8 Marvel Movies No One Remembers
Dan is an expert contributor to ComiConverse. His interests mainly lie in video games, but he has previously written articles on film and tv. He can be found on Twitter @dangoad
Generation X (1996)
Credit: Marvel
This year marks 17 years since the first X-Men film and for many young fans it's hard to remember a time when Marvel's mutants weren't starring on the big screen. But for those of us who are a little older we remember a time when the animated series was the only game in town. Until 1996 of course and the release of a Generation X TV movie. Rather than risk the main X-Men team on a live action movie or series Marvel and Fox saw Generation X as the perfect way to bring mutants to the mainstream. It was planned to be both a TV movie and a pilot for an ongoing series.
The comic was fairly new, so with the exception of a few characters fans hadn't developed that much of an attachment to the ensemble. This would satisfy budgetary requirements, since mutants with "expensive" powers could be replaced without upsetting the fans too much. Out went Penance, Chamber, Husk and Synch. Other mutants had their powers altered to make them easier to portray. Husk and Chamber were replaced by new characters Buff and Refrax, who took on aspects of their personality and background if not their powers.
The strangest decision was omitting any recognised villains and instead adding an archetypal mad scientist as the villain, played by Matt Frewer. Frewer has been known to overact on occasion and here he is at his scenery-chewing best, seemingly channelling Jim Carrey's performance in The Mask from two years before. He personifies virtually every negative trait the writers could think of, making him an unbelievable character even by comic movie standards. His evil scheme is some absurd rubbish about accessing a "dream dimension" which doesn't really make any sense.
The film has virtually no redeeming qualities, but it perhaps served as a lesson for Bryan Singer, who was confirmed to direct the first X-Men film the same year.
Interestingly, the location used for the Xavier Institute is Hatley Castle in Canada, which would later be used again as Xavier's mansion in the first three X-Men films. It's popped up in other comic adaptations as well, serving as both the Luthor mansion in Smallville and the Queen mansion in Arrow.