How X-Men: First Class Did Darwin Dirty
Remember Darwin from X-Men: First Class? He had about five minutes of screen time before — well, you know — that happened. It's still wild to me. His entire power is adapting to survive anything, meaning he literally shouldn't be able to die.
But the writers decided to take the one truly immortal character... and kill him off. Why? Honestly, it feels like they just didn’t know how to write around someone with his abilities, so they took the easy way out.
To understand just how ridiculous this is, you first need to know how powerful Darwin actually is. His body instinctively adapts to any environment or threat to ensure survival.
Toss him into the ocean? He'll grow gills. Set him on fire? He becomes fireproof. Launch him into space? His body will adjust to breathe there. If he’s about to be shot or attacked, his skin could harden into an invulnerable material.
There's even a comic where Darwin survives a fight with the Hulk by simply teleporting away — because his powers prioritized survival over fighting. He might not be able to win every battle, but you can’t beat him either.
Now, flashback to First Class: Darwin is killed by a ball of energy from Sebastian Shaw. Realistically, he should’ve been able to survive that attack — either by absorbing, redirecting, or otherwise adapting to it. But nope. Instead, we watched a supposedly unkillable character die without any real explanation.
But let's back up a bit. How did Darwin end up in that situation in the first place?
The young mutants, recruited by Charles Xavier, were hanging out at a secure base, training for the battle against Shaw and the Hellfire Club. Everything was fine until Shaw and his team showed up. After Azazel took out the guards in a surprisingly badass sequence, Shaw gave the young mutants a choice: join him or stand against him.
Angel chose to switch sides — no big deal. Honestly, the smart move would’ve been to let her go. But Darwin decided to play hero.
He came up with a plan for him and Havok to fake joining Shaw, then rescue Angel and attack when the time was right. Problem is, Havok can’t aim to save his life, so the plan was flawed from the start.
Predictably, things went south. Darwin tried to punch Shaw (which was a terrible idea considering Shaw had just absorbed Havok’s energy blast like it was nothing). Shaw blocked Darwin’s punch, shoved an energy ball into his mouth, and that was it — Darwin was dead.
It makes zero sense. Shaw wasn't even planning to hurt anyone at first. He only retaliated because Darwin attacked him. And let’s not forget: Angel had already betrayed them. Why risk your life to save someone who clearly doesn't want to be saved?
At the end of the day, Darwin deserved better. X-Men: First Class was a solid movie overall, but if you can't figure out how to handle a character’s powers properly, maybe just leave them out entirely.
Killing off an unkillable character isn’t just lazy writing — it’s an insult to the fans who actually know these characters.
What do you think? Was Darwin done dirty in First Class? Let me know your thoughts in the comments — and feel free to share what other movie moments you think need a second look.