5 Most Satisfying And 5 Most Disappointing Moments In X-Men Movies
The live-action X-Men movies of 20th Century Fox saw their own ups and downs. There were certain characters and moments that were loved by the audience. They have also been criticized sometimes for being unfaithful to the comic book interpretations of the characters and incidents. With such a long run since its debut in 2000, the moments of satisfaction and disappointment are properly spread throughout the franchise. Each of them stood the test of time by being exceptionally good or bad because of certain reasons. So let’s look at the most satisfying and the most disappointing moments in X-Men movies.
Most Satisfying Moments in X-Men Films
1. Magneto kills with the coin
In one of the scenes from X-Men: First Class, Magneto’s characters turns villainy after the big emotional release of the submarine lifting scene. He brings the movie fully back to the opening where his mother was killed by a villain to motivate a young Magneto to use his powers to move a coin. Magneto carries the coin with him as a token of his revenge. He repeats the villain’s original instructions back to him before using his powers to move the coin through the villain’s head.
2. Logan’s Final Goodbye
Logan was Hugh Jackman’s final appearance as Wolverine. The movie took the series to a completely different level with emotional moments balancing the more grounded action scenes. Jackman’s final goodbye scene shows him bloodied and dying as he tries to tell his daughter the things he should have told her before. It is a heartbreaking moment but one that the movies had built up to perfectly with the closed-off character showing some honest vulnerability and no last-minute dues ex machina moments.
3. Magneto lifts the submarine
X-Men: First Class can be called Magneto’s movie. His backstory is well-known in the X-Men comics and it is Michael Fassbender’s best performance. It is very satisfying and to see the characters tap into their incredible powers. The best moment of the whole movie is when Magento lifts the villain’s submarine out of the water and drops it into a nearby beach. He could do it by taking Charles Xavier’s advice to tap into his emotional side and amplify his magnetic manipulation powers. It produces a triumphant moment not only for the character and their development but also the development of their important relationship with Charles.
4. Quicksilver’s kitchen scene
The X-Men movies became trendsetters after X-Men: Days of Future Past. The movie’s standout moment was when Quicksilver showed the extent of his powers in a hyper slow-motion sequence. He saves Wolverine and Charles Xavier as they try to break Magneto out of the prison cell beneath the Pentagon. He breezes around the kitchen where the heroes have been cornered to disrupt the hail of bullets flying in midair and tying it all thematically appropriate song “Time in a Bottle” by Jim Croce.
5. Deadpool’s Opening Credits
Deadpool’s first appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine was considered extremely disappointing. Fans were excited to find out what the character’s first solo movie, with the same actor, would be like. But it didn’t disappoint and the laughs started directly from the opening credits. Deadpool’s intro has many meta-jokes and playful digs at the cast and crew with it also establishing the comedically graphic style of the movie’s violence right off the bat.
Most Disappointing Moments in X-Men Films
1. Mystique’s death
Jennifer Lawrence’s character Mystique has been an important part of the X-Men movies. She was able to escape death in many movies. But the character was killed by Jean Grey in one of the scenes from Dark Phoenix. It was an emotional moment but it was too abrupt to settle in properly. Also, Lawrence did not get much to do in the movie before whatever happened with her. It was one of those movie moments that was spoiled by the film’s own promotional footage.
2. The original debut of Deadpool
Ryan Reynolds became an actor behind one of comic book movie history’s beloved interpretations when he appeared as Deadpool in 2016. But this was not his debut. He made his first appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But it made a joke of the character’s reputation for his talkative nature by removing his mouth and making him a robotic killing machine with retractable arm swords. It was something that received a lot of backlash from critics as well as X-Men comic book fans.
3. Storm’s Toad Line
There are many things better than an epic payoff line in an action movie. Storm’s big moment in the finale of the first X-Men movie stood out to movie fans as an oddly unsatisfying quip that stood the test of time for all the wrong reasons. She was fighting against the classic villain Tad. Storm has the mutant on the backfoot and builds up anticipation with the question “Do you know what happens to a toad when it’s struck by lightning?” But she answered her own question with the resoundingly disappointing line “The same thing that happens to everything else.”
4. Professor X’s First Death
Main character deaths are an essential thing to get right in superhero stories. It’s been a long time since we saw Patrick Stewart playing the role of Professor Xavier. But his death in the third live-action X-Men movie was abrupt and unsatisfying. He is overpowered by the Phoenix and disintegrated and left the rest of the team reeling from death. It could have been an interesting idea to explore since it removed the superteam’s mentor in the darkest hour. But no one steps up to fill his shoes and he is brought back quickly in a post-credits scene.
5. I’m the Juggernaut B***h!!!
Juggernaut is another popular Marvel Comics character who got a less-than-stellar debut in live-action movies. Played by Vinnie Jones, the performance failed to capture the intimidating nature of the unstoppable mutant. The actor has himself said that he was very disappointed with the outcome a few years later. Playing to the redemptive quality of the first Deadpool movie, Deadpool 2 had another crack at the character with better results than the Last Stand version and remains a sorry emblem of the franchise’s lowest points.
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