Poster © 20th Century Fox. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction & Sci-Fi
RatedPG-13
Runtime2 hr 11 mins
ReleasedJune 3, 2011
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorMatthew Vaughn
StarringJames McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence
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X-Men: First Class (2011)
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| X-Men: First Class's Details | |
| Genre | Action & Sci-Fi |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 05/25/2011 (Ziegfeld Theatre); 06/01/2011 (United Kingdom); 06/03/2011 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 11 mins |
| Budget | $140–160M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | X-Men by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby |
| Country | United States, United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| X-Men: First Class's Interests | |
| General | Cerebro, late-night chess, blue and yellow jumpsuits, a mansion full of mutants, the Hellfire Club. |
| Music | Henry Jackman |
| Movies | X-Men (2000). The team's first big-screen outing. Kingsman (2014), Vaughn suits up again. |
| Television | X-Men: The Animated Series. Same mutants, the most iconic theme song of the nineties. |
| Heroes | Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult). Genius scientist, big feet, bigger heart. |
| X-Men: First Class's Crew | |
| Director | Matthew Vaughn |
| Writers | Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn, Sheldon Turner (story), Bryan Singer (story) |
| Producers | Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, Gregory Goodman |
| Cinematography | John Mathieson |
| Music | Henry Jackman |
| Edited By | Lee Smith, Eddie Hamilton |
| Production | 20th Century Fox, Marvel Entertainment, The Donners' Company, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Film Partners |
| Distributed By | 20th Century Fox |
Submarines, swanky lounges, a villain with a bachelor pad under the sea: First Class is a spy movie first and an X-Men movie second. Mostly that’s a compliment. January Jones’s Emma Frost is the one big miss, an ice queen with almost nothing to do. The recruitment montage is cheesy, and some of the young mutants barely get a personality. But Michael Fassbender’s Erik is incredible, a man tracking down the people who hurt him from country to country. James McAvoy plays young Charles as a charming, cocky Oxford guy who still thinks everyone can be talked down. Their friendship is the whole movie, and you know where it’s headed, which is why it hurts. Kevin Bacon is having the time of his life as Sebastian Shaw. The opening in the concentration camp is played straight and serious, as it should be. A 7.9 because it’s stylish, fast and the best Charles and Erik story the series ever told. $964 says you try to give every one of your friends a code name before the weekend is over.
What works: Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy make the Charles and Erik friendship feel real, and the sixties spy styling gives it a fresh look.
What doesn’t: Emma Frost is a blank, several young recruits barely register, and the training montage leans hard into cheese.
Who it’s for: People who like spy movies and superhero movies equally, and anyone who wants the best version of the Charles and Erik friendship.
Spoilers
Erik kills Shaw during the Cuban Missile Crisis showdown, and a deflected bullet leaves Charles unable to walk. Erik leaves with Raven and a group of mutants as Magneto, and Charles starts his school.
Long before anyone called them the X-Men, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) is a charming Oxford genetics student who can read minds, and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) is a Holocaust survivor who can move metal and is hunting the man who tormented him as a boy, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon). It's 1962, Cold War tension is climbing, and CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) needs Charles's help. Charles, Erik and Charles's adopted sister Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) start recruiting young mutants. Matthew Vaughn directs. One hundred thirty-two minutes, peak sixties tailoring.
Anyone who has ever been told to hide who they are. You belong here.
| James McAvoy | |
| Michael Fassbender | |
| Jennifer Lawrence | |
| Rose Byrne | |
| January Jones | |
| Oliver Platt | |
| Kevin Bacon |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $352.6M; Domestic box office $146.4M; Opening weekend $55.1M; Profit / loss (est.) -$48.7M; Rotten Tomatoes 86%; CinemaScore B+; box office chart updated; RT 86% (294 reviews); Metacritic 65 / 100; CinemaScore B+; IMDb users 7.7 / 10 (775,787 votes); movie.guru score 7.3.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.