To all you fellows that complained about my breaking up my X-Men '60s casts into 3 separate articles, I say to you...
Yeah, it is a pain in the ass. Here's the whole mess in one post.
The X-Men helped kick off the Marvel Age in the early 60s and the film series helped kick off the superhero movie craze in the early 00s, so I thought it would be cool to imagine how an X-Men movie might look featuring a cast from around the time the whole thing began.
Turns out there are a few different ways to go about this. First up, let’s see how a Cold War-era X-Men cast might look using the original 2000 film as a template.
When I consider which directors could’ve handled this property back in the day, the first name that comes to my mind is Robert Wise. This would find him right smack in between
West Side Story and
The Andromeda Strain, over a decade after
The Day the Earth Stood Still and over a decade before
Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Besides being able to wrangle big scale sci-fi, this would definitely call for a director who’s not ashamed to work with outwardly silly material and bring forth the big ideas and real human drama.
Now then, on to the cast:
John Cassavetes as WOLVERINE
A lot of people might suggest Jack Nicholson (who probably would be great), but I like Cassavetes for he would bring those leading man good looks with just the right amount of edge to him.
John Gielgud as PROFESSOR X
You’re pretty much required to go for that Shakespeare vibe when casting Xavier and Magneto. More on that later.
Natalie Wood as JEAN GREY
Robert Redford as CYCLOPS
Why yes, the two stars of
This Property is Condemned. Might as well get actors you know will have chemistry.
Nichelle Nichols as STORM
It was down to her or Cicely Tyson. Plus I really like the idea of Uhura finally getting the chance to kick all kinds of ass.
Linda Harrison as ROGUE
This was a lot harder than I expected. Eventually I stopped looking for an Anna Paquin type and went for someone a bit more in line with the comics character.
Michael Anderson Jr. as ICEMAN
I came across him in
The Sons of Katie Elder, and he turned out to suit the role better than most any young actor around at the time.
Laurence Olivier as MAGNETO
Nothing but the best for one of the greatest comic book villains ever.
Ursula Andress as MYSTIQUE
Richard Kiel as SABRETOOTH
Throw in a couple of James Bond alums, natch.
Angus Lennie as TOAD
Cliff Robertson as SENATOR KELLY
A lot of actors could play Kelly, but he should be handled in such a way that he could come down on either side of the Mutant Registration issue.
So that was fun, but we're just getting started. If we're gonna cast X-Men with actors from the 60s, why not give it a go on the X-Men movie that is actually set in the 60s?
What's interesting about taking this approach with
First Class is that you have to cast based on the actors in the movie much more than the characters from the comics that they're based on, especially when it comes to the three leads.
Roddy McDowell as CHARLES XAVIER
It was down to him or Michael York, but I decided York was just too young at the time.
Laurence Harvey as ERIK LENSHERR
This is the one that got me started. Imagining all of Erik's scenes with Harvey's quiet intensity gets me all giddy.
Candice Bergen as RAVEN/MYSTIQUE
David Ogden Stiers as HANK McCOY/BEAST
This one's kind of a cheat since he didn't start acting on TV and film till the early 70s, but damnit, he's perfectly perfect in every way.
Tucker Smith as ALEX SUMMERS/HAVOK
Be cool, Beast!
James Aubrey as SEAN CASSIDY/BANSHEE
Diahann Carroll as ANGEL SALVATORE
Cleavon Little as DARWIN
This one's so good it hurts.
Suzanne Plachette as MOIRA MacTAGGERT
Maximillian Schell as SEBASTIAN SHAW
Figured it would be less weird to just get an actual German-speaker instead of the 60's equivalent of Kevin Bacon.
Diana Rigg as EMMA FROST
Hardy Kruger as AZAZEL
I could also see him as Nightcrawler
Valentin de Vargas as RIPTIDE
Who knew there'd be a perfect guy for Riptide, of all people?
But wait, THERE'S MORE!
Now that we've covered the existing "origin"-ish X-Men movies and how they would play in the time of
The Sound of Music and "The Man with No Name" trilogy, it's time to take things a step further and imagine a film based solely on the X-Men comics that were available at the time.
We're talking Xavier's original five X-Men vs. Magneto's original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
Of course some of the characters are cast the same as in the other two casts, some are different, because I'm crazy. A lot of it has to do with casting the character based more on the comics than the movies, or sometimes I just had two really great choices for one character and wanted to get both in there.
Barry Morse as PROFESSOR X
I should note that while comics Xavier and Morse's character on "The Fugitive" were both American, Morse is actually British. Still, I think he'd make a great fit.
Ricky Nelson as SCOTT SUMMERS/CYCLOPS
I really didn't think I'd stick with this one, but it just made sense. I imagine he'd be looking to reinvent himself around the time "Ossie & Harriet" was winding down.
Katharine Ross as JEAN GREY/MARVEL GIRL
I can't decide which Jean I'd prefer, Ross or Natalie Wood. With Ross, she'd be getting a potential breakout role a few years before
The Graduate and
Butch & Sundance, so that's nice.
David Ogden Stiers as HANK McCOY/BEAST
Like I said before, there's no better Beast.
Michael Anderson Jr. as BOBBY DRAKE/ICEMAN
Jon Voigt as WARREN WORTHINGTON III/ANGEL
Christopher Lee as MAGNETO
See what I mean by not wanting to pick just one great actor for a particular role?
David Hemmings as QUICKSILVER
Jacquiline Bisset as SCARLET WITCH
Both of the twins' actors were just starting to get noticed at the cinema; Hemmings in
Blow-Up, Bisset in
Casino Royale. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be to find a pair of actors suited for the roles AND close in age, and hey, also British.
Peter Cushing as MASTERMIND
I know he was basically modeled after Vincent Price, but I like Cushing better for this one.
Agnus Lennie as TOAD
Joe Don Baker as BLOB
Probably don't need Blob that much since it's already an even 5 vs. 5 (although I guess Xavier makes six), but you gotta have a powerhouse on the team and the rest of the Brotherhood was looking awfully British without him.
So there we have it! Put 'em all together and you've got a nice grab-bag of characters to fill out all your Cold War-era X-ensemble needs!
Now I want to hear from you! What old-school actors would you nominate for Marvel's favorite mutants? What other directors could you imagine at the helm? Comment away!