X-Men: First Class revealed how Professor X and Magneto became friends then enemies. After seeing the movie some friends want to know how different the film is from the comics. I’ve selected key story points and explained the difference. I’ve provided links to the collections on Amazon if you’re shopping for an X-fan or want to learn more about the comics inspiration for the movie.

  Professor X and Magneto’s friendship: Charles and Eric originally met in Israel at a clinic for Holocaust survivors. The two reveal their mutant powers while saving Charles’s girlfriend, Gabrielle Haller, and stopping a Nazi war criminal, Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and his Hydra agent. During the battle Professor X prevents Eric from killing the Baron and they part ways.

  Professor X and Mystique: Mystique always has her own agenda and was never a childhood friend of Professor X or Magneto’s lover. Mystique’s real name is Raven Darkholme. Her greatest love is Irene Adler, a mutant code name Destiny, who could see possible futures. Mystique and Azazel are the parents of the X-Man Nightcrawler. Mystique and Wolverine enemy Sabretooth had a child named Graydon Creed. Mystique formed her own Brotherhood of Evil Mutants that appeared in Days of Future Past. Mystique adopted and raised the X-woman, Rogue. Mystique had her own solo series and she reluctantly worked on missions for Professor X.

  Professor X and Moira MacTaggert: Moira was not an American CIA agent. Charles met the Scottish science student at Oxford. Moira became a renowned geneticist and gave birth to a mutant child. Kevin MacTaggert grew up to become Proteus, one of the X-men’s greatest enemies. Moira and Banshee eventually became lovers.

  Professor X’s paralysis: Professor Xavier was actually crippled by an alien calling itself Lucifer. In the comics Charles would regain his ability to walk, have it taken away then gaining it again.

  The original X-Men team in the movie: Beast, Banshee, Havok, Mystique, Angel, and Darwin.  The original X-Men in the comics were Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, Angel (Warren Worthington) and Marvel Girl (Jean Grey.)

  Havok is the younger brother of Cyclops. Alex would later join the X-Men and lead his own team, X-Factor. Banshee is an Irishman and former criminal who joined the X-men. Angel (Angel Salvadore) was a student at Xavier’s who joined Magneto’s team. She was not a dancer. Darwin is long lost X-Man Professor X believed to have died but survived due to his adaptability mutation.

  Beast is Hank McCoy. In the movie, Hank has beastly feet but in the comics his entire physical build was mutated. Hank never fell in love with Mystique. An experiment gone wrong at the Brand Corporation turned Hank into his blue furry self. Beast was a longtime member of The Avengers. Hank’s girlfriends have included television reporter Trish Tilby and secret agent Abigail Brand.

  Sebastian Shaw was the Black King of the Hellfire Club’s Inner Circle and not a Nazi war criminal. Shaw did have the power to absorb kinetic energy. Shaw and Emma Frost were lovers.

  Emma Frost was the White Queen of the Hellfire Club. Emma is a powerful telepath. who later developed a secondary mutation of being able to turn her body to diamond form. Grant Morrison wanted Emma in his X-Men stories so he developed the secondary mutation concept for Emma since the team already had two telepaths. Frost and Shaw were lovers and ruled the Hellfire Club’s Inner Circle. Emma later reformed, became a co-headmaster of a new mutant school in a book called Generation X. Emma joined the X-Men in E is For Extinction. In Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon, Cyclops and Emma declared their love for each other and became co-leaders of the X-Men.

  The Hellfire Club was based on a real high society organization of the rich and powerful known for decadent parties and political and economic influence. In the X-Men’s world the Club had a secret Inner Circle of mutants who used their power to build huge financial empires. Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost ruled it with titles of Black King and White Queen, taken from chess. The Hellfire Club, Shaw and Frost are at their best at being evil in the classic storyline, The Dark Phoenix Saga.

  Riptide was a member of the Marauders, a unit of mutant mercenaries. He was not associated with Shaw. Riptide was responsible for multiple killings and the maiming of Nightcrawler in the classic crossover, The Mutant Massacre.

  Azazel is the father of the X-Man Nightcrawler. The red skinned killer lived in a dark dimension and fathered several demon looking mutants with teleportation powers. Azazel had his own agenda and never worked for Shaw. Nightcrawler’s origin was revealed in a storyline called The Draco.

  If you have any more questions about X-Men: First Class I’d love to hear from you.