All Things X-Men

[Huntn]

I am sure you can guess which way that went...

Spoiler

Logan was beaten up, drugged and experimented upon against his will

I admit I never read much X-Men. I prefer solo characters to team based books and began reading Wolverine simply because I saw the 1982 mini series in a comic shop and thought "Oh weird guy with eyepatch and claws what's up with that?" Is he like Snake Plissken? I pretty much stuck to Wolverine's book for almost 20 years, but was peripherally aware of the X-Men themselves. So I basically read the "outer core" X-Men book.

All that said, I'm unable to answer your question if Claremont ever had Logan mention Weapon X by name; I do remember Department H and Canadian military, but am fuzzy on the name Weapon X so I do not know if WX is Claremont's invention or that of Barry Windsor-Smith.

Thanks for clarifying.

Btw, you just reinforced my point about better stories focus on less characters which is why despite it's disregard for source material, which every X-Men movie is guilty of, this is why X-Men 1 & 2 shine in the spectrum of XM movies. They also have a vibe (environment based on multiple factors) that went poof in Last Stand and especially in First Class and some of the others but I felt was restored in the Origins Wolverine movie, but alas I'm repeating myself.

 

[kazmac]

Thanks for clarifying.

Btw, you just reinforced my point about better stories focus on less characters which is why despite it's disregard for source material, which every X-Men movie is guilty of, this is why X-Men 1 & 2 shine in the spectrum of XM movies. They also have a vibe (environment based on multiple factors) that went poof in Last Stand and especially in First Class and some of the others but I felt was restored in the Origins Wolverine movie, but alas I'm repeating myself.

And so I did prove that point; my point of boredom / contention is that is the same characters every movie with the same dramas going on...( and now I am repeating myself too but in the case of examples...oh why not?

Erik: rebels, then he doesn't, then he does even worse.
Charles: tries to convince Erik otherwise and then stops Erik and whatever additionial threat, but is miserable.
Raven: well what the heck does Miss Lawrence do anyway except look even less interested than Halle Berry did? Logan: remembers, forgets, goes berserk, gets friendly with some of his peers, lusts after Jean, tries to find another girl like Jean and fails, mourns Jean, forgets, remembers and goes berserk.

Repeat and flush....

Now granted, I suspect the replacements will go through similar excursions or is that Xcursions?

Normally, this cycle doesn't bother me; as an example, I'll mention my favorite -and surprisingly still unscathed- Marvel character, Moon Knight. MK constantly goes through the same cycle of psychological woe and weirdness; yet writers either build upon his "issues" brilliantly (most recently Charlie Huston and Jeff LeMire or fail in an epic way, Brian Michael Bendis and Brian Wood);

Applying this to X-Men films, there isn't enough variation in the way the mutant big four's reasons d'etre are handled for me to even care any more. And there are a ton of interesting characters who are cannon fodder that could add something different to the mix. I find it a little sad that Colossus wasn't fun or interesting until he was in Deadpool. He's a good character. And how do you cast aside Emma Frost so easily? etc.

I haven't hit superhero fatigue with the movies yet, because I am just as picky there as I am with my comics.

 

[Huntn]

And so I did prove that point; my point of boredom / contention is that is the same characters every movie with the same dramas going on...( and now I am repeating myself too but in the case of examples...oh why not?

Erik: rebels, then he doesn't, then he does even worse.
Charles: tries to convince Erik otherwise and then stops Erik and whatever additionial threat, but is miserable.
Raven: well what the heck does Miss Lawrence do anyway except look even less interested than Halle Berry did? Logan: remembers, forgets, goes berserk, gets friendly with some of his peers, lusts after Jean, tries to find another girl like Jean and fails, mourns Jean, forgets, remembers and goes berserk.

Repeat and flush....

Now granted, I suspect the replacements will go through similar excursions or is that Xcursions?

Normally, this cycle doesn't bother me; as an example, I'll mention my favorite -and surprisingly still unscathed- Marvel character, Moon Knight. MK constantly goes through the same cycle of psychological woe and weirdness; yet writers either build upon his "issues" brilliantly (most recently Charlie Huston and Jeff LeMire or fail in an epic way, Brian Michael Bendis and Brian Wood);

Applying this to X-Men films, there isn't enough variation in the way the mutant big four's reasons d'etre are handled for me to even care any more. And there are a ton of interesting characters who are cannon fodder that could add something different to the mix. I find it a little sad that Colossus wasn't fun or interesting until he was in Deadpool. He's a good character. And how do you cast aside Emma Frost so easily? etc.

I haven't hit superhero fatigue with the movies yet, because I am just as picky there as I am with my comics.

Valid points. There is plenty of source material that they could work from if they wanted to.

 

[Huntn]

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Just got back from seeing Logan (2017). i'll start off by saying I distinctly remember Professor Xavier exploding into a fine mist, back in 2006, so it's bewildering that he is alive but in worse shape than in All Good Things.

Anyway this is not your typical Wolverine movie, in fact a swan song for the character. If I heard it right, the story takes place in 2029. I don't like seeing a lame, sickly Wolverine, but despite this I enjoyed the movie and his new little friend (that's all I'll say about her at this point). I liked Boyd Holbrook as the new youngish bad guy. And the physicality (if she was doing her own stunts) of Dafne Keen was impressive. She was a little terror.

