REVIEW: "X-Men: Days of Future Past" Gives "Avengers" a Run for Its Money

[50yearoldNovafan]

Why is it that Cyclops fans whine so much about his limited role in the movies? The only characters that got any kind of appreciable focus in the entire movie series were Wolverine, Xavier, Magneto, and to a lesser extent Mystique, none of the others really played a meaningful role. However, I never see any other fanbase cry about this supposed slight to the same extent that Cyclops fans do, why is that?

I think because

1. He was the first X-man. He is Mr. X-man
2. He has been the x-men's primary leader since I could crawl
3. Until fairly recently, he has been the backbone of the team
4. In the movies, he has not been utilized. Movie 1 was Wolverine's movie, Movie 2, Cyclops was mind-jacked by the bad guys, and movie 3 he was killed pretty early on. First Class, well, no Cyclops

I don't know who is whining. As I said, I enjoyed the first two movies. I was happy and shocked to see this property come to film. I could not believe it. I went to the movies two or three times just to watch the first one. And the third one disturbed me. If I say we should see more Cyclops, I am not whining. It is because Cyclop is Mr. X-MAN, and has not been portrayed as the important chunk of X-men lore as he is.

[PwrdOn]

Well Xavier is the big boss man as long as he's around, Cyclops is more just like the deputy. As for the "Mr. X-Man" title, that has to go Wolverine, though I'm not sure how much that matters since most of the defining stories of X-Men lore have centered around women. And in terms of the mutant metaphor, that narrative is better carried by a minority character or a mutant with an obvious visible mutation like Nightcrawler or Beast. Yet you rarely hear outcry from fans of those characters about getting shafted in the movies.

[Doctor Cosmic]

I remember a time when you could still be aware of and concerned for issues of race and discrimination and yet not have to bring those issues up when liking--or dislking--a movie. Even a film based on characters like the X-Men, who were designed to be allegories.

[ScottSummers]

Well Xavier is the big boss man as long as he's around, Cyclops is more just like the deputy. As for the "Mr. X-Man" title, that has to go Wolverine, though I'm not sure how much that matters since most of the defining stories of X-Men lore have centered around women. And in terms of the mutant metaphor, that narrative is better carried by a minority character or a mutant with an obvious visible mutation like Nightcrawler or Beast. Yet you rarely hear outcry from fans of those characters about getting shafted in the movies.

Wolverine is not Mr. X-Man in the same way Batman isn't Mr. Justice League. They are both the most popular characters in those respective books, but it's because they work better on their own, rather than with a team. Wolverine is the outcast amongst the outcasts.

Cyclops has always been more or less the glue that held the X-book together. He always needed to be right in the middle of things. Look at how many events: Dark Phoenix/Phoenix, Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse, Inferno, the Starjammers and Sh'iar tie directly to him personally.

[PwrdOn]

Wolverine is not Mr. X-Man in the same way Batman isn't Mr. Justice League. They are both the most popular characters in those respective books, but it's because they work better on their own, rather than with a team. Wolverine is the outcast amongst the outcasts.

Cyclops has always been more or less the glue that held the X-book together. He always needed to be right in the middle of things. Look at how many events: Dark Phoenix/Phoenix, Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse, Inferno, the Starjammers and Sh'iar tie directly to him personally.

Sure he was there for all those stories by virtue of his connection to other characters, but he didn't really do much to advance the narrative and just in general he's not really the kind of character that can really drive a story forward. When Marvel tries to do this, like in Bendis' UXM, the story tends to stall. This isn't really a knock on him either, there aren't all that many superheroes that really are able to pull this off, to use a football analogy he's more like a QB that manages the game rather than one you can count on to win the game for you.

[ScottSummers]

Sure he was there for all those stories by virtue of his connection to other characters, but he didn't really do much to advance the narrative and just in general he's not really the kind of character that can really drive a story forward. When Marvel tries to do this, like in Bendis' UXM, the story tends to stall. This isn't really a knock on him either, there aren't all that many superheroes that really are able to pull this off, to use a football analogy he's more like a QB that manages the game rather than one you can count on to win the game for you.

You clearly don't read the comic then, like ever.

[Slant]

Wolverine was used almost exactly like he was at his best in the comics. Important, but not the main focus, and has his own stories branching in and out.

