Fox Irons Out Plot for Magneto Film

Posted by Adam Sweeney (adam@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 14, 2008

Some of you may be ready for the Wolverine: Origins film but Logan isn’t the only one set for a theatrical run. We’ve got the scoop on Magneto’s prequel plot.

Props to David Bentley from the Coventry Telegraph on sniffing out the news on what’s coming for our favorite X-Men villain. If director David Goyer, who wrote a draft of the screenplay, sticks to this I will be ecstatic. “So what’s the plot,” you say? Glad you asked.

So far Ian McKellen, who played Magneto in the X-Men film saga, is the only actor attached to the film and is set to “book-end” the movie with narration and perhaps a quick cameo. Could we see him before and after a flashback to the younger Magneto? Possibly.

The story will naturally follow the life of Erik Lensherr, the Jewish mutant, who survives an Auschwitz concentration camp and eventually follows a tragic path that transforms him into the arch-villain of the X-Men.

Check out the official plot synopsis according to the beautiful group at Production Weekly.

The original X-Men film began with a prologue that showed the character as a child being led to a concentration camp by Nazis and that is the period in which the Magneto film will take place. This setup will allow a a future villain to at least flirt with the designation of protagonist since the character will be seen almost exclusively in his formative years.

Makes sense. I love a story that doesn’t mind going Devil’s advocate on us. Will Magneto be getting medieval on some Nazis? I mean who wouldn’t cheer for that, right? Anyway, here’s a bit more about the plot.

The storyline will heavily involve Professor X, the wheelchair-using X-Men leader. That character was a soldier in the allied force that liberated the concentration camps. The professor meets Magneto after the war and while they bond over the realization that they are alike in their special powers, their differences soon turn them into enemies.

The philosophical battle between Magneto and Professor X has always been one of my favorite duels in the X-Men comics. It definitely has an Anakin and Obi-Wan feel to it, only written more eloquently. Sigh, damn you George Lucas. Okay, I’m done with the frustration at the Force. There is no time-line for this film to be made. Fox is focusing their efforts first on the Wolverine film and then want to get a Silver Surfer spin-off. They had better not wait to get the Magneto flick out too long. If they do then rights will be reverted to Marvel, which may not actually be such a bad idea.

Do you like the plot synopsis of the Magneto prequel? Who would you like to play Magneto? If you say one of the Jonas Bros. you get a laugh followed by a kick in the crotch.

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