bonkers, folks. He's assuming that mutants are children. of the atom created by radiation and. therefore that they are impervious to. nuclear radiation. This seems like a. wild thing to just assume is true. It's. also kind of reminiscent of Magneto's. plan in the first movie when he was. going to use a device to either mutate. or kill all humans. Yet another. similarity between the two men. In the. vision there is a logo of a blue flag, which is presumably the Hellfire Club's. logo that would become the new one for. this new world. It's similar to the one. from the comics just with the two. vertical lines that make up the H. removed. It seemed like the filmmakers.

wanted to link this one more closely to. the Nazi flag so it just kind of. combined the designs. These two douchey. CIA guys mock the mutant group and Hank. shows them his trademark restraint by. just closing the curtains on them. Shaw. attacks with Azazel teleporting people. high into the air and letting them drop. until it's basically raining suited. bodies. It's just brutal. It definitely. reminds me of Nightcrawler taking out. the Secret Service agents in X2 but at. least those guys survived. Shaw gives. them the hard sell. There's a revolution coming. Each of us will face a choice. Be enslaved.

or rise up to rule. Shaw definitely intentionally looks at. Darwin when he says, "Be enslaved.". But again, lots of parallels to Magneto. here. Politically, they have a lot of. the same goals and are both very. skeptical when it comes to humans and. mutants peacefully coexisting. Their. only big difference is that Shaw lives. as a human, not revealing his powers. unless absolutely necessary, and he's. never really faced oppression whereas. Eric was oppressed for being Jewish and. knows what it's like to be on that side. So he comes from a more experienced and. compassionate perspective. That's why. Shaw wants to live like kings and queens.

but Eric just wants mutants to be free. He pulls out the old if you're not with. us, you're against us attitude that's a. favorite among dictators and just. generally terrible people. He also says, You can stay and fight for the people. who hate and fear you, or you can join. me. This mirrors something Wolverine told. Storm in the first movie. The whole world out there is full of. people that hate and fear you and you're. wasting your time trying to protect. them. I got better things to do. Angel joins Shaw and Darwin steps up and. is done dirtier than any other character. in all of these movies.

Adapt to this. Adapt to this? That's so mean to the. character. They're talking about the. filmmaker was mean to the character. In. the comics, Darwin survived some crazy. stuff and it just sucks that we didn't. get to see more of this character. It's. also not a great look, Matthew Vaughn. Justice for Darwin. At the CIA, Emma. Frost is in custody and there's a cool. series of shots where we hear the men.

talking about her as the camera stays on. her and spins around. Then it's revealed. that they are not in the same room. She. is using her powers to listen in on. everything that's been said. At Charles'. mansion, he starts training the titular. first class. In the comics, the original. students that we met were Beast, Jean. Grey, Cyclops, Iceman, and Angel. Here's. some real archival footage of John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev in the. days leading up to the Cuban Missile. Crisis, which lasted for 13 days during. October 1962. This is intercut with. training scenes at the mansion and the. team is being outfitted with sweet new. gear. Eric tries to get Charles to shoot.

him in the head saying that he can. deflect it. We saw him control a bullet. this way in the first film, pressing it. mid-fire against a man's head. A lot of. these scenes had extended sequences that. were cut down in the edit, including. ones of Havok and Banshee training. Alex, for God's sake, don't just stand. there. Pick up a fire extinguisher and. help me. Why are you yelling at me? I warned you. I'm sorry, Alex, but in the field you. could have killed one of your teammates. He asked me to cover him. Alex, that's not what I meant. I'm. sorry. I didn't want to get involved. It's not. my fault. Promise me one thing. When I die jumping.

off this window, you got to bury me in. this. We used to have to get out of here. Someone's going to worry. [laughter]. Charles quotes Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. to Hank and summarizes Hank's struggle. as one to conform versus one of. accepting his true nature. And the. literary reference is particularly apt. given his eventual transformation, which. comes from his desire to be normal. Hank. laps Charles during their run, a move. that Steve Rogers does to Sam in Captain. America: Winter Soldier, although Hank.

catches up to Charles on his right. While Charles is helping the rest of the. team, Eric helps Mystique. If you're using half your concentration. to look normal, then you're only half paying attention. to whatever else you're doing. Hank explains that Raven's cells age at. half the rate of everyone else. It seems. like it's this movie's way of rectifying. why she was still so young-looking in. the other films, whereas Charles and. Eric were like old men. An extended. version of the scene would have shown. Hank trying to recapture their earlier. interrupted romantic moment and failing.

