X-Men: First Class - From Strip to Screen part 2

Right, on with part two then - you won't have to scroll far to find part 1! In my previous post I covered the new mutants we saw who joined the fledgling X-Men under Xavier in the 60s during the Cuban Missile Crisis, in this post I'm going to look at the instigators of that crisis - The Hellfire Club.

First of all I think it would be worth looking at the organisations as a whole. In the comics the Hellfire Club is an ancient organisation for the wealthy to hide away from society and enjoy vice, with an inner circle using their influence to seek world domination, with the overall leader being Sebastian Shaw, a mutant. In the movies the Hellfire Club is a gentleman's club where the wealthy and influential can enjoy vices, but it is secretly being run by a handful of mutants who use the club as a cover to create deals and manipulate the players they want into carrying out their wishes.

Let's look at the members.

Sebastian Shaw (Screen)
Real Name: Sebastian Shaw
Power: Kinetic Energy Absorbtion
Affiliation: Hellfire Club





Sebastian Shaw is an exceptionally poweful mutant who was playing a long game to secure world dominance for mutants. His power to absorb energy gave him a very long life, appearing to age little in over 20 years. During World War 2 he worked for the Nazis, not caring about 'human' wars, only interesed in researching mutants. He discovered the boy Magneto and killed his mother to reveal his power. He knew nuclear energy triggered mutation so he used the Hellfire Club and his team of mutants to manipulatethe world into Nuclear war. He was stopped by the X-Men, who discovered his plan and banded together to stop him, ultimately he was killed by Magneto, who had come to agree with his beliefs, but refused to forgive him for killing his mother.

Sebastian Shaw (Comics)
Real Name: Sebastian Shaw
Power: Kinetic Absorption
Affiliation: Hellfire Club









After discovering his power at a young age shaw was driven to succeed forming a billion-dollar industry, attracting the attention of the Hellfire Club, whom he soon joined. He joined with other mutants in the group, expanding his influence before staging a coup and taking over the group, reforming the clkub for his goal of world-domination. He has clashed with the X-Men numerous times and his position within the club has changed, but he is always a driving force and his goal remains the same.

Emma Frost
Real Name: Emma Frost
Power: Telepathy, Diamond Skin
Affiliation: Hellfire Club, Brotherhood








Emma Frost was second-in-comand to Sebastian Shaw and also his lover. She wore provicative clothing like the other girls of the Helfire Club to mask her importance and to gain access to Key political figures. She brought Colonel Hendry of the U.S. to Shaw to manipulate the Navy's position and was caught seducing a Russian Commander who was forced into moving his nation's hand towards the Hellfire Club's goal. She was captured by Xavier and Magneto and later rescued by the Brotherhood.

Emma Frost (Strip)
Real Name: Emma Frost
Power: Telepathy, Diamond Skin
Affiliation: Hellfire Club, X-Men











As a young girl Emma was born into wealth and power but chose to make her own way in the world. She became involved in the Hellfire Club as a dancer, also building her business empire. She eventually became a leading member of the club, allying with Sebastian Shaw and other mutants to take over the group and become it's white queen. She clashed with the X-Men as they both tried to recruit mutants for their respective organizations and again in various battles. I know Emma best in her more recent guise as co-leader of the X-Men with her lover Scott Summers, though Emma has had more than one change of allegiance since then.

Azazel (Screen)
Real Name: Unknown
Power: Teleportation
Affiliation: Hellfire Club, Brotherhood





Azazel is a Russian mutant with Red Skin and a demonic tail. He was a member of the Hellfire Club, who largely kept to the side in their operations due to his unusual appearance. He was a fierce combatant, combining his teleportation skills with deadly knives, appearing to slash a victim before teleporting away. He also used the horrific tactic of teleporting his victims up into the air then letting them drop. When the Club was defeated he joined Magneto's brotherhood.

Azazel (Strip)
Real Name: Azazel
Power: Teleportation
Affiliation: Neyaphem









Azazel actually has nothing to do with the Hellfire Club is comics, instead leader of the Neyaphem, a group of ancient demonic mutants who live in another dimension. The only one of his kind who could reach our dimension he had a number of children with women he met on Earth, including Mystique with whom he had a son, Nightcrawler. He tried to lead his forces to Earth by sacrificing his children but was stopped by the X-Men including Nightcrawler who turned his back on his father.

Riptide (Screen)
Real Name: Janos Quested
Ability: Weather manipulation
Affiliation: Hellfire Club, Brotherhood





Riptide has the ability to create tornadoes of various dimensions and use them in battle. He was a key figure of the Hellfire Club, piloting their hidden submarine and battling the X-Men. When Shaw was defeated he joined with Magneto to start the Brotherhood.

Riptide (Strip)
Real Name: Janos Quested
Power: Spinning
Affiliation: Marauders







Again, much differing from the movie version. The established comics version of Riptide can instead spin his body at such speeds as to become a living tornado, rather than actually creating tornadoes himself. Riptide successfully engaged the X-Men as part of the Marauders team, but was bested by Colossus who killed him. He has since been cloned by Mister Sinister and several verisons of him have again engaged the X-Men as part of the Marauders.

So that's it for this movie. While it makes some pretty big jumps from the established comic storyline I think First Class re-used these characters well to create it's updated version of the Hellfire Club.

As for the rest - we'll see...