X-Men Origins 2000 Was The First True Marvel Movie (But Its Legacy Is Spoiled badly)

X-Men 2000 Was The First True Marvel Movie (But Its Legacy Is Spoiled)

Despite the franchise's uneven legacy, the original X-Men movie put Marvel on the map and kicked the doors open for today's superhero movie dominance.

X-Men 

X-Men was the first true Marvel movie and it was the spark that ignited the dominance of the superhero movie genre in the 21st century, but, unfortunately, its legacy has been tarnished in the 20 years since its release. Directed by Bryan Singer and written by David Hayter, X-Men stars Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier/Professor X, Ian McKellan as Erik Lensherr/Magneto, and it marked the Hollywood debut of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, a role that would make him a superstar.

DC comics 

Unlike its rival DC Comics, which scored with blockbuster films about Superman and Batman, Marvel's only real hit movie was 1998's Blade before X-Men arrived on the scene on July 14, 2000. For decades, The Uncanny X-Men was Marvel Comics' crown jewel property but a movie had been in development hell since 1984, with filmmakers like James Cameron, Andrew Kevin Walker, and Joss Whedon all unable to bring X-Men to the big screen. After directing the critically-acclaimed The Usual Suspects, Bryan Singer was a prestigious choice to direct X-Men. While he was not initially a fan of the comics, X-Men's themes of prejudice resonated with Singer. Eschewing the campy, comic-book aesthetic that sank Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin in 1997, Singer chose to ground his X-Men film in a more realistic world that becomes injected with the reality of dangerous superpowered mutants living among society and being persecuted for being "different".

Taking a cue from how one of his filmmaker idols, Richard Donner, cast Superman: The Movie, Singer hired highly-respected, Shakespearean actors Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan for the roles of the feuding patriarchs of mutantkind, Professor X and Magneto. (Singer would later leave X-Men to direct his homage to Donner's film, Superman Returns, in 2006.) Stewart and McKellan lent instant credibility to X-Men, as did casting Academy Award-winner Anna Paquin as Rogue. James Marsden as Scott Summers/Cyclops, Famke Janssen as Dr. Jean Grey, Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe/Storm, Ray Park as Toad, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as Mystique, and Tyler Mane as Sabretooth rounded out the cast and complemented Hugh Jackman's feral, star-making arrival as Logan AKA the Wolverine.

Two decades later, Marvel Studios boasts the most popular superhero movies in the world after 23 movies set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sony's Spider-Man franchise was also, initially, a massive success before studio mismanagement brought the web-slinger into the MCU. Indeed, even DC Films, which has its share of billion-dollar hits and high-profile failures, struggles to match what Marvel Studios has accomplished. But it was really X-Men, which spawned its own mutant franchise for Fox, in addition to films about Daredevil and Fantastic Four, that blazed the path for every superhero movie triumph in the 21st century. Simply put, it was the mutants of X-Men who really put Marvel movies on the map.

Related Topics: X-MEN