When Rothman believed wholeheartedly in something, he could be a filmmaker's greatest friend and champion, and conversely, on those occasions he didn't fully believe in something, he could frustrate a filmmaker enormously. The greatest example of a property that saw both highs and lows under Rothman's management would be the "X-Men" series. During production on that first film, Rothman moved into his management position, and he was deeply unsure about the project. He hedged the studio's bet as best as he could, trimming both schedule and budget once they were in production, scaling the film back. There were elements of the comics that he simply didn't like, and one of the reasons the film version is set in such a markedly different world than the comics is because Rothman insisted. When the first film was a hit, he did give the creative team more room, and the result was what is generally regarded as the best of the "X-Men" films so far, "X-Men 2." Even so, it's always been a matter of friction between his vision of the franchise and the vision of the filmmakers in charge of things. In a perfect world, Fox would be five or six films into a strong unified franchise, taking full advantage of the story opportunities that exist in decades worth of "X-Men" storytelling. Instead, a personality clash with Bryan Singer hobbled the series at a crucial moment, and until last year's "X-Men: First Class," it looked like the entire series was going to end up dented and ruined, a waste of an amazing asset. In general, Marvel comic movies have not fared well at the studio, and Rothman's personal feelings about the material got in the way of what should have been fairly simple adaptations.