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Tropes beginning with the letters D to F for the X-Men Film Series.


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    D 
  • Dark Action Girl:
    • Mystique in the original trilogy is a lethal assassin, and her super-agility gives her a great advantage over her foes during combat. She's a manipulative seductress who's not ashamed to kick lots of ass with acrobatics and kicks. In X-Men: Days of Future Past, she's a main villain in 1973 and kicks even more ass.
    • X2: X-Men United: Lady Deathstrike. Raven Hair, Ivory Skin, stoic, dark clothes, agile and literally sharp.
    • X-Men: The Last Stand: Callisto is basically Magneto's replacement for Mystique and fights Storm twice with her Super-Speed.
    • The Wolverine: Viper is a vicious poisoner and martial artist to the point that even men don't mind fighting her.
    • Deadpool (2016): Angel Dust can hold her own against Colossus.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse:
      • Storm wields enough power to attack Jean, Cyclops and Beast simultaneously and was overpowering Scott in their Beam-O-War.
      • Psylocke is trained in both sword fighting and martial arts. She goes toe-to-toe with Beast and almost kills him.
        Olivia Munn: Psylocke is very lethal, and she's not afraid to get her hands dirty.
  • Darker and Edgier: See here.
  • David Versus Goliath:
    • X-Men: The Last Stand: Kitty Pryde, played by 5'1" Elliot Page, humiliates the Juggernaut, portrayed by 6'2" Vinnie Jones, by taking advantage of Leech's Power Nullifier ability. She tricks her much bigger foe into using his own momentum to knock himself out when he smacks his head against wall.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse: On a mental battlefield, Professor X faces off against a behemoth-sized Apocalypse, and unlike most other examples, this good vs. evil clash goes horribly wrong for the underdog hero. However, Xavier's situation is a little closer to the biblical tale because in the trope's description, it's stated that David admits he had won only because of Divine Intervention, so it's fitting that a "goddess" in the shape of the Phoenix comes to Charles' aid and becomes his weapon in his time of need.
  • Decomposite Character:
    • Moira MacTaggert was changed to an American CIA agent in her late twenties/early thirties during the Cuban Missile Crisis in X-Men: First Class, so Olivia Williams' Scottish doctor in X-Men: The Last Stand (who is in her late thirties in 2006) becomes a separate person in the movie-verse who happens to share the same name.
    • Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class is a grown woman, despite the film being set decades before a much younger girl with a different background, but similar powers (minus telepathy) appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The girl was supposed to be Emma Frost, but this was changed at the last minute by the producers. She is not named in the movie, and even the end credits only call her "Emma" (and not "Emma Frost"). While many accused First Class of creating a plot hole, in reality, they are two separate characters.
    • The Silver Samurai in The Wolverine is two separate characters. Harada, Silver Samurai's civilian ID in the comics is a ninja and Mariko's childhood friend, while the actual Silver Samurai is Ichirō Yashida, Mariko's grandfather.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse: In the comics, Magda was the mother of both Nina (the Adaptation Name Change for Anya) and Quicksilver, but in the movie-verse, Magda and Ms. Maximoff are two distinct characters; the former is Erik's wife, and the latter is a woman he once had a fling with in the mid-1950s. Nina and Peter Maximoff are therefore half-siblings.
    • X-Men: The Last Stand introduces Warren Worthington III/Angel while X-Men: Apocalypse also features Angel who later becomes Archangel and whose name is never revealed. Whether or not Archangel is supposed to be the new timeline version of Angel from The Last Stand remains unknown.
  • Defrosting Ice King:
    • X-Men: The Last Stand: It's alluded to when the Phoenix (who is presumably using her telepathy) says to Wolverine, "What, you think [the Professor's] not in your head, too? Look at you, Logan. He's tamed you." Unbeknownst to both Wolverine and the audience, he has grown to love Xavier as a friend, and this finally comes to light after Logan crumbles emotionally after Charles is murdered. This is the first time in the original trilogy where Wolverine had displayed this much vulnerability towards a male character.
    • X-Men: First Class: In a Power of Friendship example, the combination of Charles' sensitivity and intelligence is able to "thaw" Erik's cold heart, making him the first and only person in the original timeline note  Erik has loved since the death of the latter's family during World War II.
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past: Wolverine's bond with the elderly Professor X must have grown quite strong during the Time Skip in between The Wolverine and Days of Future Past because after Logan meets the younger Charles—who is practically a stranger to him—he gradually sheds his outer "macho armour." Compared to Wolverine's normally gruff exterior (especially towards other male characters), he really is quite gentle with Xavier in a few scenes where it's just the two of them, like the plane ride to Washington D.C. and the heart-to-heart talk they share in the Alternate Timeline.
  • Demoted to Extra:
    • X-Men: The Last Stand: Cyclops, although there's a reason. This started happening even in the second film where he was captured fairly early on and didn't come back until the end.
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past: Havok, one of the original members of the X-Men in First Class, was lucky enough to be brought back for the sequel unlike most of his cast mates (who were killed off in between films). However, his role was reduced to a cameo to make room for other mutants.
    • Deadpool (2016): The fellow prisoner that Wade shares a meaningful moment with plays a much greater part in Deadpool's original backstory, and is in fact one of the pivotal pillars to Deadpool becoming who he is. In the movie, he's reduced to two (heartwarming and meaningful, but still just two) brief scenes.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse:
      • Wolverine and Colonel Stryker have an extended cameo.
      • The Blob is one of Angel's opponents at the East Berlin fight club.
  • Denser and Wackier: It's interesting to see how the X-Men Film Series in general has slowly gotten closer to the source material over time as the producers have felt more confident about their broad appeal. Back when the first X-Men came out, it was at the very start of the 2000s-2010s comicbook movie craze, and rather subdued both in tone and looks despite featuring characters with superpowers: just compare the black costumes adopted by the X-Men and Cyclops making fun of "yellow spandex" to something worn by, say, Olivia Munn as Psylocke in X-Men: Apocalypse, and an early villain like Magneto compared to Apocalypse. Dark Phoenix is even set in space. And yet it's remained serious, because the anti-bigotry message was always at its core, even when it's not the main plot. So not more comedic, just more cartoonish.
