EDITORIAL: Continuity In Movies

very imoptaint mate,if your going to make a film series you have to kepp continuity only if its a reboot can you complatly ignore the previos movies and start over

i think it matters alot, with out the comics there is no movie, so there taking parts of it then making up there own shit, well thats how i see it, i think its a spit in the face of stan lee

Plot stuff is important. Little stuff, not so much.

Comics change continuity all the time... So, who cares? If it's more entertaining, then it's all good. Especially little things that don't matter, important plot parts I can understand, though.

The main issues surround Xavier and Magneto.

In X-Men 3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a much older Xavier is shown walking around, where is First Class he is paralysed at the end of the film.

Also in the X-Men 3 flashback, Xavier and Magneto are shown to be friends when recruiting Jean Grey.

Having a second Emma in X-Men Origins: Wolverine isn't such a big deal because her identity wasn't properly established.

Also the human Beast arguing with a living Sebastian Shaw on television only appeared in the background, which again, is a minor detail.

If this was a reboot, I wouldn't care but they actually use scenes from X-Men 1.

Given that they establish it within the same continuity, that is what causes problems for me.

In the end comics ARE the story telling medium that deals with continuity (or the lack thereof) the most. Its effectively the art of the reboot and ret-con.

Each character or publication started with one continuity but over the years obvious everything changes, a big example of that being DC's current plans.

Money is made by consistently putting out stories about characters which if had been made in novel literature of on film would have ended decades ago.

The of the reasons there is so much controversy about what happens in comic book movies is because unless u are adapting a one off like 300 or watchmen, there are millions of different people wanting what they like about a certain comic, character, or costume to be the one that gets chosen to be adapted.

The reason the latest batman films cant go on forever and have to show a real begininng middle and end is because unlike comics and animation, actors get older, and especially in this context, they die.

Ive never been a comic fan but I can see that one of the reasons the characters are so interesting is because they are perpetually one age (unless the writers make them older to tell a different story/make some more money) as in the dark knight returns.

To me, these characters are alot more interesting than how they have been dealt with and presented.

i recently re-watched the xmen films and i am surprised by the corny-ness of them, when i first saw them they were very entertaining and i enjoyed them all thoroughly. I knew going in that they would be different than the comics and that was fine, i just didn't want major departures. xmen first class is a major departure from just about every aspect. some of these characters where not even born yet, and some have no meaningful impact on the xmen comic books, unless you count the one-offs, Gen-X, X-Factor, X-Force, X-insertwordhere.

I am all for original interpretations, but when so much of the original source material is amazing to say the least, it saddens me to see the movies decline

As a film student I feel continuity is extremely important to all films. As a comic book and film fan, continuity is still just as important not only for the films but to do the comics and the beloved characters which inhabit the diegesis

There's continuity; lack of continuity and then there's we-couldn't-be-bothered-so-made-up-some-random-story-that-doesn't-fit-with-the-previous-films. The approach to First Class falls in the latter camp.

If in the original trilogy, the characters follow a particular story arch and a prequel tells a different story of how certain characters met compared with the original trilogy, then the prequel is on a completely different story arc to the original films.

Cerebro cant seen into the future yet Storm and Cyclops have been identified as mutants in First Class. That cant be true unless First Class is on different story arc to the original films. Magneto and Xavier meet Wolverine in First Class but behave as if they've never personally met him in X1...different story arc? Then there's Moria McTaggart slow aging serum...different story arc?

They may seem minor issues but watch the DVDs and those issues become clear as day. Singer and Vaughn should have come out and said First Class is following a different story line to the previous films.

In the case of this series, and this movie in particular, it's all about telling a great story with these characters, NOT adapting previous material into a movie. The comics do it all the time. Nolan's Batman films are influenced by previous material, but are new stories onto themselves featuring the characters we know and love. I think the same is true for X-Men. If I wanted to see the story from the comics, I'd read the comics. Yous should try to look at it for what it is, not what it isn't, but some people are just too narrow-minded to do that, and in the end it's their loss.

Honestly if its a good film i couldn't give a monkeys for the continuity, i think far to many people nit pick at things just for the sake of being an arse!!

@ CDB it's FOX dude. They throw all continuity out the window but it's a big problem in hollywood as a whole. Continuity means a lot to me and it irritates me that they can't keep to a source that all of us fanboys know and love.

You guys keep on complaining about the continuity of X3 and Wolverine as if they were good movies. I would be like Vaughn, just ignore the bad ones.

LOL @ spidey

@megabatfan...you're right, I think my comments were geared more towards continuity of comics to films rather than just within the films.

Revising my statement, I do believe continuity is important, however it seems very clear that First Class, despite comments from some of the filmmakers indicating that its a prequel, is pretty much a reboot, with some nods to what came before added more as an homage than a link to what was. To reference back to Batman, Forever & Robin clearly differentiate themselves from Burton's 2, while holding very little in the way of a continuity and even recasting the main man himself. I think within the framework of specifically making a trilogy or at the least sequel continuity is definitely a must, but I welcome the opportunity for different filmmakers to create different stories with characters we've seen on the big screen before. Think of them as one offs like in the comics. You can tell a great story and it can stand on its own. And someone else can tell another story with the same characters, putting their twist on it. Like a bunch of "what-ifs" or "what could have beens." Dunno if I'm making any sense, but hopefully I got my point across.

I wonder what would have happen if the new Star Trek movie had Worf as the captain, Khan as the 1st officer, Ensign Roe as head engineering, and Janeway as the Ships Doctor. The story would revolve around the relationship between Former Captain Kirk now president of earth and Capt Spock the head of the Vulcan Empire and how they form star fleet together. All of them would be at varying age ranges.

Yeah make a change that big, and see how that would fly with star trek fans. Now you understand what is happening with the X-Men Movies.

Oh comic book fans don't matter, they are babies, you can't translate the comic, it is just not possible.
These are some of very people who are impressed by how big the explosions were in a movie, or a funny line, or "I liked how that guy died", or how wolverine fought. They are the mindless, that would be entertained regardless of what was put on the screen as long as those key elements had been retained. The funny thing is, these people would be very happy about a straight adaptation of the story lines in the comic book. As long as it had some explosions and cool action sequences. You get the same result ( big explosions, funny lines, guys dieing, and wolverine fighting) if they followed the comic book story lines. I am baffled as to why these people would not trust the comic book fans any way.

The rest of us want to see the fantastic comic book story arcs and relationships forged in the comic. These stories are great , otherwise they would not be making these movies! “Continuity changes all time in comics so it doesn’t matter.”

Yes! There are changes made, but not every month! It takes decades for this to happen and there is usually an event to mark this change with a who, what, when, where, how, and why. Magneto just did not happen to run the New Mutants and lead the X-Men for a bit without explanation. Guess what we comic book readers are not happy all the time when it happens. Guess what again, when it happens wait for it...Things go back to the way they were prior.

Bryan Singer and Fox have wanted to make this about 2 people Professor X and Magneto as admirable as that is, to claim anything more without the original 5 class members is hard to take for fans of the comic book.

Screw Singer/Fox I will not go see these no matter what!

It's very important if they promote a film to be following the continuity of the prior films and universe and then they don't follow through with it. I don't deal well with smoke & mirrors and being misled. The cameos in First Class are nothing more than a feeble attempt to still lead some astray to make them think it is following continuity, even though Goldman and Snyder both said it is a complete different story and a reinvention.