World X-MEN: Safe Haven for Those Who Demand More

[Abaddon]

Kitty begins to get settled and meets a few of the other team members:Storm,Colossus,Bobby,and Hank.They all welcome her and speak of how its great to have addition to the Xavier school,etc.

Meanwhile,outside a restaurant we see Senator Kelly get into a limo with some of his other political buddies.They have a light-hearted exhcngae amongst themselves before the Mutant Registration Act is brought up.Kelly reaffirms his position("Its about protecting oursevles","It's putting our lives and our childrens lives at risk",etc.) and most of the others seem to be in agreement.As they turn a corner the ground begins to shake violently sending the vehicle off course.They end up striking a parked car.The driver rolls down his window and apologizes for the accident.He exits to check on the damage,and is followed soon after by one of the men who begins to chew him out.We see the man begin to curse at the driver and complain saying he's reporting him,when a very large shadow nears,looming over them both.After a few seconds the driver is seen jumping into the car and speeding away.Senator Brickman and his wife are tossed about the vehicle and Kelly begins to speak up.The driver turns revealing Toad,who gives the Senator a demented grin.Brickman begins freaking out and Toad responds by using his tongue to open the side door,sending him flying out of the limo.He then pulls the door(with his tongue again) and continues driving recklessly.Kelly begins to dial his cellphone,when Toad makes an abrupt stop.Kelly tries to explain his situation to the police,though with difficulty because of Mallory's screaming,and demands that Toad explain to him whats happening.Toad merely smirks and points up,and as Kelly looks his cell phone begins to shake until it pulls out of his hand.The roof of the limo is then ripped off,and Magneto is seen hovering casually above them.He gives the frightened Senator a greeting and without giving a second thought to the now unconscious Mallory Brickman,tries to escape.Magneto lifts the limo into the air is seen flying away with it(I imagine over a large body of water).

The story continues with Kitty spending the night at the mansion. Not being able to sleep in spite of having toured virtually every area of the mansion(or so she thought) she makes her way down to the kitchen. She looks through the fridge not finding much*and maybe making a comment about them not having anything kosher) and moves a milk carton onto the counter while she continued looking. Seconds later Nightcrawler,still half-asleep, casually bamfs behind her(in his jammies). He grabs the milk carton and begins drinking straight from it. Kitty gives up,and closes the fridge only to turn and find this horrible demon standing in front of her. Her eyes widen and she freezes for a moment. Kurt finished the last of the milk and lets out a belch,which Kitty apparently takes as a cue to freak the hell out. She lets out a terrified scream and the stunned Nightcrawler screams in response(though mostly because he didn't expect to be found in his jammies). She makes a break for it and Kurt follows after. He tries calling out to her but its clear she's too freaked out by his appearance. He bamfs in front of her only to her run right through. She cries out for help whilst trying to throw her slippers and whatever objects nearby at him. She turns a corner and ducks into a closet. She looks down and spots some sports equipment. She grabs a tennis racket and leans against the wall panting heavily. She begins to calm down as she no longer hears him calling,until Kurt turns the lights on,appearing above her on the ceiling. She screams and takes several swings at him,while he continues to try and reason with her. He grabs the racket with his tail and they struggle. She tries scratching him and Kurt grabs her arm. Panicking she looks down and begins to phase through the floor,unwittinglly taking him with her. They fall hard on the floor of the underground area. Scared and confused Kitty scuttle's away from Kurt and runs down the hall. He shakes it off and continues to follow after her. Thinking he's coming near she desperately phases through the wall hoping at some to reach some secluded room where she might be safe. As the wall ends Kitty makes it into a dark corner and breathes a sigh of relief. She looks around and notices she's surrounded by plants. She steps further out and eye catches sigh of a mechanical apparatus rising several feet away. It opens revealing a large gun which turns and faces her. She immediately reacts by shielding herself with her hands only to find the problem eliminated with the sound of the gun exploding. Several`other similar machines rise and each are blasted away in succession. Kitty pears over the plants and see's the blast are coming from the guy with the shades she met earlier,except now he was garbed in some strange militaristic costume,and a visor. A wind then picks up and looks over as Storm rises into the air and with a gesture blows back a series of razor-sharp shruriken being fired at her by one of the machines on the wall above. Amazed,she explores further and see's Colossus,battling a series of frog-like leaping robots. One of them knocks over a large boulder and Colossus whilst catching it and attemtping to hurl it back,he catches a glimpse of Kitty standing near a fast approaching spinning blade. "Look out!!" he yells,and a stunned Kitty manages to phase just in time. Unfortunately she's blasted from a behind a few afterwards by a concentrated beam of light. She falls to the floor and writhes from the burning sensation. As the beam prepares to strike again Storm fires a lightning bolt at it. Cyclops rushes over to check on her and as the gets up the the machines power wind down and the rainforest like appearance fades away. The other X-Men approach her confused as to how she made it in. Kitty looks at them and then around the mostly empty space and then up at the glass box,and more specifically at the blue demon waving at her through it.

Abaddon in general reminds me of a snake eating itself.

And you remind me of a dog sniffing its own butt.

 

[Herr Logan]

This seems random at the moment, but I just want to get these pictures all in one place and in a format that I can post on the Hype. Suggestions and thoughts are welcome.


The Many Costumes of Wolverine:

First Costume:

The first costume in which Wolverine will appear in 'Uncanny X-Men 2' is a variation of this one. It should be modified to somehow make it somewhat more militaristic (including making those trunks a rapelling harness... an ingenious idea, if I ever heard one). You know, "Sam Fisher" it up a little. Also, it would be mostly composed of leather, to emphasize to those anti-source material herd animals that tights are more practical for agility. It's still garish-looking, I know, but I didn't design the suit, and I want to keep it faithful to his first appearance, anyway. Blame Canada!
Anyway, he'll be wearing this at the restricted-access Department H facility where Xavier arranges a meeting with Wolverine in order to recruit him.
I really think something can be done with that mask to fit his job description, and then the next costume he has, it'll be a much more direct adaptation of his most frequent mask design.

Here is a costume design I just found. It came from here.
This costume is a possibility for use in 'Uncanny X-Men 2,' or at the very least, it's an inspiration for a uniform based on the original. Basically, it would be the yellow and blue costume, with orange replacing yellow and black replacing blue.
The wingtips on the boots will be reduced to small outcroppings. The ones on the mask will be a managable size and tight against the sides of his head.

This will be the costume Wolverine will wear in 'Uncanny X-Men 3.'
The same minor modifications to the mask and boots apply as before.
The color scheme will remain essentially what it was in the comics, except darker (dark brown and dark orange).

This is the standard X-Men uniform that all of the reunited and newly recruited X-Men are asked to wear toward the beginning of 'Uncanny X-Men 4.' Most of them will switch back to individual costumes soon after, however.

The individual costume Wolverine switches to for most of 'Uncanny X-Men 4' might look something like this. The light areas are orange or light/medium brown, and the black areas can stay black. The gloves will extend farther up the arms, though, and the suit might have short sleeves. This mask is close to what the previous masks he'd wear in the other movies look like.


Thoughts?

 

[Herr Logan]

I think you can keep the astral plane duel, and still have the scene be short enough to fit into a teaser (from where you left off):

XAVIER: Not at all. I'm here on vacation. However, after what I've seen and heard in this city, I can't stand by, idle, while a corrupt psychic hold defenseless humans in terror and turns innocent children into theives.
​

FAROUK: I'm sorry to hear that.
​

Farouk nods ever so slightly towards Xavier. Ororo has a look of panic on her face, but remains silent.
Immediately, the nasty-looking men come back into the room and draw guns. Xavier's head quickly turns toward them and they instantly fall to the ground, unconscious. Xavier then turns back to Farouk. We move into a close-up of Farouk, after a moment, the screen flashes the image of a midevil helmet over Farouk's face. This cut is acompanied by a loud sond effect, perhaps some kind of electronic distortion. We immediatley cut back to Xavier, who flinches in reaction to the attack. We go back to Farouk and see another flash, but now, the entire cafe is gone and we see the full body of a man in midevil armor holding a scithe. Again, this flash is accompanied by loud sfx. Xavier flinches in reaction agian. Then he leans forward, and we catch a flash of Xavier in his own armor with the same sfx. With each cut, we go deeper and deeper into the astral world. As the scene continues, we see the same images that Herr originaly described in his astral plane battle, but they are presented in brief flashes and intercut with the subtle physical reactions of Xavier and Farouk. When the battle ends, Farouk's face goes blank and Xavier leaves. This way, the battle is compressed to no more than 30 seconds.

