X-Men Origins: Magneto

Survey one hundred and ask them who is their favorite X-men character. With no hesitation, at least a quarter of them will say Wolverine. Take another hundred people and ask them who is their favorite X-men villain, then ask another hundred people who is the most powerful X-men villian. Magneto will undoubtably turn up in all of these surveys.

He's the classic nemesis of Charles Xavier and his band of gifted youngsters. Actually, he and the Professor were old friends. Magneto even helped the Professor build his mansion, and in some incarcations, the great machine Cerebro.

The X-men came to the screen in X-men to great acclaim. Magneto made his first film appearance as the villian, played by the renowned Shakespearean actor Ian McKellan. Magneto would wreak further havoc in the next two films, forever the thorn in the X-men's side. With the conclusion of the last film, X-men: The Last Stand, producers have questioned the direction of the franchise. Each X-men film became more expensive than the last, and the critical reception of the last film was lackluster, some praising, some condeming, most unsure.

The solution proposed became a divide and conquer strategy. Split the franchise into parts, focus on certain characters, prequels even, and thereby create interest in another main franchise film. While X-men 4 still remains a strong possibility, for the here and now, we must content ourselves with prequels. Fortunately, the two planned films promise not to disappoint.

X-men Origins: Wolverine has already been covered, and is highly anticipated. But the producers at 20th Century Fox want to showcase another fan-favorite with X-men Origins: Magneto.

Like Wolverine, Magneto is a prequel, describing the events that led Eric Lehnsherr to become the arch-enemy of Charles Xavier. David S. Goyer was picked to direct the film, the acclaimed producer of Batman Begins. As early as summer of 2007, a producer released that the story would take place in the 1930's, at the Nazi concentration where so many souls suffered: Auschwitz. A young Eric, a detainee at the camp, would meet a young Charles Xavier (presumably not yet confined to his chair), and the events there would lead him to hunt down the Nazis who persecuted him and alienate himself from his friend Xavier.

Production was planned, and the film slated for a 2009 release. Unfortunately, the Writer's Strike of 2008 delayed production greatly. With the strike resolved, Goyer and his team returned to work, but the original production details had been altered. The time frame moved into the 1960's, with both Xavier and Magneto fighting someone. We still may see the concentration camp, and the younger Xavier.

Ian McKellan has expressed interest in returning, but with the film taking place before the events of the main franchise, McKellan's age became a factor. In The Last Stand, both McKellan and co-star Patrick Stewart used a digital facelift effect to make themselves look thirty years younger. An interesting trick, but costly, and one that may not work throughout the duration of the film. However, producer Lauren Shuler Donner released that McKellan will indeed anchor the story, but the film will be told mainly in flashbacks. He'll be there, but only as a bookend.

Goyer and his associates stand ready to begin filming. If Wolverine succeeds, and it likely will, they will proceed with the film. It's planned, and everyone is apparently ready and waiting. All we need is a great showing at the box office for Wolverine. Otherwise, Magneto may be lost like so many other great projects, lost to development hell.