Since there’s been some talk recently of a possible sequel to X-Men: First Class, I started thinking of what I might want to see in it and what I might NOT want to see. Keeping things relatively short, I came up with the following list breaking down 5 things I’d definitely like to see, 5 things I would like to see but could do without, and 5 things I definitely do not want to see under any circumstances…
FIVE THINGS I DO NOT WANT
1. THE SHI’AR EMPIRE
Call me crazy but I think the X-Men series works so, so much better if it revolves around the mutant agenda and nothing else. I prefer Juggernaut being a mutant as opposed to having a magical gem. This extends to the random aliens of the Shi’ar Empire. I can’t think of any way that I could justify having Gladiator, a purple alien with a Mohawk, in the film series without it seeming ridiculous. I prefer the Ultimate version where they’re more of a cult, but with the likes of the Hellfire Club in First Class, I don’t think they should really be focusing too much on another organization.
2. THE SAVAGE LAND
In a similar boat to the magical gems and the aliens, I have to include the dinosaurs. Seriously, could you watch an X-Men film with this current series that includes Sauron and not laugh at it? Hell, I didn’t even like when you were fighting these types of creatures in the old X-Men arcade game, and I was a kid at that time!
3. LONGSHOT AND THE MOJOVERSE
Another absolutely ridiculous concept of aliens intertwining with X-Men, and again, I don’t know how this found its way into the mutant storyline to begin with. It would be odd enough showcasing a character that is on a game show let alone the fact that he’s an alien that has the mutant ability to influence luck.
4. ANOTHER WOLVERINE CAMEO
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED how they included the cameo in First Class. That was one of my favorite parts of the film. However, I can’t see a situation in which having another Wolverine cameo wouldn’t seem forced and contrived in a sequel to First Class. We can’t just keep having him bump into everyone for decades at a time. If they force something, it could turn into an eye-rolling scene instead of something worth the while.
5. APOCALYPSE
Simply put, I like Apocalypse too much to see him get bastardized on screen and not utilized to full scope. You can’t have someone as epic as Apocalypse fighting an inadequate team of B or C-squad characters like Banshee, I’m sorry.
FIVE THINGS I SORT OF WANT
1. FORGE AND CYPHER - EMPLOYEES
Cypher is by no means an awesome character in my opinion, but I think it would be interesting if they could toss a cameo in there where he’s working with the government. Omnilinguism could certainly help, right? In the case of Forge, I’d like to see him working underneath Beast on the technical side of things. Forge could be one of the people influential in creating the Danger Room. Neither one of these characters would need to have detailed back stories or really do all that much in the movie(s) at all. I just think if you have a random character that fulfills a certain role and you can throw an already established person into that role, you might as well, so if Hank’s going to have someone else help him with all Xavier’s tech, why not have Forge in there instead of Scientist #2?
2. DAZZLER
I don’t even know particularly why I’m throwing her name in here, as I honestly don’t even like the character and if it were up to me, she and Jubilee would just merge and be one teenage Asian girl with photovoltaic powers. Still, I wouldn’t mind seeing her as a team member or, better yet, a cameo of her singing (maybe with DJ included in there as well?) on a television or at a concert or something.
3. SENTINELS
The reason this isn’t under the category of things I definitely want to see is because I don’t think they’d be using them, so I don’t have my hopes up for it. I can’t think of how they could pull it off, and I think they missed their opportunity to use these in X2 instead of including Deathstrike and having the plot revolve around Cerebro, but we’ll see.
4. STORM
I can live with Storm not being in this, but I certainly wouldn’t mind her inclusion. If she’s absent, I can fully understand why, as I’m not sure what type of purpose they could have for her in there (but then again, that’s hard to say considering there’s no script that we can judge from and this is just speculation at this point of where they could possibly go).
5. GENOSHA
Maybe this is just a small island somewhere that Magneto is currently living with his Brotherhood? Maybe part of the plot has to deal with him wanting to create Genosha with his powers and the help of some other mutants as a place for mutants to live freely under his control? I don’t know, but at least some reference in there would be cool to me, and if they couldn’t fit it in, no big deal.
FIVE THINGS I DEFINITELY WANT
1. LEGACY VIRUS
M-Day would make no sense, they did the cure, I’ve ruled out wanting Apocalypse in there, so I think the Legacy Virus would be an interesting story they could adapt into the sequel to First Class. Naturally, if the mutants were falling victim to disease that could spread into the general populace, our government would be concerned, and they could approach Xavier for help. They could maybe also hope to use the Sentinels to quarantine and eradicate the “problem” before it crossed over?
2. AVALANCHE
How has this guy not been included in any of the movies yet, but Toad has? I don’t think I need to say anything else about the matter.
3. ASTRAL PLANE
Supposedly, there was a battle planned for First Class that took place in the astral plane but once Inception came out, it seemed too similar and they scrapped it. I’m very curious to see a film adaptation of this concept. I think it would provide an interesting possibility to give Xavier some action now that he’s crippled.
4. CYCLOPS & JEAN GREY VERSUS QUICKSILVER & SCARLET WITCH/POLARIS
I think it’s pretty safe to say that the relationship between Xavier and Scott and Jean is somewhat like a father and his son and daughter, so I think they could capitalize on this and create a good storyline with Xavier taking on Scott and Jean as a surrogate father meanwhile Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch (or Polaris) seek out their true father, Magneto, who offers a much less paternal relationship. Magneto and Xavier balance each other out in a lot of opposite ways. In this case, Xavier would be essentially adopting kids that he then recruited into his team, whereas Magneto would be primarily recruiting his kids into his militia and THEN having to become a father to them. Xavier builds a squad out of love, Magneto builds love out of his squad. Plus, there’s the obvious match-up of Cyclops against Quicksilver and Jean against Wanda.
5. MR. SINISTER AND THE MARAUDERS
There’s no way they can ignore Mr. Sinister as a villain, in my opinion. It just makes way too much sense. As for who could be in the Marauders, as some are kind of written out already, it would depend on what purposes they could fill. All in all, they’d just be a group of disposable henchmen that could give us some fight sequences, as Mr. Sinister would be the only villain worth putting a story into. Sinister could provide an antagonism towards Xavier’s science and if you’re factoring in other things I listed above, it could revolve around the Legacy Virus and even the Summers bloodline being a key to it. On top of that, if the plot specifically deals with bloodlines and the genetics themselves, wouldn’t that mesh well with the Xavier/Magneto father stories? [Note: For extra measure, my ideal casting choice would probably be Jason Isaacs, if he can’t already be thrown into the mix as Norman Osborne for the new Spider-Man series.]
So those are some thoughts I’ve been having about a possible sequel. What are things that you would like to see and definitely would not want to see?