Part II, Chapter XVIII: "A Noble Band of Heroes"
“The X-Men films were easily some of the most fun films I had been involved in. There is a certain… campiness and ridiculousness inherent to the superhero genre, and I think we made the right choice by leaning heavily into that. But we wanted to tackle some serious social issues present at the time as well.”
- James Cameron, speaking about his part in the 1990s X-Men films.
Production on
Wolverine and the X-Men had been slow at first, with 1989 resulting in only to main characters being cast, Bob Hoskins as Wolverine and Angela Bassett as Storm.
In order to face off against the revived
Batman franchise, producer James Cameron and director Kathryn Bigelow decided that they needed a proper ensemble cast to draw in a larger audience. By the end of 1990, the X-Men had been cast.
It had been decided that the team in the film would consist of four the original five, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast and Iceman, joined by Wolverine, Storm and newcomer Jubilee. The team would nominally be led by Professor X. The large team meant that certain characters would not get as much screen time, and the story was written with this in mind.
For Cyclops, the leader, Bigelow and Cameron decided to cast Tom Cruise. Cruise had been a fan of the Marvel comics for a time, and had been lobbying for a part since the announcement of the X-Men film. Marvel Girl, his teammate and love interest, would be portrayed by Molly Ringwald.
Laurence Fishburne, another Marvel Comics fan, was brought in to play Beast, while Iceman would be played by Robert Downey Jr.. The role of Jubilee, who was to be the “point of view character”, was given to Ann Yen. To round the team off, Pete Postlethwaite was cast as Professor X. [1]
In the story, the X-Men would be opposed Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, consisting of Magneto, Mastermind, Mystique and Toad. Magneto would be played by Max von Sydow, Mastermind by Brad Dourif, Mystique by Sharon Stone, and Toad by Nicolas Cage. [2]
The mixture of established star and up-and-coming actors worked well to build a significant level of hype for the film, with demands for a release date becoming louder and louder.
While there would be no such announcement until early 1991, the story had been finalised by the end of the year. The film would centre on Wolverine and Jubilee, two outcast mutants who find each other and end up under the protection of the X-Men, resulting in their eventually joining the team. Magneto and his associates would have an interest in Jubilee as a potential weapon to overthrow humanity, bringing them into conflict with the X-Men. [3]
While the relatively diverse main cast worked well for Marvel’s PR, that was not the main reason behind it. It was the opinion of Bigelow and Cameron that as the X-Men had historically been used as an allegory for minorities, it made sense to adapt that to the modern day, and to have the X-Men as paragons of acceptance. [4]
With the story finalised, and the cast ready, 1991 would bring filming and the announcement of the release date. [5]
[1] Just doing one footnote for all of the X-Men castings, as it keeps things more simple. I seriously considered adding Angel, but wasn't sure how well he could have been portrayed at the time, that and didn't have any good ideas. I think all of the casting here comes from your suggestions, so I thank you all very much for those.
[2] More suggestions from all of you. There were a few other characters I wanted to use, but decided to save for future installments. I have the rough plans laid out now for these films.
[3] To be completely honest, I've only started reading comics recently, so I don't know about too many X-Men storylines. I've dedicded to reuse some of the 2000 film's ideas, but reworked to fit the different mutants at play. I have a story worked out now.
[4] I wasn't wuite sure how to word this right, so this may be edited. If it is, so will this footnote.
[5] I'm looking forward to doing more of this in the future. Sorry about the delay, I've had proper writer's block for the first time in the timeline, as I genuinely didn't know what this update was going to be about. I figured it out in the end, but it's taken a bit of time. Sorry for my inconsistent updates. Also, I'll put a little update up after this, won't footnote it, listing the cast for Wolverine and the X-Men, just to make it a little more clear.