TPF1138

Welcome to the 12th
Raven Darkholme/Mystique
(X-Men: First Class / Days of Future Past / Apocalypse)
A P R E C I A T I O N T H R E A D

▮ Synopses


X-Men: First Class (2011)

Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-MEN.


X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

The ultimate X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods in X-Men: Days of Future Past. The characters from the original X-Men film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from X-Men: First Class in an epic battle that must change the past - to save our future.


X-Men: Apocalypse

Set largely in the 1980’s, X-Men: Apocalypse will introduce one of the very first mutants, En Sabah Nur ('The First One') a.k.a. Apocalypse and, according to director Bryan Singer, focus on the very origins of mutation itself. It will also borrow from the comic serial Age of Apocalypse and promises to introduce teenage versions of the original X-Men (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm) and operate on the scope and scale of a disaster movie. In the words of writer Simon Kinberg: An ‘extinction level event’.


X-Men: Apocalypse is due in cinemas May 22nd 2016.



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Bryan Singer's Twitter

Hugh Jackman's Twitter

X-MEN MOVIES Twitter

Violent Delights

thanks for starting!

Violent Delights

thanks for starting!

TPF1138

Now this isn't news, just an interesting suggestion I suppose, but I like the sound of it...


The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants: Could Fox Make a Movie For Villains?

Tati_SwanJones

Whohhooo TFTNT

Leo-4-Life

New thread!

TPF1138

Violent Delights

a nice adjustment from 'time' and 'where'

TPF1138

It's an oldie, but I came across it again yesterday and thought I'd share it with you guys.

Leo-4-Life

I imagine after Apocalypse is released in 2016 that Jennifer might want to take a break from franchises for a while (or entirely who knows). And I was actually very against the idea of a Mystique spin-off series at first just because I wanted to see Jennifer work with new directors on different indie projects and it's sort of impossible for her to schedule new projects in between the franchises she does. The only director who works fast enough to fit a film into her schedule is David O. Russell.

But now I also think that Jennifer is probably the only working actress right now who would be able to blow the door wide open for female-led superhero films. Marvel doesn't seem willing to take the risk with Black Widow. But I doubt anyone would turn down the idea of giving Jennifer Lawrence a new franchise. She's box office gold at this point. So while she might want a break after The Hunger Games is over, I think a Mystique spin-off series sometime in the future would be pretty cool. Anything to see more women kicking ass in film.

TPF1138

I don't think there'll be any rush to make a Mystique movie. Fox just announced Deadpool, they've got an X-Force movie on the cards, and another Wolverine. It would be a couple of years at least before they'll move forward on Mystique. Jen does love the character, so I think she'd happily do it. Recent events though, might have put her off the idea of doing big franchise movies, what with all the attention that comes with them, but I could be way off on that.


I very much want to see her working with a number of varying directors, on a wide range of diverse projects. More than anything it's the smaller, character driven pieces that I'm most interested in when it comes to her career. That said, I like me a blockbuster so I'm all for her sqeezing some in from time to time. It has to be said though, that it's The Hunger Games franchise (four movies shot in three years), rather than the X-Men (two movies shot in three years), which has been the major suck on her time (and I say that as a fan of those movies). Once they're finished with, any X-Men movie she's involved with could slide easily amongst her other work. Scarlett Johanson's work in the Marvel movies, and her continued and varying career outside of them is a solid example of this.



A Black Widow movie's going to happen sooner rather than later. The problem with Marvel is they worked out a road-map for where they were going years ago (based largely on how the Marvel universe developed in the comics), but never planned for a Widow movie (that character has never been able to sustain a comic series beyond a few issues in the past, despite her perennial popularity) largely I think, because they misread their audience. The world is changing though, and so is the audience for these kinds of stories (I'd argue though that women have always liked this sort of thing, they were just turned off by a lack of representation), and Marvel are hearing that. They're a huge juggernaut in terms of their Universe building, so it'll take them a while to course correct, but the Widow's popular and Scarlett is a huge movie star, so I have no doubt it's coming.

When it comes to female superheroes though, I'm itching for a Captain Marvel flick. Boy do I want me some Carol Danvers on the big screen. She'll be coming too, she's getting too big now to be ignored. Google Carol Corps. if you don't believe me. Marvel west coast are aware of this, no question.

At the moment though, their next step seems to be to open up the magical/occult side of the MCU (hence the Doc Strange movie), maybe they'll break out some Ellie Bloodstone once they do? I hope so. We'll see...



I'm all in favour of a Mystique series (though the Brotherhood idea I posted further down the thread has it's appeal, and could feature her), but I do wonder about where Jennifer is with regards to doing the bigger movies now. I don't think she's looking to get away from X-Men as such (she seems genuinely to enjoy those films), but she might want to step away from the big stuff in general. At least for a while. Which doesn't mean she won't come back to it in the future.

At any rate the Mystique solo movie was largely the musings of writer/producer Simon Kinberg. I don't think there's anything worked out yet, so she has time to figure things out...

Leo-4-Life

That's a good point.

