First Things First…
Here we go… another “to be continued,” which means more Magneto. Plus, Sabretooth is lying in the X-Men’s infirmary, and Wolverine is pissy about it. This could go to some exciting places.
3 Things I Like
3. An Extreme Anti-Mutant Presidential Candidate
Senator Kelly announces himself as a major player with one proclamation—he’s going to run for president.
He’s an anti-mutant extremist who states publicly that he wants to relocate every mutant to internment camps. And I think he’s working with Gyrich—who runs the Sentinel program—so he’ll be an even more dangerous enemy if he’s not just inside the U.S. government, but running the whole damn thing.
2. Probing Magneto’s Vulnerabilities
“When I was a child, my people talked while others prepared for war. They used reason while others used tanks, and they were destroyed for their trouble. I won’t stand by and watch it happen again. I won’t!”
Magneto
I don’t doubt Professor X and Magneto will face off many more times. But if we score this like a boxing match, Xavier gets the slight win in the first round, 10-9.
Magneto easily tears through Cyclops, Storm, and Rogue by himself. But the professor’s ability to get into his mind and force him to relive the horrors of his childhood defeats Magneto.
I like seeing more of Magneto’s past. But I also enjoyed this showdown because it reveals not one, but two of his vulnerabilities…
Sure, his mind is vulnerable to Xavier’s psychic attack. That much is obvious.
But it’s Magneto’s emotional response—his inability to handle seeing those traumatic past events—that causes him to retreat.
If his memories had no emotional hold over him, it wouldn’t matter what Xavier forced him to see. So in reality, the bigger chink in Magneto’s armor isn’t his mind…
It’s his heart.
1. Psychoanalyzing Sabretooth
“Is there no limit to the torment in your mind, Sabretooth? Have you only known betrayal by your friends and persecution by humanity? We must probe deeper.”
Professor X
Amazingly, Sabretooth seems more psychologically impregnable than Magneto.
We get glimpses of Sabretooth’s past as Professor X probes his mind—he can’t keep him out completely. They even briefly form a psychic link, which is awesomely depicted as the two characters melded into one…
But some part of his mind is locked down tighter than Fort Knox. I want to find out what’s in there.
But even though Professor X can’t gain access to all of Sabretooth’s mind, he recognizes the pain and torment Sabretooth has experienced.
As annoyed as I was last time that Sabretooth got taken out by just a handful of regular cops, they’ve done a good job of making him intriguing. He has a mysterious past and connection to Wolverine, and we find out here that he’s working for Magneto, and he fully intended to get captured by the X-Men so he could infiltrate their headquarters. I really want to see what else he’s about.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. What’s Bothering Storm?
During the fight with Magneto, Storm freezes up as she’s about to be crushed by a falling brick wall, and we see a glimpse of her as a child, scared and suffering. But it’s so quick that it’s hard to make anything of it yet. I hope we’ll get to delve into her past more, too, along with the villains.
1 Thing I Don’t Like
1. This Is Why You Don’t Leave a Child in Charge
Jubilee is a dumbass for freeing Sabretooth from his shackles. There’s no two ways about it.
But so is Professor X for not giving her incredibly specific instructions. He warns her that Sabretooth could still be dangerous, even in shackles. But how about telling her something like “Don’t free him under ANY circumstances.” And better yet, “Don’t even stay in the same room as him.”
In the premiere, the professor couldn’t even keep tabs on Jubilee, letting her escape right under his nose. Now, he lets this happen.
I’m beginning to think he doesn’t run a very tight ship.
Tim Matassa
