We all know that over the course of 20 years the X-Men timeline hasn’t always been, how do I put it… “set in stone” is a fair way to describe the timeline.
Many fans love the old cast, some love the younger cast for the characters we’ve got over the course of the X-Men run in live-action form.
For me though, I’m mixed on who I personally like and who I don’t and in this article I’ll explain why.
Magneto
Sir Ian McKellen portrayed Magneto in the early X-Men movies as a much older and more intuned Magneto. He was portrayed as someone who has been a villain for many years and has always been a thorn in Xavier’s side. Don’t get me wrong, I liked this portrayal of the character up until Michael Fassbender was cast as a younger Magneto then I grew to love his version more. Fassbender’s version of the character was a lost, broken, and unstable Mutant whose sole purpose in life was to gain revenge for the stuff that happened in the war. I loved the way Fassbender portrayed this character, I loved seeing the unstable Magneto and somewhat more reckless.
Winner: Michael Fassbender (Younger Magneto).
Charles Xavier
This one is the opposite of Magneto, mainly for the same reasons but I far preferred Sir Patrick Stewart to James McAvoy. Not to take anything away from the version we got by James in any way, shape, or form. While James did deliver a fairly great Professor X, his version sort of become slightly annoying for me, especially in Days of Future past when he had pretty much given up living. I get why but I also know that Professor X would have believed Logan much sooner.
Winner: Sir Patrick Stewart (Older Professor X).
Mystique
Now, this might be a controversial pick. I’ll straight up say it. I preferred the evil, ruthless, brutal, and sadistic version in the original movies played by Rebecca Romijn. I hated the direction that they took the character of Mystique, essentially changing her into an X-Men in Apocalypse. I also hated how in each movie she changed the way she looked while using her powers.
Winner: Rebecca Romijn (Older Mystique).
Beast
Beast is an odd decision in this type of scenario. I like both. We got introduced to an older Beast in X-Men The Last Stand where he helped out in the final battle. The design and actor were perfect, as was the version Nicholas Hoult portrayed. My only issue with Hoults Beast was his design in First Class, I hated the way the head looked while he was in his Beast state.
Winner: Kelsey Grammer (Older Beast).
Jean Grey
While both Famke Janssen and Sophie Turner gave fairly decent portrayals of the character, both portrayals were let down by the “Dark Phoenix” saga. Albeit that both versions were brutal, I just didn’t care for the stories revolving around them. If I had to pick, I’d go with Famke Janssen’s version because she killed Scott Summers.
Winner: Famke Janssen (Older Jean Grey).
Cyclops
While technically you could say “but there were three versions of this character” and yes you could, however, I’ll stick between the two who had the most story and were “main characters”. James Marsden portrayed the older Scott Summers which essentially cemented my love for the character of Cyclops. It’s hard to ignore that while watching Tye Sheridan’s version, however, Tye Sheridan did have the better story, was better utilized as a character, and even donned the iconic blue and yellow suit… if it was only for a second or two.
Winner: Tye Sheridan (Younger Scott Summers).
Nightcrawler
I was first introduced to the character of Nightcrawler in the iconic X-Men Evolution animated series. So growing up and eventually seeing Nightcrawler brought to live-action in X2 was absolutely fantastic, Alan Cumming portrayed him fantastically but his story was quite short if I’m honest. Kodi Smit-McPhee portrayed him in X-Men Apocalypse and he felt like that X-Men Evolution Nightcrawler so I stuck with him more, I hope he returns one day.
Winner: Kodi Smit-McPhee (Younger Nightcrawler).
Storm
It’s hard not to look past Halle Berry as Storm, at this point it’s nearly as iconic as Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Halle Berry killed it in each movie she was in. Although she was recast later on by Alexandra Shipp who portrayed a younger version of Halle’s character, both were done incredibly well. I think this answer is very easy.
Winner: Halle Berry (Older Storm).
Overall, for me, it’s hard to deny that the older X-Men are more iconic in my eyes. It’s just hard to look past the movies. They are honestly not that bad, well not as bad as people make them out to be. I can watch them countless times and it’s always a fun rewatch whenever I decide to do an X-Men binge.
I hope going forward in the Marvel Cinematic Universe we can have a stable timeline for the X-Men with solid young actors to portray the younger characters such as Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, and more.
Photo: X-Men.
