X-Men First Class - Focus - Grant McLaughlin

Full disclosure: I have not seen X-Men First Class.  Therefore, this script is focused more on the X-Men's early comic book days.  I hope you enjoy nonetheless.

Three rows of panels, all the same size. Row 1 consists of panels 1 and 2, row 2 consists of panel 3, and row 3 consists of panels 4 and 5.

1 – Hank sits at his desk in his dorm room, writing in his journal. The captions should look like they're handwritten, to reflect Hank's journaling pursuits.

HANK (caption): At the end of our first week at Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, I am filled with excitement. Everyone seems completely focused on the lofty task ahead.

2 – This panel is the continuation of the scene depicted in panel 1, simply divided by the gutter. There is a large window in the dorm room, which takes up most of the panel. Outside, Bobby is flying by, riding his ice slide. The trail behind him corkscrews fantastically and Bobby is upside down.

BOBBY: WOOHOO! This is the best!

3 – Back to Hank at his desk, but from a different angle. The window is still visible, but the focus is on Warren, who looks disgruntled and unhappy as he approaches Hank. Hank looks up from his journal. Bobby is still visible through the window, continuing to show off.

WARREN (1): Henry, have you seen Professor Xavier? My living arrangements are completely unacceptable. There's no private washroom. The room is too small. And I have to share it!

WARREN (quieter) (2): With that Bobby nitwit, no less...

BOBBY (quietly, due to his distance): Seriously, you guys, check out all the cool stuff I'm doing!

4 – Like panels 1 and 2, panels 4 and 5 are one image divided by the gutter. The angle now shows the other half of the room. Warren has stormed out through the doorway, grumbling. Scott and Jean are just inside the doorway, standing awkwardly and looking towards each other. They are both smiling shyly and blushing profusely.

JEAN: So...

SCOTT: Yeah...

5 – The continuation of the scene shown in panel 4. Like the first panel, Hank is at his desk, now looking towards the couple and departing Warren. The last sentence of the caption from panel 1 is rewritten, but it is now struckthrough. The second caption appears below it as a replacement. At the bottom of the panel, the third caption appears as an addendum.

HANK (caption) (1): Everyone seems entirely focused on the lofty task ahead.

HANK (caption) (2): Everyone seems nice.

HANK (caption) (3): In their own way.

X-Men: First Class – The Invincible Mutant Havok - MK Stangeland Jr.

(5 Panels)

Panel 1: HAVOK and BEAST are in the X-Mansion Firing Range. HAVOK is wearing his “power focuser” on his chest. On one arm, he’s wearing a piece of equipment that leads to a miniaturized “power focuser” in the palm of his hand. BEAST is currently helping him put a similar device on his other arm.

HAVOK: I don’t need to know how they work, I just need to know what they do.

BEAST (1): …

BEAST (2): Fine. They’ll allow you to focus your energy through your hands instead of off your chest. You should have an easier time aiming, and it’ll give you the option to not shoot your targets at full power.

Panel 2: HAVOK has a wide simile on his face. It’s less at the idea of what he should be able to do now and more at the idea of what else he might be able to with his power.

HAVOK (1): Cool.

HAVOK (2): Beast, you think if you could build a version for my feet, I could pull off flight?

Panel 3: BEAST has nearly finished putting the device on HAVOK’s arm, but pauses as he hears HAVOK’s idea. He’s perplexed by it, but not in a positive way.

BEAST: Flight?

HAVOK: Yah, flight. Push myself through the air.

BEAST: I don’t think your power works like that.

Panel 4: BEAST finishes with the device.

HAVOK: No harm in trying though, right?

BEAST (1): Assuming your idea works, and ignoring the likely collateral damage that could very well result from trying, I expect trying to control yourself in the air would be quite difficult.

BEAST (2): I imagine you’d be as likely to flip upside down and crash into something behind you as you would be to fly in a straight line.

Panel 5: HAVOK looks at BEAST.

HAVOK: Point made and taken.

(END PAGE)

X-Men: First Class - Distractions - Danial Carroll

PANEL ONE
Close up on Beast. He is in a laboratory, looking directly at us in strong concentration.


