Why Matthew Vaughn Should Revamp Wolverine In This Newly Revised X-Men World

Before we get to Wolverine let me get a few thoughts out of the way on X-Men: First Class:

1) Go see this movie. If you haven't before reading and you want to remain spoiler free then go see it now and come back. From this point out be warned: there be spoilers. The movie is not without its problems, well... one for me actually: Director Matthew Vaughn sort of just drops January Jones' Emma Frost right before the third act. She gets to play the soothsayer, making a prophetic prediction about the coming war between humans and mutants and then she disappears. I was distracted for a moment wondering exactly what happened to her. Could she have escaped? Did they successfully detain her again? Did she not want to escape? Not that I entirely missed her, acting wise she is anything but the most interesting part of the movie, but her lack of involvement in the third act seemed more out of convenience than being justified by the story. But this is not meant to be a review. This is a fantastic movie, and that VERY SMALL complaint aside this is the best movie of the X-Men franchise by far.

2.) Please keep making more and more of these movies Matthew Vaughn! Vaughn has been proving himself over and over again as a writer and director, making some of the most interesting movies that have been coming out in the last few years. More movies like this and he will be able to write his own ticket, making any movie he wants. And that is what should be happening, he should be free to make movies as he envisions them. There are few modern directors I would say should be let lose with whatever vision they might have: Christopher Nolan, Edgar Wright, Quentin Tarantino, and now Matthew Vaughn. So use this series Mr. Vaughn to make Fox a bunch of money and then hopefully they (or any other studio) should just throw money at you.

3)This film was made in 10 months from top to bottom. Vaughn came on and did a total rewrite with his team, cast, filmed, edited, and did special effects in 10 months. That in and of itself is an amazing feat and should be commended.

Alright, now on with talking about Wolverine.

I honestly don't understand why Hugh Jackman has been canonized as The Wolverine in so many hearts and minds. He's good, but he's not great. The first scene with him in the first X-Men is nearly perfect, he's silent, angry, dangerous, and nearly chaotic. As the films progressed he became more and more subdued and less and less interesting. I think its something to do with the eyes (saying nothing for the uninteresting infatuation he had for Jean Grey) and posture; Hugh Jackman played Wolverine like a leading man, all poise and calculation. I can't knock it too harshly, it worked. They made Wolverine into a sex symbol and made millions of dollars as a result. But they also made an uninteresting character who was Wolverine in name and hair style only.

Wolverine is supposed to be tempered chaos*, directed rage, and passionate instinct. He acts, he does not calculate. He is the mutant that is set lose, not the one who babysits the younger students. People should be afraid of him because he breeds uncertainty. While not the most powerful mutant he wins and is feared because his unhinged nature allows him to overcome all odds and befuddles the enemy. Magneto, in First Class, manifests this idea far better than Wolverine does in any of the previous films**. Hugh Jackman does what he was supposed to do, he created the draw for these films that turned out never to be really about him at all. Say what you will about X-Men Origins: Wolverine, that was not Wolverine on screen.

X-Men: First Class had to be connected to the original films because those original movies, that made enough money to pay off the national dept, were the draw. People wanted to revisit that world. But this new world is better, more interesting and focusing on Professor X and Magneto in a way that is and can continue to be very fascinating. I see no need for them to be trying to tie themselves into the original movies (which were good for what they were but aren't great), it ties the hands of the creators too much. Having characters enter who are able to comment on and further elaborate upon the relationship between Professor X and Magneto could make the films more interesting. And if that is possible its worth not worrying about the former films and forging ahead with all new ideas with old characters (an argument at least slightly addressed in this review of the film.) Enter Wolverine.

The thrust of this new movie is the relationship between Charles (Professor X) and Erik (Magneto) who respond in very different ways to their powers and the world around them. Charles try to live at peace, blending into the world and helping it as he is able. He is optimistic, almost to a fault, and believes that mutants and humans can live at peace. Erik on the other hand is driven by rage, rage over what he experienced in a concentration camp, rage over seeing his mother die, rage that mutants will never be accepted, rage at the world. Charles does what he can to help Erik move past his anger and be a force for good. In the end his is unable, Erik makes himself an enemy of humanity and attempts to build an army of other mutants who feel the same as he does.

Erik's movement away from Charles and humanity can be seen as a failure on Charles' part, as he was unable to convince and reform Erik. A great thrust for the series can be Charles' guilt over this failure and his attempt to bring Erik back (although I do have to question whether or not this new Charles is capable of regret or guilt, it would be interesting to see).

Here Wolverine can represent Charles' second chance at redeeming a lost and angry soul, and a chance for redemption himself. Magneto and Wolverine are very much the same, the main difference being that Magneto knows where his hurt and anger come from, Wolverine can never remember or know. They are both fueled by anger, are reactive, and are agents of chaos inspired by rage, and this makes them both incredibly dangerous. The main difference is that Wolverine, sometimes despite himself, stays with the X-Men.

So here's what you do:

• Forget about what Hugh Jackman did. You owe him nothing.



• Lay the burden of being a leading man to Charles and Erik, they've proven they can handle it. Make a new Wolverine who is unhinged from the demands of movie starness and make a guy more akin to Rorschach from the Watchmen than the previous X-Men movies. Let him be short (5'5", 5'6" like hes supposed to be), don't worry about the hair (they've never been able to really make it work, don't try so hard),



• and make him driven by anger and hurt that Professor X is able to harness and direct in a way he never could with Magneto. In that Charles is able to move past his failure, forgive himself, and face off against Magneto as a force to be stopped, not reformed.
  

Do that and it would make for an incredibly iconic character that will drive the story rather than just provide the world with another guy who can be on the cover of Men's Fitness.

*The only controlling factor for him is the X-Men who he can never truly feel a part of but is the one thing about humanity he is able to grasp onto.

**I know you'll try to argue that the fight with the soldiers in the school in X2 does show these qualities in Wolverine, but only in that moment that's short lived. Magneto carries that attitude through the whole film.