IN THE WORLD OF ‘X-MEN,’ BEING FEMALE IS NO BIGGIE
Jennifer Lawrence’s nephew is a huge X-Men fan, but even after
The Hunger Games movies, he still wouldn’t believe the X-Men:
Apocalypse star was actually playing a superhero.
“He came to visit on set and said, ‘Aunt Jen, I want to meet an X-Man,’ and I told him I was one,” Lawrence recalls. “He said, ‘No, a real one.’ He really only wanted to meet Beast or Magneto.” When it comes to X
Men comic books and movies, though, the female characters are more than equal to those with just one X chromosome. While other big-budget franchises struggle with equality, the mutants are just fine, thank you.
Apocalypse is jampacked with superpowered women: The 1980sset film (in theaters Friday; previews start Thursday night) offers Lawrence’s returning shapeshifter and de facto leader Mystique, young versions of the telekinetic Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) and weather mistress Storm (Alexandra Shipp), and the lethal debut of psychic swordwielding Psylocke (Olivia Munn).
Munn, a fan of X-Men comics since she was a kid, thinks the beauty of that world is how gender wars have no place in battle. “It didn’t matter if it was a man or woman standing opposite you, there would be somebody who would definitely be powerful and strong and a fierce opponent,” she says.
Making sure his X-Men movies have been filled with notable female characters has always been “extremely important,” says director Bryan Singer, who helmed X-Men (2000) and X2: X-Men
United (2003) — which featured Halle Berry’s Storm, Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey and Anna Paquin’s Rogue — before returning for X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014. The X-Men also have tackled racial inequality and themes of tolerance since their comic roots in the early ’60s, but “what’s great about these stories is you can empower people just by giving them powers and character,” he says.
Or, in Storm’s case, giving her a new look: a Mohawk that’s as fierce as her control over the elements.
“The minute they asked me if I would shave my head, I was like, ‘ You don’t have to ask me again. Yes,’ ” Shipp says. “It’s pretty groovy be- ing able to portray such a strong black female superhero. Not a lot of people get that chance.” Lawrence says she’s been lucky to have Katniss Everdeen and a number of empowered female roles on her résumé, “but as a whole, we are still underrepresented. I give credit to the writing in these films and the amazing casting that has made the female characters as iconic if not more iconic, than the men. And they kick ( butt).” That was definitely the appeal for Turner, best known for her role as Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones. Her Jean Grey, a fiery telepath, is arguably the most potent of all in Apocalypse. “Young people need strong superhero women that they can look up, both boys and girls,” the British actress says. Adds Munn: “It’s about a group of people who are born with these differences and are ostracized and targeted for it. Everybody can connect with that in some way.”