X-cellent!

Thank you kindly for that. I know I don't write very well for the Astral Plane, but I wanted to use it for a battle scene as well as for a conference scene (with Magneto).

I really like the idea of virtual teachers. Here's another idea; what if Xavier temporarily channels prestegious proffesors from around the world into his mind so he can present their lectures to his students. Essentially, for the duration of the lecture, Xavier would seem like he was possesed by whichever college acedemic he was chaneling at the time (of course he would actually be in complete control). Or, Xavier could even allow the X-men to experience being in the classroom with college proffesors via the astral plane or some such?

That's something I'll have to mull over a bit. I don't want it to seem like the global academic community is generally so trusting that they'd allow a mindlink with not only him but several other mutants. But I'm not dismissing it. I think if it were just a small handful of professors, that might be fine. At the very least, Xavier could transmit what he's learned from these scholars to his students via telepathy as well as classroom discussions (while Xavier is very strict in many regards, he doesn't ask his students to accept everything they hear at face value without question... just the life or death stuff...).

Either way, thanks for the idea.

Show, don't tell, my man. If you're doing origin scenes for Xavier, Scott, Hank, and Warren, Jean and Bobby should get origin scenes as well. Having the character describe their origins to other characters isn't as compelling on screen.

I'm torn on this. Zev has a point (what the hell is this world coming to??), but at the same time, I can see it working with all five X-Men having origin/recruitment scenes.

I would want to keep Iceman's scene very brief, as I wouldn't want to dwell on certain aspects of it (I wouldn't want to be distracted by thoughts of "He tried to rape your woman, boy, why the feck didn't you freeze his punk-ass to death?!")

Cyclops' scene should also be relatively brief, or perhaps it should just be written by someone other than myself (although I'd still make the call whether to include it in my treatment). The stuff I wrote on that was clearly a cinematic miscarriage. With Cyclops, I actually do want some things to be outright told instead of merely shown, because having him-- the most introverted of all the X-Men-- open up to Jean Grey is one of the ways I want to show the audience how much he cares for her.
As much fun as it would be to give him a voiceover monologue that repeatedly says,

CYCLOPS: If only I could tell Jean how I love her so... If only she loved me... but I have no right to be with her, because I am cursed with this deadly power that puts everyone around me in danger.
​

I think I'd rather save that for Zev's inevitable "Five Minute 'Uncanny X-Men.'" That would of course be followed by:

PROFESSOR X: If only I could tell Jean how I love her and have loved her for years... but I have no right to be with her, because I am crippled. The fact that she's still a teenager and I'm 50-something who knew her as a pre-teen is a small hurdle in comparison to my shameful handicap.
​

MATT MURDOCK: If only I could tell Karen how I love her so... If only she loved me... but I have no right to be with her, because I am blind. The fact that she's a civilian and I'm an uncompromising vigilante with a penchant for making enemies obsessed with destroying my life is a small hurdle in comparison to my shameful handicap.
​

FOGGY NELSON: If only I could tell Karen how I love her so... If only she loved me... If only I'd realized back in the day that Matt was too busy feeling guilty over his accident-inflicted blindness to make a move on her, I'd have tapped that ass by the time someone else told him that solid red looks better than yellow and black (Issue #7, I think).
​

See? I can't even write parody well.

Anyway, I believe a certain amount of telling is needed for Cyclops' character development. People can rationalize giving his character the shaft because he can't emote with his eyes fully covered (the same lame-ass reason they think the Batman shouldn't have lenses in his cowl, despite the fact that those are actually somewhat "realistic"), but what they need to realize is that Cyclops doesn't emote much at all unless someone makes him either really, really happy or really, really upset. When it's the former, he usually says something embarrassingly schmaltzy. When it's the latter, he usually punctuates his verbal outbursts by knocking someone on their ass (Wolverine, his father, etc.) or flattening a forest with his optic beams.
The way I wrote him before, he comes off like a typical scared teenager in bad situation, and that was stupid. Another thing people need to realize is that Scott Summers isn't typical. Very few of the X-Men are. That's another reason why "realism" has such superficial value in a franchise like this.

Okay, so I'll try to come up with a brief origin scene for Iceman and also for Jean Grey. Do you think some of these scenes should be spread throughout the movie in flashbacks?

Also, should the Scarlet Witch have a flashback where a crowd of people are attacking her, Quicksilver is being blocked from helping her and Magneto saves her, placing her in his debt? Remember, none of them knows that Magneto is the twins' father at this point.

I'm also torn about whether to give Magneto a Holocaust flashback, and whether to show a flashback to when Xavier and he were friends who only engaged each other with their words and chess pieces, not mutant powers and minions.

Let me know what you think.

When I read it, I thought the same thing, but I ultimatley agree with your assesment. It would be too convenient to combine their origins.

Yeah, exactly.

Hey, I'm not saying my story and soul are for sale! I'm saying that if things can be worked in without interfering with the story, then it's fine with me. I mean, the first movie alone, done properly, would be expensive as hell. They're all supposed to be about three hours each, and all of them are special effects-heavy (by nature they have to be).

When Cyclops, Beast and Hank are in the bar, there will be signs up on the walls for specific brands of beer and other drinks, not to mention bottles with labels, just like in real life. Hank McCoy will most likely be eating whenever he's seen studying in his room (with one hand on his book, the other hand handling the food, one foot writing out literary prose or mathematic equations with a pencil, and the other foot steadying himself), and that right there is another easy plug that doesn't intrude. Also, how unlikely would it be for one of the mutants, hero or villain, to be knocked into the air in a public location so hard that they slam into a billboard advertisement? Considering the history of the X-Men, not very. Like I said, I'm not trying to sell out, but I'll make reasonable compromises.

Not that this really matters to me, but I also have a hypothesis that seeing real-life products in the movies will make it more "realistic" on some level, and that makes it more enjoyable to those of weak imagination that insist that contemporary superhero movies be "realistic." On the other hand, maybe some of them will have the profound audacity to criticize it for "selling out." Those people haven't the right to say that about anything I would do as director/producer, because their expressed desire to strip these characters and stories of their fantasy elements is already the ultimate sell-out.

Anyway, I've rambled nigh-incoherently enough for one night. Thanks very much for your input, Kame-sennin.

 

[Zev]

More and more I'm leaning towards the option that, to cover the origins of the X-Men (and possibly now the Brotherhood as well), that instead of making the film too top-heavy with a whole bunch of flashback "secret origins" at the start, instead intersperse them throughout the whole movie like Memento or (fine, I'll say it) Lost. Just jump straight into the action with Kitty Pryde arriving at the Mansion and leap back in time whenever we need to break for air or clarify a character point.

So, for instance, we'd see Jean get angry with Scott over him being unable to express his feelings. She storms off, crying "Why can't you just tell me how you feel?" Flashback to the first incident with optic blasts that left Scott with the subconscious idea that any time he lets himself go, anytime he loses control, Bad Things Will Happen. Likewise, Kitty could ask Xavier "Why did you start the X-Men anyway?" Flashback to Shadow King and return for Xavier to deliver The Moral of The Story (dangerous mutant this, world that hates and fears them that, you know the rest).

