The only prequel stuff they could do would basically be the Adventures of Charles and Erik. I think the first movie makes it pretty clear that the whole mutant business is kind of starting from scratch when that movie starts.
Or they could do a Wolverine movie. Wouldn’t put it past them. Would probably be pretty cool actually.
There were some things I really liked, and some things I didn’t. First, I thought it was great how they handled the large cast in this one (much more smoothly than in the first, I thought). Yeah, there are a ton of mutants running around Xavier’s mansion. Only a few are important to the plot, but we get enough glimpses of the others to give us the sense of “Lots of mutants”. They didn’t have time in the movie to develop Colossus, say, or Kitty, into full characters… So they didn’t try. We just get glimpses of Colossus steeling up, and Kitty phasing through things, in the big action sequence.
I liked the character interactions. Storm and Nightcrawler played off each other beautifully, as did Iceman and Wolvie, Pyro and Magneto, Mystique and Magneto, and Xavier and Stryker.
And the special effects were great. Nothing too technically difficult, but they were done with style.
Oh, yeah, and the ladies were hot, too. 
Between Storm, Mystique, and Yuriko, the movie was very easy on the eyes.
Mostly, what I didn’t like was various things involving Jean. First, her character just sort of seemed to be hanging there, without any strong interactions with the others. Like her speech to Wolverine about how the girls flirt with dangerous guys… It would have made a lot more sense if she had, in fact, flirted with him in either movie. But in both movies, her interactions with him are strictly professional. The closest she comes to getting personal with him is telling him no.
But my biggest complaint is the whole Phoenix deal. I understand that you have to pander to the fanboys, and I’m glad that they included things like the computer screenshots (even though I was oblivious to them). But you’ve got to keep everyone else in the audience on track, too. It’s only because of the SDMB and previous comic book threads that I had any clue whatsoever what was going on.
And about that scene with the Blackbird taking off: I didn’t see it as a noble sacrifice, at all. It looked to me like the reason the plane wasn’t working was because Jean was preventing it from working, until she had a chance to get out. Remember how all of a sudden, the systems came back online after she left? Which left me seriously puzzled about why the heck she was doing it.
First of all, I have to concur with dangergene in saying X2 is the best frigging movie of all time that ever was. Wee!
I have to say some fans – SOME – are far too nitpicky. I don’t know if this is just a comicbook thing or what, but every comic book movie gets the ol’ once over from legions of horrified die-hard fans. It was this way with X-Men, Spider-man, Daredevil, and X2. In most cases the grumbling stopped when they actually saw the movie.
Bzzzt! Comic!Magneto used to do this neat trick where he could stop the flow of blood to someone’s brain using the iron in their bloodstream. I have no doubt this is impossible, but if you can accept the concept of an all-powerful cosmic force that looks like a flaming birdy, then you should have no problem with the iron-blood trick. Alara Rogers, Mags’ biggest fangirl, has an entire website devoted to explaining his powers. Very nifty.
Snip happens.
Very true. It’s just unwanted baggage, useless for the general viewing audience. If they want to tone up Rogue’s powers for the next movie, they can just throw in a ten minute explanation of how her powers are “evolving” or some such and that’s why she can fly and is now bullet-proof.
[QUOTE]
**-Regarding a post from earlier in this thread (page 3 I think)
This is totally wrong. In Marvel comics, there has in fact always been a clear dividing line. Being genetically altered after birth and being born with a genetic mutation are completely different and are kept totally distinct in the Marvel universe. I have a lot of doubts about the second par
First of all, I have to concur with dangergene in saying X2 is the best frigging movie of all time that ever was. Wee!
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by White Lightning *
**Wow, finally found this thread. So much to say!
First a general point. Why anyone is discussing Uncanny X-Men continuity for anything other than curiosity purposes is beyond me. The movie quite obviously has created an entirely new continuity, with some characters retaining more of their character (Cyclops, Magneto) than others (like Pyro, who might as well be unique to the movie’s continuity). We can certainly make conject
Sorry, Nichol. I was trying out my mutant board failing powers.
