THE 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. X-Men film appearances in green.

Patrick Stewart as
Professor Charles Xavier
X-Men, X2, The Last Stand

Founder of the X-Men and the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, Xavier hopes for peaceful coexistence between mutantkind and mankind and is regarded as an authority on genetic mutation.

Although he is restricted to a wheelchair, he is a powerful mutant with vast telepathic abilities. Along with Magneto, he is the inventor of the Cerebro supercomputer, which further amplifies his abilities.

Stewart signed to the third film without knowing Xavier would die, and not meeting original director Matthew Vaughn - both would meet in Manchester, where Stewart was filming Eleventh Hour, but eventually Brett Ratner called to introduce himself as the new director.

Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine
X-Men, X2, The Last Stand

A Canadian mutant born, tough, rugged, belligerent loner who makes a living in cage fights. He has lived for fifteen years without memory of who he is, apart from his dog tags marked "Wolverine" and an adamantium-encased skeleton (as well as adamantium claws).

He has enhanced, animal-like senses, enabling him to sense other people, and the ability to heal rapidly from numerous injuries, including the surgery that bonded the metal to his skeleton, which makes his age impossible to determine.

For the third film, Jackman was pleased to see that the script allowed Wolverine to expand his character choices, as instead of questioning whether he would remain a loner or join the X-Men, Logan now is asked if he will play a leadership role in the X-Men.

Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe / Storm
X-Men, X2, The Last Stand

She works as a teacher at the X-Mansion and has the ability to manipulate the weather. Ororo has become bitter with other people's hatred for mutants, and in the first film while comforting a dying Senator Kelly, says that she sometimes hates humans, but mostly because she is afraid of them.

In the third film, she becomes the leader of the X-Men in Cyclops' absence, Berry had stated during interviews for X2 that she would not return unless the character had a significant presence comparable to the comic book version, leading to a larger role in The Last Stand's script.

The character was given a more modern haircut, and costume designer Judianna Makovsky opted to give Storm more black clothes, a color she only wore in the leather costume for previous films, to make her "tougher and sexier".

Famke Janssen as Dr. Jean Grey
X-Men, X2, The Last Stand

She is in a relationship with Cyclops and works as the doctor of the X-Mansion. She has the powers of telekinesis. She also has powers of telepathy like Xavier, although her powers are much less advanced than that of his, displayed when she is stunned by the usage of Cerebro.

In the second film, Jean begins to experience vast and at times uncontrollable growth in her telepathic and telekinetic abilities since Magneto's machine was destroyed in the first film.

In the third film, Grey gives in to her alternate personality, the Phoenix, an aggressive Class 5 mutant who possesses potentially limitless telepathic and telekinetic powers. Magneto coaxes her to join The Brotherhood.

Her mutant powers rival those of Professor X. To mark the change from Jean Grey to Phoenix, her wardrobe focused on red colors, and everyday fabric in contrast to the leather costumes of the X-Men. Digital make-up also made Jean's face darken her skin, show some veins and have her eyes go black. Haley Ramm plays Jean as a child.

James Marsden as
Scott Summers / Cyclops
X-Men, X2, The Last Stand

He rescues Wolverine and Rogue from a truck explosion, taking them to safety to the X-Mansion, where they live. He is the second-in-command of the X-Men and is the team's field leader when they are out on missions as well as an instructor at the Institute.

He is in love with Jean Grey and has a relationship with her that eventually evolves to engagement. He produces a strong red beam of force from his eyes, which is only held in check by sunglasses. In combat, he uses a specialized ruby-quartz visor, which also enables him to control the strength of the beam to fire.

Anna Paquin as Marie / Rogue
X-Men, X2, The Last Stand

A seventeen-year-old girl forced to leave her home in Mississippi when she puts her boyfriend into a coma by kissing him. If she touches anyone she absorbs their memories and life force, and, in the case of mutants, absorbs their powers as well. While at the Xavier Academy she begins a romance with Bobby Drake.

Paquin declared that while Rogue did not have "a large physical component in the third movie", the "adult decisions" the character was forced to do made for more intensity on the emotional side.

Shawn Ashmore as
Bobby Drake / Iceman
X-Men, X2, The Last Stand

A student at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters who takes a liking to Rogue. He can change temperatures to subzero degrees and use the moisture in the air to create ice. Ashmore's commitments to X-Men made him decline Bryan Singer's invitation to play Jimmy Olsen in Superman Returns.

The actor was content with his bigger role after Bobby joined the X-Men main team in X2, as during the predecessor's production he wondered "'When do I get to freeze something or get into a fight?'"