 

[Herr Logan]

More and more I'm leaning towards the option that, to cover the origins of the X-Men (and possibly now the Brotherhood as well), that instead of making the film too top-heavy with a whole bunch of flashback "secret origins" at the start, instead intersperse them throughout the whole movie like Memento or (fine, I'll say it) Lost. Just jump straight into the action with Kitty Pryde arriving at the Mansion and leap back in time whenever we need to break for air or clarify a character point.

So, for instance, we'd see Jean get angry with Scott over him being unable to express his feelings. She storms off, crying "Why can't you just tell me how you feel?" Flashback to the first incident with optic blasts that left Scott with the subconscious idea that any time he lets himself go, anytime he loses control, Bad Things Will Happen. Likewise, Kitty could ask Xavier "Why did you start the X-Men anyway?" Flashback to Shadow King and return for Xavier to deliver The Moral of The Story (dangerous mutant this, world that hates and fears them that, you know the rest).

I'm guessing this is in response to Abaddon's concept, as Kitty Pryde isn't in my first movie. Also, there aren't any grounds or need to emulate 'Lost' in terms of character development with five X-Men who haven't ever met each other before and one professor who's known one student, so I'll let Abby respond in more detail.

 

[Herr Logan]

The story continues with Kitty spending the night at the mansion. Not being able to sleep in spite of having toured virtually every area of the mansion(or so she thought) she makes her way down to the kitchen. She looks through the fridge not finding much*and maybe making a comment about them not having anything kosher) and moves a milk carton onto the counter while she continued looking. Seconds later Nightcrawler,still half-asleep, casually bamfs behind her(in his jammies). He grabs the milk carton and begins drinking straight from it. Kitty gives up,and closes the fridge only to turn and find this horrible demon standing in front of her. Her eyes widen and she freezes for a moment. Kurt finished the last of the milk and lets out a belch,which Kitty apparently takes as a cue to freak the hell out. She lets out a terrified scream and the stunned Nightcrawler screams in response(though mostly because he didn't expect to be found in his jammies). She makes a break for it and Kurt follows after. He tries calling out to her but its clear she's too freaked out by his appearance. He bamfs in front of her only to her run right through. She cries out for help whilst trying to throw her slippers and whatever objects nearby at him. She turns a corner and ducks into a closet. She looks down and spots some sports equipment. She grabs a tennis racket and leans against the wall panting heavily. She begins to calm down as she no longer hears him calling,until Kurt turns the lights on,appearing above her on the ceiling. She screams and takes several swings at him,while he continues to try and reason with her. He grabs the racket with his tail and they struggle. She tries scratching him and Kurt grabs her arm. Panicking she looks down and begins to phase through the floor,unwittinglly taking him with her. They fall hard on the floor of the underground area. Scared and confused Kitty scuttle's away from Kurt and runs down the hall. He shakes it off and continues to follow after her. Thinking he's coming near she desperately phases through the wall hoping at some to reach some secluded room where she might be safe. As the wall ends Kitty makes it into a dark corner and breathes a sigh of relief. She looks around and notices she's surrounded by plants. She steps further out and eye catches sigh of a mechanical apparatus rising several feet away. It opens revealing a large gun which turns and faces her. She immediately reacts by shielding herself with her hands only to find the problem eliminated with the sound of the gun exploding. Several`other similar machines rise and each are blasted away in succession. Kitty pears over the plants and see's the blast are coming from the guy with the shades she met earlier,except now he was garbed in some strange militaristic costume,and a visor. A wind then picks up and looks over as Storm rises into the air and with a gesture blows back a series of razor-sharp shruriken being fired at her by one of the machines on the wall above. Amazed,she explores further and see's Colossus,battling a series of frog-like leaping robots. One of them knocks over a large boulder and Colossus whilst catching it and attemtping to hurl it back,he catches a glimpse of Kitty standing near a fast approaching spinning blade. "Look out!!" he yells,and a stunned Kitty manages to phase just in time. Unfortunately she's blasted from a behind a few afterwards by a concentrated beam of light. She falls to the floor and writhes from the burning sensation. As the beam prepares to strike again Storm fires a lightning bolt at it. Cyclops rushes over to check on her and as the gets up the the machines power wind down and the rainforest like appearance fades away. The other X-Men approach her confused as to how she made it in. Kitty looks at them and then around the mostly empty space and then up at the glass box,and more specifically at the blue demon waving at her through it.

This sounds great.

One thing I'm bothered by, though: Would Kurt really be in so deep a hypnogogic state that he would grab the milk that Kitty set aside for herself and drink it all straight from the carton? I would think Nightcrawler would have been trained to be more alert than to not notice another person in the room, and he is much too well-mannered to do something like that if he knew someone else was there.

And you remind me of a dog sniffing its own butt.

...

Eh, I got nothin'.

 

[kame-sennin]

X-cellent!

Thank you kindly for that. I know I don't write very well for the Astral Plane, but I wanted to use it for a battle scene as well as for a conference scene (with Magneto).

Thank you. I thought your astral plane write up was fine and the most logical way to shorten it would be to simply cut down the length of the battle. If you think about it, psychic battles probably don't last that long in real time anyway, so this is a good way of showing how much information is going on in the character's minds in a brief amount of time.

That's something I'll have to mull over a bit. I don't want it to seem like the global academic community is generally so trusting that they'd allow a mindlink with not only him but several other mutants.

Who said it would be voluntary . The way I imagined it, Proffesor X would be the psychic equivalent of an internet classroom, where his students would be able to see and hear what's going on in a real class taking place a great distance away. Taping into a proffesor's mind to create this would not be such a violation , IMHO, that Xavier woud feel bad about doing it without said proffessor's opinion.

Of course, these are just random ideas, and I really like the virtual classroom thing. Additionally, teaching the X-men courses the way he tought some of them English would also work, and be the easiest "movie way" of explaining their education.

I'm torn on this. Zev has a point (what the hell is this world coming to??), but at the same time, I can see it working with all five X-Men having origin/recruitment scenes.

With Cyclops, I actually do want some things to be outright told instead of merely shown, because having him-- the most introverted of all the X-Men-- open up to Jean Grey is one of the ways I want to show the audience how much he cares for her... Anyway, I believe a certain amount of telling is needed for Cyclops' character development.

As there are exceptions to every rule, I think this falls under the exception. If having Cyclops explain his origin's to another character is a key part of his arc, then it works. But I still think you should show some part of the origin for Bobby. Maybe Cyclops can be the only character without an origin scene which might add to the mystery of the character, and we do not find out the depressing truth untill much later in the film during a quiet scene with Jean? Just throwing out ideas.

People can rationalize giving his character the shaft because he can't emote with his eyes fully covered (the same lame-ass reason they think the Batman shouldn't have lenses in his cowl, despite the fact that those are actually somewhat "realistic"), but what they need to realize is that Cyclops doesn't emote much at all unless someone makes him either really, really happy or really, really upset. When it's the former, he usually says something embarrassingly schmaltzy. When it's the latter, he usually punctuates his verbal outbursts by knocking someone on their ass (Wolverine, his father, etc.) or flattening a forest with his optic beams.
The way I wrote him before, he comes off like a typical scared teenager in bad situation, and that was stupid. Another thing people need to realize is that Scott Summers isn't typical. Very few of the X-Men are. That's another reason why "realism" has such superficial value in a franchise like this.

I agree. You have to walk a fine line with Cyclops because you risk making the character boring and uninteresting to the audience. However, if the filmmaker generally cares about the character (and I imagine you do), than I doubt this would be a problem.

And don't get me started on the Batman thing. Heaven forbid a mysterious creature of the night should... hide his emotions! People are idiots.

Okay, so I'll try to come up with a brief origin scene for Iceman and also for Jean Grey. Do you think some of these scenes should be spread throughout the movie in flashbacks?