  • Desperately Craves Affection: Xavier, who is by nature a very sensitive individual who wears his heart on his sleeve, had developed severe abandonment issues through a combination of growing up as a Lonely Rich Kid and being left behind by his best friend Erik and his foster sister Raven at the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis. This culminates in him becoming a clinically depressed, Addled Addict for a whole decade. Hank takes care of Charles 24/7, and they are frightfully codependent because McCoy enables his friend's substance abuse after he produces a serum which dulls Xavier's mutant ability. They're excessively clingy on an emotional level, being each other's Only Friend and Living Emotional Crutch. Professor X's mental state vastly improves after 1973, yet he still craves affection, and it's expressed through his doting parenting style with his students. It's not adequate for him to merely be an educator; he also wants to be their adored and revered father figure, which is why he devotes so much of his time and energy assisting with their psychological well-being.
  • Deus Exit Machina: In the original trilogy, Professor X is removed from the action so his potential Story-Breaker Power doesn't resolve everything in one scene.
    • X-Men: He is poisoned by Mystique and is in a coma for the entire final act.
    • X2: X-Men United: He is subjected to illusions by Stryker's conjuring mutant son, and rescuing him is the plot. Not to mention that his powers were used against the X-Men.
    • X-Men: The Last Stand: He is killed by Jean Grey as she succumbs to the Phoenix. Although he apparently survived by transferring his consciousness into a brain-dead man's body....
    • X-Men: First Class: Averted because Xavier is active, but the bad guys have both Emma Frost and a telepathy-blocking helmet to counter him, and he's not as overwhelmingly powerful as in the original trilogy.
  • Disappeared Dad:
    • X-Men: First Class: Charles mentions that he has a stepfather. In the comics, his biological father died when he was young.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse: Quicksilver tells Mystique that Magneto left his mother before he was born, and Ms. Maximoff remains bitter at Erik for how he had treated her. She even tries to dissuade her son from attempting to contact his father.
  • Disappointed in You:
    • X2: X-Men United: Xavier is disgruntled by Pyro's mischief at the museum.
      Professor X: The next time you feel like showing off, don't.
    • X-Men: First Class:
      • Xavier is upset when the mutant teens are behaving like party animals, and he rebukes them with a frown.
        "I expect more from you."
      • After Havok insults Hank by calling him "Bozo," Charles' terse delivery of "Thank you, Alex" is his very polite way of saying, "Shut up."
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past:
      • Magneto believes that Mystique has grown soft when he sternly asks her, "What's happened to you? Did you lose your way while I was gone?"
      • It's subtle, but there is resentment in Charles' voice when he says, "Goodbye, Erik."
    • X-Men: Apocalypse:
      • Xavier isn't at all pleased that Magneto has reverted back to his violent ways.
        "You're going to take part in all this killing? Destruction?"
      • Archangel receives this posthumously when Apocalypse disparages him as "Useless."
    • Logan:
      • Charles Xavier very bluntly calls Logan a disappointment for having given up in life and in the cause of the X-Men.
        "You're such a disappointment."

  • Distressed Dude:
    • X2: X-Men United: The X-Men have to rescue Professor X from Colonel Stryker's clutches.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse:
      • Kurt is rescued by Raven when he's at the East Berlin cage match.
      • Xavier is abducted by Apocalypse and his team.
      • Beast and Quicksilver are imprisoned by Stryker.
  • Doesn't Like Guns: In X-Men: First Class, Charles is very uncomfortable while aiming a gun at Erik's forehead during a training exercise. He refuses to pull the trigger despite Erik's insistence.
    • Logan:When Donald Pierce mockingly ask if Logan was the one who killed Gabriela he tells Pierce this trope basically verbatim.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?:
    • X-Men:
      • Magneto's description of God sounds a lot like Professor X. Doubles as Fridge Brilliance after it's revealed in X2: X-Men United that Magneto views mutants to be gods among insects, and there is no one in the world he respects (and loves, as we learn in X-Men: First Class) more than his old friend.
      Magneto: I've always thought of God as a teacher, a bringer of light, wisdom, and understanding.
      • The relationship between Charles and Erik is set up as being akin to the relationship between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X; near the end of the film, Erik even quotes Malcolm X's line, "By any means necessary."
      • If you didn't already get the suggestion that Senator Kelly was akin to Senator Joseph McCarthy, the fact he claims he has a list of known mutants early on the film should be a clue.
      • A line from Mystique that's more noticeable in hindsight due to the increased attention toward school bullying, especially of gay students.
      Mystique: People like you are the reason I was afraid to go to school as a child.
    • X2: X-Men United: Bobby Drake "comes out" with his mutant powers to his parents, who respond, "Have you tried ''not'' being a mutant?" Director Bryan Singer and actor Ian McKellen are queer, and were asked for assistance in writing this scene, basing it on a "coming out" conversation.
    • X-Men: The Last Stand: Mystique refuses to answer to Raven Darkholme (her birth name) because "that's my slave name."
    • X-Men: First Class: Hank McCoy says about his mutation, "You didn't ask, so I didn't tell."
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past:
      • Between going through a personal hell, his mind clearly not working straight, it being the '70s and him shooting up to dull the pain, Xavier closely resembles a shell-shocked Vietnam veteran. James McAvoy has even called it his Born on the Fourth of July look.
      • There is Jesus imagery surrounding Charles; his story arc is almost a metaphor for Jesus accepting his role as a martyr, with Xavier having to choose between life as a man, or getting in that wheelchair and suffering to save the world.
      • The images from the Bad Future of mutants being branded to identify them, camps full of mutants, and those who helped them being marched to off-screen executions is strongly reminiscent of the Holocaust. Given the X-Men series' penchant for drawing that parallel, it's undoubtedly deliberate.
