Vaughn confirms that "First Class" was intended as a soft reboot

[Mutant 77]

"My plan was First Class, then second film was new young Wolverine in the 70’s to continue those characters, my version of the X-Men. So you’d really get to know all of them, and my finale was gonna be Days of Future Past. That was gonna be my number three where you bring them all… because what’s bigger than bringing in McKellen and Michael and Stewart and James and bringing them all together? When I finished the Days of Future Past script with it ready to go I looked at it and said, “I really think it would be fun to cast Tom Hardy or someone as the young Wolverine and then bring it all together at the end."


The Link:

https://io9.gizmodo.com/fox-wanting-...ass-1835148286



I think Matthew Vaughn aimed at casting a "younger Wolverine" before they would put Hugh Jackman into cameo mode in FC.

It's obvious that FIRST CLASS is a soft reboot and a second timeline/alternate universe, so people should not bother with the clear incongruences between the 4 FC/DAYS movies and the original 4 X-Men movies. As simple as that.

[Mutant 77]

More from him:

"That’s one of the reasons I didn’t continue, because they didn’t listen to me. My plan was “First Class,” then second film was new young Wolverine in the 70’s to continue those characters, my version of the X-Men. So you’d really get to know all of them, and my finale was gonna be “Days of Future Past.” That was gonna be my number three where you bring them all… because what’s bigger than bringing in McKellen and Michael and Stewart and James and bringing them all together? When I finished the “Days of Future Past” script with it ready to go I looked at it and said, “I really think it would be fun to cast Tom Hardy or someone as the young Wolverine and then bring it all together at the end.” Fox read “Days of Future Past” and went “Oh, this is too good! We’re doing it now!” And I said, “Well what do you do next? Trust me you’ve got nowhere to go.” Then they did “Apocalypse” and it’s like… If you flip that ’round even it would have been better. Hollywood doesn’t understand pacing. Their executives are driving 100 miles-per-hour looking in the rear-view mirror and not understanding why they crash."

[jwatson]

More from him:

"That’s one of the reasons I didn’t continue, because they didn’t listen to me. My plan was “First Class,” then second film was new young Wolverine in the 70’s to continue those characters, my version of the X-Men. So you’d really get to know all of them, and my finale was gonna be “Days of Future Past.” That was gonna be my number three where you bring them all… because what’s bigger than bringing in McKellen and Michael and Stewart and James and bringing them all together? When I finished the “Days of Future Past” script with it ready to go I looked at it and said, “I really think it would be fun to cast Tom Hardy or someone as the young Wolverine and then bring it all together at the end.” Fox read “Days of Future Past” and went “Oh, this is too good! We’re doing it now!” And I said, “Well what do you do next? Trust me you’ve got nowhere to go.” Then they did “Apocalypse” and it’s like… If you flip that ’round even it would have been better. Hollywood doesn’t understand pacing. Their executives are driving 100 miles-per-hour looking in the rear-view mirror and not understanding why they crash."

Thank the Goddess this didn't happen. I didn't think the X-men franchise under fox could have gotten any worse but apparently it could have. But then i don't really care for Vaughn. If you look at every last movie he has done the main cast is always 99.9% white.

[thechronic92]

So he wanted even more Wolverine

[Armageddon]

Thank the Goddess this didn't happen. I didn't think the X-men franchise under fox could have gotten any worse but apparently it could have. But then i don't really care for Vaughn. If you look at every last movie he has done the main cast is always 99.9% white.

First Class was a shitty film that was overrated

[Zelena]

First Class was a shitty film that was overrated

Your opinion. I liked it.

[Mutant 77]

First Class was a shitty film that was overrated

Your opinion. You're minority. It's an amazing film.

[bat39]

The notion of a "younger Wolverine" played by another actor really doesn't make sense given Logan's immortality. Its one thing to recast the character completely...but the idea that Logan, who doesn't even age, would go from looking like Tom Hardy to looking like Hugh Jackman over a few decades barely holds up to scrutiny.