That's becoming very popular in film and television today (Begins, Lost, ect.), but that doesn't mean it's bad. I think the key deciding factor has to be the pace of the film. If the pace of the film is even and comfortable, leave the beginning at the beginning. If it's not, than you might want to inter disperse the origins. But leave that damn Xavier intro at the beginning of the film. It's a good tease, and drives home the point you are making in your X-men film; that Xavier believes he is a hero who must fight against renegade mutants who threaten humanity (as well as other mutants). That's an interesting point that's almost non-existant in the current franchise, and hasn't been touched on much in recent comics (except Whedon's). Now adays, the X-men are looked at as more of a paramilitary strike force, and if you want your X-men to come off as heros (or would-be heros), you should show that.

Also, should the Scarlet Witch have a flashback where a crowd of people are attacking her, Quicksilver is being blocked from helping her and Magneto saves her, placing her in his debt? Remember, none of them knows that Magneto is the twins' father at this point.

I'm also torn about whether to give Magneto a Holocaust flashback, and whether to show a flashback to when Xavier and he were friends who only engaged each other with their words and chess pieces, not mutant powers and minions.

Let me know what you think.

I'm hesistant about villain flashback scenes as you run the risk of exhausting the audience. A Magneto flashback could work, as it was one of the only things the current franchise really nailed. As for the Scarlet Witch, perhaps Magneto could perform some act of kindness during the course of the film, or, something could come up and she would be reminded of the debt she owes him. I'm not sure either way. Hell, someone could ask her why she works for him and she could say, "Magnus saved us from the bloodthirty human mob. I would die for him." (And I am well aware that suggesting this is a bit hypocritical, but rules are meant to be broken). I would also avoid Xavier/Magneto flahbacks. It should be obvious from the dialogue that they were once friends, and you'll have more than one movie to develope their relationship. You won't need to cram everything into one film.

Hey, I'm not saying my story and soul are for sale! I'm saying that if things can be worked in without interfering with the story, then it's fine with me. I mean, the first movie alone, done properly, would be expensive as hell. They're all supposed to be about three hours each, and all of them are special effects-heavy (by nature they have to be).

When Cyclops, Beast and Hank are in the bar, there will be signs up on the walls for specific brands of beer and other drinks, not to mention bottles with labels, just like in real life. Hank McCoy will most likely be eating whenever he's seen studying in his room (with one hand on his book, the other hand handling the food, one foot writing out literary prose or mathematic equations with a pencil, and the other foot steadying himself), and that right there is another easy plug that doesn't intrude. Also, how unlikely would it be for one of the mutants, hero or villain, to be knocked into the air in a public location so hard that they slam into a billboard advertisement? Considering the history of the X-Men, not very. Like I said, I'm not trying to sell out, but I'll make reasonable compromises.

Not that this really matters to me, but I also have a hypothesis that seeing real-life products in the movies will make it more "realistic" on some level, and that makes it more enjoyable to those of weak imagination that insist that contemporary superhero movies be "realistic." On the other hand, maybe some of them will have the profound audacity to criticize it for "selling out." Those people haven't the right to say that about anything I would do as director/producer, because their expressed desire to strip these characters and stories of their fantasy elements is already the ultimate sell-out.

I'm just bustin your balls, I'm kind of an anti-corporate guy. However, I completley agree that having real life brand names scattered through a film does help to make the audience feel that they are seeing a world similar, if not identical, to their own. As a matter of fact, removing brand labels, which is done in some films, often stands out and seems awkward. The key is restraint. Does it make sense for Peter Parker to use a soda can as webbing target practice in SM1? Of course it does. Is there anything wrong with the can clearly reading "Dr. Pepper"? Absolutley not. But is it nessescary for that can to get a full two second close up (an eternity in film) when Peter Parker loudly and awkwardly slams the can down on his dresser? Just a bit.

So yah, it's no biggy that Wolverine drinks name-brand beer, and storm crashes into a giant billboard. Just as long as the cinematographer hasn't sold his soul to Wallmart, it'll be ok

Anyway, I've rambled nigh-incoherently enough for one night. Thanks very much for your input, Kame-sennin.

My pleasure. I really like how this X-men franchise is turning out, and I'm impressed that you're able to start from the first team and still make it really engaging.

 

[Abaddon]

This sounds great.

One thing I'm bothered by, though: Would Kurt really be in so deep a hypnogogic state that he would grab the milk that Kitty set aside for herself and drink it all straight from the carton? I would think Nightcrawler would have been trained to be more alert than to not notice another person in the room, and he is much too well-mannered to do something like that if he knew someone else was there.

Hmm,probably not,I kinda cut corners on that one.

I just needed a way to work around the fact that Kurt was actually trying to avoid frightening Kitty with his appearance,which would probably involve a shot of him hiding in the shadows when Kitty meets the others. I also want his first appearance to be humorous by showing him act very human, in spite of his looks.If you have any particular suggestions feel free to share.

 

[Zev]

I'm guessing this is in response to Abaddon's concept, as Kitty Pryde isn't in my first movie. Also, there aren't any grounds or need to emulate 'Lost' in terms of character development with five X-Men who haven't ever met each other before and one professor who's known one student, so I'll let Abby respond in more detail.

Actually, it is yours. The flashback thing is mostly because you've got five students whose origins you want to show (four if you leave out Bobby), plus Xavier's, plus Magneto and maybe other evil mutants. Assuming five minutes for each origin (just spit-balling there), that's at least a half-hour of origin and exposition before our guys even meet. Assuming at least twenty minutes of "Hellos," character development, and training, we're reaching Hulk-like levels of treading water before getting to any action.

 

[Herr Logan]

Hmm,probably not,I kinda cut corners on that one.

I just needed a way to work around the fact that Kurt was actually trying to avoid frightening Kitty with his appearance,which would probably involve a shot of him hiding in the shadows when Kitty meets the others. I also want his first appearance to be humorous by showing him act very human, in spite of his looks.If you have any particular suggestions feel free to share.

I don't have any ideas on that score for now. That's either because I got no sleep last night and took a test I probably failed this morning (and had to take a bus to get there, as you know already know), or because I'm hording those ideas for myself.

I'll try to think of something that doesn't top my own material.

 

[Zev]

Superpowers Storm really should use.

Sandstorm

Tornado.

 

[Herr Logan]

Actually, it is yours. The flashback thing is mostly because you've got five students whose origins you want to show (four if you leave out Bobby), plus Xavier's, plus Magneto and maybe other evil mutants. Assuming five minutes for each origin (just spit-balling there), that's at least a half-hour of origin and exposition before our guys even meet. Assuming at least twenty minutes of "Hellos," character development, and training, we're reaching Hulk-like levels of treading water before getting to any action.

If I skipped over Iceman, I was also going to skip over Jean Grey. Granted, her history with Xavier is important, and will be explained through dialogue, but it's not all that visually impressive. I doubt she'd be ashamed of what happened to her (psychically experiencing the sudden death of her best friend when they were ten and becoming catatonic), but it's also something she'd probably only tell someone she really trusted during her first months back at Xavier's school. It is important to mention that Xavier was the one who helped Jean when no one else could, that she was his first student and that he blocked her telepathic powers until she was older and better equipped to deal with them; I think it's something that the audience could just as well find out through her divulging it to Scott. Likewise, Scott would describe some of his own background and be the one to explain to her why he's kept her at arm's reach thus far (I mean, any of the other X-Men or Xavier could tell her, as it's obvious to them, but having them reveal background together seems appropriate and saves screentime as well).

