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X-Men: The Last Stand is the third film adaptation of Marvel Comics' X-Men superhero comic books. It was directed by Brett Ratner, with a script by the team of Simon Kinberg & Zak Penn. The previous two movies were X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003). The film was released on May 26, 2006 in the United States and Canada, and was released one or two days earlier in approximately 22 other countries.

The movie centers around a "mutant cure" that causes serious repercussions among mutants and humans, and on the mysterious resurrection of Dr. Jean Grey, who appeared to have been killed in X2. The film is loosely based on two X-Men story arcs, the "Dark Phoenix Saga" in The Uncanny X-Men, and "Gifted" in Astonishing X-Men.

Despite some mediocre reviews from film critics , X-Men: The Last Stand scored an opening-day gross of $45.5 million domestically , the second-highest opening day in film history after Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith ($50 million). It is ranked fourth among film debuts by generating an estimated $120.1 million domestically on its four-day Memorial Day opening weekend. The website The Numbers notes that the film's weekend gross "equals the record for the fewest number of days taken to earn $100 million, joining four other movies that achieved the feat in three days." .

Variety said the film is "a wham-bam sequel noticeably lacking in the pop gravitas, moody atmospherics and emotional weight that made the first two Marvel comicbook adaptations so rousingly successful". The Hollywood Reporter stated, "Though the picture is not without its wow-inducing, SFX-driven moments, that potent X-factor is considerably diminished in Singer's absence". . Rich Cline of the British movie e-zine Shadows on the Wall said, "At least Ratner knows how to handle both action and drama on screen, even if subtlety and substance fall by the wayside". . Critic and former comic-book writer Frank Lovece of Film Journal International said, "A risk-taking script with genuine consequences elevates this ... above the lackluster direction of Brett Ratner, whose competent mechanics move the story efficiently but with very little soul" .

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler Twenty years before the "present" (the setting implies the 1980s), Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, two mutant-rights activists, encounter an extremely powerful psychokinetic and telepathic pre-teen: Jean Grey. At the behest of her parents, the two men bring her into their care to teach her how to control her powers.

Ten years later, another mutant child, Warren Worthington III, attempts to cut off his wings with a rasp. When his father stumbles in on him, the older man vows to find a cure for his son's "illness."

Moving to "the not-too-distant future," Storm and Wolverine train with some students in the Danger Room. Meanwhile, a heartbroken Cyclops is haunted by memories of his deceased fiancée (at one point telling Logan that "not everyone heals as fast as you do") and returns to Alkali Lake, where Jean Grey had apparently sacrificed herself to rescue her fellow X-Men in X2. There, tormented by the sounds of Jean calling his name, he screams and fires an optic blast at the lake. Enveloped by light, Scott is shocked to see Jean Grey standing before him, alive and well. She tells Scott she wants to see his eyes, explaining she is more powerful than before and can prevent his optic blasts from hurting her. Scott reluctantly removes his glasses and opens his eyes. The two lovers then share a passionate kiss. And then something goes terribly wrong.

Shortly thereafter, Xavier is teaching an ethics class at the mansion, using a video of his colleague Dr. Moira MacTaggert, when he is interrupted by a telepathic disturbance. Moments later, shocking news comes over the television: Warren Worthington II, head of the Worthington Pharmaceutical Company, has announced that scientist Dr. Kavita Rao has developed an antigen that suppresses mutation. Suddenly, the X-Men face the philosophical dilemma of whether or not their mutant powers are gifts or hindrances. Especially affected is young Rogue, who cannot touch another person without draining his or her energy. Dr. Hank McCoy, a former student of Xavier and current U.S. Secretary of Mutant Affairs, returns to the mansion to offer his counsel.

In a San Francisco office building, resisting his father's wishes to cure his mutation, Warren Worthington III (Angel in the comics, though that name is unused in the film), escapes from a high-rise office building using his now full-grown wings.

