Jul 3, 2008 12:50 PM
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Some early script reviews for the X-Men spin-off starring mutant supremacist and Nazi concentration camp survivor Magneto has shown up online, and it's clear Magneto would be unlike any other superhero movie you've seen. In fact, the script by David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Blade) is more of a dark science fiction epic involving Nazis experimenting on mutants. Click through for details.
Two things jump out at me about Magneto, as described by reviewers. First, it tweaks Magneto's origin by suggesting that Nazi scientists either created or activated Magneto's powers by experimenting on him in the concentration camp. This could annoy some purists, especially since the first X-Men movie showed Magneto's powers starting to work when he first showed up at the camp and was separated from his parents. Also, early descriptions of the Magneto movie suggested it would show the beginnings of the rift between Magneto and Charles Xavier. I don't think that's in this script.
So the movie starts at the 60th anniversary of Auschwitz, where Ian McKellen's Magneto surveys the metal gate he twisted in the first X-Men movie. Then we flash back to the young Magneto surviving horrific Nazi experiments at the hands of mad scientist Dr. Kleinmein. Then we zip forward to the 1950s.
Meanwhile, Erik Lehnsherr, who will one day be Magneto, has a wife and daughter — until the suspcicions ofa small town lead to their deaths. It's implied that Erik kills everyone in the town as revenge, but we don't really see it. Eventually, Erik decides to hunt down the Nazis who escaped after the war, including Dr. Kleinmein, who is still doing his evil experiments on the bodies of mutants. Magneto meets and befriends Dr. Charles Xavier, and they rescue two mutants who are being imprisoned for experiments — the mutant prisoners sound a bit like Sabretooth and Mystique.
At first Magneto tries to work with the authorities to round up Kleinmein and the other loose Nazis, including CIA agent Owen Graves. But they only get in his way. So in the end, he decides to take the law into his own hands. And in the end, Professor X offers Erik some hope for the future — and then we zap back to the 60th anniversary Auschwitz event, where Senator Kelly is warning that Mutants are the new threat after the Nazis, setting the stage for Magneto's battle with the humans.
[Coventry Telegraph and Sal's Scripts]
Send an email to Charlie Jane Anders, the author of this post, at charliejane@io9.com.
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
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