You mentioned something before about Jean storming off and crying about Cyclops' introvertedness. I really don't want to put the audience through that. I will put them through an intense scene where Cyclops flips out on the rest of the team, though, partly because of his frustration at the distance he places between himself and others, and especially Jean. In addition to Cyclops' deeply rooted fear of abandonment, and more concretely, his fear of hurting others with his power, he'll be given another reason to feel isolated by Xavier; at some point in the film, he'll be named deputy leader and field commander of the X-Men. Xavier would still keep in telepathic contact, but Cyclops would now be carrying a significant amount of the strategic burden (which he doesn't mind, in and of itself), and also giving orders. When a battle or mission gets out of hand due to the X-Men not truly working as a team and letting their emotions and whims get the best of them, somewhere between the first and last fights with Magneto. During the debriefing back at the school, Cyclops will demand answers for why specific actions weren't performed or why they deviated from his orders (I suppose it would be somewhat reminiscient of 'Ultimate Avengers' in that capacity, except the scenario wouldn't be nearly as much of a clusterfeck). I think I'd have Angel deviate from his position in order to rescue or assist Marvel Girl when she seems in danger, and this would seriously piss Cyclops off-- not because he doesn't like to see Warren trying to score more points with the girl Scott wants, but because he specifically planned for the eventuality that she may need assistance, and someone else (Iceman or Beast) would have been in position to help her so that Angel, likely having been assigned as scout or pointman, wouldn't need to turn back for her. This isn't because Marvel Girl is weak; the formation he chose allows for maximum coverage in terms of team assistance. Angel is up front, Cyclops is watching his back and also able to fire ahead of him, and Marvel Girl is the primary assist to anyone in her line of sight, her telekinetic powers being the most efficient tool for that job.

Cyclops doesn't let his feelings get in the way of a mission unless he hasn't properly covered everyone's ass in the planning stages (which sometimes includes winging it at the outbreak of a conflict as far as Cyclops is concerned, because that's how the Professor has trained him to think). He should be a stong leader even early on, taking his responsibility seriously. When we see his room, he should actually have lots of books on military strategy, martial arts and aeronautics. Cyclops will also be the primary pilot of both the X-Men's helicopter (when they'll use at some point in the first movie, possibly towards the middle of movie one) and their SR-71 Blackbird jet, if Xavier isn't along with them, with Angel as his second.

Anyway, I'm planning on giving Cyclops his great little scene at the construction site and getting approached by Xavier, and leave his backstory mostly for dialogue. Angel gets a scene 'cuz he was a superhero. Beast gets a scene because he was a football player who could jump unnatural distances and that would look cool, and also because he's one of the coolest X-Men ever and his backstory or feelings about it aren't things that make for good confidentiality scenes.

I still want to try for a scene with Xavier and the Shadow King, but it may or may not be as the teaser before the title sequence. I've got some specific things to say about that when I respond to Kame-sennin.

I'm still undecided about Magneto in terms of flashback scenes, and I am still considering showing a scene where Magneto majestically and theatrically intervenes when a mob in Europe attack Wanda Maximoff. I want to spin it so that Wanda actually believes Magneto is a good man and that he isn't just guilt-tripping her or threatening her. Quicksilver is along for the ride (whether Magneto wanted him or not, but of course he does) so he can protect her sister at all times. Even if Magneto was as noble as he'd like others to believe, the company he keeps isn't (Unus, who's out just for money and power; Toad, who's just a damaged, unstable creature looking for someone to tell him whom to harm with his superhuman strength; and especially Mastermind, one of the sleaziest guys Magneto's ever worked with). The ironic thing is, Magneto trusts Quicksilver in the field more than anyone, even though he doesn't share his views on the world or goals. He's arrogant enough to think that in time, Pietro will come around and accept his own "enlightened" point of view. Quicksilver isn't afraid of Magneto in the least, or at least that's how he behaves. Not even Mastermind talks to Magneto the way Quicksilver does, because he's more familiar with evil and vengefulness and knows not to mess with the Alpha Dog.

 

[*The Batman*]

This would be my ending to X3. I really enjoyed writing this. I guess it wouldn't really be an X3 ending but more just an ending in general to an X-Men movie and what I thought should have happened. It fits in here because its very faithful to the comics, more than the first two. Let me know what you think.


FINAL BATTLE SCENE


The X Jet flies into action. They see what Magneto and his merry band of brotherhood members has done to the Golden Gate bridge.

Beast - Oh my stars and garters.

Cyclops - Storm, we're going to need some cover.

Storm - I'm on it.

Storm's eyes change colors as fog suddenly covers the entire playing field.


Meanwhile on the base Magneto looks at Jean Grey.

Jean Grey - They're here.

Pyro lunges forward ready to attack without even knowing who he is attacking.

Magneto pulls him back.

Magneto - Steady.

Mystique gazes at Jean Grey and then back at Erik. She puts her hand on Eriks shoulder.


Meanwhile the X-Men land the X-Jet.

Prof. X on an interactive machine that projects his voice and body.

"Erik what have you done? X-Men I need you to split up into three teams. Cyclops you and your team need to find Magneto. Stop him. Scott...do it at any means necessary. Storm you and your team need to protect the base at all costs. Stop the mutants coming in. Protect the people. Don't let them get inside and hurt anyone else. Hank..I want you to take a team of three into the base and find the boy. Protect him, get him to safety. X-Men..I just want to say..."

Cyclops - Professor we know. Alright people you heard him we have to move now.

Storm - Kurt, do you think you can teleport me into the outlaying area of the base. I have a feeling someone’s going to get wet today.

Beast - If my calculations were correct I think we can move into the outlaying sides of the building and then move into a small hole that Magneto seems to have smashed when dropping that bridge. The repairs alone are going to cost in my calculations at least 103...

Wolverine - Less talking, more action bub.

Beast - Wolverine really, I know you are ready to fight but please don't harm any innocents in your rage.

Wolverine with a wink - Don't worry about it. I'm the best at what I do.

Kitty Pride - Hank I'm coming inside with you.

Iceman - Kitty, no its too dangerous. I don't want anything to happen to you.

Beast sarcastically- Bobby, she can walk through walls you’ know. She might be helpful.

Iceman - Well I'm coming with you inside then.

Rogue watches from a distance as a tear looks to begin producing, suddenly behind her she notices someone.

Gambit - Shar' I know I may be new to this X-Men thing and all but isn't that suppose to be your boyfriend?

Rogue's sadness turns to anger as she slams Gambit hard against the wall and runs off.

Rogue - SHUT UP!

Gambit regaining himself from the hard slam against the wall.

"What did I do!?"

The team knows their orders. The Professor told them as much. They also know that this is a big battle. They don't all know who might be coming back. Magneto is out of control. This cure could be the end of mutants as they know it. And only one team can stop them. That's the X-Men. They also have to protect the innocents. The humans. Storm, Kurt, Colossus and Logan will see to that. Leading the dangerous mission full of unexpected risks to rescue the boy, the boy named Leech, is Hank McCoy followed by Iceman, Kitty Pride and Warren. Finally the team taking on Magento and his brotherhood themselves is Cyclops, Rogue, Gambit and Jubilation Lee.

But one thing isn't being discussed. One thing that is on everyone’s mind. One fallen comrade who is in this battle, but might be on the wrong side. Jean Grey. Or is it even Jean? How could she have survived Alkali Lake. And what is she doing with Magneto. The Prof. tried to reach her at her house and she destroyed it. That's when Magneto took her. But why would she go with him? Scott has heard her voice in his head, screaming for help. He tried to reach out to her when they brought her back to the mansion. But she wouldn't let him in. Logan took the more director approach and she threw him against the wall. Whatever is wrong with Jean, for whatever reason she is here now. The X-men don't want to talk about it. But they all are thinking it.

Nightcrawler - As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil...

As the teams separate Logan and Scott are left, to go one way and face Magneto straight on, and another way to sneak in the back and try and protect the base.

Logan - Scott...

Scott - Logan no. I don't want to hear this. Go with Storm, we've wasted too much time already.

Logan begins to walk away but has one last thing to say.
Scott knows this.

Silence.

"Just bring her back."



Pyro, Magneto, Jean Grey, Mystique, Psylocke, Wanda, Quicksilver, and Juggernaut along with 2000 morlocks and a half dozen other mutants such as Toad are gathered on the remains of the golden gate bridge. Victory was almost imminent. The humans didn't see it coming. Not something this drastic. Not something this soon.

Bodies of brotherhood members and humans lost in the battle before the X-men arrived lie scattered. Also victims, innocents of Magnetos rage tearing the bridge in half, some mothers, some children, lay scattered as well.