PANEL TWO
Same shot as the last, except that we can see Cyclops entering through a door in the background.

CYCLOPS: Hank?

BEAST: Just a moment, I'm at a crucial point.


PANEL THREE
Beast has turned to face Cyclops, who is a little closer now.

BEAST: Now, Scott, what can I do for you?

CYCLOPS: NASA called. They want to know how the designs are coming along.

BEAST: Ah, yes, Apollo 11.

BEAST: They're coming along just fine. Should be ready within--


PANEL FOUR
Beast has spun back towards us with haste.

BEAST: It's back!

CYCLOPS: I don't understand what you see in it.


PANEL FIVE
From behind Beast, we now see that he is sitting before a 60's-styled TV set. On its screen can be seen the original USS Enterprise.

CYCLOPS (OP): That show will never take off.

BEAST: Shhh.

X-Men First Class - Change The World - Matt Duarte

X-Men: First Class in “Change The World” by Matt Duarte

Panel 1

Description: Magneto's face is seen through a old grainy black and white television feed. There is a certain calmness in his demeanour that we can see through his helmet.

MAGNETO: Mutants are here to change the world.

MAGNETO: But do not be mistaken...

Panel 2

Description: Still as seen through a TV. Magneto has now stepped back a bit. He is showing his hand, where there is a bullet flying above it. Behind him, we can see a huge crowd of people watching in awe.

MAGNETO: A single madman with a bullet can change the world.

MAGNETO: A high powered rifle, a proper hiding place, and a well-timed shot is all they would need.

Panel 3

Description: Still as seen through a TV. Magneto is floating in mid air, still carrying the bullet. We can also see floating next to him a long sniper rifle, and a man trapped in some kind of metal structure.

MAGNETO: Remember, we are your superiors. The next step of evolution. And we will not fall down to your level unless absolutely necessary.

MAGNETO: We will not be trapped by the chains humanity forged while we were still in the womb.

Panel 4

Description: Still seen through a TV. Full reveal panel, as Magneto is now seen floating above a presidential cavalcade, where we can see JFK looking incredulously at the scene above him. The whole crowd in the scene looks speechlessly at Magneto who is holding a fist out looking directly at the camera.

MAGNETO: But we won't be afraid to use those same chains to bind you if need be.

MAGNETO: Soon, we will come out of the shadows. Soon, there will be mutant communities, cities and countries. Soon we will rule over all of you. Soon, evolution will take its course.

MAGNETO: Do not fight it.

Panel 5

Description: A close up shot of Magneto's face, though the eyes are obscured and we can only see a grin behind the helmet.

MAGNETO: And remember, Mr. President...

MAGNETO: What I have given, I can easily take away.

The End.

X-Men First Class - Your Revolution Is A Joke - Maxy Barnard

Michael Fassbender is some sort of God on earth.

... What? Oh, yeah, the (back-dated and highly pretentious) script. The concept here is simple: it's set to a song (Funeral For A Friend's Your Revolution Is A Joke), one that I feel can represent a sort of nagging voice in the back of Magneto's head as he prepares to fight for his cause, a voice hinting that his methods, ultimately, will not work how he intends. A kind of portent for his future villainy.

Oh, and despite me just saying it's set to that song, it's not actually heavily involved in the strip itself, because this isn't Phonogram: The Singles Club issue 7, and as such probably can't pull such a thing off. Just that the idea is enhanced and inspired by said song.(oh and if you can't tell the song's a bit emo, the scene used here features RAIN! DUN DUN DUN!) ONWARDS!

(side-note: As for which sort of Magneto I went for here, I'd hazard that it's closer to the Magneto of the comics, a thoughtful and dramatic person who can spout out long claremontian speeches mid-fight. Because that works for the purposes of the tone I'm coming across with here)

--------------------------------------

#.1
Magneto(Fassbender era, age-wise) is standing in a slightly dishevelled building (in Genosha, perhaps?), looking out into a storm through his window, rain beating against it. He is fully helmeted and sporting a glum expression.

Caption(Magneto): What is it I stand for?


