#179 – X-Men (2000) – The Movie That Started It All

Hello, Maniacs, and welcome back to Marvel Maniac, an MCU after show. I'm Eric, aka Mr. Honest, your host, and today we're rewinding the clock all the way back to the year 2000 with the original X Men movie. I might be mistaken, but I think this takes the title for the oldest movie that we're covering on this show. That's not a bad thing, this movie. Wow. It's just. It's wild to kind of think about, but X Men basically laid the groundwork for everything we have now in the mcu. Kevin Feige was attached to these projects, these X Men movies, and you see what he went on to do with the mcu. So without this, I don't think we'd have Iron man, the Avengers, any of it. And revisiting it after all these years, honestly, it's kind of magical. So, first thing, revisiting this movie is like cracking open a time capsule. I mean, Hugh Jackman looks great, but I think it's the first time I'm watching this movie where, like, I actually see a really significant age difference. Like, he's probably my age in the movie. I'm not gonna tell you what that is. I'm 34. The tone is so different from the MCU. It's smaller, darker, and just a little bit more serious, but it totally works. One of my favorite lines is they suit up in their. In their plaid. They're not plaid suits. What are they? Leather suits. Right. They suit up, and then Wolverine's like, you actually wear these outside? And Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, is like, what would you prefer? Yellow spandex? And then I'm gonna spoil X Men 97, the show, which we're going to be covering after Loki, Wolverine says something similar, and he says, what do you expect? Black leather. Like, that is the. That is it. That is like. That is the multiversal joke of all of X Men. No, I just like it. It's a kind of an odd foreshadowing to what we're going to get, I hope, in Avengers Doomsday, because they're confirmed to be some of the X Men confirmed to be a part of this movie via the chair video. I'm going off on a tangent, but the opening scene, let's start off with that, because, dude, that was the starting point of Magneto. Young Eric Lencher in Auschwitz. That's not something you expect from a superhero movie in 2000, but it sets the stage. Magneto isn't just some bad guy. He's a Holocaust survivor shaped by Trauma. And you could feel it in every scene with him. And what he wants to do with the mutants in this movie. He wants everyone to be mutants because mutants don't choose. And he's our antagonist. But the thing I love about Sir Ian McKellen, he brings it all to the role. So we see the complex history and the pain behind his eyes and why he's doing what he's doing in this movie. We got to Wolverine in a cage fight bar. First time we ever see Wolverine. I was gonna say in the mcu, outside the mcu, but this is all kind of canon now because of the multiverse, so I don't know what to actually say, like, describe it as Hugh Jackman steps on screen and just owns the role. And Rogue, played by Anna Pequin, I think, nailed the vulnerability. I like Rogue a lot. I learned a little bit more about her watching the entire animated X Men series, which I'm going to do a recap of before 97. Just keeping you ready. Get ready for us to cover. It's going to be really fun covering it. X Men 97. But I did want to say that Rogue really nailed the vulnerability in this movie. And although she's not like her cartoon counterpart, which this movie was definitely trying to take a few steps away from, when they started this genre, they didn't want to be categorized as, like, spandexy superheroes. So that was re. A real joke. So she has to isolate herself from everyone she loves. And I can, like, totally understand that pain that she probably carries, not being able to connect with people. And it's just really nice by the end of the movie, seeing her get along. Even finding a love interest in the Iceman. I don't know what his name. I forget his name, but he's cool, and I think he does show up in later movies. Okay, highlights. Xavier's School for the Gifted. That first look at Cerebro was pretty much chef's kiss. Patrick Stewart is Professor X. Born Professor X. There's nobody else that should be Professor X up until we need a new one. I understand he can't be in that role forever, but actually, he has been. It's been 25 years. This is insane. These characters coming back into the MCU is pure homage. He brought that calm, wise presence from the start and the kind of presence you imagine when you think of Charles Xavier. Wolverine's introduction to the team, also classic. He's just grumpy and confused, and he wanted no part of it. And that makes his eventual bond with Rogue and the others Hit Harder. The Brotherhood, Mystique, Sabretooth, and Toad. Is Toad in the comics. Although I've seen this movie before, I don't remember Sabretooth being around every corner growling. He growls a lot and I like him for that. Get a little followup to this Sabertooth incident in Deadpool and Wolverine, which I'm sure most of you have seen by now. If not, well, what a great movie. They were all. They were a cool squad. I like Mystique a lot. I love that they brought her in in the, in the first movie because she's another really complex character who I. I was dying to learn more about. And when we get into the X Men First Class Quad four movies, we're going to get to learn a lot more about Mystique. Jennifer Lawrence plays her very well. And then that finale at the Statue of Liberty. Look, the CGI is not MCU level, but let's let the story tell itself, okay? It was 2001. No, not even 2001. 