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X-Men: First Class The Movie

It is no secret that, in the last year or two, Marvel Studios (the production company that has produced almost every movie in the last twelve years that’s based on a Marvel Comics character) has had major casting problems with many of it’s film franchises. In the last two years alone, we have seen actors from several franchises miscast in roles and even fired and/or replaced.

These “casting carousels” have, in my opinion, hurt the consistency and quality of Marvel’s most popular film franchises. Before going into some of the potential casting issues that could take place in the upcoming X-Men film from Marvel Studios, X-Men: First Class, I want to go over several of Marvel Studios’ many casting fiascoes within the last couple years to give you an idea of what I’m talking about:

Terrance Howard Fired: No War Machine For You

The Iron Man Franchise – The casting issues with this franchise started when Terrance Howard was cast as James Rhodes (a.k.a. War Machine) in the first Iron Man film in 2008. Not only did he have very few scenes in the film, but he was quickly fired from his role after the movie ended, which you can read about here. Don Cheadle played the role of James Rhodes in this year’s Iron Man 2, replacing Howard. Howard said Marvel Studios did not give him an explanation as to why he was fired, and fans have not been given an explanation either.

I’ve never been a Terrance Howard fan, but if someone is fired from a job, don’t you think they deserve to know why?! [editor's note: does that mean he gets unemployment like the rest us when fired?] We have heard rumors that the director Jon Favreau did not like working with Howard and did not think he was right for the role of James Rhodes. But if he wasn’t right for the role, why couldn’t Marvel Studios figure this out before he was cast in the first film? Marvel still owes both fans and Terrance Howard an explanation for this casting change.

Ed Norton: Hulk Deux

The Hulk Franchise - Wow, where to start with this mess of a franchise?! In 2003, Marvel Studios released the Ang Lee directed [editor's note: ... ptew!!] film Hulk to lukewarm reviews. Eric Bana played Bruce Banner/Hulk in this film but since the movie did not do as well as Marvel expected, Marvel Studios decided to fire the entire cast and “reboot” the Hulk franchise with a new cast in the 2008 film, The Incredible Hulk starring Edward Norton and Liv Tyler.

However, this past July, Marvel Studios’ president Kevin Feige announced that the Hulk franchise was going to be rebooted again, because the studio did not feel that Edward Norton was the right actor to play Hulk, which you can read about here. Once again, Marvel Studios, here is my question for you: “If Edward Norton wasn’t the right actor to play the Hulk, then why did you cast him in the first place?!” [editor's note: ... idiots!]

Aw Jeeze

The Spider-Man Franchise – Too many casting problems to list. I will save this discussion for another blog.

X-Men: First Class

So now, we have a new Marvel Studios’ film coming out on June 3, 2011, which will be an addition to the popular X-Men film franchise – X-Men: First Class. This movie is supposed to be a prelude to the first three X-Men films Marvel Studios’ made (X-Men, X-Men 2, and X-Men: The Last Stand). It is about Charles Xavier and his early years with the X-Men. However, I am already beginning to see many of the same casting issues that have come to be a staple characteristic of films produced by Marvel Studios. Let’s go over them, shall we:

January Jones (Mad Men): Emma Frost

Emma Frost/White Queen played by January Jones: Surprise, surprise! We have another casting issue! Apparently, hottie actress Alice Eve was slated to play the mutant telepath Emma Frost, but quit the role while the movie was in production because she had problems with the script, which you can read about here. So, at the last minute, Marvel Studios got January Jones to play the role. I do not know much about Jones, so I won’t comment on her. [editor's note: January is a smokin' hot babe who plays Betty Draper, the prettiest, nicest women on Mad Men series on TV.] But the fact that Alice Eve quit the role while the movie was in production should be a huge red flag to anyone and everyone that’s been paying attention to movies recently.

Kevin Bacon: Sebastian Shaw

Sebastian Shaw played by Kevin Bacon: Ummm… no? Seriously, are you kidding me, Marvel Studios?! KEVIN BACON AS SEBASTIAN SHAW?! Don’t get me wrong, Kevin Bacon plays a great villain, but the kind of villains he’s great at playing are psychotic rednecks like the ones he played in River Wild and Trapped. Sebastian Shaw may be a mutant villain who can absorb energy, but he is also a sophisticated aristocrat.  What he IS NOT, is the white trash villain that Kevin Bacon knows how to play oh-so-well. Not to mention the fact that Kevin Bacon doesn’t even look like an aristocrat. Kevin Bacon looks like the kind of blue collar, Average Joe you would have drinks with at the bar after work. He does not even look like he is remotely capable of playing an evil mutant billionaire. I predict that this is going to go terribly wrong in so many different ways.