#.2
Close-up on Magneto's face as lightning flashes in front of him.

Caption(Magneto): I have to show humans that Mutants are superior, to protect us, to raise us to our rightful place.


#.3
Magneto leans against the window lightly, as Mystique walks towards him from the other side of the room.

Caption(Magneto): To do so will make me a villain in the eyes of others, however. If less mutants understand my cause then support it, then I am fighting for nothing.


#.4
Magneto waves Mystique away, as she reluctantly lifts an arm up to support him.

Caption(Magneto): So I will be a villain. To play the part to lead them to greater things. My revolution will be one led by others as they face me, and come to become like me.


#.5
Magneto straightens himself up as Mystique leaves the room.

Caption(Magneto): My purpose will not be denied, but in the event things do not go to plan, that will ensure that no matter what, it will all be okay.


#.6
Magneto turns, cape-billowing, as he too goes to leave the room.

Caption(narration): It will never be okay.

X-Men First Class - The Magnetic Bullet Theory - Rol Hirst

Panel One.

A New Orleans courtroom in the late 1960s. Sunlight drifts through high windows, catching dust motes in the still, warm air. A jury of aged white men sit listening to Mr. Dymond, a slick attorney (male, late 50s, white), argue his side of the case before a wizened old judge. The District Attorney (Jim Garrison – 50s, horn-rimmed glasses, Kevin Costner before he became too pompous) sits at a table opposite Dymond’s, taking it all in.

Dymond: Mr. Garrison makes a compelling argument.

Panel Two.

Close on Dymond, giving a typically lawyerly performance.

Dymond: The shots that killed President Kennedy could not, he assures us, all have been fired from the Sixth Floor of the Texas Book Depository.

Dymond: The third shot in particular - Mr. Garrison’s so called “Magic Bullet” - is especially problematic.

Panel Three.

Focus on the jury now, listening intently, with Dymond silhouetted in the foreground.

Dymond: If we are to accept the Warren Commission’s report, Mr. Garrison argues, this “Magic Bullet” passed not only through the President’s neck, but also caused the wounds to Governor Connally’s chest, wrist and thigh.

Dymond: But it was not magic which propelled this third bullet... no, sirs, it was something far more insidious… and, ultimately, far more dangerous to the American way of life than any “lone gunman”.

Panel Four.

Dymond stands holding a photograph of Magneto, wearing his helmet and full costume.

Dymond: I’m here today to tell you that the true assassin of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was, in fact, this man…

Dymond: Erik Lehnsherr…

Panel Five.

Close on the jury… except they’re not entirely what they seem. Seated among them now, rather than the aged white men we’ve seen earlier, are Professor Charles Xavier, Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Hank McCoy, Bobby Drake and Warren Worthington III (wearing 60s fashion, not their X-uniforms). They’ve previously been disguised by Professor X’s mental powers – only we, the readers, can now see them as they truly are. (Some art effect should show that we’re seeing through their disguises.) The X-Men are bristling in their seats… Professor X is trying to keep them calm, to prevent them from giving the game away.

In the foreground, probably still in silhouette, Dymond is waiting for their response.

Dymond: Gentlemen of the jury, the mutant menace is real.

Dymond: Now... what do we intend to do about it?

Professor X (thought balloon): Be still, my X-Men…

X-Men First Class – X-Ops – Ben Rosenthal

All speech in this page, minus the last panel is seen through telepathy bubbles.

1. A dark silhouette of Angel against the full moon.

TELEPATH BUBBLE

Section one clear. Begin infiltration.

2. A thick wall that as just had a hole punched through it. Ice surrounds the edges, showing that Iceman has iced up the wall to make it brittle, and then punched through it. Through the hole we can see silhouettes of Iceman, Marvel Girl and Beast.

TELEPATH BUBBLE

Breach perimeter.

3. There are three guards in this panel. Two at the front of panel have their eyes rolled back into their heads, their limp bodies falling to the ground. Their heads have a telekinesis effect on them. A further away from the pack looks on in astonishment as gun floats just out of his reach, held aloft by the same telekinetic effect that surrounds the other two guard’s heads.

