The next installment in the live action X-Men presentations takes us back to the beginning in the lives of Professor Xavier and his long time friend Erik Lensherr (who you know as Magneto). This film opens today and looks really good.

“X-Men First Class” is directed by Matthew Vaughn and produced by Bryan Singer, and acts as a prequel to the “X-Men” film series. We find the story set primarily in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and focuses on the relationships between Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Erik Lensherr (Magneto), along with the origin of their groups The X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants, respectively. The antagonists of both the heroes and slowly growing villains is The Hellfire Club. Having enjoyed the other three X-Men films to some extent I think I will enjoy seeing how that particular mythos got its start according to its writers. What do you think?

Starring:
James McAvoy as Charles Xavier / Professor X
Laurence Belcher played the 12-year-old Charles Xavier
Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr / Magneto
Bill Milner plays the young Erik Lensherr
Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw
Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert
Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkholme / Mystique
Morgan Lily plays the young Raven
January Jones as Emma Frost
Nicholas Hoult as Dr. Henry “Hank” McCoy / Beast
Oliver Platt as Man In Black Suit
Ray Wise as the United States Secretary of State
Zoë Kravitz as Angel Salvadore
Caleb Landry Jones as Sean Cassidy / Banshee
Lucas Till as Alex Summers / Havok
Edi Gathegi as Armando Muñoz / Darwin
Jason Flemyng as Azazel
Álex González as Janos Quested / Riptide
Glenn Morshower as Colonel Hendry
Matt Craven as CIA Director McCone
Rade Sherbedgia as Russian General
Michael Ironside as a U.S. Navy Captain
James Remar as a U.S. General
Annabelle Wallis as Amy
Don Creech as Agent Stryker
Brendan Fehr as Communications Officer
Aleksander Krupa as Russian Navy Captain
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine (cameo)

Here are a few X-Men releases that bring the spirit of the film to life in illustrated form.