Looks like you got cutoff midstream Nichol. I’ll respond partially:
Regarding Magneto, okay, I remember that too (now). But there wasn’t enough iron in blood for him to do anything big externally. Like fly. Or move people around. Or escape from a plastic prison. That’s all I was saying.
Yeah, many many fans are far too nitpicky when movies get made. But it’s just an interpretation of the original works. What I don’t get is when a character does something in the movie, and everyone’s like, HE CAN’T DO THAT! but nobody gripes about the blatant misuse of a character like Pyro. Duh – they made up a new movie. It’s loosely based on the books, and we as fans of the books can get extra enjoyment out of the movie because of that, but for me it doesn’t go beyond that.
This totally baffles me. What didn’t you get? Maybe it’s me missing the trees for the forest or something because I bring so much past useless X-Men knowledge to the table, but to me it seemed like Jean’s arc in the movie was fully consistent internally. Except for the glaring fact that there were any number of ways the problem could have been solved without her dying, it all made sense.
It wasn’t some suspicious event that the plane suddenly started working as soon as she left. It started working as soon as she started lifting it up. Remember Storm (was it Storm?) saying ‘we need some kind of external power source’? Jean provided that power. Whoever speculated that Rogue’s mini-flight had jacked the VTOL made sense to me. For whatever reason, the plane couldn’t take off (they said something about that too, ‘the thrusters are jammed’ or some nonsense). Jean got out of the plane, lifted up the plane, held back the tsunami long enough to get it out safely, and then let go. Self-consistent as far as I could tell, no? Again, lame that she chose to die when other alternatives were easily available, but hey, I love suspending disbelief.
Damn! I don’t know why, but my comp has problems with this board. Anyway, cut-and-paste is my friend…
Very true. It’s just unwanted baggage, useless for the general viewing audience. If they want to tone up Rogue’s powers for the next movie, they can just throw in a ten minute explanation of how her powers are “evolving” or some such and that’s why she can fly and is now bullet-proof.
In the comics, altered humans like the Fantastic Four are viewed very differently from mutie freaks like the X-Men. Some people have a hard time accepting this, but I don’t. People hate each other for such inconsequential reasons anyway – hatred doesn’t make any sense in the real world, why should it in the Marvel U?
Oh, and as for why Cyclops doesn’t get whiplash from his optic blasts – IIRC, the explanation given in the comics was that he didn’t actually generate the blasts, but tapped into an otherworldy source. His eyes were kinda like windows from which the energy poured. Bizarre, I know, but something much the same was given as to why the Hulk can put on thousands of pounds of muscle in three seconds. Comic book science!
You’re very welcome. As for Jason Stryker, I assumed one of the following:
Kurt was too tired to teleport him out,
It was deemed too risky to go in that collapsing building again,
They thought it’d be kinder just to let Jason die.
Hee hee. Nightcrawler rocked my world. And though Storm hasn’t gotten any play since Forge took back his proposal of marriage, she used to be this major babe. Magneto made eyes at her, Dr. Doom found her “fascinating”, and Loki kidnapped her and tried to convince her to be his storm goddess. She told him where to get off, of course, but back in the day everybody had it bad for Storm.
I don’t think they’ll bother with that in the movies. Shi’Ar, Starjammers, none of it. It’s a little out there for these movies, anyway, and I think getting people to swallow that she’s been possessed by a cosmic entity is going to be difficult enough. The comics could incorporate it – a two-hour film won’t even try.
The Sentinels I’d like to see, but only after Magneto fades out a bit. It’d be fun seeing Jean-as-Phoenix tearing into 'em in the next movie, though! I don’t think we’ll see Bolivar and Larry Trask, though, as they seem to have been absorbed into William and Jason Stryker.
I was frankly astonished at some of the mutants they included – Pyro, Siryn, Toad, etc. have never been first-tier characters, though they have their fans. I really enjoyed seeing some of the more obscure muties, rather than just the popular ones you know are going to make the cut.
.:Nichol:.