Juggernaut - I can't see a damn thing in this fog. I want to go smash some more people. Kill that kid. Thinking' he can cure mutants. YOU CANT CURE ME KID!

Wanda - Excuse me but are you even a mutant. I don't think so.

Magento - Real apple of your eye their huh Magneto.

Quicksilver - Wanda don't antagonize the guy, I'll have to stand up for you and he will kick my ass.

Scarlet Witch - You could outrun hi..

"THATS ENOUGH MAGNETO. THIS ENDS NOW."

Through the fog Cyclops emerges. Jubilation Lee, Gambit and Rogue follow with Rogue stepping over a fallen brotherhood member and crushing him into a hole in the ground from the impact. Gambit looks at her and smiles.

At the same time Storm, Nightcrawler, Collosus and Logan appear at the front of the base. A shaken guard, one of the only left at the moment looks at Nightcrawler. He smiles. The guard faints.


Jubilation Lee - THAT'S MAGNETO?!!? This is the guy who could end the world as we know it?! Eww.. are you 60 years old already or what old man.


Magneto is amused.

Magneto speaks to everyone he sees.

All of you. Do you not see what I am trying to do here. That cure is meant for everyone.

Cyclops - Killing innocents. My god Magneto look at what you have done.

Rogue - This isn't the way sugah.

Mystique rolls her eyes.

Magneto can now see visibly as the fog begins to lift. He sees Storm and the others farther away by the base.

Magneto is now visibly upset.

"TRAITORS TO YOUR OWN CAUSE"

Cyclops can now see Jean.

Cyclops - Jean?!

Jean - Scott!

Jean suddenly shakes back and forth. Psylocke grabs her and takes her back beyond where she can be seen.

Cyclops - JEAN!

Magneto - Kill them now.

Morlocks charge forward along with other brotherhood members including Pyro. They are fierce. Rogue, Gambit, and Jubilation Lee prepare for battle.

Gambit to Cyclops

Gambit - Shake out of it monime' its frighten time and these fools are hungry for it.

There are so many that immediately many run past the first group of four and are coming quickly at Storm, Kurt, Colossus and Logan. Logan draws his claws out.


Meanwhile

Beast - Wwwhat. My calculations. There is suppose to be a door right here.

Angel - Hank its ok. I know this building. This is where my dad...where... Find another way in, I'll meet you guys inside.

Angel takes flight to the sky and away.

Iceman - If I had a freak son like that I would want him cured too.
Bobby laughs. Kitty slugs him.
Iceman - hey!


About 300 feet away and out of sight but not out of hearing range Jubilation Lee unleashed her lightning bolts at a humongous rate which sends shockwaves and many morlocks immediately to their deaths as you still hear the crisp sound on the ground and smoke coming out of them.

Jubilation Lee - haha!

Gambit as he is being punch with a morlock on top of him.

Gambit - Shar-

-I'm

-impressed.

Suddenly a huge thud as twelve morlocks are all thrown at Gambit knocking the guy off him and making a barrel of thirteen morlocks knocked out nearby.

Rogue - FOCUS CAJIN!


Cyclops blasts morlocks right and left. All he wants is Jean.

Scott - Jean!

He sends out and optic rage that knocks 20 or so of them into the air. He continues moving forward.


Logan slices and dices morlocks left and right as they continue to try and attack him.

Wolverine - NOW I'M HAVING FUN!

He jumps in the air leaving his line and becoming more into the middle of the two lines.

Storm sees this and lightning produces out of no where striking the ground.

I HATE IT WHEN HE LEAVES FORMATION!

Colossus - Da.

And Colossus *slowly* tip toes away from the still angry and fiery Storm.

Storm raises herself into the air.

WILL OF THE GODESS OF WIND. HEAR ME! WIPE THESE MISGUIDED
MUTANTS AWAY FROM THIS BASE OF OPPERATION NOW!!

Suddenly a huge tornado appears whipping up at least 200 morlocks and sending them into the waters of the bay far from the battle.

Nightcrawler is hunched over praying and a few incoming morlocks don’t see him as much of a threat. They giggle and laugh. At that same moment he BAMFS in front of them and strike them down with his blade. He hails marry full of grace and BAMFS forward.


Back on the other side of the building Beast is still formulating a way in.
Beast - And if I calculate the distance in ratio to the for mentioned….
Iceman - Boring…
Beast - Bobby really if you would apply half that gusto of yours to your studies at the school, well you could become my top student in physics.
Kitty - Speaking of physics Hank, why don’t you left me handle this..
As she talks she grabs both the guys and they morf through the wall.
Iceman - Cool.
Hank - I guess…I guess that works as well.
Kitty - Ok lets find Warren and then find the boy.

The building suddenly goes bom!
Iceman - Ok what was that?!

The bom was Colossus throwing people into the base made of steel with his sheer force as we rejoin the action in the front.

As more Morlocks attack the front Storm raises herself into the air once more.
HEAR ME AGAIN! MAKE IT RAIN! RAIN DOWN AND WASH AWAY THESE POOR MISGUIDED MORLOCKS!
A huge tidal wave is produced.

Logan - What the hell.
The wave blasts him backwards along with the 700 or so other mutants who he was planning on taking on alone.

Back in the front lines avoiding the tidal wave Rogue continues smashing morlocks and picking them up as Gambit fights hand to hand combat right next to her.
Mystique notices the attraction these two share and smiles.
Mystique - Erik send more of them in.
Juggernaut - Its playtime.
Pyro and Juggernaut take off.
Scarlet Witch - Dad this needs to end. You cant do this.
Magneto - Quicksilver do you agree with Scarlet Witch. My own children. DO YOU not see what we are trying to accomplish here.
Scarlet Witch - Its just…this all is too much. And that girl. What is wrong with her?
FURTHER BACK JEAN GREY IS STRUGGLING TO CONTAIN THE BEAST INSIDE HER.

Inside the base Hank McCoy, a real Beast so to speak, is wandering around.
Iceman - This place gives me the creeps. Curing mutants, against their will.
Iceman shivers.
Kitty - Cute Bobby.
Kitty holds both of them as they walk from wall to wall almost nonchalantly.
Kitty - Where is Warren?
Beast - You know I don’t think this is going to be half bad. This whole place appears to be empty.
FREEZE RIGHT THERE YOU MUTANT SCUM.
Beast - Or not.

Back in the front Juggernaut and Pyro on his back charge through knocking down even people on their side. They don’t care who they harm.
Rogue - Oh come on..
They run right past her knocking her down.
Gambit rushes over after taking aim swiftly with a stick he produced to knock out another morlock.
Gambit - SHAR! You alright!!
Rogue - I’m fine...I can’t believe he knocked me down.

Scarlet Witch wants to leave this battle.
Magneto - You go now. you’re no longer one of us.
Scarlet Witch - I don’t want to be your daughter.
Quicksilver -WANDA WAIT! Its not safe.

Rogue - Ok you two. Your not getting by like the last two did.
Scarlet Witch - Little girl. I advise you to move aside.
Gambit looking towards Quicksilver.
YOU MAY BE QUICK….(a deck of cards is produced..) BUT I’ll TAKE MY CHANCES.

The four go at in in an all out battle with their powers on display in awesome ways. Rogue and Gambit fight almost as a team now. Still bickering but something else is there between them.

Wolverine charges at Pyro and Juggernaut with the Jug knocking him flat on his back unconscious.
Cyclops sees this.
Cyclops - Logan.
He is unable to help though as more morlocks continue to gain up on him as he fights the remaining few in the front in hand to hand combat with blasts every now and then.
Jubilation Lee, also still in the front struggles with one morlock.
Jubilee- AHH!!
Morlock - Little miss independence day you are. So pretty…so so pretty. I want to look just like you.
Jubilee - Help!
She looks to an unconscious Logan.
Jubilee - Wolverine! Get up! Wolverine!

He lies there.

