In this episode of Marvel Revisited, we take a look at Bryan Singer’s 2000 superhero epic, X-Men. The first film to bring these beloved Marvel characters to life, it was arguably the movie that kicked off the superhero boom of the 2000s, which led directly to the dominance of the genre that we see today. Director Bryan Singer assembled a top-shelf cast, including a then completely unknown Australian actor named Hugh Jackman, to lead a franchise that still exists, in a fashion, to this day.
While Singer is a controversial figure nowadays, the impact he had on the superhero genre cannon be overstated. When this movie came out, superhero films were not considered cool. Sure, we’d had Blade in 1998, but while fans may consider it part of the genre now, it was considered a horror/action film back then. Mainstream audiences didn’t even realize the character had its roots in Marvel.
X-Men was a different story. Long one of Marvel’s most popular titles, the road to the big screen was rocky, but Singer treated the material with reverence. While some fans bristled at the black leather/ The Matrix-style look of the superhero costumes over something more comic-appropriate, it was a concession that likely helped the film become the mainstream cross-over success it was. While an imperfect film, it paved the way for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, and Singer’s own X2: X-Men United. In this episode of Marvel Revisited, we look into its long, tortured production history and how this Hugh Jackman guy became such a megastar.
This episode of Marvel Revisited is written, narrated and edited by Kier Gomes. Watch our previous episode below and let us know in the comments if you think X-Men holds up all these years later.