After the disappointment ofX - valet : The Last Stand , Fox executive   needed a way to extend   bringing Marvel ’s profitable mutant characters to the big screen without reminding audience of what a vast screw - up the last movie was . So , they hired Matthew Vaughn to do a cushy reboot of the dealership with a ‘ 60s - set prequel , X - Men : First Class , star younger versions of the characters .

These younger looping of the X - human being returned in three more movies   — Days of Future Past , Apocalypse , andDark Phoenix – before the Disney mergerput the enfranchisement out of its miserableness . The prequel moving-picture show were n’t all abject bankruptcy , but there was small to love in them .

Right: Casting Some Of The Best Actors Working Today

While no one could replace such sieve legends as Patrick Stewart , Ian McKellen , and Halle Berry , the actors who were cast to take on the younger versions of the X - Men rank among the fine actors mold today .

The endowment of performing artist like James McAvoy , Michael Fassbender , and Jennifer Lawrence are practically unparalleled in the current roster of movie stars .

Wrong: Aimless Character Arcs

The quality discharge in theX - Menprequels never had an close in sight , which is strange , because the nature of prequels means that the stop isalwaysin stack . But these moving picture had no architectural plan to get their characters from point A to point barn , kind of like theStar Warssequel trilogy . The MCU’sperfectly executed character arcshave made audiences appreciate their importance .

For example , Magneto ’s arc in these movies consisted of mope from one miserable situation to the next , unsure if he wanted to be a good guy or a bad guy , wasting Michael Fassbender ’s acting prowess .

Right: Days Of Future Past’s Focus On Wolverine

While there are plenty of pop characters in the X - Men comics , none of them are more popular than Wolverine   — especially Hugh Jackman ’s iconic personation of the eccentric .

Due to his agelessness , he was the consummate protagonist for the prison term travel plot ofDays of Future Past . Logan was reduced to a cameo inFirst Class , so it was a joy to see him back in the spotlight inDays of Future Past .

Wrong: Wasting Iconic Villains

The Adam - Men havesome of the most incredible villains in comical book chronicle , from Mister Sinister to the Juggernaut , but apart from Magneto , who fleet between misunderstood antihero and one - note baddie in his bumbling character arc fromFirst ClasstoDark Phoenix , the prequel movies underwhelmed with their baddie .

The virtually unlimited capabilities of Apocalypse , whom fans had expect for year to see in a film , were reduce to silly powers like pull wires moxie and changing TV channels .

Right: Quicksilver

Introduced inDays of Future Past , Evan Peters ’ take on the Quicksilver characterimmediately became one of the most beloved superheroes in any bragging - covert dealership .

The MCU ’s own Quicksilver , whose stint in the franchise began and ended with razor - thin portrayal and an underwhelming dying scene in the jumbledAvengers : Age of Ultron , only assist to make Peters ’ avatar in the Fox movie seem even better .

Wrong: Losing Sight Of The Themes

In the comics , the X - Men history have some of the substantial themes of any superhero myth . The part were born out of the civic right wing movement , while the enfranchisement ’s early movies recontextualized the bigotry against sport as a metaphoric stand - in for homophobia .

The underlie idea of this franchise are world-wide , focusing on marginalized groups ’ struggles for equal rightfield , but by the end of the prequel geological era , the movies had altogether lose sight of these themes .

Right: The ‘60s Setting Of First Class

Matthew Vaughn ’s portrayal of the 1960s inX - military personnel : First Classwasn’t just influenced by the historical set itself . The theater director was inhale by action moving-picture show of the sentence , like the Connery - geological era Bond movies .

The ‘ LX setting ofFirst Classcalled back to the other days of the 10 - Men comics . Plus , mixing the Cuban Missile Crisis into the plot of land added an challenging political bed to the comic Quran action .

Wrong: Inconsistent Timeline

AfterFirst Classoffered up a dazzling characterisation of the ‘ sixty , each subsequentX - Menprequel took spot in a different decade : twenty-four hour period of Future Pastwas in the ‘ 70 , Apocalypsein the ‘ LXXX , andDark Phoenixin the ‘ 90s .

In addition to all these movies replacingFirst Class ’ businesslike love of the heyday - great power geological era with cheap nostalgia , they made the timeline totally discrepant . None of these character ’ appearance change over three decades .

Right: Bringing Back The Classic X-Men Costumes

In the firstX - Menmovie , the characters were all garment in horrific black leather suits , with late-‘90s fashion on the face of it dictating that these would look cooler than the bright yellow spandex from the comics . The playscript even included a meta wisecrack about this .

The prequel film get back the undimmed colors , a staple of the decade - Men mythos , and while most of the storytelling ultimately let down , the aesthetics were great .

Wrong: Rehiring The Same Guy To Screw Up Dark Phoenix Again

TheX - Menfranchise ’s first attempt at adapt “ The Dark Phoenix Saga , ” entitledThe Last Stand , failed miserably . When the prequel moving picture started catching up with the original movies , Fox executives mat up like giving it another go . For some unfathomable reason , they decided to rehire Simon Kinberg , who screwed up the first “ Dark Phoenix ” adaptation , to screw it up again .

Whereas he just co - compose the script forThe Last Stand , Kinberg directedDark Phoenixas his debut characteristic . As with any $ 200 million flick helm by a first - sentence director , Dark Phoenixis a total flock .

NEXT:5 Things The Amazing Spider - Man Got correct ( & 5 It Got Wrong )

Dark X-Men in Marvel Comics' Age of Apocalypse

x-men’s cyclops and wolverine combined form

x-men’s cyclops with spider-man and captain marvel-1

X-Men Prequels Feature

The cast of X-Men First Class

Michael Fassbender in X-Men Apocalypse

Wolverine in X-Men Days of Future Past

Oscar Isaac in X-Men Apocalypse

Evan Peters as Quicksilver

a close-up of Tye Sheridan as Cyclops in X-Men Apocalypse

The Cuban Missile Crisis in X-Men First Class

Jennifer Lawrence on a spaceship in X-Men Dark Phoenix

Classic yellow spandex costumes in X-Men First Class

Sophie Turner glowing orange in Dark Phoenix

Movies

X-Men