Storm swoops back down to the ground and tries to face the Juggernaut head on. He knocks her back with ease.
JUGGERNAUT - IM THE JUGGERNAUT *****!!
Nightcrawler sees this.
Kurt - Ororro!
A few morlocks try to gain the upper hand knowing that Storm is out. Nightcrawler BAMFS in from far away and saves her, kicking their asses down in slow motion much like the president battle.
This leaves only one X-Men left in the Juggernaut and Pyro’s path.
Colossus.



Beast looks around as over 500 armed guards are pointing red laser guns as himself, Iceman and Kitty Pride.
Guard - HANDS up you MUTANT!
Beast - We mean you no harm….
Iceman - Kitty when I say three.
Kitty - THREE!
Kitty and Bobby run right through the wall at rapid speed.
Beast- …But if we must.
HANK LUNGES INTO THE AIR in a fur ball frenzy he attacks the guards with martial arts like agility and speed knocking them out.
Iceman and Kitty run back in and out of the f\walls as Iceman freezes guards right and left.
Guard - She can run through the walls just like he said! Be careful!
Iceman ices him up.
Unbelievably and in a display of awesome power, the three X-Men have taken out the 500 guards.
Kitty - Who said?

I DID.

Kitty - Warren?!?!



Juggernaut - You ready to go pretty.
Colossus - Da.
Pyro - Watch out, Peter is one of the best.
Colossus - You remember.
Juggernaut - No one can beat the Juggernaut.
They run towards each other and Colossus gets the upper hand running Juggernaut through the wall with his amazing strength.
Juggernaut - How can this be?!
Colossus unmorphs for a second and cracks his neck.
He slowly morphs up again as he walks into the giant hole he created and Juggernaut screams like a little girl. Pyro runs off.

Up in the front Magneto and Mystique are no longer there.
Cyclops now free from any threat.
Cyclops - Where are they?

Rogue walks up to Gambit after taking Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver out.
Rogue - Why don’t you and I get a little more friendly.
Gambit - Ah Shar’ your making Gambit blush. But here and now? And what about your boyfriend.
Rogue - I need a real man sugah.
They kiss!
Gambit - But I’a thought…
ROGUE KNOCKS ROGUE OUT.
Rouge - I can’t.
Mystique transforms back into herself on the ground laughing.
Rogue - Come on *****…you and me. For old times sake.
Mystique - You fool. Phoenix will destroy everyone. This all has just been in preparation for her to unleash her furry. Destiny foresaw and Erik and I have been planning this ever since.
Gambit and Rogue - Phoenix?
Mystique - Now where is Erik? She can’t control it much longer.

Jubilee has taken out the morlock herself, she is more capable then she gives herself credit for. Suddenly Magneto is next to her.
Jubilee - Uhh Hi.
Magneto - Little girl..I came to personally do this myself.
Magneto unleashes down a large poll of magnetism that is on the base crashing it right into Jubilee…BUT LOGAN AWAKES and rushes over to stop it.
Wolverine - AHHHH!!!!
He knocks Magneto back.
Jubilee - You saved me…again.
Wolverine - Always kid.
They hug.


Kitty, Iceman and Beast are now tide up to chairs. The cure right next to them. Kitty looks at the syringe and a tear sheds.
Kitty - Warren why? I befriended you.
Warren - I…I can’t explain.
OH YES YOU CAN SON.
DAD?

Warren Senior - If Warren doesn’t want to be cured the least he can do for the time being is help me find other mutants that we can. Like the X-Men. Son..I’m so proud of you.
Warren - Ya..I guess…dad..
Beast - This is not the way to win your fathers love son.
Warren Senior - But it is the way to cure you freaks of your disease.
Iceman - Disease?! I swear when I get out of here.
His hands turn to ice and so does the rope tying him.
Kitty - Bobby run!
Iceman produces a giant ice slid and knocks out everyone in the room except Angel.
Angel -I’m so sorry. Please.
Iceman - Your toast.
Kitty - BOBBY!
Beast - The cure is being administered to use right now!
A machine has started sending needles inches away from Hank and Kitty. Iceman freezes the machine and breaks it quickly. He releases them. He turns.
Iceman - Where is he?
Kitty - He’s gone.

Beast - This can’t just be Warren. Other people than his dad too are behind this. Something isn’t right.
HANK MCCOY Right? You don’t know how right you are.
TRASK EMERGES
Kitty - Your that guy on the news..you say mutants are a disease. You think this cure is too small…something bigger you said..
Iceman - …Something more permanent.
Trask - Want to find out?
Beast - Where is Jimmy! Where is Leech!
Trask - Leech is dead. It’s time for the next phase. The next phase in evolution. The REAL evolution. The one MAN creates. And it’s about to begin.
Kitty - We’ve got to warn the others.
She grabs the guys and quickly morphs everyone through the wall.
Trask laughs and pushes a button.
SENTINELS AWAKEN.

 

[*The Batman*]

Outside the X-Men all regroup as all threats have been neutralized minus Mystique and Magneto, Psylocke and Jean Grey. Jean lets out a huge scream in pain that Scott hears.
Scott - JEAN!
Suddenly he is struck down from behind.
Magneto - You. Charles raised you up right didn’t he boy. You and your pathetic band of X-Men.
Cyclops - He’s like a father to me. You can’t even be one to your OWN children.
Magneto - Ahh yes…the X-Men..fighting those who hate and fear them. The homo sapiens and their guns. And their cures. Cures to mutation. A world that wants you dead, wants you gone, wants to take away who you are so they can feel safe. So they can feel secure. Is this a world you want to live in.
Magneto lifts Cyclops into the air by the neck.
Cyclops - It …doesn’t ..have ..to ..be …like… that…
Kitty, Beast and Iceman all morph out the front as Storm, Kurt, Peter, Gambit, Rogue, Logan, and Jubilee regain group order.
Kitty - EVERYONE! WATCH OUT!!!

TARGET ALL MUTANTS. ALL MUTANTS. TARGETS IDENTIFIED.
MASSIVE MACHINE DROP DOWN FROM THE SKY, 50 IN ALL circling every square inch of the surrounding area.
Magneto drops Cyclops.
TARGET: MAGNETO..IDENTIFIED…CAPTURE.
Magneto is shot at as he grabs one sentinel and completely destroys it. But there are too many. They grab him and four fly off.
Mystique - NOO!!
TARGET: MAGNETOS CHILDREN…SCARLETT WITCH…QUICKSILVER…CAPTURE…
Four more take the unconscious Wanda and her brother and fly off into the air.

Pyro - Raven lets get out of here!
Juggernaut now conscious grabs Pyro and grabs Mystique and they run off into the distance.


Logan helps Scott up as the rest of the X-Men..Rogue..Gambit..Nightcrawler..Beast..Kitty Pride…Storm….Colossus….and Jubilee are all surrounded. Psylocke and Jean Grey kneeled down on the ground don’t escape the targets either.

TARGETS…UNIDENTIFED MUTANTS…..KILL ALL.

Jean Grey screams out in pain.
Jean Grey - NO..NO..Not again.
Logan - Jean!
A sentinel immediately attacks Logan and he jumps on it knocking it down on the ground slashing it apart.
YOU DON’T WANT TO MESS WITH ME BUB!
Cyclops starts blasting them as Storm gathers all gusto to raise into the air and attack with lightening bolts. Rogue raises herself into the air as well and begins smashing the Sentinels in the face. Nightcrawler morphs back and forth trying to attack with his blades. Beast swiftly attacks in his rage of the beast as Kitty stands by Iceman as he freezes all Sentinels attacking at them. Colossus picks one up and throws it at another as Jubilee attacks as many as possible with her lightening bolts drawn from her hands.
But there are too many they begin to knock X-Men out of the formational circle and off into the distance.
Cyclops is hit backwards hard.
Logan - Scott!
Logan - AHHHH!!!
He flings himself at a few more.
He sees Colossus fighting by him.
Wolverine - Hey Tin Man - How bought a lift.
Colossus smiles as he throws Wolverine fast and hard to the distance where a barely together Cyclops is about to be fried.
He leaps on them striking them out.
Wolverine - One, Two, Three…No I’m having fun.
Cyclops regains himself - Thanks.
Logan - Don’t mention it.
Suddenly 30 more surround them.
Logan - Or maybe do.