2000. Magneto's plan to turn the world leaders into mutants, that is totally on brand for him. Force them to understand us. And the last chess scene with Charles and Eric Chills. The war is still coming. Charles and I intend to fight it by any means necessary. They keep Magneto in this full plastic prison so he can't use his metal bending on anyone. And he even admits, like, you think. You think they're gonna keep me in here? I did check for a post credit scene, and we have not hit that era of post credit scene yet. That is brought in with iron man, the 2008. Eight years later. Would you believe if someone told you in the year 2000, after you walked out of this movie, that you were going to be seeing some of these same characters in the year 20, 26 and 27 for a secret wars movie? They laugh. We talk. Let's talk about some MCU impact here, some predictions, because we have to talk about how important this movie was. X Men proved Marvel characters could work on the big screen. Without this movie, we probably don't get Spider man in 2002 or Iron man in 2008. There's a dark timeline out there where none of that happened, including this movie. It also gave us a nuanced look at villains before that was super common, kind of like the anti hero. But I mean, Magneto's like, yeah, like he has a cause that you can honestly understand. And knowing where he came from in the Holocaust, he sees what's happening to the mutants in this movie similar to what he saw In Auschwitz. And, I mean, can you blame him as a traumatizing, traumatizing scene? It could have been from a different movie where this kid was pulled away from his parents at the beginning of the movie. And we revisit this in X Men First Class. I don't. I believe they reshoot it. We even get a little bit more context of what's going on there. But we'll talk about that when we get to it. The relationship between Professor X and Magneto is timeless and magnificent as well. And I love at the end of this movie that they're just playing chess together. With the Multiverse saga now, I can't help but wonder, will we see Patrick Stewart's Professor X again? I don't know if he was on the chairs. Ian McKellen's Magneto. You know what? I'm almost positive I saw their name on the chairs. They've already dipped into that world of the multiverse of madness. So we've seen Professor Xavier die many times. I'm sorry. It's just. That's happening. It feels possible, and I'm here for it. I want more of them. And if they show up for these last two movies, if that's. And that's it, that'll be enough for me. I really want that. I really want to see them again. This movie made a lot of good choices in setting up character. I like how Wolverine starts off his journey in this series not knowing who he is, how he became that way, and him kind of finding that throughout the movie. And Professor X kind of offers to Wolverine his help in finding out how he became full of adamantium. His. His whole entire inside bone, bones and all, are adamantium. That makes him very strong. But up against Magneto, we've seen Magneto really has a pull, no, no pun intended, against Wolverine. I like that we see a fight at the Statue of Liberty, because in another Multiverse, not long ago, we got to see the Spider Men, all the legacy of the Spider Men fighting around the new Statue of Liberty they were building with Captain America shield. I don't quite remember Slash know if they've revealed that the shield was actually put back on in that movie. But the Statue of Liberty is a cool fighting ground. I don't think any other movies, at least in the Marvel universe, even outside of the mcu, have done that. So I like to connect it to Spidey. Very different movies. Statue of Liberty was actually used as a weapon in this movie to turn everyone in New York into mutants. And they. And you know what? Magneto nearly succeeded. I like Logan, AKA Wolverine. I like his journey through this movie. He changes, he learns, he finds a home, found family, totally. And I like his relationship with Scott Summers. The one line that really made me laugh in the movie was when Mystique was fighting Wolverine, she turned into Wolverine. They do this whole fight scene, then they come out and Cyclops and Jean Grey are still like sitting out there and he's like, hi, Prove. How do you prove yourself? Prove it's you. And then he, I think he, okay, don't quote me. I'm not gonna go back. But I'm pretty sure he says you're an or something like that. And the way he replies Scott Summers is like, oh, okay, that's good enough. That was a great