Despite being over a decade old,X-Men: First Classis still regarded as one of the strongest entries in theX-Menfilm series, due in no small part to the masterful performances of James McAvoy as Professor X and Michael Fassbender as Magneto. However, there’s one other major character in the film whose portrayal is likely to raise a few eyebrows among die-hard X-Men fans.
The character in question is the film’s main antagonist Sebastian Shaw, leader of the Hellfire Club, played by Hollywood legend Kevin Bacon. But aside from his name, the Shaw depicted inFirst Classhas very little in common at all with his comic book counterpart. In fact, there’s another prominentX-Men enemy from the comicswho would have been an even better choice for the villain ofFirst Class.
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A Shaw By Any Other Name
Kevin Bacon’s Shaw is first introduced as Dr. Klaus Schmidt, a Nazi scientist performing cruel experiments on a young Erik Lehnsherr, aka the future Magneto. He even goes so far as to murder Erik’s mother in cold blood in order to activate his mutant powers, earning him a place as Magneto’s most hated enemy. Schmidt reappears in the 1960s under the name Sebastian Shaw, now the leader of the secret society known as the Hellfire Club. With the help of his lieutenants Emma Frost, Azazel, and Riptide, Shaw manipulates world leaders in order to kickstart a nuclear war, setting the stage for mutants totake control of the entire planet.
While the version of Sebastian Shaw depicted inX-Men: First Classserves as an effective antagonist for the film, especially with his role in Magneto’s character arc, he bears only the most basic surface-level resemblance to the Shaw of the comics. Shaw was originally created by the legendary team of Chris Claremont and John Byrne, making his debut in 1980’sUncanny X-Men#129 — the first issue of the Dark Phoenix Saga. Like his film counterpart, the comic book Shaw is both a mutant with the power to absorb energy and the leader of the Hellfire Club, who uses political manipulation to advancehis goal of world domination.However, that’s about where the similarities end.
For one thing, the Sebastian Shaw of the comics has not typically been portrayed as a mutant supremacist in the same vein as Magneto or Apocalypse, who seeks to conquer the world in the name of preserving mutantkind. Rather, he was characterized by Claremont as a greedy opportunist, who fuels the fire of human-mutant conflict to line his own pockets. He’s even the one who creates Sentinels for Senator Kelly in the wake of the “Days of Future Past” storyline. While his end goal is still world domination, he isn’t driven by any grand vision or ideology — merely petty, self-serving ambition.
Furthermore, Shaw was never a Nazi in the comics, and hasno role in Magneto’s backstory.Even theFirst ClassShaw’s organization is essentially the Hellfire Club in name only. On a visual level, they lack the idiosyncratic 18th century aesthetic that makes the comic Hellfire Club so distinct. But more importantly, the Hellfire Club of the comics is a shadowy council composed of wealthy societal elites — each member is a powerful and prestigious figure in their own right. But in the film, the Hellfire Club is presented as little more than Shaw’s personal gang of henchmen, with no real backstory or characterization. However, while the live action Shaw has little in common with his comic counterpart, he actually shares many similarities with an even more prominent X-Men antagonist: Mister Sinister.
A Sinister Similarity
Mister Sinister, aka Dr. Nathaniel Essex, is another Claremont creation,making his debut in1987’sUncanny X-Men#221. A true mad scientist, Sinister is obsessed with unraveling the secrets of genetic mutation, and has frequently menaced the X-Men in order to further his research. Despite never appearing in a film adaptation to date, Mister Sinister’s cruel, cunning schemes and flamboyant personality have made him a fan favorite among comic readers. But more relevantly, Sinister is reminiscent of Kevin Bacon’s Shaw in several key ways.
First and foremost, both Mister Sinister and movie Shaw are ruthless scientists who firmly believe in the genetic superiority of mutantkind. In one of the character’s earliest appearances, Claremont depicts Sinister as having a similar ideology toFirst ClassShaw — he sees mutants as the next step in human evolution, and wishes to see a world where humanity has beencompletely supplanted by mutantkind.A later Claremont story, 2004’sExcalibur#7 even established that Sinister experimented on children at Auschwitz as part of his research, just like Shaw in his original Klaus Schmidt identity. And while Sinister never met Erik Lehnsherr directly during this time, Magneto still remembers the stories of the white-skinned scientist nicknamed “Nosferatu”.
Even Riptide, one member of the live-action Hellfire Club, was originally part of Sinister’s henchmen, the Marauders. Rather than a shadowy secret society, the Marauders are a team of hired guns meant specifically to do Sinister’s dirty work. As such, the Hellfire Club depicted inFirst Classbears more resemblance to the Marauders than the actual Hellfire Club of the comics. It’s enough to make one wonder if an earlier draft of the script featured Mister Sinisteras the main villainin Shaw’s place.
As of now, Mister Sinister is the most high-profile X-Men villain who has yet to be featured in a live action film. Because of this, it’s entirely likely that he’ll serve as an early antagonist to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s X-Men once they’re inevitably introduced. But until then, the closest thing we have to a live action Sinister is using the name of a completely different villain. One can only imagine whatX-Men: First Classwould have been like if it featured MisterSinister as its main villaininstead of Sebastian Shaw.
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