And btw, they finally put on display what Wolverine's claws can do, none of this PG-13 antiseptic violence, instead R-rated claws poking out people's skulls, what you viscerally knew what was happening in previous movies, but was shielded from the blood and gore by the kiddy rating.

Some of the fight scenes are acrobatically impressive, so impressive I suspect there was use of CGI.

Spoiler: For those who have seen the movie

The Wolverine replica the bad guys created, if you remember in the Wolverine Origins movie, Wolverine took two antimantium bullets to the head and healed, while a single bullet to pseudo-Wolverine's character blew a nice chunk out of his noggind killing him. Hmm

 

[Huntn]

X2: X-Men United (2003)- If you are into X-Men, so many reasons to love this movie. It starts with an incredibly choreographed attack against the President in the White House. The plot by William Striker to start a war between regular humans and mutants, ties the 3 movie trilogy together, along with a look at how Wolverine became Wolverine, tied directly in the Wolverine Origins Movie and a younger Colonel Striker‘s experiments on mutants. Quite possibly the best X-Men movie ever made. Yes, my opinion. 🙃

• Brian Singer, Director does a great job, including keeping the vibe of the original X-Men movie, a vibe I’ve not seen in any subsequent X-Men movie along with incredible visuals.
• Huge Jackman, in his prime as Wolverine.
• Patrick Stewart, outstanding as Xavier.
• Jean Grey (Famke Jannsen) and Storm (Halle Berry) are wonderful.
• A collection of outstanding actors portraying mutants, Cyclops, Magneto, Mystique, Rogue, Pyro, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Colossus, and Lady Deathstrike.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)- Of the first X-Men trilogy, not the best movie. A good story from the aspect of the human-mutant war that was brewing from the first movie, but a terrible short changing of The Dark Phoenix Saga* turning Jean Gray into a homicidal nut case who

Spoiler

murders Cyclops the man she loves during a kiss and kills Professor Xavier

...just because she is insane.

If you are a fan of the original source material and can overlook this travesty 🤨 besides writing off 3 significant characters for the the sake of cinema closure, the rest of the movie (human- mutant conflict) is descent.

Admittedly, the show down between the Dark Phoenix and Xavier is visually impressive, as is moving the Golden Gate Bridge, but what Magneto did to Mystique was a crime and after he has turned The Phoenix loose, whimpers “What have I done?” Kind of pathetic. Yes, it’s a movie with expectations so I can say this. I’ll console myself by watching X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) soon.

Favorite old fashioned line: “Oh my stars and garters!” said by Beast (Kelsey Grammer), from the original source material.

*By reports and the ratings at Rotten Tomatoes for The Dark Pheonix movie (2019, 23% critic/64% audience) they made later, it’s not something I rushed to see, but eventually I will watch it.

 

[D.T.]

​

If you are into X-Men, so many reasons to love this movie. It starts with an incredibly choreographed attack against the President in the White House. The plot by William Striker to start a war between regular humans and mutants, ties the 3 movie trilogy together, along with a look at how Wolverine became Wolverine, tied directly in the Wolverine Origins Movie and a younger Colonel Striker‘s experiments on mutants. Quite possibly the best X-Men movie ever made. Yes, my opinion. 🙃

Favorite old fashioned line: “Oh my stars and garters!” said by Beast (Kelsey Grammer), from the original source material.

*By reports and the ratings at Rotten Tomatoes for The Dark Pheonix movie (2019, 23% critic/64% audience) they made later, it’s not something I rushed to see, but eventually I will watch it.

X2 is pretty fantastic, and that opening sequence with Nightcrawler is easily in the Top N scenes in a comic based movie.

Hahaha, I had to quote that line by The Beast, because we say, "Oh my stars" all the time, I __literally__ said it this morning in a message:

Yeah, the recent Dark Phoenix, ugh, since we all have a little more time to kill, why not, but really why ...

(FYI, it's on HBO at the moment)

 

[Huntn]

X2 is pretty fantastic, and that opening sequence with Nightcrawler is easily in the Top N scenes in a comic based movie.

Hahaha, I had to quote that line by The Beast, because we say, "Oh my stars" all the time, I __literally__ said it this morning in a message:

View attachment 904719




Yeah, the recent Dark Phoenix, ugh, since we all have a little more time to kill, why not, but really why ...

(FYI, it's on HBO at the moment)

Added the phrase to this thread.

 

[Huntn]

It’s been a long time, but cranked up X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)- A top ten Marvel story. This ranks up there with the first two X-Men movies that prominently featured a Wolverine searching for his mysterious forgotten past and a driven, manipulative Colonel Striker. This story fills in the blank. Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber are amazing along with a top notch, all star cast. A sad ending. 😔

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The Blob:

 

[Huntn]

It’s been a long time, but cranked up X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)- A top ten Marvel story. This ranks up there with the first two X-Men movies that prominently featured a Wolverine searching for his mysterious forgotten past and an evil, manipulative Colonel Striker. This story fills in the blank. Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber are amazing along with a top notch, all star cast. A sad ending. 😔

View attachment 2467612
​

The Blob:

Based on this movie, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), Weapon XI is obviously Dead Pool. I’m not a fan of the Dead Pool series. In Dead Pool, can he teleport and shoot energy beams from his eyes, as he could in this story? I’m fairly certain he can’t extend adamantium swords from his knuckles.

​

Of note, in this movie, Ryan Reynolds played Wade Wilson, but a different actor (Scott Adkins) played Weapon XI.