Across the country, mutants rally to discuss the ramifications of the "cure". At a mutant gathering in a crumbling church (called a theater in the credits), concentration camp survivor Magneto, who attends with Pyro, warns the crowd that the cure will be used to eradicate mutant powers. Recruiting Callisto, Arclight, Psylocke and Kid Omega (whose powers appear to be those of Quill in the comics; see "Cast Notes" below), Magneto attempts to locate Mystique, who had been captured trying to steal information about the "cure". The group ambushes a prison convoy, freeing her along with the Juggernaut and the Multiple Man , and prepare to assemble an army to ambush the medical facility holding the source of the antigen—a pre-teen mutant named Jimmy, codenamed Leech in his government file—whose own power is to totally remove the mutant abilities of others while in their proximity, and whose blood is the ultimate source of the "cure". In their escape from the convoy, however, a guard attempts to shoot Magneto with a "cure" gun, but Mystique blocks the shot, having her powers removed. Magento realizes that Mystique saved his powers and mentions this to her before abandoning her. He then sees the gun as proof of his beliefs regarding forced treatment, and abandons the now fully human Mystique as a casualty of war.

Sensing trouble at Alkali Lake, Professor X sends Wolverine and Storm to investigate. When they arrive, they encounter an unconscious Jean, floating rocks evidencing some severe telekinetic disturbance, and no trace of Scott except for his discarded glasses. When they return to the mansion, a grave Professor X explains that when Jean survived the dam collapse depicted in X2, she unleashed a powerful split-personality which she called "Phoenix", previously kept in check by his telepathic blocks. A disgusted Wolverine finds the Professor's manipulation of Jean's mind — which Xavier rationalizes as "the lesser of two evils" — contrary to the Professor's own teachings.

Across the country, Callisto senses that Jean is now a "Class 5" mutant, and more powerful than Magneto himself. When Jean wakes up from her sleep, she sees Logan and after the two engage in a brief moment of passion, Logan realizes that she is not the Jean he knew, and asks what had happened to Scott. Jean momentarily regains her senses and pleads with Logan to kill her before she loses control of the Phoenix again. When Logan refuses, the Phoenix rises; telekinetically slamming Wolverine against a wall and smashing through a thick vault door, she escapes to the Grey family home.

There, Magneto and Professor X vie for her loyalty. As Wolverine and Storm engage in battle with the Juggernaut and others Magneto had brought with him, the enraged and resentful Jean destroys her family's house, disintegrates Professor X (though not before he tells her to "not let it control her"), and escapes with Magneto. Devastated by their loss, the remaining X-Men hold a funeral for their beloved teacher, erecting a large tombstone in the garden behind the mansion; elsewhere, even Magneto says sadly, "My single greatest regret is that Charles had to die in order for our dream to live on". The senior X-Men consider closing the school, until Warren Worthington arrives, asking if the school is really a sanctuary for mutants. Realizing they must continue Xavier's dream, the X-Men unite under Storm's leadership. Students Colossus, Kitty Pryde, and Iceman unite with Storm, Wolverine, and McCoy (who resurrects his old X-Men codename: Beast). Notably absent is Rogue, who has snuck off to seek the "cure".

Using information from the now-human Mystique, the army attempts to capture Magneto's army only to realize they have been deceived by Multiple Man. Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants have already moved on to San Francisco. To reach the Worthington Laboratories facility on Alcatraz Island, Magneto causes the Golden Gate Bridge to break free from its moorings, rise in the air, and move to fill the gap between the San Francisco mainland and Alcatraz. In the midst of the chaos, the X-Men arrive to defend the island against the Brotherhood. Kitty Pryde and Juggernaut begin running through walls looking for Jimmy. When they each locate the boy, Kitty uses Jimmy's powers to trick Juggernaut into rendering himself unconscious. Outside, the battle rages. Kid Omega, Psylocke, and Arclight enter the facility and find Dr. Rao and Warren Worthington II. Kid Omega kills Dr. Rao, while Arclight and Psylocke throw Worthington II off the roof, but Angel flies in and saves his father. As former friends Pyro and Iceman engage in battle, Magneto encourages Jean to channel her full power against the labs. However, Wolverine manages to distract Magneto long enough for Beast to stab him in the chest with four syringes full of the antibody.

With Jean raging out of control (demolishing the buildings of Alcatraz, disintegrating soldiers rushing to "cure" the quarreling mutants, and throwing water from the Bay high into the air), Storm gets the rest of the X-Men and humans to safety, with the now de-powered Magneto asking himself ,"What have I done?" Wolverine, who with his healing power can resist disintegration, is the only one who can reach Jean. Slowly and painfully, he makes his way to Phoenix, who asks pointedly, "You would die for them?" Wolverine replies, "No, not for them. For you". Jean resurfaces, and begs Logan to "save her". Wolverine tells her he loves her, and with tears in his eyes stabs her with his adamantium claws — killing her, ceasing the destruction of the island.