[Pharoahe22]

I know it's just one example, but Storm and Magneto definitely did a fusion to set off the blackbird as a fusion grenade/bomb

Plus Blink showed great teamwork with Iceman, Warpath, and Colossus. Oh yeah, Bishop using his teammates to charge himself up was great too.

Yeah Blink was about the only one who excited me with how she was using her powers. With Storm and Magneto, and wanted to see them flying through the air and taking out some of the threats. Even though they showed teamwork the actual act in itself came off kinda Ho-Hum for me. I still liked the movie a lot though. Just wanted more out of the action

[ScottSummers]

Wolverine was used almost exactly like he was at his best in the comics. Important, but not the main focus, and has his own stories branching in and out.

The movie nailed Wolverine from the comic. Fighter who repeatedly gets his a** kicked while much more powerful mutants wrecked havoc around him.

[ScottSummers]

Yeah Blink was about the only one who excited me with how she was using her powers. With Storm and Magneto, and wanted to see them flying through the air and taking out some of the threats. Even though they showed teamwork the actual act in itself came off kinda Ho-Hum for me. I still liked the movie a lot though. Just wanted more out of the action

I think Singer fought hard to give Colossus his due. It's a shame though they really haven't explored his character. But Singer did some great nods. Like Colossus seemed like a very brutal fighter, but also very quiet and reserved. They also had a nice touch at the end of showing him and Kitty together teaching a class.

[lancerman]

Why is it that Cyclops fans whine so much about his limited role in the movies? The only characters that got any kind of appreciable focus in the entire movie series were Wolverine, Xavier, Magneto, and to a lesser extent Mystique, none of the others really played a meaningful role. However, I never see any other fanbase cry about this supposed slight to the same extent that Cyclops fans do, why is that?

Because Cyclops has been the leader of the X-Men team since it's original incarnation and through nearly ever major incarnation of the team. Wolverine as a character is bigger. Cyclops is a more important X-Men than Wolverine though. Even with Xavier and Magneto, they provide the opposing ideologies, the team led by Cyclops is caught in the middle. If there is a central protagonist of the X-Men line it is really Cyclops.

[JediMindTrick]

Just got back from seeing it. Awesome movie. Maybe not quite as good as Cap 2 but still a great great movie and best of all it undid Last Stand and Origins. Now after Apocalypse in 2016 they can basically reboot and recast the X-men for current day with anyone they want. If GoTG turns out good this will have been a good year for comic book movies with 3 of the 4 turning out great.

[Ace Venom]

I thought this film was pretty solid and definitely gives the X-Men film franchise a clean slate it really needed.

[Pharoahe22]

The movie nailed Wolverine from the comic. Fighter who repeatedly gets his a** kicked while much more powerful mutants wrecked havoc around him.

Wait...so the cool thing about Wolverine from the comic is that he repeatedly gets his a** kicked and does nothing of any importance in a fight? I'm sorry but I disagree...and I don't think that he would've gotten to be as popular as he is today if all he did was get beat on while all of the more powerful characters actually do something. Wolverine is a character that calls himself "The Best There Is"...and you can't be "The Best There Is" while doing what you're saying. That's like the jobbers in wrestling that are brought out just to lose to the more popular wrestlers running around saying that they're the best. No...Wolverine is supposed to be "The Best There Is" because of his skill level. Wolverine had bone claws in this movie...which gave them the opportunity to show how good of a fighter he really is before inevitably getting taken out by Magneto. That didn't happen. He didn't do anything this movie. They showed Mystique doing all kinds of cool acrobatic things but Logan didn't do anything. He tried to scratch the sentinel and got his claws stuck, then he tried to fight magneto and got tossed away. Character-wise the movie did a good job, but action wise what they did with Wolverine was pretty bad. I'm not saying that he should be able to take out a guy like Magneto...but he could've had a good showing before he was tossed away.

[PwrdOn]

Because Cyclops has been the leader of the X-Men team since it's original incarnation and through nearly ever major incarnation of the team. Wolverine as a character is bigger. Cyclops is a more important X-Men than Wolverine though. Even with Xavier and Magneto, they provide the opposing ideologies, the team led by Cyclops is caught in the middle. If there is a central protagonist of the X-Men line it is really Cyclops.

I don't know about the X-Men being caught in the middle, for the most part they follow Xavier and oppose Magneto. When Cyclops actually did lead the team, he invited a bunch of supervillains to join and then most of his old teammates left with Wolverine, now he's building up an army of child soldiers. That's not really ideal material for a movie adaptation.