# Ignoring continuity in Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207 "2011-06-03T16:07:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/1 "2011-06-03T16:07:51Z")
Saw X-men : First Class last night, and while it is a huge amount of fun, it does contradict the earlier movies in a couple of places. The mistakes aren’t huge, but a little annoying. For example, Emma Frost is played by a 33 year old, and the movie is set in the 60’s, yet in Wolverine origins, she is played by a 25 year old, and this is set later (not entirely sure when that movie was set. I’m guessing its supposed to be in the 90’s). Both movies feature a scene where she meets Professor X for the first time (once with hair, once without). Question is, does this sort of thing annoy you, or do you just let it go? I doubt that the movie makers were unaware of this contradiction, so they must have decided just to ignore it. Is this insulting to the audience? Does it mean the events in Wolverine origins are supposed to exist in a separate continuity to the other movies, effectively undoing the whole plot of that movie? In some cases, mentioning no star wars, continuity errors appear to be mistakes caused by sloppy film-making, but in other cases, such as superman returns, there is a definite will to ignore and overwrite bad parts of the saga, and pretend they never happened. In the case of X-men First Class, I’m willing to give to cut it a bit of slack, as its a great film, and would probably be less good if it was hamstrung by what had happened in xmen 3 and wolverine, but if Fox are now pretending those films never existed, can I get a refund? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/2 "2011-06-03T16:37:00Z")
First in with a mention of the King of Discontinuity-The _Highlander_ movies. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Tremayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@Captain\_Tremayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Tremayne)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/3 "2011-06-03T16:44:49Z")
I’m in favor of anything that makes the Wolverine movie cease to exist… I’m pretty much a nitpicker who will catch all those continuity errors and be completely bugged by them. Like the two Hulk movies, where they gave him a different origin in each (then why did I bother sitting through the hell that was the first movie?) Unless they’re specifically stating up front that this is a reboot and everything that has gone before should be regarded as a separate universe, then they should make an effort to be consistent. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/4 "2011-06-03T16:55:59Z")
Maybe it counts as a do-over instead of part of the continuity? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/5 "2011-06-03T16:57:22Z")
With an additude like that you’ll never win a “no-prize”. Continuity errors are a hallmark of the Marvel Universe and pointing them out just for the sake of saying “You messed up!” is NOT the Marvel way. The diamond skinned mutant in _Wolverine Origins_ is never specifically identified as Emma Frost and could be another mutant with a similar power set or even Mystique for that matter. Where do I pick up my no-prize? ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/6 "2011-06-03T17:09:27Z")
These are _comic book_ movies. They’re just trying to be authentic to the source material! ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/7 "2011-06-03T17:14:47Z")
But the age of an _actor_ isn’t itself a component of continuity anyway, whether the relative ages involved are right or not. It would be a continuity error if the _character_ was portrayed as younger in a scene that came after one in which he was older. It would be a casting or makeup weakness if an actor’s apparent age was at odds with continuity-correct ages for the character, but actors portray characters that are older or younger than themselves all the time. The actor’s own actual age during any scene’s production isn’t material. (This is a general point; I have very little X-Men knowledge, and it sounds like those movies might have genuine continuity issues that have nothing to do with this.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/8 "2011-06-03T17:32:24Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > These are _comic book_ movies. They’re just trying to be authentic to the source material! That’s just an excuse hack filmmakers use. They claim that the problems with the movie they made are due to its comic book origins, when the problems usually didn’t exist in the original comic book. They dumb down the comic book to make the movie and then blame the comic book because the movie is dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/9 "2011-06-03T17:33:40Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > yet in Wolverine origins, she is played by a 25 year old, and this is set later (not entirely sure when that movie was set. I’m guessing its supposed to be in the 90’s). The climax was allegedly the in-universe “true version” of the Three Mile Island accident - so 1979, in theory. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/10 "2011-06-03T17:42:34Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > With an additude like that you’ll never win a “no-prize”. Continuity errors are a hallmark of the Marvel Universe and pointing them out just for the sake of saying “You messed up!” is NOT the Marvel way. Yeah, but no-prizes were for mistakes. In the case of X-men, i don’t believe it was. It was deliberately ignoring what had gone before. For some reason, it bothers me less when I think its a mistake. i was a lot more forgiving of star wars, cos Lucas is an idiot. Matthew Vaughn is a much better director, must have known this was a continuity problem, and ignored it. To be honest, it doesn’t bother me that much at all with Xmen, but I think it sets a bit of a precedent. With Hollywood rebooting left, right and centre, continuity is going to become impossible to follow. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/11 "2011-06-03T18:20:45Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > These are _comic book_ movies. They’re just trying to be authentic to the source material! Then they should occasionally have editor’s footnotes with references to earlier movies. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/12 "2011-06-03T18:40:46Z")
> [@Captain\_Tremayne](#): > > I’m in favor of anything that makes the Wolverine movie cease to exist… > > I’m pretty much a nitpicker who will catch all those continuity errors and be completely bugged by them. Like the two Hulk movies, where they gave him a different origin in each (then why did I bother sitting through the hell that was the first movie?) Unless they’re specifically stating up front that this is a reboot and everything that has gone before should be regarded as a separate universe, then they should make an effort to be consistent. Uh, I’m pretty sure the second Hulk movie was supposed to be a reboot. Or, I think “re-quel” was term I heard a lot. As in, “This is a new continuity from the old movie, but we’re not going to go back and do the origin story all over again.” ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/13 "2011-06-03T19:00:42Z")
> [@Captain\_Tremayne](#): > > I’m pretty much a nitpicker who will catch all those continuity errors and be completely bugged by them. Like the two Hulk movies, where they gave him a different origin in each (then why did I bother sitting through the hell that was the first movie?) Unless they’re specifically stating up front that this is a reboot and everything that has gone before should be regarded as a separate universe, then they should make an effort to be consistent. You are aware that the two movies were made by different people right? They each did the movie the way they wanted it. I remember hearing when the second one came out that Ed Norton is a huge hulk fan and he was disappointed at the first Hulk movie and that he wanted to redo it. > [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > These are _comic book_ movies. They’re just trying to be authentic to the source material! If this is a whoosh then ignore what follows. They are not trying to be authentic to the source material in X-Men First Class. They put in a character, Angel Salvadore, as a founding member of the X-Men when IRL her character was not even created until 2001. > **[Angel Salvadore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Salvadore)** > > Angel Salvadore is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Grant Morrison and Ethan Van Sciver, the character first appeared in New X-Men #118 (November 2001). She belongs to the subspecies of humans called mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities, with her mutation giving her insect physiology, including acid projection and a pair of butterfly-like wings. Angel is also known by her codename Tempest. > Zoë Kravitz potrays Angel Salvado... Emma frost wasn’t created until 1980 Still though it looks like it’ll be a good movie. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/14 "2011-06-03T19:04:26Z")
All the more confusing that the original X-Men included a (completely different) character called “Angel”. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/15 "2011-06-03T19:15:57Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > All the more confusing that the original X-Men included a (completely different) character called “Angel”. Not only that, but the fairly recent comic book titled \*X-men: First Class \* featured a (completely different) character called “Angel”. Because the movie franchise _is_ restrained by the continuity of the other four films, we’ll probably never get to see a film about the original X-Men. The films have established that those five characters essentially belong to 3 different generations and can never realistically be presented as high school classmates. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-continuity-in-movies/584207/16 "2011-06-03T19:50:04Z")
It’s a reboot. The makers have said they weren’t going to make it consistent with the various other films.