X-Men: The Last Stand, Poster, Plot, Cast and Trailer

X-Men: The Last Stand is a 2006 superhero film and the third in the X-Men series. It is directed by Brett Ratner, who took over when Bryan Singer dropped out to direct Superman Returns. The movie revolves around a “mutant cure” that causes serious repercussions among mutants and humans, and on the mysterious resurrection of Jean Grey, who appeared to have died in X2. The film is loosely based on two X-Men comic book story arcs: writer Chris Claremont’s and artist John Byrne’s “Dark Phoenix Saga” in The Uncanny X-Men and writer Joss Whedon’s and artist John Cassaday’s six-issue “Gifted” arc in Astonishing X-Men.

The film was released on May 26, 2006 in the United States and Canada. Despite mixed reviews from critics and fans, the film did well at the box office. Its opening-day gross of $45.5 million is the fourth-highest on record while its opening weekend gross of $103 million is the fifth highest ever.

Plot

A pharmaceutical company called Worthington Labs announces that it has developed an inoculation to permanently suppress the X-gene that gives mutants their powers, offering the so-called “cure” to any mutant who wants it; the cure is derived from a mutant boy named Jimmy, whose own ability is to automatically and unconsciously suppress the abilities of other mutants in immediate proximity to him. The cure was created because Warren, the son of Mr. Worthington, owner of the lab, is a mutant with angel-like wings growing out of his back, which he can actually use to fly. Worthington wants them gone, but when the time comes, Warren refuses and leaves and goes to Xavier’s school instead. While some mutants are interested in the cure, including the X-Men’s Rogue, many others are horrified by the announcement. In response to the news, the X-Men’s adversary Magneto begins to raise an army, warning his followers that, like his experiences in the Nazi Holocaust, the cure will be forcefully used to exterminate the mutant race.

Cyclops, still heartbroken about the loss of Jean Grey, returns to Alkali Lake, where Jean sacrificed herself to save the X-Men. He hears her voice and begs for it to stop, finally taking off his sunglasses and his eye beam shoots through the water. Jean then appears out of the water to Cyclops, and as the two kiss, Jean changes and appears to kill Cyclops. Sensing trouble, Professor Charles Xavier sends Wolverine and Storm to investigate. When they arrive, the two X-Men encounter telekinetically floating rocks, Cyclops’ glasses, and an unconscious Jean. Meanwhile Magneto ambushes a military transport and frees Juggernaut, and Multiple Man, during which Mystique blocks a shot of the mutant cure aimed at Magneto. Magneto then states that she is not “one of them” anymore, and he abandons Mystique, leaving her completely naked (as her mutation created her clothing) and alone. Shortly after, Dr. Hank McCoy resigns his position as Secretary of Mutant Affairs.

Xavier explains to Wolverine that the majority of Jean’s power is seated in her unconscious mind and that, as a result, her powers are largely fueled by instinct, and not under her complete control. In fact, when Jean was a little girl she was so powerful that he had to put telepathic blocks on her mind to help keep her powers under control. Her bottled up powers manifested themselves as an id-like alternate personality called the “Phoenix” — a purely instinctual creature, ruled only by its own violent desires. Initially skeptical, Wolverine becomes more convinced when Jean reawakens, acting strange and aggressive. He asks about Cyclops, but she cannot remember and fears she killed him. Jean pleads with Wolverine to kill her before she harms anybody else, but when he refuses and offers to have Xavier help her, the Phoenix resurfaces and telekinetically slams Wolverine into a wall. She then flees to her childhood home, with Xavier, Wolverine and Storm in pursuit. Magneto, also aware that Jean’s powers are loose, meets Xavier at Jean’s house. The two men plead for Jean’s loyalty until the Phoenix resurfaces, unleashing her devastating power. Furious at being caged within Jean’s subconscious for twenty years, she destroys her family’s house and engages in a psychic battle with Xavier. She eventually overpowers and disintegrates Xavier before leaving with Magneto.

Dark Phoenix unleashes her power

Following the losses of Xavier and Cyclops, and pained by her inability to get physically close to her boyfriend Iceman, Rogue decides to take the mutant cure. The X-Men regroup and confront Magneto’s army, which is attacking the pharmaceutical company’s laboratory on Alcatraz Island. The battle begins when Magneto moves the Golden Gate Bridge to land at Alcatraz Island, which is being guarded only by a company of soldiers. The Brotherhood’s first charge is ineffective as Magneto is unable to destroy the soldiers’ plastic weapons.

The first group of mutants, which Magneto refers to as “pawns”, are hit with the cure cartridges and overpowered. His minion, Arclight, destroys the weapons with its shockwaves as the X-Men arrive: Magneto derides them as traitors and orders his army to attack as the X-Men confront them to give Kitty Pryde time to save Jimmy, narrowly defeating Juggernaut.

Worthington himself is nearly killed, but his son, Warren flies in and saves him. Iceman goes one-on-one with his rival Pyro, where he transforms his entire body into ice, freezes Pyro’s hands, and defeats him by delivering a strong headbutt to Pyro’s head. Wolverine distracts Magneto while Beast injects him with the cure, nullifying his mutant powers. After this, Wolverine nearly coaxes Jean back to sanity; however, more soldiers arrive and fire upon Jean. The Phoenix quickly resurfaces and, in her rage, begins to disintegrate everything and everyone around her, vaporizing the soldiers along with Worthington Labs.