Beautiful on the inside, huh? And the outside. Well, this isn't really me though, is. it, Hank? I mean, you might as well be. complimenting my shoes. The training sequence culminates with. Charles asking Eric to move the. satellite dish, calling back the. beginning of the film when Shaw asks. Eric to move the coin. Charles, of. course, uses very different tactics than. Shaw does, and it contrasts the two men. nicely. Charles unlocks an old memory of. Eric and his mother celebrating. Hanukkah. When Charles says that there's.

good in Eric, really what he's talking. about is his capacity to love. His. powers first activated when his loved. ones were threatened. Behind all that. anger he felt, it was love that started. it all. This is what Charles is able to. help Eric connect to. Shaw, on the other. hand, said it was anger that activated. his powers because he fundamentally. misunderstands love. Hank presents Raven. with a gift, a serum created using her. DNA that will make them look, quote, normal. But she's starting to accept who. she is and urges him not to take it. Hank pulls an absolute dick move, telling her that her natural blue form. will never be deemed beautiful. And.

damn, dude, that's cold. He basically. shoves her into Eric's arms. Eric and. Charles play chess again. Eric. criticizes Charles for thinking all. humans are like Moira, and Charles gives. it right back, saying Eric thinks all. humans are like Shaw. This shows the. inherent flaws in both men's approaches. to the mutant-human conflict over the. years. Then we get this line. Killing Shaw will not bring you peace. Peace was never an option. An instant classic that is turned into. many, many memes involving angry ducks. And just like Jeckel, Hank injects. himself and it goes horribly wrong,

turning him into the beast everyone is. familiar with. When Raven attempts to. seduce Eric, she transforms into Rebecca. Romaine, who of course played Mystique. in the original films. But Eric says he. prefers the real Raven and you know. she's been waiting her whole life for a. man to say this to her. He's also the. one who encourages her to essentially go. nude, likening her to a tiger and saying. no one would ever cover up a tiger. Charles is kind of horrified though as. anyone would be who found their adoptive. sister naked. He asks if he has to read. her mind to figure out what's wrong and. she says he promised her he'd never do.

that. All of this helps explain why. Raven ultimately chooses to go with Eric. in the end. A deleted scene after this. one would have shown Charles and Moira. sharing champagne and a kiss. It is very beautiful, yeah. What? The mutated MCO1 gene. Open hand. It's. very beautiful. It's a It's a beautiful. mutation. Mutation took us from single-celled. organisms to the most dominant form of. life on the planet. Hank creates uniforms for everyone and. they're blue and yellow like the. original suits worn in the comics from.

1963 until Jack Kirby's departure. Beast's appearance in this movie is done. with makeup over CGI unlike the last. stand which is done with just makeup and. prosthetics. The situation in Cuba heats. up but Charles intervenes just in time. influencing this guy to abort the. launch. This is actually similar to two. different real-world events. The first. took place in Cuba during the 1960s when. the United States Army detects a Russian. submarine off the coast of Cuba and. started firing upon it. The Russians out. of contact with Moscow thought a war. might have broken out and wanted to nuke. the American ships. However, one of. three men whose responsibility it was to.

launch the nukes, Vasily Arkhipov, refused to give permission to launch. Upon returning to Russia they were. reprimanded by Russian officials and. told they should have gone down with. their ship rather than risk discovery by. the enemy. The second event happened in. the 1980s when Stanislav Petrov, the man. monitoring the Russian nuclear detection. system, saw readings that indicated the. United States had launched nuclear. missiles at Russia. However, Petrov. determined that the readings were an. equipment malfunction and did not alert. his superiors. After the fact, both of. these men have been labeled the man who. saved the world, but neither of them. were ever rewarded or thanked by their. government. As the Blackbird crashes, Eric uses his powers to hold Charles.

against the ceiling, keeping him from. being thrown around the plane. This is a. fake out moment which leaves the. audience wondering if this is how. Charles will lose the ability to walk. The effect of Shaw absorbing the energy. is really cool. It looks like his body. is dividing to contain all of that. power. The two sides face off. And Angel. is firmly on team bad guy now, showing. no reservations about fighting your old. friends. Eric gets the showdown he's. wanted since he watched Shaw kill his. mother. Shaw busts out every mental. manipulation tactic from the villain. handbook. I'm sorry for what happened in the. camps. I truly am. But everything I did,