      • The footage of the mutants fighting at the Paris Peace Conference is eerily reminiscent of the Zapruder film, right down to the small format and shaky cam.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse: Apocalypse's relentless pursuit of Xavier for the latter's body and the subsequent Mind Rape is a disturbing analogy for an obsessive stalker/rapist wanting to violate his prey. It also helps the impression that Charles is a Pretty Boy, which further enhances his image as a victim. A later scene reinforces this subtext; after being denied possession of Xavier's body, Apocalypse begins to angrily call out to Charles and demand he show himself in a manner reminiscent of an abusive spouse. In addition to the not-so-subtle shot of Professor X being cuffed to a slab against his will while his captor looms threateningly over him, there is an I Have You Now, My Pretty vibe when Apocalypse forcibly pushes his bloodied, but still beautiful-looking captive down to the floor and gloats, "You're mine now."
  • Do Not Call Me "Paul":
    • X-Men: The Last Stand: When an FBI investigator calls Mystique Raven Darkholme, she responds: "I don't answer to my slave name."
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past: As Mystique is rescuing several of her fellow mutants (and former teammate Havok) in Saigon, Alex calls her Raven, and she declares "That's not my name."
    • Deadpool (2016): Ajax hates being called by his real name Francis.
  • Downer Beginning:
    • X-Men starts in a concentration camp. So does X-Men: First Class.
    • X-Men Origins: Wolverine: Jimmy's father is murdered, leading the boy to kill the assassin, Thomas Logan... and he discovers that Logan is his real father. So Jimmy is forced to run away along with Logan's other son, Victor.
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past: In the year 2023, we get a glimpse of a post-apocalyptic world where mutants (who are near extinction) and their human allies are either placed in internment camps, or are outright murdered en masse.
    • Logan begins with the titular character an old broken shell of his former self with Charles being in a no better shape as a bed ridden old man with Alzheimer’s.
  • The Dragon:
    • This was Mystique's role in the original trilogy, where she was a faithful henchwoman to Magneto.
    • X-Men: First Class: Erik calls Emma Frost Sebastian Shaw's "right-hand woman."
    • The Wolverine: Viper is this to Ichirō Yashida.
    • Deadpool (2016): Angel Dust is Ajax's second-in-command.
  • Dramatic Gun Cock:
    • X-Men: Taken to the extreme by Magneto when, after yanking all the cops' guns out of their hands and pointing them at their owners' heads, he cocks every one at once. His younger self repeats this action in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but with the firearms of the Secret Service agents who are assigned to protect President Nixon and his cabinet.
    • X-Men: First Class: This occurs when Erik asks Charles to shoot him in the head during their training session.
  • Dressing as the Enemy:
    • X-Men: First Class: Agent Moira MacTaggert does a variation when she has to sneak into a strip club. In this case, it's "undressing" like the enemy... much to her partner's surprise.
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past: Quicksilver dons the uniform (which conveniently fits him perfectly) of a Pentagon guard that he has Bound and Gagged so that he can reach Magneto's prison cell.
  • Drink-Based Characterization:
    • Logan's strong preference for beer stems from his Canadian background, and it's also an indicator that he has lived for many years as a vagabond.
    • X-Men: First Class:
      • When Xavier is at Oxford, he orders a pint of beer and chugs down a yard of ale, which is stereotypically more "plebian" than, let's say, a martini. This signifies that despite his posh background, he enjoys interacting with people who are outside of his social class.
      • Lehnsherr orders German beer in the hopes of gaining the attention of the two Nazis that he has targeted.
      • Charles and Erik wish to maintain an air of sophistication when they visit Angel at the strip club, so both men are sipping champagne.
      • In a deleted scene, Xavier and Moira cheerfully get drunk on champagne, and his choice of bubbly is presumably an attempt to impress her.
      • It's subtle, but every time they're in a pub, Charles orders a cola, rather than alcohol, for Raven. He doesn't want her "slipping up" and exposing her true form.
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past:
      • The Vietnamese general orders whiskey for both himself and Mystique. In the case of the latter, it represents her tough and determined nature.
      • 1973 Xavier is frequently seen consuming whiskey. It is generally viewed as a "manly" drink, but it's inverted in this case because he's an extremely depressed Manchild.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Toad in the first film; Cyclops, Xavier, Juggernaut, Callisto, Psylocke, Arclight, and Kid Omega (Quill?) in the third; possibly Fred Dukes in Origins.
  • Drowning My Sorrows:
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past: The younger Xavier attempts to escape from his emotional torment by consuming copious amounts of alcohol.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse:
      • Angel has several bottles of alcohol to choose from when Apocalypse pays him a visit. Warren is drunk because although he managed to escape from the East Berlin fight club venue, he has no friends and nowhere to go.
      • Ms. Maximoff drinks heavily in the middle of the day because she still resents Erik for abandoning her before Peter was born, which would've been in the mid-1950s, a time when unmarried women with children were ostracized.
  • Drunk on the Dark Side: Professor X enters a deep trance when Apocalypse possesses his mind through Cerebro. Xavier is so overwhelmed and mesmerized by the plethora of god-like abilities that he comes into direct contact with ("I've never felt power like this before") that he initially doesn't resist the invasion, and he's temporarily corrupted by it (hence his Black Eyes of Evil). It's only when Hank tries to remove the Cerebro helmet that Charles snaps out of the daze (which results in him regaining his normal eye colour) and attempts to fight off his attacker. While under Apocalypse's control, Professor X is in a calm state (the drug-like high), but the moment he struggles to break free, he's constantly screaming in agony (the withdrawal)—Evil Feels Good, in other words, even for an All-Loving Hero like Xavier.
  • Dude Magnet:
    • Jean Grey; Scott Summers and Logan are in love with her.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse: Agent Moira MacTaggert; Professor X is still head-over-heels for her, and Quicksilver flirts with her in Bullet Time.
  • Dying as Yourself:
    • X2: X-Men United: Lady Deathstrike is kept under Stryker's control by use of a formula which periodically has to be renewed, as indicated by her irises changing color. She has a fight to the death with Wolverine which ends when he injects her body with liquid adamantium—moments before the formula wears off. We see her eyes change, and she looks at him before dying.
    • X-Men: The Last Stand: The Phoenix transforms from a nasty veined, greeny-grey skinned demon with black eyes to her regular self; Jean Grey smiles peacefully when Logan kills her.

