WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
I’m probably going to say this again when I talk about James McAvoy but I honestly could not imagine a better choice to play a young Magneto. However, I know that is a natural thing to say when someone plays a role so well, Keanu Reeves and Neo for example. The one thing I will say and truthfully I only noticed this when recently rewatching X-Men First Class, is that Fassbender’s Magento does have a little bit of Irish in his German accent. He does get this under control in later films of course…
Jonah Hex
I’m sure that Fassbender isn’t the first actor to cross the boundaries between DC and Marvel and almost certainly won’t be the last. I actually thought I was going to have to ditch this film for something else because I had a bad feeling that he wasn’t going to be in this film for very long. He has at least two scenes before he gets his first line, so it was a case of ‘Oh no, he’s clearly not a very big character’. However, he turned out to be Turnbald’s right hand man – the Igor to his Doctor Frankenstein if you will. This guy plays crazy disturbingly well, even down to his laugh.
Eden Lake
I actually think this is the first time I’ve heard Fassbender speak with his actual accent! For those who don’t know, he is actually Irish. There’s no excuse for the behaviour of the kids at the beginning but what ensues for the rest of the film, and I’m not saying this disparagingly because you know John Wick, is all down to the death of a dog (not that Fassbender’s character Steve kills her on purpose). However, unlike John Wick, the kids don’t succeed in killing all their intended – only Steve which I was pretty gutted about as out of the two I would rather he be the one to survive but I guess it follows the trope of the ‘final girl’
A Bear Called Winnie
A lot of you will be thinking this is a story about A A Milne and the creation of the Winnie the Pooh stories. Well, you’d be partially right. This is actually the story of how Winnie makes it to London Zoo – following her stint as the mascot for the Winnipeg Veterinary Corp (now you see why she was called Winnie right?) Fassbender plays Lt. Harry Colebourn, who finds Winnie tied up outside a blacksmith’s after she has been orphaned in the wild. He chooses to save her from the same fate as her mother. I thought that the scene when Harry leaves Winnie at London Zoo and walks away into a forest of burnt trees is supposed to signify him dying as it’s such a beautifully subtle way of doing so, but this didn’t end up being the case.
Honorary Mentions
OK, I’m going to get one film out of the way first because it’s possible one of my favourite films. Fassbender’s role as Stelios in 300 came much earlier in his career than I realised, only 6 years, and with his crazy smile and having one of the best lines in the film, “Then we will fight in the shade”, makes him one of my favourite characters. This was also his first feature film as the first 6 years of his career was mainly TV films and shows work, appearing in an episode of Holby City as well as playing Burton P.Christenson in Band of Brothers. He has even worked with Quentin Tarantino in Inglourious Basterds.