I did for you. To unlock your power. To make you. embrace. Eric tearfully agrees with Shaw that he. made him stronger. Shaw is the creator. and Eric is Frankenstein's monster. Eric. gets his helmet off and dons it himself. to block out Charles, like blocking out. his conscience. And then we get the. sickest moment of this movie. If you're in there, I'd like you to know that I agree with. every word you said. We are the future. Unfortunately,

you killed my mother. Later on the MCU will echo this moment. when Iron Man tells Captain America that. he doesn't care who the Winter Soldier. is, just that he wants revenge because, quote, "You killed my mom." And then. Eric counts to three, just like Shaw did. before he shot his mother. And the way. McAvoy just screams in pain during this, it's like we can feel the coin going. through our head. But previously, when. he was training Eric, Charles told him. that he could feel what Eric felt when. he was inside his mind. And I think. that's why he's really screaming here, because he can basically feel what Shaw. is feeling as the coin is driven through. his head. This is communicated really.

well with match cutting back and forth. between Charles and Shaw. Like the. framing is just perfect as the camera. glides to the right. Also, I think that. Eric does this really slowly so that. Shaw can't absorb the energy out of the. coin pushing against him. Or maybe he's. just doing it to torture him more. Striker senior wants to take out all the. mutants at once and he's even willing to. sacrifice Moira to do it. Yeah, like. father like son. They're a whole family. of dicks. And just like Eric will do. with the guns outside that train. station, he slowly turns the missiles. and the warheads back on the ships. Eric.

tries to get him to stop by saying the. men on the ships are just following. orders. And dude, you know, he could. have picked a different way to convince. him because that's exactly what those. Nazis in the bar said. You know, it's. not great. As they fight, Eric uses his. powers to fling the others back so they. can't intervene. Notice that he doesn't. do this to Raven. He already knows that. she's on his side. Moira shoots at him. and he deflects one of the bullets which. hits Charles' spine. Eric digs it out. but it's too late. This is how he loses. the ability to walk. Eric says, I want you by my side. We're brothers, you and I. All of us.

together, protecting each other. He always saw mutantkind as his family. which is why he eventually goes on to. call his group the Brotherhood of. Mutants. Eric tries to recruit the. others. Raven, Angel, Riptide, and. Azazel all go with him. Beast, Banshee, and Havok stay with Charles. Producers. said they wanted the audience to see. Eric throughout the film as not. necessarily being wrong in what he was. trying to do so that when some mutants. ultimately join him, you can see why. Charles gets his signature X-wheeled. wheelchair. Despite the fact that he. trusts Moira, he still makes her forget. everything about where he is and who. he's with so the CIA can't force it out.

of her. Eric breaks Emma out and he's. now in his red outfit fully embracing. his Magneto moniker. The animation over. the end credits is based on those in the. opening credits of Dr. No continuing. with the James Bond connection. established with the score. It's also. worth noting that Stan Lee did not have. a cameo in this film. It's only the. second time in a Marvel film since X2. that he doesn't show up. There's also no. mid or post-credit scene in this movie. Okay, so First Class holds up. Pretty. great movie. Matthew Vaughn seemed more. about the style and the tone of going. back to the swinging 60s but didn't. really care about nailing down the. details. Still, a lot of fun. Up next in.

the series will be breaking down James. Mangold's The Wolverine from 2013. But. first, let's go into the Danger Room, where we're going to discuss some. possible Deadpool 3 spoilers. So, Matthew Vaughn in recent days said that. he actually saw snippets of Deadpool 3, and he said that it would give a jolt to. Marvel Studios, and basically said it's. going to save the whole franchise. But I. am asking, why would Vaughn get to see. parts of this movie? It kind of seems. like stuff he made for X-Men: First. Class is going to be featured in. Deadpool 3 somehow. What from X-Men: First Class could come back in Deadpool.

3? At the top of that list, Kevin Bacon. Sebastian Shaw. Maybe we'll get a. callback to Wolverine's [ __ ] you in the. bar. Maybe we could get a re-staging of. the events on that Cuban beach. Because. notice that location that we've seen in. set leaks, that is a sand-covered. ground, we might be looking at a beach. of some kind. Thank you so much for. watching this video. Big thanks to Gina. Polito for writing this script. Come. check out our live show in Los Angeles. on February 15th at Brain Dead Studios. Tickets still available in the. description below. I'm Eric Voss. Thank. you so much for watching, and I'll see. you next time. Bye.