Darth, I kinda disagree with you on your point. Yes, fanboys have had a hand in this and all the comic book films. I think we are one of the reasons the most popular ones get made. But now that a franchise has been successfully established, it's the general public that drives its existence.

I've repeated it before but of the original X-men trilogy X3 was by far the most successful. Even though fanboys (including me) were disappointed that the great Dark Phoenix saga was handled poorly but the average moviegoer loved it.

If you were to take the movies as an original movie story rather than a comic adaptation the storyline works effectively. We were intro'd to the X-men and the world of mutants through Wolverine's eyes as the main character, we saw the romantic relationship between he and Grey developing (with Cyke as a third wheel to get squeezed out as in all romance movies). We had the second act end with a tragic lose for everyone. Then we saw the mutant/human tensions rise on all sides, the return of the lose with a foreshadowed horrifying edge that leads to even more death and destruction which can only be resolved by the horrible sacrifice the lovers must make to set the world right. It works as a good trilogy. I don't think the third act was well executed but the public did and they are who matters now.

With every movie being a success why in the world would you muck it up by re-booting from scratch. It would be like Marvel saying, "Yeah, the Avengers was a big success but there are some geeks who don't like some things we've done so now let's re-boot the whole thing. Let start with getting Tom Cruise to be Iron Man this time and change the origin around some."  Not going to happen.

 I can completely understand all the comic fans being very upset. But this can't be a surprise to any of you.

The studios don't make these movies for the fanboys, because they know you will see it anyway. If it isn't made by Marvel, you won't get the movie you want. First Class was a good movie with a crappy ending, and thats the best I expect from any studio(aside from Marvel itself) doing a Marvel adaptation. Use the recognizable name, appeal to the masses, and screw the real fans.

 I think that Avengers settles the debate on whether or not movies should be made for FANBOYS or not.  CLEARLY THEY SHOULD because they are better AND they make over a billion dollars.  Favreau created a KISS (keep it simple stupid) formula for creating faithful comic adaptations with the Iron Man movies and it's been followed with the who Avengers franchise.  While we can debate the quality of these movies against things like Spidey and Dark Knight, I don't think anyone can reasonably say there has been a bad one yet.  You don't want to over indulge the fanboys whose wish lists can get pretty intricate but when some director starts talking about an "organinc reimagining" of an established character it never turns out to be good.

Dazzler, Wolverine should be in every single comic printed.

Days of Future Past was one the best stories from X-Men right after The Dark Phoenix Saga which is...well...perfect.

 Bryzarro - just a thought - Superman III already kind of killed a franchise when you consider the fact that Superman Returns was made to totally ignore it and Superman IV...LOL

 Um, so does that mean Singer's X-Men will be making an appearnace?  I suspect we just see Wolvie's bones at some point and he doesn't figure into the story.  And, forget Kitty Pryde?  A rather confusing storyline for the beginning of X-Men.  

 My thing is this - I'm fine with them making movies that they think will appeal to both general moviegoers AND comic book fans.  I'm all for it.  Some friends of mine that used to make fun of me for reading comics started buying some trade paperbacks after seeing some of the Marvel movies.  Monkeyfoot has a point in that many general moviegoers will like it regardless.  However, Monkeyfoot, what I don't understand is WHY make a movie that in no way follows any of the comics and slap a specific and VERY famous comic title on it, like "First Class" or "Days of Future Past"?  They're pissing off some of us from the get go, because we know it will be nothing like those stories, and the 1% of comic book fans who DON'T have access to the internet will be pissed off in the theaters.  It's really got me scratchin' the old noggin.

It's like they're pulling X-storyline titles out of a hat, or just going with what they think sounds the coolest.

And I'll go out on a limb here and say I'll bet that "Captain America: Winter Soldier" will actually BE ABOUT The Winter Soldier...why couldn't "First Class" have actually BEEN ABOUT the first class?

Ok basically here it is, those that think it's ok to replace the original cast of the Xmen with random mutants, and screwed up timelines will never convince the rest of us that it's "Ok". You guys need change your opinions, get on board and  agree with US. LOL  ;)

 THANK you, violator...I didn't want to be the one who had to just come out and say it.  LOL