That apart, the idea of having DOFP be the culmination of the series, rather than a second installment, doesn't really seem like such a bad idea. As much as I LOVE the DOFP film that we got (its easily one of the greatest X-men films, alongside X2 and Logan) they did have to skip over a lot of stuff for the First Class cast - the setting up of the Xavier School, Magneto and Mystique's journeys after Cuba, the fate of the Brotherhood, the government's secret victimization of mutants etc. DOFP does a great job throwing us into this world about a decade later and filling in the gaps with exposition though, but I can't say I wouldn't have wanted to see that hypothetical film in between.

Then there's also the fact that Apocalypse, while not nearly as bad a film as its made out to be, really felt underwhelming compared to DOFP, so Vaughn was right about that. It remains to be seen how Dark Phoenix fares in being the epic conclusion to the franchise.

As far as First Class being a 'soft reboot' goes, Vaughn's comments don't really change anything. Ultimately, his plans too would have involved tying it back to the original trilogy. You can argue about whether these films are all in another universe or timeline or whatever - the flashbacks in DOFP and the fact that all the old actors return means that all the films are meant to be part of the same narrative. Dark Pheonix is set in a universe where, in a previous timeline, Jean Grey loses control in 2006 rather than 1992. McAvoy's Xavier ends up becoming Stewart's Xavier. Wolverine always looks like Hugh Jackman. And so on.

[MarvelMaster616]

I love Vaughn's vision, but honestly...I'm glad it didn't play out because I think the idea of casting a young Wolverine wouldn't have worked. After Wolverine Origins, that concept just failed too hard the first time. As much as I like Tom Hardy, I don't see him carrying the role with the same charisma as Hugh Jackman. It would've been a tough sell. It still could've worked, but I think the odds would've been stacked against it.

[yogaflame]

I love Vaughn's vision, but honestly...I'm glad it didn't play out because I think the idea of casting a young Wolverine wouldn't have worked. After Wolverine Origins, that concept just failed too hard the first time. As much as I like Tom Hardy, I don't see him carrying the role with the same charisma as Hugh Jackman. It would've been a tough sell. It still could've worked, but I think the odds would've been stacked against it.

Didn't Hardy's Venom outperform any Wolvie solo(purely on the strength of his charismatic acting), or any Fox-Men film, actually, at the box office? I'm not saying Hugh didn't do well with the material he was given, but I don't think he's the be-all, end-all Logan, and I have always been interested to see Tom in the role. With him off the table now, it will be interesting to see where Feige finds his Logan.

[Kurolegacy]

First Class was a shitty film that was overrated

The entire prospect of going back to the 60’s was a terrible idea. Not only did they never actually get back to the 21st century for any movies but the 10 year timeskips got more ridiculous as time moved on and yet none of the characters physically aged. If they were going with prequels to fix things, they should have gone back to the 80’s at most used Days of Future Past to fix X-3’s mess and explored the new present day. What’s the point of fixing the present if you’re then just gonna dick around in the past?

[Jackraow21]

Didn't Hardy's Venom outperform any Wolvie solo(purely on the strength of his charismatic acting), or any Fox-Men film, actually, at the box office? I'm not saying Hugh didn't do well with the material he was given, but I don't think he's the be-all, end-all Logan, and I have always been interested to see Tom in the role. With him off the table now, it will be interesting to see where Feige finds his Logan.

I think Hugh became the definitive Logan over time. At first I hated the casting. He grew on me in X2, but then X3 and XMOW were so bad, I kind of soured on the franchise. Loved his cameo in First Class, though, and enjoyed The Wolverine for its nods to the Claremont/Miller mini series. Days of Future Past was awesome, and he was great in it. And then there was Logan. The guy went out on the highest possible note IMO.

Having said that, can he be replaced by another actor? Sure. But IMO they should take another track with the MCU version of Logan. Let’s not go all leading man, “tough guy with a soft heart” with him. At least not right away. I don’t want to see the tortured by his past stuff again. Sure, there will have to be references to what he went through at the hands of Weapon X. Flashbacks and whatnot, so you know that he did indeed suffer at their hands and that’s perhaps why he’s the way he is. But let’s not get the scenes where he gets all misty eyed talking about the pain, and his loss. Instead let’s try the volatile, asshole version of the character that he honestly kind of was when he was first introduced. A shit-starter who gets under everyone’s skin, from his fellow X-men to the Avengers. I can picture someone like Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang from Suicide Squad) in that type of role. He’s got the physique and the attitude, and is only 33 years old.