I kind of got the impression that Simon Kinberg was trying to play it off as though he was casually speculating. Mostly because James McAvoy was also asked in a separate interview about where the X-Men movies could go and he also said Mystique would be an interesting character to follow because Jennifer's an incredible actress. It made me think that the studio was probably pushing for more of Mystique and they were aware of it. Jen was obviously given a lot more to do in DoFP because of her fame, but she is technically only contractually obligated to do one more X-Men film, and I bet Fox wants to keep her on to do more.

I mean the fact that Jennifer's makeup time was reduced to a mere 3 hours instead of the 8 hours that it used to be...I kind of think there was more to that then just "Jennifer was allergic to the paint". Instead of just switching the type of paint they used they put the time and money into designing her a better costume so it would be much easier for her to get into character. Nothing like that was done for Nicholas Hoult who still has like 8 or 9 hours of makeup for his beast costume. Even if he was never allergic to any of it, it still would have been nice idk. I don't know if I'm making sense but I really got the impression that Fox really wants to keep Jennifer for future movies (obviously because she's a huge huge star now) and that's why Simon and James made those comments and that's why a better costume was created for Jennifer.

Or maybe I'm just making up whatever I want in my head and looking too much into things. That's a possibility.

Tati_SwanJones

I will love a Mystique movie

TPF1138

Well, James would have been aware of the chatter regarding Jen and a Mystique spin-off by that point, in fact it's possible the reporter led him there, but I very much doubt any real work has started on developing a solo adventure for the character. Yet!


This isn't really true. It's an assumption that everyone has made, and while Jen's greater profile won't have hurt, Simon Kinberg has been at great pains to explain that Mystique's increased role had far less to do with Jennifer's fame, and much more to do with the fact that where they left the character at the end of X-Men: First Class made her one of the most intriguing threads for him, going into any sequel. It's also worth noting that Mystique is very much the main antagonist of the comic story on which the movie is based, so it only makes sense that she would be featured prominently. Particularly given her very strong connection to Charles Xavier in the film series, and the fact that DoFP is essentially his movie.

I'm not saying Jen's profile wasn't a factor, but it wasn't the driving factor.


Only one more left for Jen.

Like I say, I think she'd be happy to reprise the role for a fourth or fifth outing (once she feels like it's growing and evolving each time, and keeping her interested), but I wonder about where her head might be at in terms of big movies just now. I can see her wanting to step away from them once she wraps duties on Apocalypse. But then, that's a long way from now (and all the current bull**** she's having to deal with), and I wouldn't expect a Mystique movie to come hot on the heels of that movie, so she might be more than up for it by the time it comes around.

Kinberg certainly seems to think she would be, and he's spoken to her (though not recently that we know of). I obviously, haven't.



Nick doesn't take 8 or 9 hours. It's 3 to 4. Remember he doesn't do full body, and remember also that they concocted a reason to keep him out of make-up as much as possible. There's precedence for it in the comics, but it was done largely to avoid burying the actor. Nick's on record as liking the prosthetics though, so it wouldn't have been an issue with him anyway, but he's an up and comer and they didn't want to hide his face. It'll be interesting to see what they do for Apocalypse. They might have no option there...

The Major reason that Jen's make-up got the overhaul that it did, was because they needed to film with her more in full Mystique form than had been the case in First Class (It's worth noting: Rebecca Romijin who was always blue, but for one short scene in X2, never had as much to do as Jen did in Days') and wanted to avoid the 8/9 hour prep because it strained their shooting schedule. Jen's difficulty with the paint the first time, and their desire to make it more comfortable for her (like Halle Berry using contact lenses in X1 for when Storm's eyes go white, and it being done in post in all subsequent movies, because the lenses irritated her eyes) made the decision easier, but the reasons were largely practical.

You're right though, FOX absolutely want to hold onto her (they'd be mad not to), and will do whatever they can, within reason, to make that an agreeable prospect for her.


I think you're perhaps reading more into things than is there, but you're largely on point.

Fox want Jen to stick around (of course they do). They're of course in favour of a Mystique solo movie, though I don't think they quite know what that would be yet, and they will do their best to entice her into re-upping contractually when the time comes.

They're also eager to develop the whole X-Men universe though, so it's hard to know where they'll go next. They just confirmed Deadpool for 2016. If that's successful, then there'll be a sequel to follow. X-Force is still on the books, and what might the next X-Men movie be, following Apocalypse?

Would they stick with the First Class cast, jump forward to the original cast, focus on the younger versions of the 'original' X-Men that they're set to introduce in Apocalypse, all of the above, or something we haven't even considered yet?

Given those options, where would Mystique fit in? Which isn't me saying she wouldn't BTW, I'm just pointing out that there's plenty to do without needing to rush into anything.

The X-Men cinematic universe is very much up in the air at the moment. They've a tremendous amount of options, Mystique is one of them, but their priority is going to be to the bigger picture. They'll be eager for Jen to play a role in that, but it won't make or break them.

Leo-4-Life

Okay, well then nevermind. I don't know what I'm saying.