    E 
  • Early-Installment Weirdness:
    • X-Men: First Class: Deliberately invoked in spirit, especially if one has seen the original trilogy beforehand, which take place more than 40 years later. Among others, there's Xavier acting at times like a cocky, womanizing ditz (which is a sharp contrast compared to his much more subdued and mature persona later on), Magneto doesn't hesitate to use a gun if he likes to (whereas in the previous films, he sneers at firearms with disdain), Mystique has undergone Chickification so that she's Charles' Womanchild sister instead of a lethal Femme Fatale, and Beast is socially awkward with severe self-esteem issues—you wouldn't have expected that the confident politician in X-Men: The Last Stand had started his adulthood as an introvert.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse: This prequel seeks to evoke this for the adolescent X-Men. Jean Grey is scared of her powers and isn't in control of them yet, Cyclops is a bad boy and isn't leadership material, Nightcrawler is afraid of his own shadow, and Storm is a morally dubious thief who sides with the Big Bad.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending:
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past: After nearly drowning, Logan wakes up in the Sentinel-averted future to find all the X-Men and children at Xavier's school. Also, this is the first film to give Wolverine a perfect happy ending. He's a teacher! While there are concerns about Logan serving as a Happy Ending Override since it's set after this film, this isn't quite true, as Marvel's database lists Logan as happening in an Alternate Timeline, leaving the main timeline Mutants in a relatively good position.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse: Professor X is savagely victimized by the eponymous villain. After his mind, body and soul are violated, and he nearly dies twice because of it—on the astral plane, Xavier is not only drenched in his own blood, but he's also lying in a pool of it—his terror and misery are rewarded with a surrogate family which is larger than what he had in the original trilogy. Raven returns home as his second-in-command, plus Quicksilver and Nightcrawler are now officially part of the X-Men, which they never were in the original timeline. Charles and Erik reconcile much earlier, even though the latter decides not to stay at the school. The Professor succeeds in preventing Jean Grey from developing a Superpowered Evil Side, and thus ensures that she, Cyclops, himself and many others won't die because of the Phoenix.
  • Eiffel Tower Effect:
  • Elaborate Underground Base: The Weapon X facility, and arguably the X-Mansion.
  • Emotional Powers:
    • X2: X-Men United: Discussed by Jean Grey and Scott Summers. She dismisses her short bursts of Power Incontinence as stress; he says her nightmares make the whole bedroom shake.
    • X-Men: The Last Stand: When Storm is upset, the clear sky suddenly turns into a very cloudy one.
    • X-Men: First Class:
      • Erik is originally only able to use his powers when extremely angry. The first two times involves maternal separation. He can't properly focus it until Charles coaches him to concentrate on happier emotions.
      • Raven's mental state influences the effectiveness of her mutant ability.
        Raven: You know I can't control it sometimes if I'm stressed or I'm tired.
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past: In the "X-Men Unguarded" group discussion on The Rogue Cut Blu-Ray/DVD, James McAvoy explains why his character's distress causes his telepathy to go haywire, and more specfically, why Xavier can no longer separate everyone else's pain from his own.
      "[...] Charles as I've had the opportunity to play him, is a voyeur. So he's a genius, and he's got this ability to read people's minds. But his real power is a very human thing, his real gift is empathy. He can empathize with people's problems and he can help them. But as a young man, I think, certainly the way I tried to play him, is that he was much more kind of like a posh guy fascinated with working class guys. [...] And then what happens in this movie and the end of [First Class], you give him his angst, you give him his thing that makes him just like everyone else. And therefore he can't be a voyeur inside people's minds anymore. He's a passenger on the same train, and the train is going to hell."
    • X-Men: Apocalypse: Because of her insecurities, Jean finds it exceedingly taxing to deal with her telepathy and her increasingly unstable "dark power." With the Professor's guidance and encouragement, however, she learns to let go of her apprehension at a critical moment during the climax, and Jean's newfound assertiveness enables her to achieve total dominion over the Phoenix.
  • Enemy Mine: X2 has the X-Men teaming up with Magneto and Mystique because of a greater threat to mutant kind, Origins has Logan and Victor teaming up to fight Weapon XI and First Class has the USSR and the US uniting against the "mutant threat."
  • Establishing Character Moment:
    • X-Men: First Class:
      • When we first see Xavier as a kid, the framed photos on his night table are of Charles Darwin, Hedy Lamarr (who was both a Hollywood sex symbol and the co-inventor of a radio-guided torpedo system) and Albert Einstein. He would later grow up to be a scientist with an appreciation for both brains and beauty.
      • Charles is very brave even as a child because when he suspects that a burglar has broken into his home, instead of alerting his parents or a servant, he grabs a baseball bat and approaches the intruder by himself.
      • The first meeting between a young Charles and Raven. It established her isolation due to her appearance, and the fact that she is willing to latch on to anyone who accepts her, and it showed his kindness and delight at finding other people who were different.
      • The Nazi scientist, Dr. Klaus Schmidt, tries to get the young Erik to use his powers to move a coin, first by using a chocolate bar and when that doesn't work... he then shoots Erik's mother in the face. When the kid has a BSOD and tears the place up with his metal powers, the guy laughs with satisfaction. The funny thing is, the Nazi scientist persona was a cover for his true identity, but that moment told you precisely the kind of a son of a bitch from hell you were dealing with.
      • The following scene shows an adult Erik sitting silently in a hotel room, fiddling with the same coin using his powers. He stares at a wall papered with pictures of notable Nazis, including a hand drawing of Dr. Schmidt. He looks at it for a moment before spearing the picture of Schmidt with the coin. Everything we need to know about how this man becomes Magneto is right in that scene.
    • The Wolverine: Yukio walks in a bar, quips on the idiocy of Wolverine's foes (and that they'll be dead soon, as per her seer powers), then proceeds to effortlessly put them on their place. Yukio then walks away unfazed as if she does that on a daily basis.