Don’t forget Dracula! I don’t know why she ever looked at Forge twice anyway. He was dumb.
Well, that was exactly my point. I don’t think it even will be that they explain she’s been possessed by a cosmic entity (unless you know something I don’t, which you could, since I’ve never seen any spoilers for X3). Because of what you say – too difficult to explain/get the audience to buy. I think the Phoenix thing will be totally Jean-internal, explained as being a further evolution of her powers. Remember that in the museum Scott says that she hasn’t been the same ‘since Liberty Island.’ So the big wave of mutational energy must have done something to her, or something. I believe that the explanation for her becoming the Phoenix will incorporate only elements of the first two movies. That’s my whole point.
Off-topic: I think I remember from sometime in the past that you’re female. Is this the case? I apologize if I’ve got you misconstrued.
Oh yeah, I have a gripe with Pyro (have you noticed that I bring it up in every post?). They didn’t ‘include’ Pyro. They made up a new character and called him Pyro. That character had NOTHING to do with the comic Pyro except the basis of the powers. I wish they had made up a new character instead because every time they called him Pyro it made me cringe. They changed his age, his background, his personality, his allegiance. Everything. His hair color. Gah. I know this is approaching being fanboy nitpicking, but this was my biggest problem with the movie.
Or if they really wanted to use an existing character, and he had to be a fireman, why not use Rusty Collins? That character fits SO MUCH MORE the character they were going for in the movie: young, being trained by the X-Men, flame-based powers, questionable motives, very impressionable. What did they gain by calling him Pyro instead? Like you said, it’s not like the Pyro character was much of a draw.
Gah. Sorry.
White lightning: Don’t forget Dracula! I don’t know why she ever looked at Forge twice anyway. He was dumb.
Word! I almost forgot about Dracula. Man, back in the day, Storm had it going ON! I’ve never respected Forge since he took back his proposal to her (and she would have said yes! God only knows why, but she would have! Forge you nitwit!)
*I think the Phoenix thing will be totally Jean-internal, explained as being a further evolution of her powers. *
Not bad. I think they could pull off the cosmic entity thing if they tried hard enough, but having it just be Jean’s reaction to developing God-like powers would work well enough.
Oh, and yeah, I’m female.
*Or if they really wanted to use an existing character, and he had to be a fireman, why not use Rusty Collins? *
Um, cooler codename? Seriously though, taking Pyro fits in better – Comic!Pyro had the connections to the Brotherhood and Mystique, which Rusty lacked. Also, if they ever do a Legacy storyline, it’d give them a character the audience is familiar with to have the heartbreaking death scene.
.:Nichol:.
The prequel could, in mhy not-so-humble opinion, be one of two things:
Er … where Hank “Beast” McCoy speaks like an uneducated ruffian.
Not if it was supposed to fit the movie continuity, it couldn’t.
Nichol: In the books, Pyro had an evil connection, right. Which is exactly why Rusty is a better fit. Pyro didn’t start out as Xavier’s student and go bad, he was just a bad dude. As part of Mystique’s Brotherhood, he just wanted to use his powers for profit. Rusty started out meaning well but got taken in by the wrong crowd. Who was the Acolyte that took over Mags’ space station back in Uncanny? I forget his name. But Rusty, after having trained with X-Force, got taken in by that group and turned kinda bad. Just like Pyro in the movie. See what I mean? MUCH better fit.
Cooler code name… granted. But IIRC the word ‘Iceman’ was only spoken once in X2, and that was when Bobby said ‘call me Iceman.’ Everybody else just called him Bobby. They could have just called Rusty ‘Rusty’ and everything would have been just fine.
White lightning: In the books, Pyro had an evil connection, right. Which is exactly why Rusty is a better fit. Pyro didn’t start out as Xavier’s student and go bad, he was just a bad dude. As part of Mystique’s Brotherhood, he just wanted to use his powers for profit. Rusty started out meaning well but got taken in by the wrong crowd. Who was the Acolyte that took over Mags’ space station back in Uncanny? I forget his name. But Rusty, after having trained with X-Force, got taken in by that group and turned kinda bad. Just like Pyro in the movie. See what I mean? MUCH better fit.
