History Film / XMenFirstClass

** Who felt sorry for those [[spoiler:two SS escapees in Argentina]]?

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[TagLine Their powers would make them different. But destiny would make them allies.]]''[[note]]From left to right: Azazel, [[Characters/MarvelComicsBeast Beast]], Characters/{{Emma Frost|WhiteQueen}}, [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Professor X]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsMystique Mystique]], and [[Characters/XMenHellfireClub Sebastian Shaw]].[[/note]]]]

* Characters/{{Emma Frost|WhiteQueen}} (Creator/JanuaryJones)

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[TagLine Their powers would make them different. But destiny would make them allies.]]''[[note]]From left to right: Azazel, [[Characters/XMenTheOriginalTeam Beast]], Characters/{{Emma Frost|WhiteQueen}}, [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Professor X]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsMystique Mystique]], and [[Characters/XMenHellfireClub Sebastian Shaw]].[[/note]]]]

* Hank [=McCoy=] / [[Characters/XMenTheOriginalTeam Beast]] (Creator/NicholasHoult)

** The team's original lineup includes an "Angel," but it's Angel Salvadore (a comparatively minor character from the comics) instead of [[Characters/XMenTheOriginalTeam Warren Worthington III]][[note]]who, going by the movie-verse's timeline, wouldn't have been born at the time the film takes place[[/note]].

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[TagLine Their powers would make them different. But destiny would make them allies.]]''[[note]]From left to right: Azazel, [[Characters/XMenTheOriginalTeam Beast]], Characters/{{Emma Frost|WhiteQueen}}, [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Professor X]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]], Characters/{{Mystique}}, and Sebastian Shaw.[[/note]]]]

* Raven Darkholme / Characters/{{Mystique}} (Creator/JenniferLawrence)

* ArgentinaIsNaziland: Erik chases a Nazi to Villa Gesell, a city in Argentina. In the movie, it's [[TheMountainsOfIllinois an area of mountains and lakes]], but the real Villa Gesell is a beach city and former hippie
paradise. The barman used ''[[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign Mexican slang]]''.

* SlasherSmile: Shaw gives one when [[spoiler:he thinks he's convinced Erik to join him]].

** Sebastian ''honestly'' believes that he can convince Erik to join him, despite being ''directly'' responsible for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his mother]] and knowing that he has spent his entire life hunting him down. Magneto even lampshades it in the end, [[spoiler:stating that while he believes mutants ''are'' superior after all, there is absolutely no way he will ''ever'' forgive Shaw]].

* SurprisinglyGoodForeignLanguage: Erik Lehnsherr and the Nazis he encounters (and, a bit later, kills) in the bar speak surprisingly good German. The actor playing Erik (Creator/MichaelFassbender) was born in Germany and the actors playing the Nazis are most likely German.

* HornyScientist: Subverted. When Agent [=MacTaggert=] has to find an expert on genetic mutation (specifically one who has researched the possible manifestation of superpowers in humans), she ends up meeting Charles Xavier on the day he is awarded his [=PhD=] in genetics. Dr. Xavier is horny alright, and he uses his geeky pick-up lines on Moira the instant he sees her. But instead of being undesirable, Charles is a [[PrettyBoy gorgeous]], [[TheCharmer charming]], [[SharpDressedMan well-dressed]] [[HotScientist academic]]--he's even a womanizer to boot. Although Moira brushes off his amorous advances at first to focus on her investigation of the Hellfire Club, she does become Xavier's ImpliedLoveInterest by the finale.
* HotScientist:
** Dr. Charles Xavier, a geneticist, shamelessly uses his charm, good looks and expertise in his chosen field to pick up women at Oxford.
** Raven initially harbours a crush on her foster brother, but her affections are quickly transferred to Dr. Hank [=McCoy=], an engineer and biologist.

* NerdsAreSexy: Charles Xavier has mastered the art of transforming his knowledge of genetics into successful flirtation methods.

