Most ‘X-Men: First Class’ Fans Missed a Brilliant Detail in Magneto’s Most Heartbreaking Scene That Doesn’t Make Much Sense at First
- Michael Fassbender talks about why he took on the role of Erik Lehnsherr.
- Matthew Vaughn left X-Men franchise because his and studios's thoughts didn't align.
- Young Erik Lehnsherr failed to remove a coin using his power because it was 90% silver.
Directed by Matthew Vaughn, 2011’s X-Men: First Class is the fourth mainline installment in the X-Men series and the fifth installment overall. The movie starred Kevin Bacon, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and more. The movie follows the partnership and brotherhood between Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto and the origin of their groups, X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants, while dealing with a mutant supremacist bent on enacting a nuclear war.
Upon its release, X-Men: First Class was a box office success, becoming the seventh highest-grossing movie in the film series. The performances of the actors were highly praised, along with Vaughn’s direction, action sequence, and screenplay. X-Men: First Class’ success brought back the craze of X-Men movies among the fans, but even ardent fans of the franchise missed out on a minute detail in the movie.
Michael Fassbender gets candid about what drew him to sign X-Men: First Class
Michael Fassbender played the role of Erik Lehnsherr, who was a mutant capable of manipulating and generating electromagnetic fields. The actor who has been appreciated for his portrayal of the character shared with Vanity Fair why he was drawn to the character,
What drew me to that movie, X-Men: First Class, was the idea of an outsider and what it feels like you don’t belong. That, for me, was an interesting core to work from in the character and to find the justifications in his actions, which again were pretty monumental. The lengths he was willing to go to and the motivation of what that was. Essentially, the core of that is just that Magento needs a hug.
The actor, who was the second actor to portray the character on-screen, shared that when he was finalized to play the character, he spoke to the director Matthew Vaughn about the accent. The question of accent was raised as Fassbender took over the role after Ian McKellen, who had portrayed the character in the original X-Men movie from 2000 to 2006.
Fassbender shared that Vaughn just advised him to stick to his accent, which the filmmaker described as ‘weird and funny’. But then McKellen and Fassbender appeared in Days of Future Past, which got the actor thinking about accents once again. He shared with the publication that he was like that he better start trying to speak a little more like Ian McKellen because they were going to share the screen space.
McKellen played the older version of Magneto in Days of Future Past, so Fassbender changed the accent. He played the character for seven years from 2011 to 2019, and fans admired his portrayal of the character on-screen, stating that he added a layer of humanity to the character.
Young Erik Lehnsherr couldn’t move the 5-reichsmark coin in X-Men: First Class
Allen Tsai shared one minute but very significant detail from X-Men: First Class that when young Erik Lehnsherr is asked to move a 5-reichsmark coin to save his mother, he fails to do it. The reason he was not able to move the coin was because it was 90% silver—an element that is not magnetic.
Relating to the scene, Collider further explains that when Sebastian Shaw, played by Kevin Bacon, holds Erik’s mother at gunpoint while forcing him to try to move a coin with his mind and eventually shoots her dead, it causes an outraged power display from the mutant. When Erik nearly dies after a disastrous confrontation with Shaw, Charles Xavier, played by James McAvoy, saves him, and thus, the bond between them starts to develop.
The two of them work together to bring Shaw down and recruit a team of mutants to assist them in the fight, which leads to the formation of the first X-Men. Charles also helped Erik gain control of his power by mastering his feelings of anger. Erik finally kills Shaw as a retaliation for killing his mother.
Director Matthew Vaughn had shared with ComingSoon that X-Men: First Class was supposed to be the first new X-Men trilogy that would continue with a second installment centered around a young Wolverine in the 1970s and conclude with a third installment based on Days of Future Past. The studio was not on board with his vision, and the filmmaker decided to leave after First Class. Vaughn revealed he thought that Tom Hardy would have been a great young Wolverine.
X-Men movies are streaming on Disney+.
