One Man's Dream is not necessarily Another Man's Cause

[this review may contain minor spoilers for X-Men: Days of Future Past]

     It's fortuitous and somewhat coincidental that X-Men: Days of Future Past has recently had runaway box office success. It's a story about a man with a dream, a man with a cause, people defending an old establishment, and extremists thinking they're doing the right thing. While it's definitely not the story the comics told us decades ago, I think it benefits for this. Shame about Kitty Pryde, though. Maybe if they'd spent a movie or two developing her as more than a background character instead of making five movies about Wolverine (not that I'm complaining. I love me some Hugh Jackman's Wolverine), the movie would have been able to stand on its own with her as the one going back instead of him.

     But that's not what I want to focus on right now. X-Men has always served as a sometimes subtle, sometimes not-so allegory for minority struggle, and DOFP, in the day of hashtag slacktivism, media bias on both sides, call-out culture, and tumblr-style gender wars, has updated the formula. Xavier and Magneto are there still, but the context has changed.

     Xavier's Dream, which I would like to say that I do, and always have, strongly believed in, is that humans and mutants can peacefully coexist with each other. On top of that, realizing that there would be humans that violently feared mutants and mutants that could justify that fear, he formed his X-Men to defend innocent mutants against the formerly mentioned humans, and innocent humans against the latter mutants. The Dream is fueled by hope, and that Dream cannot survive if fearful and bigoted humans or violent, misguided mutants harm innocents on either side.

     Magneto's Cause, on the other hand, is something that scares me as bad as the aforementioned bigoted and fearful humans. It's much simpler, because it's a cause that's fueled by anger. It's completely black and white. Humans are history, are a threat, should be removed from the equation. Mutants are the future, innocent and blameless, and acting only in defense of their people. Any human that doesn't fit with that equation is simply a tool to be exploited and discarded, and any mutant that doesn't fit is a traitor to their biology.

     The main plot of DOFP revolves around how the act of a single extremist caused the entire world to fall apart, and how those with a Dream and those with a Cause must set aside differences to stop those that would go too far from hurting everyone with their actions. One extremist, Mystique, must be stopped from taking an action that would paint all like her a criminal and a threat, and another extremist must be stopped from using her actions (and her very biology) as a weapon against innocents. It's an effective allegory for the all-too-common people who think they're fighting the good fight, but just aren't helping. 

     I'll close out this thought with a semi-angry statement made a few weeks ago. I think it's still relevant.

“Too many assholes out there thinking they believe in Xavier's Dream but fighting for Magneto's Cause.”

Wolverine and the Avengers

This article may contain spoilers for the X-Men film franchise. You've been warned, filthy flatscans..

     Given the recent success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the hype around the upcoming X-Men: Daysof Future Past, I've gone back and watched the MCU and X-Men films, and have come to two conclusions I'd like to share.

     The important thing to note here is that, while I was very much into and up-to-date on comics in my younger years, I haven't really followed comics story-lines with any real dedication in some time. I've made sure to catch up on the major storylines here and there, but that's about it. I know there's a few characters that have suffered from some real over-exposure, and I know Wolverine's one of them, but we're not here to talk about Comics Wolverine.

     To date, there have allegedly been 4 X-Men films and two Wolverine films. Setting aside the circle-jerk for a moment about certain films never having existed (Highlander 2, Batman and Robin, X-Men 3, Origins: Wolverine), I would posit a different count. There has been one X-Men film, and five Wolverine films.

• X-Men: Where Wolverine is hunted by Magneto and crew, meets up with Xavier and crew, calls Cyclops a dick, flirts with Jean Grey. PLOT TWIST: Mags is really after Rogue, but Wolverine still saves the day.

• X-Men 2: X2: X-Men United (2?) Wolverine goes looking for his origins, finds the facility he was enhanced at, flirts with Jean Grey some more, and shares a bro-hug with Scott "You're a dick" Summers at Jean's heroic (and badass) sacrifice.

• X-Men 3: The (not really) Last Stand: Wolverine stars in a story that's not even really about him but he still manages to steal every goddamn scene in the film. Cyclops written off in terribly dismissive fashion by butt-hurt writing team because he was in a Superman film (that managed to be more dull than this one) too, Wolverine flirts with Jean Grey some more then saves the day.

• X-Men Origins: Wolverine: A comedy of bad special effects and weak performances from everyone except Hugh Jackman (of course), Liev Schreiber (who manages to make Sabretooth a psychologically scary bad-guy like he's supposed to be), and Ryan Reynolds (who manages to portray both the perfect and dead-worst versions of Deadpool you could imagine). Does not flirt with Jean Grey.

• X-Men: First Class: aka the one with only a tiny Wolverine cameo(no time to flirt with Jean Grey). This one is the only one that is truly an X-Men movie. Also the only one that gave Mystique a personality. Second best in the franchise, in my opinion, only topped by..

• The Wolverine: aka Hugh Jackman wakes up in the middle of the night to eat an entire goddamn chicken, and bro does he ever lift. They finally stop holding back and let Wolverine slice up enough Yukuza and Ninjas to fill Rhode Island. Confusingly, still flirting with Jean Grey. Gets treated to a common Superman trope, where his powers are stripped from him to show that this is serious. Also, crossover bonus: Madame Hydra is one of the villains.

• And coming soon: X-Men: Days of Future Past - Tyrion Lannister threatens to unleash killer robots after the X-Men, so Captain Picard and Gandalf send Future Wolverine into Past Wolverine to help Katniss Everdeen and the young, pretty Xavier and Magneto change the course of history. More Wolverine. Silly looking Quicksilver. Bishop's dumb cape. Blink looks awesome.

     Which leads me to my second conclusion: Wolverine should be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

     Hugh Jackman owns this role. Totally. When he's Wolverine, he is on. According to every interview I've seen, Jackman loves playing the role and takes this 100% seriously. Jackman's Wolverine is the Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark of the X-Men franchise, with one key difference.

     RDJ is surrounded by incredible performances. From Rhodey and Pepper and Happy in his own movies to Widow and Fury in SHIELD, to Banner and Captain America in the Avengers, RDJ's Tony Stark is a star that shines brightly even amongst other stars. Jackman's Wolverine, with the exception of Sir Patrick and Sir Ian's Xavier and Magneto, just doesn't have the same calibre of supporting cast.

     Yeah, as a fan, I've love to see Jackman's Wolverine standing shoulder to shoulder with the Avengers, and there's a precedent for it in the comics, but even deeper than that I feel that Jackman's love and dedication to that role deserves a stronger supporting cast, and that supporting cast is The Avengers. Rights and contracts be damned, I plead to both FOX and Marvel. Make up, play nice, and please bring Wolverine to Avengers 3.

hail hydra