The X-Men’s Havok has long been my favorite comic book superhero. In fact, we’ve even set up a fan site for him here at MLD. While he’s by no means a central figure in the Marvel Universe, or even in the X-Men’s corner of it, his inclusion in X-Men: First Class introduced Alex Summers to a whole new audience in theaters this Summer. His appearance in the movie was certainly fun to see, but like every character that has been brought to life on the big screen there’s a very different version of the man called Havok that you’ll find in the pages of the X-Men comic books.

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It’s impossible to detach myself from my fandom and the fact that I really wanted X-Men: First Class to be a good movie. Despite X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I believe there’s still hope for Fox’s current X-franchise and First Class went a long way toward confirming that. It’s by no means perfect and there are elements that hurt it, but ultimately I liked it. I had gotten increasingly more anxious/excited to see the movie leading into this weekend and while my initial reaction was full of very mixed feelings, I can say with certainty it’s worth seeing.

Spoilers ahead.

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In anticipation of next month’s release of the X-Men: First Class film, Marvel is producing a set of “X-Men: Evolutions” variants on its May titles. This follows a month of “Thor Goes Hollywood” covers on books in April coinciding with the God of Thunder’s big screen debut and is part of a long line of variants timed with the release of movies featuring Marvel characters. The X-Men’s evolution themed covers feature individual characters highlighting design and costume changes they’ve undergone during their publication history.

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I’ve been very quiet about the upcoming X-Men: First Class film, but the last few weeks have brought such a flurry of activity I think it’s time to weigh in. The official trailer for the movie hit yesterday on the “X-Men Movies” Facebook page, and multiple sets of photos (some legitimate, some not, and some selected by director Matthew Vaughn himself) were released in the weeks prior. If you visit this site at all regularly, you’ve seen that I’m a huge fan of all things X-Men. I focus primarily on the source material in the monthly comics, but over the years I’ve enjoyed the cartoons and films that have been part of the franchise over the years. I’m very forgiving of the changes to characters and continuity, so long as they serve to make a better story. Unfortunately, the films have declined with each iteration, and like many I’m hoping for First Class to change that trend.

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