14 DAY TRIAL // Sir Ian McKellen, a nerd-favorite for playing Magneto in the “X-Men” film universe and Gandalf in the “Lord of the Rings” franchise, can now be seen in theaters as an aging Sherlock Holmes in “Mr. Holmes.” To promote it, he did an AMA session on Reddit, in which he also threw some not-so-subtle shades at rival movie franchises Superman and James Bond.
Apparently, the actor doesn’t think they’re worth the hype they’re getting because their leading characters, Superman and the slick 007 agent, respectively, don’t stand for anything impressive in particular.
Not the same can be said about “X-Men,” though.
Superman and James Bond are trash, pretty much
Talking about why he took the role of Magneto in “X-Men,” McKellen says it wasn’t the money that appealed to him the most, but rather the fact that all these characters that populated the universe had counterparts in real life, if you bothered to look for them.
Sure, they were Mutants with supernatural powers, but they were first and foremost outcasts, people who were special but were told they couldn’t fit in. We can all relate to that, can we not, the actor says: we’ve all felt at least once like we don’t belong and like we have to change something about ourselves to be accepted.
Superman and James Bond don’t have that deeper meaning, so that makes them more or less trash.
“Superman isn’t really about anything. It’s a joke. The nerd changes his underpants and becomes a Superman. That’s James Bond: ‘Shaken, not stirred,’ silly, stupid, British twit… and then, Action Man!” McKellen says. “But X-Men is about the problems of being a mutant. So, that was the hook for me.’
The second most appealing thing about playing Magneto was the promise that he wouldn’t have to sign a multi-picture contract when he agreed to do the first one. Being tied to a big-budget production like this one for years is a nightmare for any respectable actor, and McKellen is clearly no different.
Sir Ian McKellen is wrong
While he’s entitled to his opinion and he gets credit for working overtime to promote the upcoming “X-Men” movie, “Apocalypse” (2016), even though he doesn’t star in it, he’s slightly wrong in his appreciation of these 2 franchises.
It’s true, James Bond doesn’t have a deeper meaning than that of pushing the image of the absolute macho, who solves crime, lives in constant danger, is a perfect gentleman, and is handsome and smart to boot.
On the other hand, these movies never pretended to be more than this.
But Superman stands for just as much, if not actually more than “X-Men,” at least in the original comics if not so obviously in the new Warner Bros. franchise. He is the ultimate outcast, a man with extraordinary powers who has to try and appear similar to the rest of the world so he can be accepted.
Superman’s story is more than just putting on underpants over tights and removing dorky glasses to reveal his true face; his is a story of courage and utter selflessness, unconditional love and justice. The fact that he’s an alien ready to die to protect humanity, if need be, elevates him above the other, Earth-born superheroes.