This summer's blockbuster prequel X-Men: First Class, indirectly treated its audiences to a history lesson.

Actor Michael Fassbender, who plays the militant mutant Magneto says the conflicting and complicated lives of Malcolm X and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. directly informed the performances of the film’s two lead actors. X-Men: First Class is the story of two massively powerful mutants who struggle against bitter prejudice.

“It came up early on in the rehearsal period and that was the path we took,” Fassbender told the Los Angeles Times. “These two brilliant minds coming together and their views aren’t that different on some key things. As you watch them you know that if their understanding, ability and intelligence could somehow come together it would be really special. But the split is what makes them even more interesting and tragic.”

Actor James McAvoy, best known for his role in the feature film Last King of Scotland, plays Charles Xavier/Professor X, the King-influenced mutant.

(Photo: 20th Century Fox)