James McAvoy as Professor Charles Xavier: You’ll remember McAvoy from The Chronicles of Narnia, The Last King of Scotland and Wanted. Four words: NO, NO, AND $#^% NO!!!!! I do not even know where to start with this one. For one, the guy does not look anything like Charles Xavier. He has hair! Sure he plays a great Mr. Tumnus, and an awesome assassin, but … he has hair. Maybe I just need to go back and read my Uncanny X-Men back issues to see, but from what I remember, Charles Xavier did not have hair when he founded the X-Men. In fact, he hasn’t had hair since he was a teenager; he lost all of his hair as soon as his telepathic powers started to manifest.

James McAvoy: Charles Xaver

So where does Marvel Studios get off trying to sell us a Professor Xavier with hair?! It’s possible that James McAvoy could shave his head or wear a bald cap, but we already know that he isn’t really bald, so it won’t even be believable. At least Patrick Stewart was naturally bald when he played Xavier.

Then, you have the age problem: James McAvoy is only 31-years-old! Granted, 31 is not that young, but the fact is that McAvoy has the baby face of a fifteen-year-old. He doesn’t look any older than his X-Men students. Are we really expected to believe that a guy who doesn’t even look old enough to shave has enough money and prestige to own a mansion, start his own school, and possess a kick-ass computer like Cerebro that is capable of discovering any mutant on the planet?! Sorry, Marvel, not buying it!

Erik Lensherr/Magneto played by Michael Fassbender: Remember, he played that long haired hippie in Frank Miller’s 300 and Lt. Hicox in Inglourious Basterds.  Okay, this casting decision is a little easier for me to accept. For one, Fassbender is German, and Magneto is German, in real life, which people always seem to forget. [editor's note: ... idiots]

My only problem with Fassbender as Magneto is that, like Kevin Bacon, he just doesn’t look evil. When I think of an evil mutant who has the power of magnetism, I think of someone who is supposed to be scary. Heck, Magneto destroyed a submarine with over 100 people on it, he’s one, evil, scary dude! But Fassbender looks like he should be on the cover of GQ magazine. He doesn’t have any kind of edginess to his appearance that would make me think he was a bad guy.

Michael Fassbender: Magneto

Alex Summers/Havok played by Lucas Till: Hey, Marvel, Glee called, and they want their high school musical star, Chris Colfer back. Seriously, Lucas Till looks like he jumped, sashayed right out of Glee, making tween girls scream throughout the country.

Lucas Till: Alex Summers/Havok

Well, never mind then. All jokes aside, though, there is just no way that I can take this guy seriously as a bad-ass mutant with the ability to shoot bursts of plasma energy. The only power Lucas Till might have, might, is the ability to make women drop their panties with a smile.

Not to mention the fact that, in the comics, in reality, Alex Sumers/Havok is actually Scott Summers/Cyclops’ younger brother and does not join the X-Men until long after Cyclops joins. But Cyclops is not going to even be in this movie, so somehow Havok is going to join the team before his older brother does, despite the fact that this contradicts pretty much everything about the original comic books. Is anyone else as annoyed by this as I am?

So, after analyzing the cast of X-Men: First Class, I can only come up with one conclusion: this movie is going to suck… hard! And continuously! Aside from the terrible casting choices that I mentioned, this movie does not even have Scott Summers (Cyclops), Jean Grey (Marvel Girl), or Bobby Drake (Iceman) in it, the very characters that were the first to join the team.

How can anyone make a movie about the early days of the X-Men without including the first X-Men that the comic is based on?! I predict the best actor in this movie will be Alice Eve, because she was smart enough to leave the film as soon as she read the script! Don’t worry: as soon as the movie is released and Marvel Studios realizes how bad it is, I am sure they won’t waste any time denouncing every actor in the film and “rebooting” the entire franchise. It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done something like this, as we saw with the Hulk movies.

So, how about it, fellow comic geeks? Do you agree or disagree with the casting choices of X-Men: First Class? Is this movie going to suck as bad as I think it does, or am I over-exaggerating and just way off target? What do YOU think?