In the aftermath, Storm and Wolverine resume running the mutant academy. Rogue has returned, and confesses to Bobby she has taken the "cure", having decided that giving up her powers is better than living a life untouchable. McCoy is appointed to an ambassador position at the United Nations, with the President declaring an end to mutant oppression. Beside Professor X's tombstone two smaller tombstones are erected side by side in memory of Jean Grey and Scott Summers. In a park, Erik Lehnsherr, now simply an ordinary man, sits alone at a chessboard, looking tired and despondent. Then he reaches out, tentatively, holding his hand over a metal chess piece. It trembles slightly, revealing that the cure is either imperfect or impermanent, or that perhaps mutants of certain levels of power still retain their own.

After the credits roll, an additional scene depicts the man in a hospital bed from earlier in the film awakening from a comatose state and calling out to Dr. MacTaggert using Xavier's voice. Dr. MacTaggert replies, "Charles?"

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Project background

The director of the first two movies, Bryan Singer, left the project during preproduction in order to helm the film Superman Returns. Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) was hired to direct the third X-Men movie; he worked on the film for some time, but reportedly family issues led him to withdraw from directing before shooting began. He was replaced by Brett Ratner, who was among those originally considered to direct the first film, and, coincidentally, considered by Warner Brothers to direct the 2006 Superman project before it evolved into Superman Returns.

Production history

X-Men: The Last Stand began shooting in August 2005 and ended in December 2005.

On June 13, 2005, a review of an incomplete early draft of the screenplay posted by Drew McWeeny from Ain't It Cool News sparked controversy from fans, due to certain main characters' storylines. However, that draft was the very first of over two dozens drafts the film went through, and has had numerous changes happen to the storylines.

Patrick Stewart has publicly stated some information, which was met with fan speculation. According to Stewart, "It's very intense, it's very emotional, it's very personal about the individuals that we've already got to know in the first two movies. It has some astonishing set-piece sequences. It has a number of quite significant deaths. From what I've seen so far, I think, it's likely to be extraordinary."

Fox Filmed Entertainment Chairman Tom Rothman said The Last Stand is the end of a trilogy, but not necessarily the end of the X-Men film series: "These three movies work as a trilogy. These characters in this relationship, it's the culmination of that saga. It's the culmination and the resolution of those relationships laid out in the first two movies." In a recent interview, Brett Ratner echoed Rothman's comments: "We wanted to make sure the audiences knew that this was a trilogy. Even though they weren't made together like Lord of the Rings, this is really closure for the X-Men series. ... This is the last stand for sure."

Trailers

The official announcement teaser for the film was released in December 2005. A theatrical trailer was broadcast on Fox Broadcasting on March 6th, 2006. A seven-minute preview of the film aired on Fox May 11, 2006, from 8:30-8:37pm ET.

Cast notes

Nearly every actor from the previous two movies returned, the major exceptions being Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler) and Kelly Hu (Lady Deathstrike) from X2, and Ray Park (Toad) and Tyler Mane (Sabretooth) from the first film. It is interesting to note that all four actors have two-film contracts, despite Hu's character being killed in her film. The character that Cumming plays appears to have disappeared. James Marsden (Cyclops) appears, despite reported scheduling conflicts with the June 2006 movie, Superman Returns.

Halle Berry originally stated during interviews for X2 that she would not return as Storm in the third film unless the character had a significant presence comparable to the comic-book version. Brett Ratner also felt Storm required a larger role, and increased it.

Alan Cumming was reportedly uncomfortable with the long hours he had to take with the Nightcrawler makeup, but still planned to return for X-Men: The Last Stand. However, the part for Nightcrawler was so minimal, he felt it was not worth it to go through the long and costly make up process when he was barely in the film, and the character was cut. However, he did agree to do voice work for the character for the video game based on the film.

