'X-Men: First Class' New Trailer

On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy spoke on television about the growing threat from the Cuban Missile Crisis. He said, "The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it." The entire nation watched Kennedy lay out his administration's plan to keep the Soviet Union from launching nuclear weapons from Cuba. Including, it seems, Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, better known to comic book and movie fans as Professor X and Magneto.
That's how the brand-new trailer for "X-Men: First Class" begins. Originally posted to Facebook for fans, it's now available for all to see. Watch it below, then keep reading to learn what this first preview tells us about this prequel to the original "X-Men" films.  In "X-Men: First Class," Charles Xavier (James McAvoy, playing the role originated by Patrick Stewart) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender, stepping in for Ian McKellen) are compatriots, bound together by their mutant abilities that have not yet been revealed to the world. When a band of evil mutants, the Hellfire Club, begins working behind the scenes to orchestrate a nuclear war, Xavier and Lehnsherr put together a team of young mutants to stop them.
The new trailer gives us the first look at Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw, the leader of the malevolent Hellfire Club. He is assisted by Emma Frost (played by January Jones), who can be seen mutating her skin into diamonds. There is also a brief look at Azazel (Jason Flemyng), the red-skinned villain who is able to teleport (much like his future son, Nightcrawler, who appeared in "X2").
Plus, the trailer gives us the first look at the teenage mutants who become the original team of X-Men. Beast (Nicholas Hoult) is seen before, after, and during his transformation into his more familiar furry appearance. Also there is a shot of Mystique (Oscar-nominee Jennifer Lawrence, taking over for Rebecca Romijn) changing from her human form to her natural blue-skinned state. New members of the team are also highlighted, including Angel Salvador (Zoe Kravitz), the young woman with the insect wings.  There is also footage of Havok (Lucas Till), who blasts energy out of his hands -- in the same way his brother, Cyclops, does with his eyes in the earlier films.
Director Matthew Vaughn told Entertainment Weekly that the 1960s setting makes this film like "X-Men meets [James] Bond, with a little bit of 'Thirteen Days' thrown in." It's clear in the trailer that the style of the '60s is everywhere in the movie, from the character's regular clothes to their X-Men uniforms, which copy the blue-and-yellow color scheme from the original comic books. Obviously, there is a lot of action in the movie, but Vaughn insists there's more to it than that. He said, "It's got a lot of teenage angst. The 'Twilight' girls will like it."
"X-Men: First Class" will arrive in theaters on June 3.