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Discuss the first article in a new series by @Thande here
Of course both Deadpool films have a go at the character's in-name-only appearance in Origins Wolverine. Which is fair enough, though I never got what was supposed to be so bad about the Reynolds Green Lantern film that it also deserved so much bile.I actually watched Origins Wolverine followed by Deadpool 2 in the cinema in one day.
The first third of Origins is actually pretty good, then once it starts going downhill it turns into a cavalcade of 'oh dear, they dragged *you* into this?
The best example I know of 'the rewritten backstory becomes best known' is the idea that Aladdin has only one genie in it, which stems from the simplified version rendered for the hugely influential 1930s film The Thief of Bagdad. The Disney version and all the other later ones owe more to that film than the original story.I think a sort of sub-genre of prequels is when a film (or book) comes out with a 'new take' on a well-known story and includes a back-story to explain the origin of the protagonist/legend/tale/etc. I've no idea how many back-stories there are for Robin Hood or King Arthur now, but they must be into the thousands - and many of them contradict each other.
In modern times the origins of various superheroes have been re-written a number of times, I think - though I'm not a great superhero fan, so take my opinion on that with a pinch of sale.
And sometimes the re-written / (re-)imagined back-story can become the one which is best known. I think I've finally got through to my daughter that the Disney version of various stories is not the only version; for example, the 2010 Rapunzel film ('Tangled') has the witch steal Rapunzel for her magic hair (whereas the Grimm Bros have her given to the witch by her father) and her rescuer is a thief (not the prince of most versions). So any future Rapunzel story will have to deal with the fact that thousands of children have that story in their heads.
As I say, that's tangentially related to your article, but with many of the same issues, I think.
I've no idea how many back-stories there are for Robin Hood or King Arthur now, but they must be into the thousands - and many of them contradict each other.
"First Class" is definitely a pure prequel because they didn't start with the time travel shenanigans until the film after that one, though I know what you mean. "First Class" literally duplicates flashback footage from the first X-Men film (young Magneto bending the gates) and then shows "what happened next", you can't get more prequelly than that.Does First Class Count as Prequel given it was part of a franchise that rapidly became a full reboot to get around the damage done by the original trilogy and also gracefully replace the fantastic actors with fresh blood?
I suppose it proves the point but the movie was so good and the equally good movies that followed fit so well with it that it seems only fair to count them as one block and that block clearly broke with the originals intentionally.
I guess my question is does it count as a prequel if its a time travel series?
"First Class" is definitely a pure prequel because they didn't start with the time travel shenanigans until the film after that one, though I know what you mean. "First Class" literally duplicates flashback footage from the first X-Men film (young Magneto bending the gates) and then shows "what happened next", you can't get more prequelly than that.
"First Class" is definitely a pure prequel because they didn't start with the time travel shenanigans until the film after that one, though I know what you mean. "First Class" literally duplicates flashback footage from the first X-Men film (young Magneto bending the gates) and then shows "what happened next", you can't get more prequelly than that.
Side-quel.But what is the correct terminology for Days of Future Past? A film that is part prequel, part sequel, and ultimately a reboot. Pre-seq-boot-quel?
I believe First Class was originally pitched as X-Men Origins: Magneto before the criticism of the Wolverine film led them to retool it more towards what @Death's Companion was saying, although I'd still argue it is a prequel. The line is blurred a bit because it was always going to have to cast younger actors as Magneto and Xavier even if it had stayed more like Wolverine, so it would always have felt a bit 'reboot-ish' even if it was intended to be the same philosophy.I still feel that First Class was a missed opportunity to give us an entire movie of Magneto wandering around 1960s Europe and South America in snazzy suits hunting Nazis. The scene where he confronts the exiles in that little bar in Argentina might be the best five minutes in the whole X-Men franchise outside Logan, though then again I don't think that's saying much.
In some ways, I think the two of them (and Arthur especially) might be the sort of root of alternate history as a genre. After all, it very much appears some version of a historical King Arthur existed. Only his story was to be retold and re-imagined, everyone adding a bit to it such as Lancelot.
I still feel that First Class was a missed opportunity to give us an entire movie of Magneto wandering around 1960s Europe and South America in snazzy suits hunting Nazis. The scene where he confronts the exiles in that little bar in Argentina might be the best five minutes in the whole X-Men franchise outside Logan, though then again I don't think that's saying much.
here's an inspired sequence in the Doctor Who book Earthworld where the companion, a childhood Athurian myth buff, is driven to despair that the far future is remembering everything wrong - the evil triplets Morgan, Lee, and Fay; the magical marlin fish enchanted itself and a lancet to become human companions of Arthur - and the Eighth Doctor asks how can she be sure the version she knows is any more accurate.
Ha! That's one of the many Who novels I've not yet read, but I may have to seek it out now.