Daniel Cudmore as
Peter Rasputin / Colossus
X2, The Last Stand

Cudmore was set to use a Russian accent, but Singer dropped the idea for unknown reasons, and onset rewrites minimized the character's importance to a cameo in the second film.

Cudmore wore a foam latex muscle suit covered with a chrome�plated plastic plus a hard plastic head to have the metal skin on the set, with some digital augmentation being used to enhance the facial expressions. In the third film, a digital double was used only for stunts that could not be achieve practically, such as the Fastball Special where Colossus throws Wolverine.

Ben Foster as
Warren Worthington III / Angel
The Last Stand

The mutant son of an industrialist, who has feathered wings which allow him to fly. He is played as a child by Cayden Boyd. The static wings were models with a 15 feet (4.6 m) wingspan and 5 feet (1.5 m) height glued to Foster's back, replaced with computer-generated ones when movement was required.

Kelsey Grammer as
Dr. Hank McCoy / Beast
The Last Stand

A former student of Xavier's Institute for Gifted Mutants who is now a member of the U.S. Cabinet as the Secretary of Mutant Affairs, Beast is a brilliant scientist and statesman.

He is covered in blue fur and has heightened strength and agility, as well as pointed fangs and a lion-like roar. Grammer's make-up took up two hours to apply, painting his face blue before applying prostethics, and a muscle suit covered with a hand�punched fur suit.

Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde / Shadowcat
The Last Stand

A mutant with the ability to phase through matter and walk through solid objects, her clear affection for Iceman further adds to the tension already present between Iceman and Rogue. Maggie Grace was considered for the role, before Ratner cast Page, who impressed the director with her performance in Hard Candy

Excerpts and References:
wikipedia.org, imdb.com

Detailed Plot and Screenshots

THE LAST STAND: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | Page 01

The movie opens in a quiet suburban neighborhood in the 1980's. Xavier and Magneto are arriving at the Grey home to both personally evaluate a potential new student for the school Xavier has established for mutants. Mr. and Mrs. Grey call their young daughter, Jean, down to speak with Magneto and Xavier. As Jean sits, Xavier senses immediately that she's telepathically reading his and Magneto's thoughts, and gently admonishes her, saying that he and Magneto are 'like her.'

In a surprisingly adult-like voice for a young adolescent, Jean says she doubts either of them are like her. A second later, all the cars outside begin to levitate off the ground, much to the amazement of Xavier and Magneto. A man watering his garden gawks as the water coming out of his garden hose begins to flow straight upward. Xavier quietly asks Jean if she wishes to learn to control her immense power, or let it control her.

Cut to ten years later, in a high-rise luxury building. A boy scrapes at his back, crying as he does so. The boy's father, Warren Worthington II knocks on the bathroom door, concerned. He asks his son to open the door. Warren III cries out suddenly, in fright, for his father to give him one second, and starts hurriedly trying to hide what he's been doing.

Several bloody rags are seen besde the sink, and Worthington hears the sound of clanking as his son rushes to hide his razor and several other sharp metal objects. Knowing something is seriously amiss, Worthington kicks the door in and sees what his son was trying to hide. Several bloody feathers are on the bathroom floor, having sprouted from Warren III's back. Warren III is a mutant.

In the present day, the X-Men are in Xavier's training simulation chamber playing out a defense against a futuristic robotic attack. Colossus turns himself and Rogue into organic steel to protect them both from flying debris. Iceman stops an incoming guided missile by freezing it, knocking out its heat sensors. Just then, another one comes flying in.

Shadowcat grabs him and puts both he and herself out of phase, so the missile passes harmlessly through them. Storm and Wolverine note that the massive robotic entity they are training against, is routing all of the X-Men. Wolverine admonishes Storm that the younger, less experienced of the X-Men aren't practiced and strong enough yet. Over Storm's protests that the X-Men need to work as a team, Wolverine has Colossus hurl him straight at the robot.

Wolverine's insta-regeneration powers and adamantine claws rip off the robot's massive head, destroying it. Storm and Wolverine argue as the X-Men leave the simulation room. The training exercise was meant to help the team learn to operate together and defend, while Wolverine believes in defending through taking out whatever is attacking. Because of this, he's just a substitute teacher for Xavier's school.

Cyclops sits alone in his room, haunted by Jean Grey's death. Meanwhile, Rogue has a brief spat with Iceman. She loves him, but their relationship torments her because he can't touch her bare skin safely because of her life-leeching powers. In another part of the school Wolverine finds Cyclops heading out of the school and there is a brief, but emotional, confrontation over both of them having loved Jean and are mourning her death.