TELEPATH BUBBLE

Subdue threats.

4. A corridor with lasers zig zagging across it. In the middle the silhouette of Beast is jumping effortlessly between them. A door is at the end of the corridor.

TELEPATH BUBBLE

Disable security and proceed to objective.

5. This panel consists of red, apart from Beast being blown back to the left of the panel, and the metal door from the previous being blown off to the right of the panel.

TELEPATH BUBBLE

No!

6. Cyclops stands in the smouldering doorway.

CYCLOPS

Stand down, ‘Professor’.

X-Men: First Class – Hearts In Xavier’s – Ryan K Lindsay

1. Cyclops (Scott/Slim), Angel (Warren), Beast (Hank), and Iceman (Bobby) sit around a table playing Hearts (the card game). They are all young, all wearing some quality 60s fashion. Cyclops obviously has the shades on, Beast isn’t hairy, and Bobby and Warren look the usual, Warren’s wings hang behind him. They are on old folding chairs with a small card table between them in the hallway between Iceman’s dorm room and Angel’s across the hall. Bobby is mock yelling at Hank and Warren and Scott are talking to the other side.

Bobby: C’mon, Hank, if you’re counting cards again I’m going to give those massive toes frostbite.
Hank: Robert, you’ll find you can’t rush perfection and if you try it grabs you by the throat with its “massive toes”.
Scott: You ever feel like Xavier brought us in to corral these children?
Warren: Maybe they just needed some positive role models? Keep them off the streets.

2. Bobby lays down an Ace of Clubs on top of Hank’s King of Clubs.

Bobby: Nerds, enough with the chatter, I take a nickel a point seriously.
Bobby (wh): You see me, McCoy? I’m seriously taking all your lunch money.

3. Bobby is starting the next round with the Seven of Spades and Scott is dropping the Five of Spades on top.

Scott: Don’t forget we are here to train, Bobby, not play.
Bobby: Whattaya gonna do, Slim? We’re teens, not Xavier’s personal kill squad. I’m here to have fun and so I say we get busy hunting the lady in the pack.

4. Marvel Girl (Jean) walks past the table, aloof, sensual, all eyes are on her, over cards, between them. Scott plays it the most casually.

Jean: You boys hear about the Bogart double bill playing down at the Claremont?
Bobby: No, I couldn’t hear it over the sound of me winning.

5. Scott looks at Warren who is perceptibly nodding behind his hand.

NO COPY

6. Scott stands up as he stuffs his cards in Warren’s wing. Bobby is clearly, but silently, unimpressed. Hank merely smiles. Warren is playing a card on the pile.

Scott: Y’know, my lacrosse team called me the Kniphausen Hawk in high school.

7. Scott and Jean are down the end of the corridor. Hank is laying a King of Hearts on the stack of cards.

Hank: I believe Hearts are broken.

Why X-Men First Class?

You haven’t noticed a theme?

Let me just firstly say, I have seen the movie and it is awesome. You should all definitely see it.

Triggered during puberty (in most cases) by a heightened emotional event, the X-Men use their powers to fight for people who both hate and fear them. However, this isn’t your space travelling X-Men, nor your time stream sliding X-Men. No, this is the X-Men First Class, and as such we are dealing, for the first time here at Thought Balloons, a limitation on our scripts.

Usually we are free to put out characters in any setting. However, due to the movie being set in the 60’s we have decided to do the same. So not only are we to write a script about the X-Men’s first class, but it is to be based in the 1960’s.

What does this mean for our scripts? To begin with the X-Men have not yet been ‘outed’. The world does not know of the school in Westchester where high powered teenagers train in the art of war. It also gives us the chance to, like the movie include some real world historical events within our scripts. Could we see the X-Men reacting to the singing of the Civil Rights act? Will it be revealed that the X-Men were instrumental in the moon landing? Or perhaps as peace keepers during the riots of 1969?

As for the line up of the First Class? Again, we’re going to have to stick to one of two options – the movie line up or the original line up from the comics. The tenured writers have an interesting task ahead for them this week, and I for one am interested in seeing how they tackle it.

Feel like giving it a go yourself? Post your script below!