Astonishing X-Men

[TStape]

Overview:

SPOILER: Click to show

Astonishing X-Men is technically a project I've been thinking of working on for a long time. Originally it started out as my movie "X-Men: The Tomorrow People" which was loosely based off of the first arc of Ultimate X-Men and would leave open room for what was essentially going to be a series I wanted to work on. I had actually finished nearly 75% of the script, it was going to be released but I had hit a bump in the road.

There was a scene in the script where Hank McCoy asks Xavier's backstory with Magneto as he recalled seeing the two once together. Then I started writing a montage of events with a voiceover by Xavier telling what happened. I had so much fun writing this and had so many ideas, I decided to change it up and make the entire plot based off this.

So I wanted to make it an origin story but not have it feel like it was setting up actual 616 canon because I had plenty of ideas I wantd to use. Basically these would be changes that most X-Men stories had but not in the crazy sense that most hollywood producers liked to do. Some changes that I will explain instead of a plot:

- Something like if the X-Men live in a universe with other Super Heroes, how come they are persecuted but not the superheroes. How is the general public supposed to know who's a mutant or not.

- I also tried to deal with how the fuck are Magneto and Xavier are so old, but that was really just sort of a Dues Ex Machina because I got lazy.

- Magneto and Xavier's history together is different than in the comics. I made the two have a much more together relationship but not in the Dumbledore/Grindelwald way in HP7.

- I'm technically making this a part of the Marvel Movie U because I can! It's nothing too big, just little fan references here and there. Everything from Captain America, Iron Man and Thor.

Plot:

SPOILER: Click to show

"Tired of being put through prejudice and racism, two men step up for mutant rights: Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr. They create a group of mutants that are there to stand up for themselves. William Stryker, Anti-Mutant Spokesman, gets government permission to helm a mutant task-force. Run by "government-approved" mutants to track down and capture mutants who have not registered themselves as mutants. Weapon X's Mutant Registration being a front for the government's long running experiments on mutants and serums to enhance human's so they can compete with the longer lifespan and general skills. By doing so they will have certain rights taken away. The government program known as Weapon X and the group run by Xavier and Lensherr, known as the Brotherhood of Mutants, fight to recruit mutants and being to lead towards war."

Cast:
Professor X - Ben Kingsley
Magneto - TBA
Cyclops - Chris Pine
Jean Grey - Olivia Wilde
Beast - Jon Hamm
Scarlett Witch - Ashley Greene
Dazzler - Kirsten Bell
Angel - TBA
Iceman - TBA
Shadowcat - Lyndsy Fonseca
Storm - TBA
Quicksilver - TBA
FBI Agent Duncan - Matthew Fox

[TStape]

Trailer Right Hizzle:

EXT. CONCENTRATION CAMP

MUSIC: "Hella Bar Talk" by Michael Giacchino

A large crowd of people walk through the camp. They are tired, emaciated even. We focus in on a sole figure partially separated from the crowd. His name is ERIK LEHNSHERR, a Jewish teenager. An older Erik describes the scene.

ERIK LEHNSHERR (V.O.)

I was imprisoned in the Nazi death camp known as Auschwitz. While there I was forced to work as a Sonderkommando where I forced to help the Nazis burn my people. I was shown how to make the bodies burn faster. I had to breath in the ash of my people as I killed more and more. The worst part was that as much as I wanted to save my people and I couldn't. Well...now I can.

CUT TO:

INT. LARGE ROOM -- AFTERNOON

Erik sits across from a man we cannot see. Erik is older, much older in age but not so much in appearance. Erik continues his monologue to this unknown man.

ERIK LEHNSHERR

I have a plan.

UNKNOWN MAN

And what does this plan entail?

ERIK LEHNSHERR

This plan will be the first step towards the Mutant Race rightfully living as we should. I want to form a team Charles.

The camera angle switches so we see this man, CHARLES XAVIER. He is about the same age as Erik but completely bald.

CHARLES XAVIER

A team

CUT TO:

MONTAGE:

MUSIC:
"Everyone is Totally Insane" by The Dandy Warhols

- A man of about 20 runs down an alleyway as he is chased by two SWAT officers. He cuts around a corner and throws a garbage can behind him, hitting a SWAT officer.

He reaches the a dead end of alley way and the SWAT officer points his sub-machine gun at him. The young man looks around himself and whips off his sunglasses and clenches his face as he falls to the ground. The SWAT officer looks down at him. The young may opens his eyes and a red blast hits the SWAT officer, knocking him back.

- An African-American girl stands in an open corn field as Two men in suits walk towards her, the stop in their tracks as the sky above suddenly turns gray.