Beast, Secretary of Mutant Affairs in the presidential cabinet, is reading a scientific magazine with articles on mutation and the gene that helps bring it about... 'sitting' while hanging upside down from the ceiling. His secretary announces the start of a Presidential staff meeting. As Beast arrives at the meeting, Homeland Security secretary Trask announces that they lost a track on Magneto, but have successfully captured Mystique. A surveillance camera shows her being interrogated by FBI.

Mystique refuses to answer to her human name, so the interrogator tries to accommodate her. She frustrates and vexes him by shapeshifting into him in order to mock him. When the interrogator loses his patience and demands she tell him where Magneto is, Mystique suddenly headbutts him and shows how, even with her wrists in heavy shackles, she is still a dangerous enemy. It takes several FBI guards to finally overpower her.

Beast is dubious about the Presidential cabinet's ability to hold Mystique, and knows that holding her will make Magneto angry, though it gives the cabinet some diplomatic leverage. But Beast realizes that diplomacy with Magneto is not why the President called for his attendance. The President shows Beast a folder with documents that Mystique was trying to steal from the FDA when she was captured.

Beast opens the file to find a series of biochemical analyses from Worthington Labs, along with a profile on a young boy named Jimmy, also known as Leech. The analyses show that Jimmy is capable of suppressing the mutant X-gene. The President tells a horrified Beast that the research is believed to be viable, and the potential effect it will have on the mutant community is exactly why the cabinet desperately needs Beast's considerable diplomatic skills, now more than ever.

Xavier is giving a lecture to mutant students in the school, discussing Mutant ethics. An example he gives is a brain-dead patient of Dr. Moira MacTaggart. The psychic ability to transfer a human consciousness, even that of a family man with four children, and who is dying of cancer, into the body of the brain-dead man, raises serious ethical issues. Xavier suddenly pauses, staring vacantly, Outside, the skies turn darker as heavy clouds begin to gather and converge.

Xavier tells his class that they'll break early and continue tomorrow. Xavier finds Storm on the terrace; her mind heavy with troubles which was causing the sudden weather shift. Magneto is a fugitive, Beast is on the Presidential cabinet and the US President has shown a lot of goodwill toward mutants-- so, as Storm believes, the Academy shouldn't need to be in hiding.

Xavier says it's not hiding as much as staying wary of the Academy's remaining enemies and protecting the students. When Xavier mentions he sees Storm as becoming the new Headmistress of the academy one day, Storm freezes. She thought that Cyclops was the natural successor. Xavier says Cyclops has never been the same since Jean's death.

Storm knows there's something Xavier is hiding, but he continues on toward his office without acknowledging. Xavier and Storm find Beast in Xavier's office, and Wolverine joins them a few seconds later. The reason for Beast's visit is to report what he was shown during the cabinet meeting: a major pharmaceutical company has developed a way to suppress the mutant X-gene... and its effects are reportedly permanent.

The company is calling the research a cure for mutancy, turning any mutant back into a regular human. The impact of the discovery hits right there, as Storm reacts in outrage to the news. Storm sees the discovery as equivalent to humans calling mutancy a disease in need of treatment. Xavier quietly cuts Storm off, saying the pharmaceutical company is making a public announcement as they speak.

On Alcatraz Island, Warren Worthington II is making a public announcement about the cure. His speech carefully declares mutants to be people, just like humans, before breaking out the 'scare words' like mutancy being a disease and a corruption of healthy cellular activity. He says that any mutant who wishes to undergo the cure is welcome. As several Academy students watch the announcement on TV, Rogue appears to listen with rapt interest.

She goes to Xavier's office, where Xavier is still speaking to Storm, Beast and Wolverine about the ethical and moral dilemma brought about by the discovery. Rogue seems very eager to hear if a mutant cure is real. Storm angrily tells her that there is nothing about them that needs curing; there is nothing wrong with any of the mutants at the academy.

A group of mutants call for a meeting at a local church to discuss the issue. The leader of the meeting is looking to pursue peaceful negotiation with the government in order to protest the cure. But also attending the meeting are Magneto and Pyro, looking to recruit angry mutants for the Brotherhood. Magneto warns the mutants at the meeting that while they try to pursue negotation and peaceful methods, humans.

Especially the humans in government, will start to force the cure on them a few at a time in a divide-and-conquer strategy. Inciting some of the mutants with these warnings, Magneto gains four new members for his Brotherhood. Kid Omega, who can cause spike-like spines to erupt from all over his body; Psylocke, who can teleport through shadows; Arclight, who can loose concussive air pressure shockwaves.

