Retrospective 2011 - Part 3

While May ushered in the summer season, things really got out of control in June and July with the release of two more Marvel movies, one from DC, the third Transformers, a direct to video movie tie in and a new live action series. 

X-Men: First Class

After X2, the X-Men franchise had been on the downward slide until X-Men: First Class attempted to reinvigorate the franchise. Even though some of the most popular mutants could not fit into the movie while maintaining series continuity, First Class still delivered an excellent story by adding depth to the characters of Magneto and Xavier. Perhaps due to ill will against previous X-Men films or because of the absence of Wolverine, the film failed to crack $150 million in the US. Still, good reviews and home video sales may be enough to ensure X-Men's second class get their deserved screen time in a sequel.

See X-Men's Deleted "Dragneto"

Entertainment Weekly has released a deleted scene from X-Men: First Class which had the Master of Magnetism, Magneto in drag. The full clip reveals that Dragneto was really just a mental projection by Professor X. Its a fun enough sequence, but I don't think it would have added too much to the film. Still, it wasn't any more over the top than Wolverine's cameo. You can also watch a snippet below:

Onscreen History of Magneto

Magneto, the Master of Magnetism first appeared in 1963's X-Men #1 squaring off against Professor X's first class of X-Men.

"Magneto" made his onscreen debut a few year later in the 1967 Spider-Man series... or did he? Although a magnetic villain named Magnet-o did seek revenge on the Web-Head in "The Revenge of Dr. Magneto," he bore a closer resemblance to Albert Einstein than the helmet wearing baddie we all love to hate.

In 1978, Magneto (now with helmet) took on the H.E.R.B.I.E. incarnation of the Fantastic Four. He was foiled by a wooden gun.

In 1981, Magneto paid a pair of visits to the amazing Spider-Man, first horning in on Spidey's solo series.

Magneto crashed Spidey's party for a third time later in 1981 on the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends series.

In 19889's Pryde of the X-Men pilot, Magneto finally faced off against the X-Men along with new recruit Kitty Pryde.

Magneto played an on-again off-again adversarial role against the X-Men in the 1992 animated series, though Magneto tended more often than not to team up with Professor X's team against common enemies.

Beginning in 2000, Magneto of the X-Men live action trilogy was similarly portrayed as an enemy to the X-Men only as much as they got in his way. Not believing that humans and mutants could peacefully coexist, Magneto sought to eradicate homo sapiens, but he was more than willing to enlist the aid of the X-Men to preserve the lives of mutants.

Although Magneto started off as a major adversary to the X-Men in 2000's X-Men Evolution, as the series progressed they settled some differences to prevent the rise of Apocalypse.

In 2008's Wolverine and the X-Men, Magneto was the leader of the mutant country Genosha.

2009's Super Hero Squad Show gave Magneto and his kids Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver the spotlight in Hexed, Vexed, and Perplexed.

The 2011 prequel X-Men: First Class will return to the roots of the schism between Professor X and Magneto explaining the events that drove Magneto off of the X-Men team.