SUIT #1

Now now, don't do anything crazy. We're here to help.

She clenches her fists.

SUIT #2

Just...let us help you register...

One of the suits takes a step forward and a lightning bolt strikes down in front of them.

- An older man, a doctor, sits in his office. He grabs his glasses to take a better look at his arm. He notices his arms that are starting to grow blue hair.

- Charles stands across from a woman. Her red hair covers her face as she cries. Certain objects in the room start to shake. Charles walks over and leans down to hug her. The objects stop moving.

- A young girl sits on her bedroom floor crying. She suddenly starts to slip through the floor and lands on the floor of her living room.

- A young boy sits at his dinner table as his father yells at him. He clenches his glass of and it freezes.

- A boy stands on top of a roof and spreads his arms out. A large set of wings spread out in sync. He leaps off the side of the roof and starts to fly.

- A silver-haired teenager runs across a dusty road. The speed of his feet kick up large mounds of dirt. He suddenly skids to a stop in front of a girl with scarlet hair. Her eyes start to turn a reddish-pink and create an aura of the same color around her hands.

CUT TO:

EXT. FORREST -- DAY

A man in black jumpsuit with a Red X walks with a team behind him. He wears wire-framed glasses and has a slight beard. He is WILLIAM STRYKER, leader of a government mutant-task force known as WEAPON X. His team follows behind him as he points towards an unknown place.

WILLIAM STRYKER (V.O.)

A war is coming. Like one we've never seen. I promise you this, I will not stop until I see to it that every mutant has registered and come out of hiding!

CUT TO BLACK

"THE ASTONISHING X-MEN"

[Xplayadam]

Looking like a really great piece of work, keep it up man.

[Joey Jojo Junior Shabadoo]

Yeah, this looks good so far. The trailer had a good style going on, and I just read the first 40 or so issues of Ultimate X-Men, so I'm in that kind of mood now. Also, your style of writing seems like it might be very suited to this episodic format... since this way you don't have to write as much before you release it. lol.

Anyway, what's this about the Marvel Movie Universe? So you'll try to make it fit with the recent Iron Man and Hulk movies, and the upcoming movies that are crossing over with them? That sounds cool. I liked those movies. At first reading I thought you meant that we had some sort of MR Marvel Universe, like the one we were talking about a long time ago, or the MRDCU that ended up with only me actually releasing stuff. You were the one that came up with the MRDCU idea, weren't you? That was a cool idea. More people should get on that. Anyway, I was working on my Spider-Man for the remake contest, and thought if more people were doing Marvel material, we should try to get a MRMU working. That would be awesome. My script already talks a lot about Captain America and mutants, so if you wanted to work on it, we could try to incorporate bits from each other's material, and get others on board. I was thinking of posting what I have done at this point anyway, to get some feedback on it.

[TStape]

Thanks guys. And yeah Joey I'd definitely be game with that. They're just tiny references here and there but I think we could do it and get more people on board so maybe it'll increase activity.

[Dale]

enjoyed the trailer a lot. obviously i'm an x-men fan and an mr marvel universe to go along with the dc one would kick ass.

[TStape]

Thanks Daz.

I'm working on the pilot now. I'm trying to plan out a lot of the storyline before actually finishing the pilot. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going as of now. Like I have a start and an end with little bits in between but I need something to bridge it. It should be out soon. I'd say weekend.

[TStape]

This is postponed a week due to my family troubles, my grandma has terminal cancer, and I fried my other laptop in the middle of writing the pilot. :/

[Dale]

that sucks man ... on both counts.

[TStape]

Apr 18, 2010 23:51:10 GMT -5 Dale said:

that sucks man ... on both counts.

Yeah, but what can I do?

I'm still working on outlining everything now though. A series bible of some sorts.

[TStape]

Also added a good chunk of the cast. Might help give you and idea of what I'm going for here.

[Dale]

really love the idea of ben kinglsey as professor x and bell as dazzler (which is why she had a cameo in x5 as the dazzler)

[TStape]

Apr 22, 2010 4:04:14 GMT -5 Dale said:

really love the idea of ben kinglsey as professor x and bell as dazzler (which is why she had a cameo in x5 as the dazzler)

I looooooooove Bell so much and I needed another female character to balance things out and because there were some other things I wanted to invoke, so she fit the bill.

[Dale]

never been much of a fan of dazzler though. flashy lights as a mutant ability? please hehe.

[TStape]

Apr 22, 2010 19:21:22 GMT -5 Dale said:

never been much of a fan of dazzler though. flashy lights as a mutant ability? please hehe.

It's really tough figuring out how in the bloody fuck that's gonna work in a fight scene without sounding gay.