* ProudBeauty: Xavier is a HotScientist who unabashedly exploits his gorgeousness (along with his charm) to proposition coeds at Oxford. Charles is so fond of his hair that he ''immediately'' dismisses Hank's suggestion that he shave it off before he tests Cerebro. It's costume designer Sammy Sheldon's intention to make the character as stylish as possible within a conservative academic setting.

** Charles Xavier. When the movie starts, he's a friendly, happy-go-lucky, idealistic Oxford grad whose only interests are protecting his foster sister, studying genetics, drinking yards of beer and picking up coeds. His initial reaction to meeting other mutants is a puppyish eagerness to find others like him, as well as a gung-ho enthusiasm to [[TheyFightCrime work with a superhuman team to fight evil.]] During the climax, [[spoiler:he gets smacked around in a variety of ways, including telepathically experiencing Shaw's gruesome death at Magneto's hands, getting shot in the spine, and having the US government, his best friend, and his sister all turn against him. By the finale, [[HumansAreBastards his government is trying to hunt him down]], his [[FaceHeelTurn best friend is preparing for a war against humans]], and he's crippled for life in a wheelchair]]. We know from future installments that he never quite abandons his ideals, but he's frighteningly subdued and obviously much more cautious about who knows his secrets.

* ILoveNuclearPower: Sebastian Shaw believes that mutants are the "Children of the Atom," and are therefore immune to radiation. This is why he plans to turn the UsefulNotes/ColdWar nuclear, convinced that the radiation will wipe out humanity, but spare mutants.

* RadiationImmuneMutants: Sebastian claims that mutants would not be harmed by (and may even benefit from) a nuclear war that would destroy humanity.

* {{Nerd}}: Hank [=McCoy=], who is like an introverted version of Charles. All the brilliance, all the attractiveness, but none of his telepathic gift with people.

* ArgentinaIsNaziland: Erik chases a Nazi to Villa Gesell, a city in Argentina. In the movie, it's [[TheMountainsOfIllinois an area of mountains and lakes]], but the real Villa Gesell is a beach city and former hippie paradise. The barman used ''[[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign Mexican slang]]''.

''X-Men: First Class'' is the [[Film/XMenOriginsWolverine second]] {{prequel}} in the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'' set in [[TheSixties 1962]] [[AlternateHistory during the]] [[UsefulNotes/HistoryOfTheColdWar Cuban Missile Crisis]]. Due to several continuity issues between it and the original trilogy, it really only works as a reboot rather than the prequel it was intended to be.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Deliberately invoked in spirit, especially if you've seen the original trilogy beforehand, which take place more than 40 years later. Among others, there's Xavier sometimes acting like a cocky, womanizing ditz (which is a sharp contrast compared to his ''much'' more subdued and mature persona later on), Magneto not hesitating to use a gun if he likes to (whereas in the previous films, he sneers at firearms with disdain), Mystique is Charles' WomanChild foster sister instead of a lethal FemmeFatale, and Beast is socially awkward with severe self-esteem issues--you wouldn't have expected that the confident politician in ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'' had started his adulthood as an introvert. Justified, considering that the continuity issues between this movie and the trilogy mean that it works better as a reboot than it does as a prequel.

** Many of the bit parts in the movie are filled with extremely recognizable and prolific character actors. Creator/JamesRemar is the US General giving a speech in front of TheBigBoard, Creator/RayWise plays the US Secretary of State (seated dead center at the round table next to Director McCone and William Stryker, Sr.), and Creator/JasonBeghe is the XO of the lead US ship in the 7th fleet commanded by Captain Creator/MichaelIronside.

** An aspect is the complete reinvention of one character in particular, Azazel. Azazel in the comics is an immortal mutant/demon warlord who was banished to another dimension because he looked and acted like the devil and got many women pregnant to have an army of children to free him...somehow. In the film, he's a Russian KnifeNut who looks like the devil but other than killing a few people, doesn't act like it. He instead appears more like his Son, Nightcrawler, only red and evil.

** We get the following exchange between Charles and a girl he meets at a bar named Amy:

* CIAEvilFBIGood: The CIA isn't exactly evil, although most of its members certainly acted like {{Jerkass}}es. The FBI doesn't make an appearance.

[[folder: A-C]]