  • Even the Guys Want Him:
    • X-Men: First Class:
      • Even though they've only known each other for a couple of days, the oh-so serious Erik Lehnsherr feels comfortable enough around the charming Dr. Charles Xavier that he calls the telepath "adorable" when the latter tries the Cerebro machine for the first time. In the entire X-Men movie franchise, the dour Magneto never teases another male character for his cuteness, which goes to show how unique his affection for Professor X is. If you include Michael Fassbender's comments that Erik finds Charles to be "very endearing, and he was charmed by this man," then Lehnsherr considers Xavier to be a cutie pie inside and out.
      • In this deleted scene, Charles projects an image of Erik wearing make-up, with a ginger wig, dressed in a sparkly blue miniskirt, fishnet stockings and go-go boots. When Erik wonders why Angel is giggling, Charles' response is a cheeky, "You've never looked more beautiful, darling."
    • Deadpool (2016):
      • During the end credits, an animated Deadpool looks at the "Starring" list and gets a huge boner for Ajax's actor, Ed Skrein, excitedly exclaiming that "He's the hottest!"
      • In a disturbing scene, Wade Wilson is tied up while Ajax prepares to torture him. Ajax flirts with him and says he's going to silence Wade's "pretty mouth."
  • Evil Brit:
    • X-Men: Toad is British like his comic book counterpart.note 
    • X-Men: The Last Stand: The Juggernaut. He's American in the comics, but there was no attempt to alter the British actor's voice.
    • Deadpool (2016): Ajax has an English accent, and he's the first example of a British Big Bad in the movie series. He's even credited as a "British Villain."
  • Evil Costume Switch:
    • X-Men: First Class: After completing his Face–Heel Turn, Magneto dons his iconic Evil Overlord costume that he wore in the first issues of the comic book. Also, Mystique performs an Evil Costume Ditch after siding with the Brotherhood.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse: All four of Apocalypse's Horsemen are presented with new outfits after joining his cause.
      • Erik ditches his civilian clothing, reasserts his Magneto identity, and is gifted with red Bling of War.
      • Ororo is given black armour with silver highlights, and her new code name is Storm.
      • Psylocke receives a form-fitting purple leotard.
      • Angel's bird-like wings are grafted to metal, he is provided with a suit of silver-and-dark-grey armour, and he adopts a new persona called Archangel.
  • Executive Ball Clicker: Magneto isn't actually an executive, but being a villainous mastermind, the effect is mostly the same. Interestingly, the metal balls in his Newton's cradle aren't actually operating via inertia— he's simulating the effect with his magnetokinesis, and they're actually floating in midair. When he leaves the room and is no longer paying attention to them, they fall to the floor.

    F 
  • Face–Heel Turn:
    • X2: X-Men United: Pyro; even when he was with the heroes, he was at best a jerk. At his worst, he's clearly a sociopath.
    • X-Men: The Last Stand: As the Phoenix, she betrays the X-Men by vaporizing Scott and Xavier and joins the Brotherhood.
    • X-Men: First Class:
      • Angel Salvadore joins the Hellfire Club after Shaw kills every human in the CIA building.
      • Erik goes from being a cynical Anti-Hero friend of Charles to a genocidal Well-Intentioned Extremist who is Xavier's enemy.
      • Raven starts off as Charles' friend and foster sister, and she ends up leaving him to be with Magneto. She comes back in X-Men: Apocalypse, but it remains to be seen how she rejoins Magneto (probably Dark Phoenix will explain it).
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past: The younger Magneto had fooled Charles, Logan and Hank into believing that he was on their side when in fact he had planned to carry out his own agenda.
  • Family of Choice:
    • James McAvoy repeatedly brings up in interviews that Professor X creates a surrogate family for himself to compensate for his unhappy childhood (he was a Lonely Rich Kid who believed that he was afflicted by a severe psychiatric disorder after his psychic abilities first manifested, his mother was emotionally cold, and his biological father must have died when he was young because he once had a stepfather). His students are either runaways, orphans, or even if they do have a family, their human relatives have tremendous difficulty coping with the knowledge that one of their own is a mutant, so those in the latter category still feel isolated and anxious because of their powers. Charles ingratiates himself into these youngsters' lives by treating them kindly like they are his own children, and his school becomes a second (or only) home to them. Because his parenting style is a mix of Team Dad and Team Mom, he's an ideal father figure with the best of both worlds in terms of what's stereotyped as paternal and maternal attributes. Most of his students like him because these qualities make him a Cool Teacher, and some grow to love him and join the X-Men. Xavier is especially close to his protégés on the team and dotes on them, and they offer Undying Loyalty to him in return.
    • The Wolverine: At the end of the movie, Mariko adopts Yukio as her sister, "her only family," as the rest of the Yashida family have been killed off.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse: Ironically, Quicksilver chooses to be mentored by Charles instead of beginning a relationship with his estranged father Erik. Although Peter doesn't know either man well at this point, his decision strongly suggests that he feels a greater affinity towards Xavier (see their Foil entry), who did briefly display his paternal side towards Maximoff before they had parted ways in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
  • Fanservice: See Mr. Fanservice and Ms. Fanservice for more blatant examples.
  • Fantastic Aesop: Don't discriminate against mutants, and don't try to cure them; because that would be racist, and racism is bad.
  • Fantastic Racism: The main driving conflict of the series.
    • The attempts by non-mutants to find a cure for mutants in the films, and the mutants that are ashamed of their abilities lean more towards a Gay Aesop. This parallel has been explicitly stated to have interested Bryan Singer and Ian McKellen, both openly gay, in the franchise.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse: Although mutants are generally treated better in the Alternate Timeline, some places are less tolerant than others (e.g. the East Berlin fight club exploits mutants for entertainment), as Raven points out to Charles.
      Raven: Out there, mutants are still running, hiding, living in fear. Just because there's not a war, doesn't mean there's peace.
  • The Farmer and the Viper:
    • X-Men: First Class: Charles believed that he could help the emotionally damaged Erik find some measure of peace and happiness by offering the latter friendship and a home, but Erik repays Charles' kindness with betrayal, abandonment, and a permanent (if accidental) spinal cord injury.
