The Countinuity of the X-Men Movies (SPOILERS AHEAD)

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I love the first 2 movies especially the 2nd one. The 3rd one had it's flaws but is still a good movie in my opinion, but the Wolverine one wasn't really all that exciting. As for First Class I thought it was really good. It's better than the last 2(Wolverine especially) and maybe the 1st one (I can't choose yet) but X-Men 2 will always be my favourite (for now) however the only thing I find odd about First Class is the many countinuity errors. There are tiny little ones that are easy to avoid like the fact that in X-Men the Professor seemed to have no knowledge of Magneto's helmet blocking his telepathy when in First Class he saw Magneto wear it and tried to read his mind or that in X-Men that the Professor mentions to Wolverine that Magneto helped him build Cerebro when in First Class it was Beast who built it. The biggest countinuity error for me is that in First Class Xavier gets shot and paralyzed and Magneto leaves him to acomplish his goals, but in The Last Stand we see at the beginning Xavier and Magneto going to see the young Jean Grey in a flashback and Xavier is still walking, bald and Magneto and him are still friends and in Wolverine we see Xavier again walking and bald. So am I too assume that the filmmakers are just ignoring the upcoming events of Last Stand and Wolverine.

They're not really continuity "errors" since the filmmakers weren't trying to strictly adhere to continuity in the first place. First Class is sort of a quasi-reboot that uses what TVtropes.org calls Broad Strokes: "a concept regarding canon where the writers pick and choose what elements of an older story they want to accept into a more recent story."

OK so I may be wrong in calling them errors but does First take place before the first 2 X-Mens and just simply ignore the other 2?

Here's the timeline:

First Class
Wolverine
X-Men
X2
X3

I don't know if First Class is meant to ignore Wolverine and X3, but it makes more sense if it does. The movie ignores the fact that Xavier was walking around in the flashback at the beginning of X3 and at the end of Wolverine, for example. But it also contradicts some elements of the other two films, like showing Beast transforming into his furry blue version in the 60s even though we saw him on TV in human form in X2.

Like I said, the movies aren't really meant to match up perfectly. First Class ignores certain elements of the other films because they just wanted it to be a good film on its own regardless of how it related to any other film. When you're watching the previous films, you can watch them knowing that the events of First Class happened in the past, but maybe not exactly the way you saw them in that movie.

I was under the impression that First Class was a reboot of the franchise.

I also thought it was well known that most of the X-men films were a mess.

It can be a reboot or a prequel or both. It's a prequel that's a totally stand-alone film which ignores some aspects of the other films basically because Matthew Vaughn didn't give a crap about consistency. First Class uses just as much material from the previous films as it ignores. You've got the stuff about Magneto in the concentration camp, Mystique's adult form being played by Rebecca Romijn, and Hugh Jackman showing up as Wolverine, but you've also got Xavier getting paralyzed 15 years before he's seen walking in X3 and Wolverine, and Emma Frost looking older than she did many years later.

It's simpler than it sounds when you try to describe it in words. Do you want it to be a reboot? Then it's a reboot.



No argument there.

I just recently bought the first 4 movies on Blu Ray(even though I already had them on DVD) and also pre ordered First Class. I'd just like to say that even though Wolverine wasn't exactly an awesome movie it was still pretty enjoyable as is The Last Stand, but X-Men, X-Men 2 and First Class are the more superior in the franchise.

I actually changed my mind about X-Men: First Class being my second favourite X-Men movie and for a while I considered it to be my favourite but I just recently watched it again today and again I'm thinking maybe X2 is the better X-Men movie for me or maybe I love both of them equally. I dunno I mean I do love First Class but there are some things at times that come into question and I'm not really talking about the continuity because I've gotten over those. Can't wait for X-Men: Days of Future Past because most of the cast of the original films are returning e.g. Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin and maybe the whole time travel stuff might explain the countinuity errors of FC like J.J. Abbrams Star Trek did.

Hey, I have been thinking the same things.

But what annoyed me most about XMen2 was at the end when Jean Grey gets off the ship to divert the water then apparently kills herself in the flood. But then why did she come back in XMen3 as a b***h and kill cyclops and charles??

Also I was annoyed that ice man didn't save them from the flood, he could have frozen the water from the damn.

Could he? That wasn't the comic-book Omega-level badass Iceman who took down Bastion and Zero Tolerance, but a teenager who could barely defeat the weakling Pyro...

It is fairly reasonable to assume that he did not yet have the capacity (or the knowledge that he had the capacity) to freeze a flood caused by a collapsing dam...

Someone actually pointed out that in the 80's X-men comics Xavier did regain his ability to walk & Magneto did return to the mansion as a friend.

Just wanted to point that out.

You never know perhaps Xavier was healed & paralyzed again. Hank managed to reverse his genetic code or control a gene from Mystique.

Oh & Beast wasn't stated as having built the Cerebro in the mansion...

It would have been a good opportunity for him to prove his powers at the end of X2.