X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class is a 2011 American superhero film, based on the X-Men characters appearing in Marvel Comics. The fifth installment in the X-Men series, the film was directed by Matthew Vaughn and produced by Bryan Singer, and acts as a loose prequel to the original X-Men trilogy. The story is set primarily in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and focuses on the relationship between Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Erik Lensherr (Magneto), and the origin of their groups—the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants, respectively. The film stars James McAvoy as Xavier and Michael Fassbender as Lensherr, leading an ensemble cast that includes Kevin Bacon, January Jones, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, Zoë Kravitz, Nicholas Hoult and Lucas Till.
Producer Lauren Shuler Donner first thought of a prequel based on the young X-Men during the production of X2, and later producer Simon Kinberg suggested to 20th Century Fox an adaptation of the comic series X-Men: First Class, though the film does not follow the comic closely. Bryan Singer, who had directed both X-Men and X2, became involved with the project in 2009, but he had to only produce and co-write First Class due to other projects. Matthew Vaughn, who was previously attached to both the third X-Men film and Thor, became the director, and also wrote the final script with his writing partner Jane Goldman.
First Class entered production in August 2010, with principal photography concluding in December and additional filming finishing in April 2011, just a few weeks before the film's premiere in June 2011. The tight schedule proved a challenge to the six companies responsible for the extensive visual effects, which included computer-generated sets and digital doubles for the actors. Locations included Oxford, the Mojave desert and Georgia, with soundstage work done in both Pinewood Studios and the 20th Century Fox stages in Los Angeles. The depiction of the 1960s drew inspiration from the James Bond films of the period. First Class received positive reviews, being considered a well-written and fresh revival of the franchise, and was a box-office success with earnings of $353 million worldwide.

Plot

At a World War II concentration camp in occupied Poland in 1944, scientist Dr. Klaus Schmidt observes young Erik Lensherr bend a metal gate with his mind when the child is separated from his mother. In his office, Schmidt orders Lensherr to move a coin on a desk, killing his mother when Lensherr cannot; in grief and anger, Lensherr's magnetic power manifests, killing two guards and destroying the room. Meanwhile, at a mansion in Westchester County, New York, young telepath Charles Xavier meets young shape-shifter Raven. Overjoyed to meet someone else "different", he invites her to live with his family as his foster sister.
Eighteen years later, Lensherr is tracking down Schmidt, while Xavier is graduating from Oxford University with a thesis about mutation. In Las Vegas, CIA agent Moira MacTaggert follows U.S. Army Colonel Hendry into the Hellfire Club, where she sees Schmidt (now known as Sebastian Shaw), telepathic Emma Frost, and teleporting Azazel. Threatened by Shaw and teleported by Azazel to the War Room, Hendry advocates the deployment of nuclear missiles in Turkey before being killed by the energy-absorbing mutant Shaw.
MacTaggert, seeking Xavier's advice on mutation, convinces him and Raven to accompany her to the CIA, where they convince Director John McCone that mutants exist and Shaw is a threat. Another CIA executive sponsors the mutants and invites them to the secret "Division X" facility. MacTaggert and Xavier find Shaw just as Lensherr is attacking him, rescuing Lensherr from drowning as Shaw escapes. Xavier brings Lensherr to Division X, where they meet young scientist Hank McCoy, a mutant with prehensile feet, who believes Raven's DNA may provide a "cure" for their appearance. Xavier uses McCoy's mutant-locating device Cerebro to seek recruits against Shaw. Xavier and Lensherr recruit stripper Angel Salvadore. Later, taxi driver Armando Muñoz, Army prisoner Alex Summers, and Sean Cassidy join, and code-name themselves Darwin, Havok, and Banshee, respectively. Raven dubs herself Mystique. Xavier and Lensherr also attempt to recruit Wolverine, who declines with a quick profanity.
When Frost meets with a Soviet general in the USSR, Xavier and Lensherr capture her and learn of Shaw's intentions to start World War III and trigger mutant ascendency. Meanwhile, Azazel, Riptide and Shaw attack Division X, killing everyone but the mutants, offering them the chance to join him. Angel accepts; when Havok and Darwin retaliate, Shaw absorbs Havok's energy blast and uses it to kill Darwin. With the facility destroyed, Xavier takes the mutants to his family mansion for training. There McCoy devises protective uniforms and a variant SR-71 stealth jet. In Moscow, Shaw compels the general to have the USSR install missiles in Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis ensues, with the U.S. instituting a blockade to stop the arrival of missiles. Shaw, wearing a helmet that foils Xavier's telepathy, shadows the Soviet fleet in a submarine to ensure the missiles arrive.
Raven attempts to seduce Lensherr, who convinces her to embrace her mutant nature; she then refuses McCoy's cure. Using the cure on himself backfires, rendering McCoy a blue leonine beast. McCoy pilots the mutants and MacTaggert in a jet to the blockade line. Lensherr uses his magnetic power to lift Shaw's submarine from the water to a nearby island. During the ensuing battle, Lensherr seizes Shaw's helmet, allowing Xavier to immobilize Shaw. Lensherr tells Shaw that he shares Shaw's exclusivist view of mutants but, to avenge his mother, kills Shaw—over Xavier's objections—by forcing a Nazi Reichsmark coin through his brain.
Fearing the mutants, both fleets fire their missiles at them, which Lensherr turns back in mid-flight. In a struggle, Xavier keeps Lensherr from destroying the fleets with the missiles, but when MacTaggert shoots at Lensherr, a deflected bullet hits Xavier in the spine. Lensherr leaves with Angel, Riptide, Azazel, and Mystique. A wheelchair-bound Xavier and his mutants return to the mansion, where he intends to open a school. MacTaggert promises never to reveal his location and they kiss; at the CIA later, she says she has no clear memory of recent events. Lensherr, in a uniform with the helmet and calling himself Magneto, frees Frost from confinement.