Sci-fi And Fantasy’s Greatest Reboots

9 X-Men: First Class

This really did sound as though it was going to be a shaggy-haired dog of a movie when it was first announced, but boy, did we eat some crow when we saw the end result. Taking place before the X-Men movies we’ve grown to know and (mostly) love, First Class rebooted the universe by wilfully ignoring several continuity points from those films to launch itself on a new timeline. We should have felt a little annoyed, perhaps, to see the original X-Men films so shamelessly undermined, even in mostly subtle ways – but who could hold a grudge when the prequel was so good?

Most of the joy comes from the casting. Man-of-the-moment Michael Fassbender makes for a cracking young Magneto, alongside James McAvoy being far warmer and more cuddly than you’d ever expect young Professor X to be. The Hunger Games‘ Jennifer Lawrence brings dimension to Mystique – something the other films never managed, as they drowned under their heavy character roster – and everybody from the excellent young ’un Nicholas Hoult to the alluring January Jones flesh out other characters we’ve always wanted to see given more screen time. (With the latter, “flesh” was on display in more ways than one, too.)

As a way of introducing the idea of mutants you can’t fault First Class, and there’s a deeper, more personal thread to the film thanks to the unravelling relationship between Erik and Charles. X-Men: First Class is a reboot that we never knew we needed until we got it.