Bah. If they’d had Rusty join up Magneto and Mystique, I guarantee you that there’d be someone here screaming bloody murder. “But Rusty was never really evil!” they’d shriek. “If they wanted a villainous fire-starter, why couldn’t they have put Pyro in the movie?”
Besides, can you see Mags and Pyro’s little conversation in the same light if it were Rusty in the latter’s place?
Magneto: “What’s your real name?”
Rusty: “Rusty! But they call my girlfriend Skids.”
Magneto: “… nitwit.”
.:Nichol:.
16 Tesla will levitate a frog, and presumably a security guard… does anyone know how strong a magnetic field Magneto can produce?
I’d settle for knowing how strong a field would support a jetplane. Come on, physics dopers
I think White Lightning is going to stab me for this, but I quite enjoyed Pyro’s role in X2. I see him as a character who went to Xavier’s school for gifted children because he didn’t really have very many options or anywhere else to go, and then ended up with the Brotherhood because the opportunity presented itself. I think this makes him a more well-rounded character.
I mean, when you think about it, how else would a teenage Pyro hook up with Magneto, one of the most powerful mutants on earth? The chances of them ever meeting would be slim to none.
(Oh yeah, someone earlier asked whether Nightcrawler was all ‘scarrified’ in the comics. He’s not. He’s all blue and furry (and very cute!) I was a bit disappointed that he wasn’t fuzzy in the movie, but I s’pose that’d be harder to recreate with special effects)
I was just talking to somebody who was disappointed that Fuzzy Elf wasn’t. But I told her that’s just like Logan’s height, an allowance you’ve gotta make for Hollywood. I’m not sure why they put the scars in, just to make him look cool I guess. I wanted to see more of his shadow effects, too. But I’m really not complaining about Nightcrawler. He was shockingly, stunningly good.
I didn’t have any problem with the Pyro character, Cataclysm. It just got under my skin that they called him Pyro. I’d much rather they just made up a new name for the new character. You’re very right that he was a well-rounded character, well-written and -acted, brought a lot to the film, etc. You just won’t convince me that the character in the movie had anything at all to do with the Pyro comic book character. Aside from his powers.
I just found something funny in an early promo on X2 somewhere.
For those convinced that the Phoenix transformation will be be strictly from within Jean, I think that Singer left it open. It was very subtle, but I could have sworn that in the plane, for a fraction of a second, Jean looked around, like she was listening to someone… or something. Anyone else catch that?
Quoth Shade:
In the comic books, as I understand it, Magneto’s powers are basically “He can do anything at all, so long as it has some vague connection to magnetism”. I’ve heard that some writers even use unified field theories to justify him causing or suppressing radiactive decay, to give an idea of how far it goes. Which, of course, makes for lousy writing. I’m sure that there are some good writers who try to make his powers a bit more reasonable, but even they are handicapped by all of the continuity laid down by the bad writers.
In the movies, though, they had a chance to make a fresh start, unburdened by the mistakes of the comic books, and they did. Movie Magneto’s powers don’t actually seem to have anything at all to do with magnetism. His power is “really powerful and effortless telekinesis, but which only works on metals”. Not just magnetic metals, either: He has no problem with lead bullets or bronze Liberty-skin.
So ordinarily, he couldn’t levitate the guard, because the iron in blood is not metallic. But when Mystique loaded the guy up with what was presumably reduced iron, he was able to suck it out.
I just finally got around to seeing it (I’ve been busy). I loved the Mystique, Magneto relationship. They did that very, very well.
A question (I don’t think I’ve ever read an X-men comic book, I saw the cartoon a few times though). Someone once told me that Storm, unlike the rest, wasn’t rejected - in fact, the opposite, she was a part of an agrarian society, where controlling the weather was really useful and they were more than happy to have her around. And because I’d heard that, her “lost faith” scene didn’t work for me (of course, that she’d magically lost her really bad accent between the first and second films helped it a lot)… was I told wrong?