Re-Reviewed: First Class revived the Fox’s X-Men film franchise

X-Men: First Class reinvigorated the Fox franchise.

There was a time that Fox had one of the biggest superhero film franchises on the planet in the X-Men movies. That changed as a litany of bad movies came out. But their popularity and quality rebounded somewhat thanks to a semi-reboot titled X-Men: First Class.

This movie took a look back at the early days of the X-Men, recasting certain roles and laying the groundwork for what was to come. And even though a lot of movies were released in the franchise after it, First Class remains one of the better X-Men films.

Building up to First Class

The first X-Men movie was released in the year 2000 and did reasonably well with both fans and critics. At the very least, it was good enough to ignite a multi-movie film franchise that lasted for two decades. That being said, it wasn’t exactly a great run for the series.

While X2 was halfway decent, X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine were absolute abominations. Very few people enjoyed either film, and they came closer to ending the franchise than anyone would like to admit.

At this point, Fox needed a game-changing entry in the franchise to keep fans remotely engaged in it at all. That’s when First Class stepped in, a film that was equal parts franchise within a franchise and a soft reboot in its own way.

Xavier starts his school

Technically the fifth movie in the overall franchise, First Class was released in 2011. It took a jump into the past of the film universe, chronicling the early days of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr working together to better Mutant-kind.

James McAvoy stepped into the role of a young Professor X and Michael Fassbender took on the role of a much more well-adjusted Magneto. Somewhat working for the CIA, they built the groundwork for what would become the X-Men.

It also laid out the event that caused the rift between the two men. This world’s version of the Cuban Missle Crisis played a huge role in it, resulting in Xavier’s injury as well as Magneto choosing a much darker path.

First Class changes the game

This film got better reviews from both fans and critics than the first X-Men film got 11 years earlier. And it earned them. First Class was a much better film with youthful energy from a much younger cast. X-Men should be focused on young Mutants, which this film finally did.

It’s also hard to argue with the casting, which included Jennifer Lawrence as a young Mystique. The chemistry between all of them was almost as good as the one between Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. To be honest, it’s hard to imagine any duo better than those two.

While most of the movies that came after it were not particularly good, First Class at least kept people hopeful until Deadpool debuted in 2016. It will be interesting to see what Marvel does with the X-Men characters in the MCU but hopefully First Class gives them an idea of what works.

Have you seen X-Men: First Class? If so, did you enjoy it? Let us know in the comments below!