scene. Wolverine doesn't get to swear a lot because I think these movies are PG13. We get plenty of that in, like Deadpool and Wolverine. However, we do get a bub. And that's a signature thing, I think in the comics and in the X Men animated series that would have been airing maybe just like a few years earlier, right? This is 2000. Well, it ended in 97 or 96 for it to be called X Men 97. The biggest bond created in this movie around, debatably, the two main characters was between Logan and Rogue. There are multiple times where, well, this, this is what happens. I'm just gonna say it because it's very traumatizing. I didn't remember this scene at all. Wolverine's having like nightmares and Rogue comes to find him in the night to wake him up, I guess, to check, see if he's okay. And he scared. She scared the living shit out of him. So he, without thinking, put his claws to through her. Reminded me a little bit of Iron Man 3 where he has that PTSD. He has the thing on his wrist. And at night him and Pepper are sleeping in the bed and he's having the Chitauri dream. And then he wakes up with the. The Iron man about to blast them. Moments like this roi, I think this is like the beginning of where the MCU would go because we're getting complex moments with superheroes. We're watching Logan, a very deep, complicated character, figure out who he is, why he is, and the bond between these people that he doesn't know is almost unspoken. There's a moment in the movie where I was thinking, why is he there? Because he's such a shut off guy. But when you think about it, and look, he truly found the people he belonged to be with. Like it is really important that he found the X Men. And it took him just a little bit until Charles Xavier said, I can talk to you in your mind. And in this movie, they use that really well, really gently. And I also like the moment where Magneto gets held hostage by his own people because Xavier gets in both of their heads. Doesn't matter. Magneto gets himself out of it and he kind of calls Charles a coward. Yeah, there's a complicated relationship there. And I think that's why they went back and made the First Class movies. They wanted to show what that was like on screen. And I think they did a great job looking at it now, comparing it. I know there's a couple of inconsistence, inconsistencies. For example, Professor Charles Xavier is surprised when he sees Magneto's helmet in this movie, when in the First Class saga. I guess it could be from a slightly different multiverse, but he would know about the helmet from the First Class saga because they interact with each other a lot. And he gets it at the end of the first verse class. I'm sorry if I'm spoiling any of this for you. I. I think these are all movies that you probably have seen or you're never going to see. So maybe you'll see because you're listening or what do I know? Maybe, maybe everyone's super big fans of this movie. I, I had a great time watching this, especially knowing that just knowing Deadpool and Wolverine comes later on and knowing that even Hugh Jackman's journey is still not finished on screen as Wolverine. 25 years in, it's just Marvel at its best. And I, I know the third movie in this series wasn't completely, like, accepted, but I think with a little bit of age, all this trilogy of movies is gonna be very nostalgic for a lot of people. And I think that's, I think that's the case because that's why they're bringing the people back. It's kind of also Kevin Feige's way of sending off and bringing back and paying homage to where he began in the movie business. Before I wrap this up, if you're enjoying these throwback episodes, check out our Patreon. We have a lot of minisodes. I've been doing them every week for a while now, and they're all posted and ready for you to listen through. Five minute bits and pieces, different perspectives. There's also a tip jar if you want to help keep the show going. Link is in the description. Never expected, always appreciated. We go to patreon.com/marvel maniac and join us. Get on our Wall of Heroes. We're shouting you out again. Mike Finney. Michael Finney. He's our on our he's the first on our Wall of Heroes. Join him and be a part of our closer community today. But if you just want to listen right here, right now, that's perfectly fine with me. And I'm sorry for saying that word. It was one of those sentences. I didn't know where they were going. So don't forget to subscribe to this podcast if you haven't yet, because we are staying on the X Men train for a while. You won't want to miss what's next. I kind of we're going to go over X Men 97 after Loki. We have a few weeks left before that of very good Loki episodes. And if you are new here, we have been around since 2021 and we plan to be around through secret wars and beyond. So that's X Men from 2000, the movie that started it all. And if you're a fan of Harry Potter, check out our new podcast, Magic Muggle, a Harry Potter after show. Same vibes, whole new story. Thank you for reliving this movie with me today. And until next time, Avengers disassemble.