While the other X-Men, soldiers and the remnants of Magneto’s army flee to safety, Wolverine fights his way to Jean, relying upon his healing abilities to save himself from her destructive power. When he reaches her, the Phoenix coldly sneers at Wolverine being willing to die for the others, to which he retorts that he would only die for her. Momentarily regaining control, Jean begs Wolverine to save her. Wolverine confesses his love for Jean, and reluctantly kills her with his claws.

Despite the X-Men’s losses, life goes on. The school will continue without Xavier, with Storm now in control. The President appoints Hank McCoy to the United Nations to represent the entire United States: human and mutant. Rogue returns and tells Iceman she had to take the “cure.” The two reconcile and continue their relationship, now able to touch each other. Magneto, now an ordinary man, sits at a chessboard in a park and reaches out toward a metal chess piece that moves slightly, indicating that the mutant cure isn’t as permanent as was originally thought.

Following the closing credits, Dr. Moira MacTaggert checks on a comatose patient who greets her with Xavier’s voice, implying that he has transferred his mind into this new body.

X-Men

The X-Men are a special ops team from the Xavier Institute, charged with protecting both humans and mutants and trying to prevent a war between the two.

* Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine: Logan can regenerate spontaneously, a talent which allowed the painful implantation of a metal coating on his bones and metal claws that emerge from each hand.

* Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe / Storm: She can control the weather with her mind. Halle Berry 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 there was little difficulty reaching an agreement.[2]

* Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier: The founder of the Xavier Institute, who has uncharted telepathic powers and is confined to a wheelchair. He is an authority on genetic mutation as well as an advocate of peaceful relations between human and mutant kind.

* Anna Paquin as Marie / Rogue: A teenage runaway mutant who has found a home at Xavier’s school and falls in love with Bobby Drake. When she touches someone she absorbs their life force, their powers (if they are a mutant) and, if she holds on too long, she ends their life.

* Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Henry “Hank” McCoy / Beast: A former student of Xavier’s School who is now the Secretary of Mutant Affairs in the U.S. government. Beast is covered in blue fur and has a genius level I.Q., and heightened strength and agility. He is a brilliant scientist and researcher with vast intelligence and insight into mutant genetics.

* James Marsden as Scott Summers / Cyclops: The X-Men’s field leader. He emits powerful energy blasts from his eyes, and has to keep them in check with a ruby-quartz visor or sunglasses.

* Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake / Iceman: He can control the temperature of the moisture in the air around him to create constructs of ice or blasts of cold. Under extreme conditions, his body may take on many of the characteristics of ice in addition to those of a human.

* Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde: She can “phase” through matter, which allows her to walk through solid objects.

* Daniel Cudmore as Peter Rasputin / Colossus: He can transform his skin into an organic steel, granting superhuman strength and a resistance to damage and temperature.

The Brotherhood of Mutants

The Brotherhood is Magneto’s personal strike force, whose goal is to ensure mutant supremacy.

* Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto: Leader and founder of The Brotherhood, this incredibly powerful mutant can manipulate any form of metal. He is a Holocaust survivor who wages war against humanity in the name of mutant superiority, a goal that often pits him against his old friend Charles Xavier. Has very little interest in or regard for non-mutant human life. He has sophisticated knowledge in matters of genetic manipulation and engineering and has used radiation to mutate humans.

* Famke Janssen as Jean Grey / Phoenix: A former member of the X-Men who sacrificed herself to save her comrades, her former self, Jean Grey, died when she did this. She is resurrected as the Phoenix, a Class 5 mutant and possesses limitless telepathic powers as well as limitless telekinetic powers that can be used at a sub-atomic level. It is revealed that when she was young Xavier locked away a large portion of her power, which created two personalities within her, and that after the incident at the end of X2: X-Men United, the dark side of Jean’s persona known as the Phoenix is unleashed, and combined with her lack of control over her powers means she can disintegrate people and objects at will.

* Rebecca Romijn as Raven Darkholme / Mystique: Magneto’s blue-skinned right-hand woman can shapeshift to match anyone’s appearance and can fight with incredible agility and strength. She saves Magneto from a cure dart, loses her powers and is subsequently abandoned by the Brotherhood, later choosing to inform on them, though it is unclear if her information was intentionally unreliable or not.

* Aaron Stanford as John Allerdyce / Pyro: Former Xavier Institute student Pyro can manipulate fire, although he cannot start it (he carries a lighter - attached to a cuff on his wrist - with him at all times). He holds a grudge against his former friend Bobby Drake.

* Vinnie Jones as Cain Marko / Juggernaut: The Juggernaut is a new recruit to the Brotherhood. He is incredibly strong, fast, and once he gains momentum, he becomes next to unstoppable. Despite being the stepbrother of Xavier in the comics, there is no mention of his relation in the film. Also in the comics he is an enchanted human as opposed to a mutant.

* Eric Dane as James Madrox / Multiple Man: Multiple Man can split himself into multiple copies. He is a criminal who joins the Brotherhood upon their releasing him.

X-Men: The Last Stand Trailer