Additions to the cast include veteran TV actor Kelsey Grammer as Beast, former British footballer Vinnie Jones as the Juggernaut, actor-director Bill Duke as Trask, Ben Foster as the Angel, and Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde. New members of the Brotherhood of Mutants include Eric Dane as Multiple Man (whose name appears in Stryker's files in X2), Dania Ramirez as Callisto, Ken Leung as a Quill-like character listed as Kid Omega in the official credits, Mei Melançon as Psylocke, and Omahyra Mota, credited as simply Omahyra, as Arclight. While the Juggernaut is referred to in the official press notes as Professor Xavier's stepbrother, this is not mentioned within the film. The character Dr. Moira MacTaggert, who appears in the film, is not listed in the official press notes' cast list and goes uncredited in the finished film. She is played by the actress Olivia Williams.

Possible sequel(s)

Patrick Stewart and Halle Berry said that if the movie fares well, there will be more in the franchise. The final scene and the scene after the end-credits leave the possibility open. Vinnie Jones said that when contracting for his role as the Juggernaut, he signed for three movies, although this is standard procedure on planned franchise projects.

A Wolverine spin-off and a Magneto spin-off have been announced and are in the scripting stages.

Differences from the comics

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• Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Eric Lensherr (Magneto) are former friends in the comics, having met each other in a mental hospital in Israel. They parted ways after a confrontation with Baron Strucker (The Uncanny X-Men #161) years before the founding of the X-Men. In the films, the two are friends who founded the School for Gifted Youngsters before parting ways over their political beliefs regarding mutants.
• In this film, the Phoenix is portrayed as a repressed personality of Jean Grey, her latent "dark side", as opposed to a separate, superemely powerful cosmic entity which imitated her form, as in the comics. The idea of the Phoenix as a separate entity in the comics, however, came about as a retcon - originally, as in the film, the Phoenix was Jean, having acquired her ultimate potential as a telepath when faced with death (in this case, attempting to pilot a space shuttle through a solar flare in The Uncanny X-Men #100-101), only to have this result in a power-mad split personality. Additionally, the movie notes that she was kept from reaching this level of power by psychic barriers built in her mind by Professor X. Xavier also took this action in the comic books to a lesser degree, intially blocking Jean off from using telepathy until she had mastered her telekinesis, then dropping the barriers to allow her to grow into her powers.
• In the comics, several of the film's secondary characters, including Callisto and Leech, are members of the Morlocks, a group of mutants who live under New York City. No such affiliation is mentioned in the film.
• In the main timeline of the X-Men comics' continuity, Charles Xavier and Scott Summers never die, though Jean Grey does (and returns to life several times).
• In the comics "Dark Phoenix Saga", Jean kills herself, rather than forcing any of her friends to do the deed. In the film, Wolverine kills her, in a method that echoes the similar mercy killing of Mariko Yashida, his fiancée, in the comics.
• The "fastball special" that Wolverine and Colossus perform in this movie is dissimilar from that in the comics, where the throw is akin to throwing a baseball. In the movie, the move is similar to that of a track and field hammer throw.
• While Cain Marko, a.k.a. the Juggernaut, is Charles Xavier's stepbrother in the canonical Marvel Comics stories, no relationship between the two is acknowledged in the film. The official press notes, however, describe him as "the unstoppable giant who is also Professor Xavier's stepbrother".
• The Juggernaut is a mutant in the film, but in the comics, his power derives from a mystic jewel known as the Crimson Ruby of Cyttorak that, initially, was described as bound to his soul. In the parallel universe Ultimate Marvel version of the character, Juggernaut is a mutant with no apparent connection to Professor Xavier.

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Cast

Novelization

The novelization of the film, written by comic book writer Chris Claremont, was released on Tuesday, May 16, 2006.

Taglines

• Take a Stand
• Whose Side Will You Be On?
• The end has come. Destiny awaits...