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past: 1973 Magneto's sole contribution to the venture is to derail things the moment he sees a chance to advance his cause at the expense of everyone else. As the endings of First Class and X2 show, this is something of a habit for him.
  • Fastball Special:
    • X-Men: The Last Stand: During a fight against a simulated Sentinel, Wolverine turns to Colossus and asks "How's your throwin' arm?" The move itself was considerably altered, resembling more of a hammer toss than a fastball throw, to compensate for the fact that Hugh Jackman is much taller compared to his comic book counterpart. The second time... Magneto gets involved.
    • Deadpool (2016): Negasonic Teenage Warhead uses her powers to throw Deadpool up to the carrier where Francis is, using an airplane wing as a shield to protect him from the plasma.
  • Fatal Flaw: For Professor X, it's arrogance. He has a habit of attempting to control those who are close to him, with or without the help of his psychic abilities. He's more inclined to do this with the women in his life (e.g. his foster sister and his surrogate daughter) than with the men. This paternalistic attitude stems from him being born in the early 1930s as a privileged male (Xavier was a male chauvinist in X-Men: First Class), and as a highly skilled telepath, he thinks he can understand a person better than s/he can know him/herself, and therefore he believes that he knows best in terms of what it is they truly "need."
    • X-Men: The Last Stand: Upon meeting Jean Grey, Xavier had placed constraints upon her powers which then led to the creation of the Phoenix, a Person of Mass Destruction who ends up vaporizing a lot of people, including Charles himself. Under the circumstances, her vast raw power, disregard for the sanctity of other minds, and the fact that her parents seemed to be outright afraid of her (and not without reason—pre-teen Jean is quite different from her warm-hearted and motherly adult self), this perhaps was not unwarranted.
    • X-Men: First Class:
      • Trying to control Raven's life drove her away from him, which eventually resulted in her becoming the assassin Mystique who shared Magneto's goal of mutant supremacy.
      • Instead of trusting Moira to not divulge his and his students' location to her CIA superiors, he simply erases her memories of them. To be fair, Charles was worried that the CIA would torture her for information, but it's still a symptom of him of not having faith in a woman whom he cares about (an Implied Love Interest, in this case).
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past: Part of 1973 Xavier's Character Development revolves around realizing this and learning to trust instead of control. It pays off when he proves just how much he trusts in Raven's good nature to do the right thing, instead of attempting to manipulate her. She doesn't murder Trask, and the bad Sentinel future is averted.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse:
      • Xavier "repairs" the tragic mistake he had made with Jean in the original timeline by encouraging her to embrace her Phoenix power to its fullest extent, which allows her to defeat Apocalypse, and she ends up saving the world instead of becoming a mass-murdering villainess. By doing the opposite of what he did to Jean in X-Men: The Last Stand, Charles' fate is also reversed—he is rescued by her instead of being disintegrated.
      • He restores the memories that he took away from Moira in 1962, and although the long-term consequences with her are less severe than with Raven or Jean, they still bite him in the ass in a more subtle way. Xavier remains utterly smitten with Moira 21 years later (he's even jealous when he learns that she has an ex-husband), so his decision to rob her of a chunk of her past also robbed him of a potentially meaningful romance.
  • Female Gaze:
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past: Wolverine's nudity when he wakes up in 1973 provides plenty of eye candy for anyone in the audience who might be attracted to men.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse: Downplayed with Professor X since he's more precisely a sensual subject rather than a sex object (see his entry in Fanservice). In the scene where he's on a rocky ledge facing Cairo, his body position, the camera angles and the lighting sometimes evoke the impression that he's a male fashion model posing for a magazine shoot. The focus on Xavier's physical beauty in these shots later intensifies the blatant rape subtext of his next scene because he looks like an attractive and vulnerable prey when Apocalypse shoves him down on to a slab and cuffs Charles's wrists to restrain him as preparation for a violent Mind Rape.
  • Fight Clubbing:
  • Fire/Water Juxtaposition: Used thematically to set up Iceman's rivalry with Pyro (which is much tighter than the two's relationship in the comics). Their battle in The Last Stand is pretty much the logical extreme.
  • First-Name Basis:
    • Notably, the film series is when we first hear Erik called "Erik" with any regularity, and it crosses back to the comics and all other versions. Before the movies, those who knew Magneto well called him Magnus, as his "real" name (as in, what his birth name is gets retconned back and forth, but this is the name he has used most consistently for the longest in-and-out-of-universe time) is Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, with "Magnus" being the only thing we knew (as things stood then) to be part of his "real" name. Of course, "Magnus" just sounds like something else you might call a master of magnetism, so in the films, Charles and Raven call him Erik, and everything else follows suit.
    • X2: X-Men United: Professor X and William Stryker use each other's given names because Jason Stryker was once Xavier's student.
    • X-Men: First Class: On a meta level; before this movie was released, fans frequently referred to Professor X, Magneto, Mystique and Beast by their codenames, but afterwards, it became commonplace for audience members to call them by their first names, especially when differentiating between their "regular" selves and their superhero/supervillain persona.
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past:
      • While the public and most other characters refer to Erik (Magneto) and Raven (Mystique) by their mutant code names, Charles and Hank still remain on a first name basis with both of them, and vice versa. This is also presumably true for Alex, who still addresses his former allies as Raven and Erik.
      • This is the first time in the franchise where Logan uses Charles' first name when speaking to Xavier directly. It's the result of the close friendship they developed during the Time Skip after The Wolverine.
      • Surprisingly, the elderly Magneto calls Bobby by his first name instead of his codename (Iceman). This indicates that Erik must have gotten to know Bobby on a more personal level during their war against the Future Sentinels.
  • Flashback Cut:
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past: Two snippets of Raven from X-Men: First Class appear when the Future Professor X discusses their sibling-like relationship to the other X-Men.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse: As Magneto is testing out his newly augmented powers at Auschwitz, images of his parents, wife and daughter appear for a split second.
  • Flipping the Bird:
    • X-Men: Wolverine flips Cyclops off with one of his claws during the climax.
