Here’s How Old the X-Men Should Actually Be in Dark Phoenix

The X-Men franchise might have stumbled onto a good idea when decided to reboot the franchise in the past, showing the rise of Professor Xavier and Magneto as they dealt with growing anti-mutant hysteria and new students starting to grapple with their powers. But as the franchise has continued with each film dwelling on a certain era, a lot of simple problems have been presented that could have been avoided. And now Dark Phoenix should be starring a people the same ages as actors like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan.

The main problem with the current X-Men series is how the franchise insists on setting the films in different decades, keeping the same actors while they age in real time. This makes it somewhat hard to believe that Professor Xavier, Mystique, and Magneto only look 10 years older despite the films taking place over the span of three decades.

Based on simple math, the X-Men characters should be A LOT older than they appear on screen — and a lot older than their actors who portray them.

As established in X-Men: First Class, Professor Xavier was born in 1932. And with Dark Phoenix taking place in 1993, that would make Xavier 61 years old. Actor James McCoy is only 40 years old, and he doesn’t even appear to be that age. Despite the shaved head, this is one of the biggest discrepancies in the timeline.

Next is Xavier’s childhood friend Raven Darkholme, AKA Mystique. She was born a couple years later in 1934, so she would be around 59 years old by the time of Dark Phoenix. Lawrence hasn’t even half as long as that, as she’s only 28 years old. Then again her character has shape-shifting abilities that seemed to make sense for Rebecca Romijn, so it stands to reason that it could work here. But still, it’s yet another major plot contrivance.

Rounding out the main trio, Michael Fassbender‘s Magneto should not look as great as he does for someone who was a teenager during the holocaust. The character was born in 1930, which would make him 63 by the time of Dark Phoenix. Be honest: does Fassbender even look like someone who could pass as a 60-year-old man?

Other main characters include Beast, but Nicholas Hoult’s character does have minor shape-shifting abilities that could work like Mystique’s. And then there’s Quicksilver, who first appeared as a teenager in Days of Future Past, so he could technically be in his mid-30s by the events of Dark Phoenix.

The younger generation first appeared in X-Men: Apocalypse, so this ’93 setting is a lot less egregious. But for everyone else, we just have one question: Who are you trying to fool!?

Dark Phoenix is now playing in theaters.