And the Omegas' leader, Callisto, who can move with superhuman speed, and also sense the nearby presence, and strength, of other mutants. She knows that Magneto and Pyro are the only mutants in the building higher than class III in the degree of their powers. Magneto is particularly intrigued by Callisto's power to sense other mutant presences, and asks if she can locate a particular one for him.

A heavily armed police convoy is escorting a fortified, armored police semi-truck serving as a mobile prison, which is carrying a captive Mystique, who is confined behind a heavy barred gate, her wrists shackled to the trailer's ceiling, her arms stretched above her. Mystique taunts the guards watching over her by mimicking first the President, and then a very young girl. One guard threatens to spray her with pepper spray, and she tells him that she's going to personally kill him.

Beast arrives at Alcatraz Island to tour Worthington Labs and meet with Leech, the young boy whose DNA is the source of the cure. He is greeted by the company's chief researcher, Dr. Rao, who will be showing him around. Beast is there to see that Worthington Labs' treatment of the young boy meets with the standards set by the Department of Mutant Affairs.

Dr. Rao brings him to the room where Leech stays in order for him to meet the boy, learn the range of his mutant powers, and see for himself that the boy is being treated very well and kept fully comfortable. As Beast walks toward Leech to introduce himself and shakes hands, he pauses as he sees his outstretched hand suddenly lose its dark blue coloring.

The coarse hair around the back of his hand suddenly recede; making his hand look human. Mere proximity to Leech causes mutant powers to cease functioning as long as the mutants in question are within a certain distance of his body. Beast's hand returns to 'normal' (for him) once he turns away.

Cyclops rides down the road on his motorcycle, heading toward the Alkali Lake reservoir where Jean Grey died. As he walks onto a small natural rock jetty overlooking the lake, he hears the whispered sound of Jean's voice calling his name. Tormented by the whispering voice, he yanks off his red visor shades and a bright beam of light shoots from his eyes, strafing along the lake's surface.

When he regains control of himself and replaces the visor, he sees that the lake is churning and a large whirlpool has formed in its center. From the whirlpool emerges a blast of water and air pressure that knocks Cyclops on his back. Regaining his bearings, he's stunned to find Jean standing alive and well in front of him. Jean asks Cyclops to remove his visor so she can see his eyes.

Which is a dangerous thing to ask as he can't control his powers without the visor. Jean promises him she can control it. She gently removes his visor, and the bright red flash from his eyes slowly fades out to reveal tha natural color of his eyes. Cyclops and Jean begin to kiss. As Jean starts kissing him more passionately, Cyclops' face is shown starting to distort.

At the mutant Academy, everyone hears the telepathic voice of Xavier calling out Cyclops' true name. Storm and Wolverine rush to Xavier's office, where he tells them to hurry to the lake. The two of them arrive at the lake to find cloud cover hanging low over the surrounding hills and a thick fog obscuring vision. Storm clears the fog away.

She and Wolverine find that small rocks, leaves, and even dew on the leaves, levitating in the air. Storm and Wolverine split up to look around, and Wolverine turns to see one of the objects floating in the air in front of him is Cyclops' visor. Storm yells out to him suddenly, and he finds Storm kneeling over Jean, who lies unconscious but alive.

Jean is brought back to Xavier's labs in the Academy where he is running an MRI on her brain. Xavier's only theory as to how she survived the incident at the lake that should have killed her, was that her powers wrapped her in a cocoon of telekinetic energy. Jean is the only mutant Xavier has ever met whose power is ranked at Class Five, meaning there is no known limits to her powers.

Making her even that much more dangerous is that her mutation is in the unconscious part of her mind, which even psychically enhanced mutants have very limited control over. Deeply concerned about Jean's ability to control her powers, Xavier placed a series of psychic barriers around her mind when she first came to the Academy as a teenager, isolating her powers from her consciousness, but this had unforeseen effects.

It caused Jean to develop a disassociative personality disorder; causing her subconscious to manifest an entity calling itself the Phoenix. Jean was the disciplined thinking mind, while the Phoenix was pure instinct and emotion, the essence of every feeling Jean experienced, including desire, joy... and rage. Xavier tells Wolverine that he's unsure whether the Jean that lay before them is truly the Jean they know.

Or the Phoenix struggling furiously to break free and take full control. Xavier is trying to restore the psychic barriers and cage the beast again. Wolverine rebels, warning Xavier that a caged beast often becomes angry at its confinement, and protesting that Xavier is forcing his will on another mutant, which is supposed to stand against everything the X-Men believe in and have been taught by Xavier himself.