    • X2: X-Men United: Mystique gives one to Stryker and his team as she is sliding towards the control room.
    • Deadpool (2016):
      • This is Deadpool's reaction to a motorcycled mook putting a bullet-hole into his arm.
      Deadpool: MOTHERFUCKER!
      • When he decides to cut his own wrist in order to escape from Colossus's manacle, Deadpool leaves his severed hand in a flipping-the-bird position as a parting gift to the X-Man.
  • Foil:
    • X-Men: First Class:
      • Shaw serves as one to Xavier; both are doctors of genetics who are interested in maximizing Lehnsherr's potential, but whereas Shaw uses torture to uncover his raw power, Charles utilizes emotional intimacy to give Erik greater control. Erik grows to love Charles as a brother, but vehemently opposes the latter's peaceful approach to human-mutant relations. Magneto wholly embraces Shaw's mutant supremacist views, but loathes the man for murdering his mother.
      • Charles and Erik are juxtaposed in their respective Oxford pub and Argentinian bar scenes. The inebriated Xavier is the life of a party when he and his fellow graduate students celebrate the successful defense of his PhD thesis, and he later tries to flirt with Agent MacTaggert. The sober Lehnsherr is all business when he's hunting down Nazis, and he murders three men (including the bartender) in cold blood after taunting his prey. Producer Bryan Singer gives a very basic summary of their differences in the "Magneto the Survivor" featurette:
      "Ultimately, they come from different places. Erik Lehnsherr is a victim of the Holocaust, he probably left the war with nothing, and is very much a solitary man, while Xavier had a life of privilege, became a professor at Oxford, was surrounded by peers, has an intimate relationship with Mystique since childhood, so he's quite loved, and therefore quite idealistic, less embittered, and just has a very different view from Lehnsherr."
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past:
      • Both past and future Magneto contrast each other in the film. 1973 Magneto continues to move forward with mutant supremacy by attacking Xavier and his group, while 2023 Magneto is fighting to protect both mankind and mutants while lamenting his pointless struggles with Charles in their younger years. Past Erik is very much on his own, but his elderly counterpart is a valuable team member.
      • Past Magneto and Past Xavier were both inactive and isolated in between 1963 and 1973 (the former due to imprisonment, the latter due to depression). Erik shows signs of wanting to repair at least part of their previous friendship, but a bitter Charles isn't interested for the most part. Magneto tries to kill Mystique while Xavier tries to protect her. Hank remains unwaveringly devoted to Charles, but Erik loses Mystique's loyalty after the murder attempt. In X-Men: First Class, Erik personified "rage" while Charles embodied "serenity," but their roles are reversed in 1973. Xavier is now the one who is full of pain and anger, and therefore has great trouble wielding his telepathy, whereas Magneto is (relatively) calm and controlled, still possessing great mastery over his power despite being deprived of metal for a decade. (We even see Erik adopt a meditation pose in his prison cell, which makes him appear almost Zen-like.)
      • Wolverine and the younger Magneto are violent individuals who love Xavier, but whereas Jerk with a Heart of Gold Logan possesses Undying Loyalty towards Charles, Jerk with a Heart of Jerk Erik is quick to betray him.
    • Deadpool (2016):
      • Deadpool to Ajax, in terms of powers. Whereas Deadpool has a Healing Factor that is capable of regenerating severed hands, he is capable of feeling the pain of every blow he takes. Ajax, on the other hand, Feels No Pain, and can take as many hits as Deadpool, but these injuries heal at an average pace, and will eventually burn out his body.
      • Colossus to Deadpool. Chaste-mouthed, paragon-like, gentle giant, boy scout X-Man contrasted to Deadpool's foul-mouthed, sardonic, violent, psychotic freelancer.
        Colossus: We can't allow this, Deadpool. Please... come quietly.
        Deadpool: You big, chrome cock-gobbler!
        Colossus: ...That's not nice.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse:
      • Apocalypse sees himself as a god, whereas Professor X serves as a Messianic Archetype of the movie series. They are both mentors to their respective teams, they reach out to mutants who feel lost, confused and alone, and encourage them to reach their full potential, so their dominant leadership style is Charismatic. They promote radically different ideologies: Apocalypse believes that the Earth should only belong to the strongest and the weak should be wiped out, while Charles thinks that it can be shared by everyone equally and peacefully. Both like being at the center of attention; En Sabah Nur is an ostentatious god-king who takes advantage of the Ermine Cape Effect, whereas Xavier is a Proud Beauty teacher who flaunts his wealth in a Simple, yet Opulent fashion. Their position on the "Defend" and "Destroy" posters mark them as foils.
      • Carolina Bartczak directly compares her character Magda with Xavier—the former is Erik's wife and the latter is his Heterosexual Life-Partner—and her arc somewhat resembles Charles' from X-Men: First Class. They both love Lehnsherr in a similar way despite knowing the numerous crimes he has committed in the past. They both "start a family" with him (Magda gives birth to a daughter, while Charles and Erik "adopt" mutant teenagers with a Team Mom and a Team Dad dynamic). Both relationships end in tragedy—Magda is accidentally killed by Polish police, whereas Xavier and Lehnsherr's very close friendship ends in a "divorce," plus Charles is accidentally crippled by Magneto. Erik cradles both of them in his arms. Magda is the source of Love Redeems for Lehnsherr after Days of Future Past, and Xavier later fulfills this role during the climax of Apocalypse.
        Carolina Bartczak: She meets Erik after he has become this globally wanted criminal, and even on their first night, he tells her who he is. She sees something beautiful in him, something peaceful, something like Charles also sees in him, that he can be a good man and live a normal life. They actually fall in love and start a family.
