And here comes their hetero love interest

aka stop trying to make Moira/Charles happen, it's not going to happen!

I've watched X-Men: Apocalypse and generally liked it. I've had some problems with it (further elaborated in my main blog), but in total it has been fun. One of my bigger problems will be discussed here since it ties with a broader issue.

There are quite a few people who didn't like the Sharon/Steve kiss in Captain America: Civil War. I understand them. It was unnecessary and ultimately reduces Sharon's character to a love interest and/or substitute for Peggy. (I'm not going to open the lid on how it should have been Steve/Bucky, because I like to stay out of the more aggressive discussions in fandom.) But at least it wasn't at all in focus and at least Sharon was somewhat relevant to the plot. Not so Moira McTaggert in XMA.

Moira is absolutely and totally unnecessary to the movie. Her character adds nothing and does nothing of note and is literally just there to remind the audience that oh yes Charles did have a hetero love interest. This is not fair to her character or to the fans. Let's backtrack a bit.
In X-Men: First Class Moira was introduced as a career driven woman who had to hold her own in a violently sexist CIA. Throughout that movie she decides to support the mutants regardless of what her superiors might say. Charles flirts with her in the very beginning, but becomes professional as soon as he realizes why she's there. All of their further interactions (up until the kiss in the end) are friendly but stay professional. Because of James McAvoy (Charles) and Michael Fassbender's (Erik) outstanding chemistry, they actually cut scenes that would have furthered Charles and Moira's relationship. A big part of the press said afterwards that First Class was the tragic love story of Charles and Erik. James McAvoy himself said on multiple occasions that that's what he was going for. But regardless of that and shippers' unique perspectives (I have to admit I am horribly biased, because I love Charles/Erik with all my heart and if I had an OTP this would be it) you have to admit that if they had wanted to set up Moira/Charles as the love story in the movieverse they should've done so more thoroughly. (Besides: why does a franchise such as X-Men so desperately need a love story at all? Their universe is filled to the brim with gripping and emotional motivators that do not rely on romantic love, but who am I to judge.)
Notably Moira is completely absent from the following Days of Future Past (and a love subplot is also thankfully absent). Anyone who wants to argue that it's actually about Erik and Charles somehow fighting over Raven's romantic affection, are free to do so at their leisure, but cannot expect me to believe a word of it. Once again the most emotional scenes are between Charles and Erik, adding to the chemistry of the younger versions the incredible chemistry Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart have.
Along comes XMA and informs us that Moira has always been on Charles' mind and that she has been his great love all along while giving her nothing to do plotwise. It feels more than unrealistic and implausible. (It's almost more out of the blue than Erik's sudden family.) Especially considering once again the scenes Charles and Erik share. You can't claim to want to convince the audience that 'yup there's totally nothing between them at all' and then have Erik break out of his violent rage/Apocalypse' manipulation by remembering what he and Charles had.


I hope I did not rage too much or wrote too much from my shipper's point of view. I just wanted to call attention to a rather prevalent strategy in movies where they introduce a female character for the explicit and only purpose of being a love interest. Either because they believe every story needs a love story (it doesn't. it really doesn't) or because they can't find a reason for women to be there otherwise or because they want to discourage shippers and further heteronormativity. Rant finished.

Satori has a lot of feelings about that

P.S. To say it with James McAvoy's very own words: "It's kind of like a love story where you don't always like the person you're in love with, but you still love them. It's like, Charles and Erik always hate the way they approach things. He's just like "Ahhhh, he's always wanting to kill the humans! He's always going on about the same old shit!". And yet, I love the guy. I can't kill him, I don't want to mind control him, I love him."