There are a lot of superhero and comic book movies slated to come out this summer. You’ve got [Thor,] boasting Natalie Portman as Thor’s love interest Doctor Jane Foster, and Anthony Hopkins as the All-Father himself, Odin. You’ve got [Priest,] an adaptation of a Korean comic which stars Paul Bettany, of the horribly amazing film Legion. (He was also the voice of Jarvis, Tony Stark’s massive AI computer operating system in the Iron Man movies. (Though in the comics, Jarvis was a butler, not an AI system.) Also you’ve got [Green Lantern,] starring Ryan Reynolds, so who the fuck knows if that one’s going to be good or a complete train-wreck. My bet tends to lean toward the latter… There’s the newest of the [Transformers,] with Shia LaBeouf returning as the goofball ding-dong Sam Witwicky and even Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy rumored to be the voice of Sentinel Prime. (Although no returning Megan Fox, much to my dismay.) There’s the brand new [Captain America] coming out, starring Chris Evans (Human Torch from the Fantastic 4 flicks,) as Steve Rogers/Captain America and Lord of the Rings/The Matrix/V for Vendetta/Tranformers (voice of Megatron) all-around badass Hugo Weaving playing the evil Nazi agent Red Skull. There’s even a reboot of the very well known fantasy author Robert E. Howard’s [Conan the Barbarian] starring Jason Momoa, aka Ronon Dex, from Stargate Atlantis. (Follow/click on any of the above links to find all of their respective trailers on the Tube of You.)

I’m for the time being at least, hedging all my bets on one film though, which I think will be the most successful, and the one that I’m most interested to see how it plays out. That would be the newest installment from the Marvel Comics/X-Men Universe, titled X-Men: First class. I’m looking forward to seeing the initial struggle between ideals and practice that occurs between the X-Men story’s two most prominent figureheads, Charles Xavier aka Professor X and Erik Lehnsherr (aka Max Eisenhardt, aka Magnus,) who goes on to become one of the most powerful mutants ever known to the X-Men, Magneto. Especially to the backdrop of the civil rights movement, the Cold War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. I think those will prove to be very compelling themes and great kick-off points in telling the story of a young, idealistic telepath who believes in the peaceful coexistence of human and mutantkind, and a holocaust survivor with a much darker, much less diplomatic, far less touchy-feely, “let’s all just get along” approach to the survival of their species. I mean shit, the guy survived the fucking holocaust, can you blame him for his blossoming severe hatred of humankind?

I’m also greatly looking forward to seeing the, in my opinion, highly underrated actress January Jones, who plays Emma Frost/The White Queen in all the glory of her skimpy, barely-there costumes, as well as one of my favorite actors since the classic movie [Tremors,] Kevin Bacon, playing  the energy absorbing mutant Sebastian Shaw, leader of the New York branch of the underground society of aristocratic mutants, The Hellfire Club. I’m also very much looking forward to seeing some of my older favorites like Banshee, Havok (Cyclops’s kid brother,) Darwin, and Riptide finally getting some screen time of their own.

And I most especially look forward to seeing on-screen the character Azazel (he’s the red guy in the back,) who in the comics is an ancient mutant from biblical times from a demonic race known as the Neyaphem who were banished to alternate dimension. He was their leader and could only escape the alternate dimension due to his teleportation abilities. Also he’s the father to my 2nd favorite X-Man, Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler. I wonder if he ends up getting his demon-style on with Kurt’s mom, Raven Darkholme/Mystique in this film. That’d be pretty badass. (By the way, my first and all-time favorite is [This Man,] not that you really care, but if you don’t know who that is then we can’t talk, I’m sorry.)

In closing, it looks to be an altogether pretty badass film. Plus it’ll be a history lesson to the younger generations who don’t have the slightest idea what the Cuban Missile Crisis or The Cold War were. So I’ll leave you with this, the official trailer (just recently released,) for the movie, and a few links on some cool interviews with cast/crew that I’ve read. Enjoy!

[Interview with Bryan Singer, Producer (Director of the First Two X-Men films.)]

[Interview with Matthew Vaughn, Director of X-Men: First Class]

[Interview with Kevin Bacon on his Character Sebastian Shaw]

[Interview with Michael Fassbender, aka Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto]

[Interview with James McAvoy, aka Charles Xavier/Professor X]

and finally,  [The Official X-Men: First Class Movie Site]

[r.b.]