James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender’s Franchise-Saving Superhero Masterpiece Finds a New Streaming Home Next Month

X-Men: First Class changed the game when it came to the X-Men franchise. Quite literally. The Matthew Vaughn film gave fans a new take on Charles Xavier and his friend-turned-enemy, Erik Lehnsherr with James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender taking on the iconic duo. It was an “origin” of sorts and now fans can relive the magic (or watch it for the first time) when the film drops on HBO Max this coming December, when the McAvoy and Fassbender-led film will be heading to streaming.

X-Men: First Class was the start of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Charles (McAvoy) is working with Erik (Fassbender) to find mutants around the world, including Charles’ foster sister Raven (Jennifer Lawrence). The trio would eventually go on to be known as Professor X, Magneto, and Mystique. They find iconic X-Men characters like Darwin (Edi Gathegi) and Angel (Zoë Kravitz), as well as legacy characters like Scott’s brother, Alex Summers (Lucas Till). It also finally gave us beloved characters like January Jones‘ take on Emma Frost.

But what made X-Men: First Class so special was the film’s use of the lore of the X-Men as we know it mixed with a fun new take on these characters. It wasn’t changing the actors but, instead, giving us a look at who they were before they became the leaders of the Mutants and the X-Men as we know and love them. It also gave us a new wave of X-Men films, with X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Dark Phoenix all coming out as spin-offs or sequels from X-Men: First Class, which still remains one of the best movies in the entire franchise.

The Smartest Thing the ‘X-Men’ Franchise Did

Image via 20th Century Studios

Fans of the X-Men movies were burnt out by X-Men: The Last Stand and so when First Class came into the fold, it was a new way to appreciate our X-Men characters and see new actors take on the characters we’ve come to love. The films would eventually go on to unite Stewart and McKellan with McAvoy and Fassbender’s versions of their characters, but with First Class, we got a new look into how the X-Men came to be, and it was a glorious time for fans. First Class is just a really great superhero movie overall, perfectly expressed by the film’s 86% critics’ score and close 87% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes!

You can watch X-Men: First Class when it lands on HBO Max this December.

Release Date

June 3, 2011

Runtime

131 minutes

Director

Matthew Vaughn

Writers

Matthew Vaughn, Zack Stentz, Ashley Miller, Jane Goldman, Bryan Singer, Sheldon Turner

Producers

Bryan Singer, Gregory Goodman, Josh McLaglen, Lauren Shuler Donner, Stan Lee, Simon Kinberg