Just my preference, but by shifting Logan to less of a leading character into more of a supporting character (who often steals the scene with great lines as well as violently awesome action sequences), you mitigate some of the direct comparison to Hugh’s version of the character. And, at the same time, Marvel could explain it away as taking Wolverine “back to basics” in terms of the character he was in the 70s and 80s until he became more fleshed out as a “failed samurai”, mentor to Kitty Pryde (and later Jubilee), etc. That’s my $.02 anyway. I think it would be fun.

[phoenixzero23]

I like Wolverine but Fox movies didn't need more of him. In fact I'm happy this didn't happen, we probably wouldn't have gotten Logan (the movie) which was a good closure for the character.

[spirit2011]

First Class was a shitty film that was overrated

It was ok, more of a mediocre. Vaughn ideas for x-men movies weren't good, we didn't need a young wolverine movie

[bat39]

The entire prospect of going back to the 60’s was a terrible idea. Not only did they never actually get back to the 21st century for any movies but the 10 year timeskips got more ridiculous as time moved on and yet none of the characters physically aged. If they were going with prequels to fix things, they should have gone back to the 80’s at most used Days of Future Past to fix X-3’s mess and explored the new present day. What’s the point of fixing the present if you’re then just gonna dick around in the past?

I think the period settings were a great idea. What better way to revisit the origins of the X-men than to ground it in the era where the comics themselves were created? Superhero period pieces allow us to see the cinematic avatars of these characters in the settings of classic comic-books, and its clearly an effective enough trend that its being replicated across the board - with Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, possibly the upcoming Batman movie etc.

And of course, had the Disney/Fox merger not happened, we likely would have 'caught up' with the present day. In any case, the point of 'fixing the present' in DOFP was more about giving a fitting send-off to the trilogy cast than anything else.

I think Hugh became the definitive Logan over time. At first I hated the casting. He grew on me in X2, but then X3 and XMOW were so bad, I kind of soured on the franchise. Loved his cameo in First Class, though, and enjoyed The Wolverine for its nods to the Claremont/Miller mini series. Days of Future Past was awesome, and he was great in it. And then there was Logan. The guy went out on the highest possible note IMO.

Having said that, can he be replaced by another actor? Sure. But IMO they should take another track with the MCU version of Logan. Let’s not go all leading man, “tough guy with a soft heart” with him. At least not right away. I don’t want to see the tortured by his past stuff again. Sure, there will have to be references to what he went through at the hands of Weapon X. Flashbacks and whatnot, so you know that he did indeed suffer at their hands and that’s perhaps why he’s the way he is. But let’s not get the scenes where he gets all misty eyed talking about the pain, and his loss. Instead let’s try the volatile, asshole version of the character that he honestly kind of was when he was first introduced. A shit-starter who gets under everyone’s skin, from his fellow X-men to the Avengers. I can picture someone like Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang from Suicide Squad) in that type of role. He’s got the physique and the attitude, and is only 33 years old.

Just my preference, but by shifting Logan to less of a leading character into more of a supporting character (who often steals the scene with great lines as well as violently awesome action sequences), you mitigate some of the direct comparison to Hugh’s version of the character. And, at the same time, Marvel could explain it away as taking Wolverine “back to basics” in terms of the character he was in the 70s and 80s until he became more fleshed out as a “failed samurai”, mentor to Kitty Pryde (and later Jubilee), etc. That’s my $.02 anyway. I think it would be fun.

Yeah, you might have a point there.

Another thing is that we've barely seen Wolverine as an established member of the X-men - the only exceptions being X3 and the future segments in DOFP. A Wolverine who's an established member of the X-men, and a veteran superhero, rather than an 'outsider', would be something worth watching on-screen. It would also be the kind of take on the character that would wear the classic costume.