Trivia

Template:Spoiler

• Longstanding X-Men comic-book icons seen in the film include the Danger Room and (as a hologram shown within) a giant, mutant-hunting Sentinel robot.
• The movie features the "fastball special", the famous tag-team move in Marvel Comics between Colossus and Wolverine, where the super-strong and much larger Colossus throws Wolverine at their opponent — in this case, a Sentinel, and, later, Magneto.
• Many of the minor mutants appear in different versions than in the original comics:
  • In the original comics, neither Spike, Psylocke nor Multiple Man are Brotherhood villains. However, in the alternative Ultimate Marvel universe, Multiple Man is a villain.
  • Kid Omega is portrayed as a mutant with spiky quills, arguably not in line with the psi-savant of the comics.
  • In the film, Callisto is depicted to have super-speed (new power) and a slight variation on her original super-acute senses (i.e., she senses the power levels of mutants). In the comics, the Marvel character Caliban at one time had superhuman speed and the ability to sense mutants and their power levels.
• In the first scene, the camera passes the Grey's mailbox, revealing the street-address number as 1769.
• Angel's wings were initially too heavy for Ben Foster, and were remade from foam.
• Storm & Callisto engage in two battles during the film. In the comics, Storm defeated Callisto to become leader of The Morlocks.
• For one sequence, a 2,500-foot replica of the Golden Gate Bridge was built.
• This is the first film that features the original six X-Men: Professor X, Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, and Jean Grey. However, all six are never together onscreen.
• X-Men co-creator Stan Lee and popular writer Chris Claremont have cameos in the film's opening scene, as neighbors in Jean Grey's old neighborhood. Respectively, they are credited as "Waterhose man" and "Lawnmower man".
• Ellen Page is the third actress to play Kitty Pryde in the X-Men movies. The others are Sumela Kay (X-Men) and Katie Stuart (X2). All three actresses are Canadian-born.
• Filmmakers considered utilizing the Beast character since the first X-Men movie, but reportedly due to budget constraints he ultimately was not used. However, in X2 someone identified as Hank McCoy does appear on a television screen in a cameo role.
• The casting of Kelsey Grammer and Vinnie Jones as the Beast and the Juggernaut, respectively, was one of Matthew Vaughn's main contributions to the project. Ellen Page and Ben Foster were brought in by Brett Ratner.
• The whirlwind wire-stunt Halle Berry performed in a fight scene caused her to vomit because of her motion sickness.
• The final battle between the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants was originally scripted to take place in Washington, D.C., but Ratner opted to change the location.
• All the actors (excluding Kelsey Grammer) performed some of their own stunts.
• The Juggernaut's line to Kitty Pryde — "Don't you know who I am? I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" — alludes to a popular parody video based on Juggernaut's character from an episode of X-Men: The Animated Series.
• In the opening, Professor Xavier tells Magneto that misusing power is not right. That is a central theme of the book The Once and Future King by T. H. White. In the beginning of X2, Magneto reads an old copy of the book in his prison cell, and Professor X uses the book as a teaching tool in the end of that movie.
• There is a scene at the Institute in which three identical girls are walking in the backgound. These could be the characters known in the comics as the Stepford Cuckoos.
• Psylocke appears in the middle of the film and at the end. She displays the power to blend into the shadows (one of her Crimson Dawn powers in the comics), and drops from a wall with Kid Omega and Arclight as they attack Warren's father. She does not use her trademark psionic knife.
• Colossus has only one line of dialogue in this film, just like in X2.
• Calisto, Psylocke, Kid Omega and Multiple Man are never referred to by name in the film.
• Arclight has no dialogue in the film.

Video game

Games publisher Activision released X-Men: The Official Game, the official video game tie-in to the film across all major videogame platforms on May 16th, 2006. The various editions of the game bridge the events of the films X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand and feature many of both films' prominent characters. Most notably, it provides an explanation to Nightcrawler's absence. Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Alan Cumming, Eric Dane, Shawn Ashmore and Tyler Mane (Sabretooth in the first film) reprise their film roles in this game. On April 4th, 2006, Activision confirmed that Sentinels, Lady Deathstrike, Pyro, and Sabretooth will appear in the game. Silver Samurai, Multiple Man and Magneto have also been included in the roster.

Footnotes

1. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/x_men_3_the_last_stand/
2. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/days/?page=open&p=.htm
3. http://www.the-numbers.com/index.php
4. http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=20443
5. http://scifipulse.net/Trek_ArchiveII/December2005/PatrickStewart_Dec05.html
6. http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1524305/02142006/story.jhtml?rsspartner=rssYahooNewscrawler
7. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/breakfast/4995028.stm
8. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458525/
9. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499519/
10. http://www.thexverse.com/assets/gallery/xtls/trailers/trailer/cap146.jpg

References

• Brett Ratner and Ellen Page interview, Starlog #345

• X-Menfilms.net
• TheXverse.com
• X-Men: The Last Stand (official site)
• Template:Ymovies title
• Template:Shh
• X-Men: The Last Stand at IMDb
• X-Men: The Last Stand at The-Numbers

• 2006 films
• Marvel Comics movies
• Sequel films
• X-Men films
• Action films