      • Professor X and Quicksilver are Glass Cannon mutants with a Story-Breaker Power in addition to being light-hearted, charismatic Pretty Boys and Chivalrous Perverts, and they even share an attraction towards Moira.note  They have both undergone a Manchild phase and have parental issues—Charles had experienced emotional neglect from his mother, and Peter grew up fatherless. Xavier and Maximoff are Erik's brother figure and biological son, respectively (and Magneto had abandoned both of them), yet ironically, Quicksilver is more comfortable staying with the Professor (who will become his mentor and Parental Substitute) than revealing to Lehnsherr that they're related. Xavier also shows an almost fatherly concern for Peter's safety during the battle against Apocalypse because Charles anxiously utters the young mutant's name when he's able to sense through his telepathy that Maximoff has been seriously injured. They are the only two mutants who manage to land a few direct punches on Apocalypse—Quicksilver does this in the physical world, and Xavier does this on the astral plane, although Apocalypse gets the upper-hand on both of them, and they are both examples of Break the Cutie.
      • Erik and Charles each have one scene which demonstrates their father-daughter bond—one is born through blood ties and the other is forged through a shared manifestation of the X-gene. Nina is happy with her The Beastmaster mutant gift, and as Lehnsherr tucks her into bed, he sings her a song and tells Nina about her grandparents. Jean Grey, who views her telepathy as a curse, is extremely troubled by a "nightmare" about the end of the world, and Xavier tries to comfort his surrogate daughter by confiding to her that he too can be overwhelmed by the incessant thoughts of others. Nina is accidentally killed by Polish police, and because they are using non-metal weapons, Erik can't do anything to save her. When Apocalypse is about to destroy Charles' mind, the latter uses the last ounce of his strength to urge Jean to release the full force of the Phoenix, and she eventually succeeds in rescuing her father figure. Magneto's love and grief for Nina lead him to participate in the Earth's destruction, but Professor X's love and faith in Jean leads her to save it.
      • Nina adores her mutation and she can control the minds of animals. Jean Grey hates her powers and she can control the minds of people. They both love their father figures, and both Nice Girls try to protect their dads with their abilities when Erik and Charles are about to be taken away from them. Nina commands nearby birds to attack the Polish police, whereas Jean sets free her Phoenix Force (which emits fiery wings from her body) against Apocalypse. Nina fails and dies in the attempt, but Jean triumphs and lives to tell the tale.
      • Xavier and Ms. Maximoff became alcoholics after Erik had left them, but the former is able to move on with his life after 1973 whereas the latter is still nursing her old wounds with drink. Peter's arc begins in his mother's basement, and it ends when he moves to the X-Mansion, where he trains to be an X-Man in Professor X's basement.
  • The Foreign Subtitle:
    • X-Men: The Last Stand:
      • In Japan, the film's subtitle was changed from The Last Stand to Final Decision.
      • In Quebec, Canada, the direct translation of L'Engagement ultime is The Ultimate Engagement, which is a little different from France's L'Affrontement final (The Final Confrontation).
    • X-Men: First Class:
      • In France, the subtitle translates to The Beginning (Le Commencement).
      • In Germany, the movie was released as X-Men: Erste Entscheidung (First Decision).
      • Italians call it X-Men - L'inizio (The Beginning).
      • In Japan and many Spanish-speaking countries, the film's subtitle was changed from First Class to First Generation.
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past:
      • In Germany, it's known as X-Men: Zukunft ist Vergangenheit (Future is Past).
      • The English translation of the Japanese title is Future and Past.
      • In Quebec, Canada, it's called X-Men: Jours d'un avenir passé (a direct translation of the English name), but it's averted in France, which keeps the English title.
  • Four Is Death: The Four Horsemen in X-Men: Apocalypse; Agent MacTaggert details their importance in En Sabah Nur's cult.
    Moira: Wherever this being was, he always had four principal followers, disciples, protectors he would imbue with powers.
    Alex: Like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He got that from The Bible.
    Moira: Or the Bible got it from him.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • Freudian Excuse:
    • Magneto is a former victim of the Holocaust.
    • X2: X-Men United: Apparently William Stryker's son Jason blamed his parents for his "condition," so he used his Master of Illusion power to torture them with nightmares and visions, leading to Stryker's wife killing herself with a power drill. Of course, given that Stryker's not exactly the most reliable witness, how much of this information is accurate is debatable at best. We see plainly that he himself hated the fact that his son was a mutant and was under the impression Xavier's school was for "curing" mutants.
    • The Wolverine: Shingen covered for his father robbing his own company to extend his own lifespan, only for Ichirō to leave everything to Mariko instead.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse: After Erik loses his family, he's in so much grief that he's willing to follow Apocalypse, who convinces him that he's God, and God has granted Magneto a divine purpose.
  • Friendless Background:
    • X-Men: First Class: Since Raven is explicitly stated to be Charles' oldest and only friend, that means prior to their meeting in 1944, he had difficulty connecting with other children despite growing up in the lap of luxury. X-Men: Days of Future Past elaborates on this a little further by revealing that Xavier was considered to be "crazy" in between the ages of 9 and 12 due to the voices in his head, and was therefore a social pariah among his peers.
    • The Wolverine: Mariko had difficulty making friends while she was younger.
  • Funny Background Event:
    • X-Men:
      • Magneto is giving out orders in his barren cave-office as a Newton's Cradle clicks back and forth on his desk. As he turns to leave, the little metal balls clatter to the floor, revealing that there were no wires and it was just him mentally fidgeting.
      • The audio of the news broadcast at the end of the movie is quite amusing in a dark way.
      "In a related story, the body of Senator Kelly's longtime aide, Henry Guyrich, was found today. Preliminary coroner reports seem to indicate that Guyrich was mauled by a bear."
    • X-Men: First Class: Combined with a Brick Joke, Amy (the first woman that Charles tries to pick up at the beginning of the movie) shows up at his graduation party and smiles at him—then Moira MacTaggert cuts in front to talk with Charles. Behind them, Amy leaves in a huff because she's annoyed that Xavier would rather chat with Moira than with her.
    • Deadpool (2016): When Colossus and Deadpool are on the bridge arguing about Deadpool's recklessness, a dead mook falls off an overhead sign onto a car.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse:
      • When the scantily-clad lady who holds up the "Kampf 11" sign passes by the cage, Angel wolf-whistles at her.
      • After Jean dismisses Scott as an airhead when he's rude to her for reading his mind ("Don't worry, Scott, there's not much to see"), Alex can be seen laughing at her joke.

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