Storm yells out.
X-MEN BRACE YOURSELVES.
A strong wind picks up and all but Gambit are ready. As he throws his deck of cards straight at a sentinel he is lifted up and thrown a distance away.
ROGUE - CAJIN!
Rogue flies over and lifts Gambit up as he is about to be crushed by a giant Sentinels foot.
Gambit - Woooahh!
Flying in the air..
Gambit - You saved me Shar.
Rogue - Ya..we’ll don’t get used to it.
Gambit - Maybe Shar’ likes Gambit a little no?
Rogue drops Gambit to the ground, now in safety and flies away.
Gambit smiles.
Kitty - What are these things!
Iceman - I don’t know…but we’ve got to move! Hold on to me!
Iceman ice slides with Kitty away quickly.
Iceman - Whooo!!

Beast as he fights.
Beast - Trask sent them out. He’s trying to kill us all.
Night crawler - These are from Satan himself.
Nightcrawler BAMFS away as 5 missiles were about to strike him.

Jubilee - Colossus watch out!
Colossus is surrounded by 6 Sentinels ready to kill. He braces himself as Jubilee shots lightening bolts out of her hands and fingers to fry them.
Colossus - You saved me.
Jubilee - Don’t mention it.
Gambit throws his deck of cards and yells 52 PICK UP!
It knocks 7 back and they explode.
He blows on the card deck playfully.

Scott - Logan watch out.
Scott blasts a Sentinel that was about to strike an unsuspecting Logan.
Logan - Who would have thought you would be saving my ass ever.
As they continue to fight.
Logan - I mean the other way around, ya.
Scott - Must tear you up to see a good boy like me save your life again.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM
7 Sentinels around them down.
Logan - Wow. Cyclops.
Cyclops - Wasn’t me.
Psylocke stands in striking pose, ready for more battle as she begins to take more Sentinels out.
Logan - She’s good.

Storm - X-Men, stay together…I’m not sure how much longer we can hold them off.
Storm is right. 100s upon 100s keep coming at them. As the team fights, some in twos, some alone, some in groups, more just keep coming. And situations begin to become precarious,
JEAN GREY - AHHHHHH!!!!!!!
AN AWESOME FORCE FIRES OUT OF JEAN GREY, LIKE A BIRD…LIKE A PHOENIX.
Logan, Scott - JEAN!!
ALL Sentinels turn towards Jean GREY.
TARGET MUTANT…MARVEL GIRL..MOST POWERFUL MUTANT HERE….KILL……

Jean Grey throws them backwards as she flies to the sky.
All the X-Men are stunned and shocked as a bright red bird flame engulfs her. Her hair blowing in the wind, bright red.
JEAN GREY - I AM PHOENIX.
She sends out a wave that spirals all the x-men to the ground and destroys all the sentinels. They ALL EXPLODE and the entire base shakes with smog and debris everywhere.
The X-Men slowly regain themselves. Gambit rushes to Rogue and Iceman watches. Kitty holds herself close to Bobby. They cough and regroup, disoriented.
Logan jumps up…Jean…JEAN!!
The smog begins to clear and Scott is holding Jean in his hands.
She appears lifeless.

All X-Men gather a few feet away and watch breathlessly. Rogue cries on Gambits shoulder and he holds her.
SUDDENLY JEAN COUGHS AND AWAKENS.
Cyclops. Tears having run down his face is shocked.
Scott - Jean? Jean is it you! Are you ok?
Jean - Scott…..Scott?? Where am I?
Suddenly Jean begins to remember. She rises.
Jean - Oh god. Oh no.
Scott -Jean! No ..not again! Jean what’s wrong. Jean let me in.
Jean - Scott kill me. Do it now. I can’t control it….its taking over…please…Scott…
Scott - I CAN’T.
Jean - Plea….
Jean’s eyes flutter and then regroup piercingly. She throws Cyclops backwards as all the X-Men watch in terror.
She rises to the sky.
Phoenix - POWER…SO MUCH POWER……
She flies away.
Cyclops - JEAN!!!!

Scene Change
A wealthy building. Lots of expensive things.
A woman dressed all in white walks in. A man is sitting in a chair.
The woman is Emma Frost.
Emma Frost - Sebastian?
He turns around. Sebastian Shaw is his name.
Emma Frost - We’ve found her.
He smiles.



ROLL CREDITS.

 

[Herr Logan]

This would be my ending to X3. I really enjoyed writing this. I guess it wouldn't really be an X3 ending but more just an ending in general to an X-Men movie and what I thought should have happened. It fits in here because its very faithful to the comics, more than the first two. Let me know what you think.

Very nice!!

The one part that stood out as being a sheer impossibility is this scene:

Juggernaut - You ready to go pretty.
Colossus - Da.
Pyro - Watch out, Peter is one of the best.
Colossus - You remember.
Juggernaut - No one can beat the Juggernaut.
They run towards each other and Colossus gets the upper hand running Juggernaut through the wall with his amazing strength.
Juggernaut - How can this be?!
Colossus unmorphs for a second and cracks his neck.
He slowly morphs up again as he walks into the giant hole he created and Juggernaut screams like a little girl. Pyro runs off.

Aside from Colossus not being strong enough to stop the Juggernaut once he's in forward motion-- any incarnation of Colossus-- the Juggernaut would not scream and run from him even if he were at Hulk level strength.


Anyway, aside from that, this is definitely a massive improvement over what was actually scripted and filmed, not only for its own content but for the drastic overall changes to the characters overall that this segment implies. Kudos!


By the way, are you The Batman using a new account, or are you a new poster? If it's the latter, welcome to the Hype and the Haven. Either way, thanks for posting.

 

[*The Batman*]

Thank you very much. I'm a new poster. But I've been here awhile just reading things like x men, batman, spider-man, those are my favorites, but x-men far and away number one. I love everything X-Men/ I had fun writing that. I think thinking about what x4 could entail (hellfire club, maybe the beginings of sinister and on a personal front the relationships between rogue and gambit and iceman and kitty who eventually i would put with peter leaving bobby alone. i think it would be funny to see bobby, the ladies man, end up with no chicks as he would probably say)


your right about the juggernaut thing. I just had to have a way to stop him but maybe does his outfit give him power and if he loses it, hes powerless. i dont actually know much about him, i know alot more about all the x-men as characters and their histories and magneto and his kids and all that. i just know he's not really a mutant and something else made him that powerful.

 

[Herr Logan]

Thank you very much. I'm a new poster. But I've been here awhile just reading things like x men, batman, spider-man, those are my favorites, but x-men far and away number one. I love everything X-Men/ I had fun writing that. I think thinking about what x4 could entail (hellfire club, maybe the beginings of sinister and on a personal front the relationships between rogue and gambit and iceman and kitty who eventually i would put with peter leaving bobby alone. i think it would be funny to see bobby, the ladies man, end up with no chicks as he would probably say)

your right about the juggernaut thing. I just had to have a way to stop him but maybe does his outfit give him power and if he loses it, hes powerless. i dont actually know much about him, i know alot more about all the x-men as characters and their histories and magneto and his kids and all that. i just know he's not really a mutant and something else made him that powerful.

In the comics, which is the only X-Men mythology I acknowledge (except maybe some of the 90's cartoon, which is pretty much the same in this particular issue), the Juggernaut's powers were magical, granted by a ruby that represented the power of a big, nasty god named Cyttorak. The real Juggernaut is Cain Marko, Charles Xavier's step-brother (who is American, just like the real Charles Xavier is, but from California, not New York). He came upon the Temple of Cyttorak after deserting his platoon in Korea, where Charles was also serving as a soldier, in a search an rescue squad. Charles followed him to try anc convince him to rejoin his fellow soldiers, or else he'd get courtmartialed and probably put in prison, but Cain went into the temple, ignoring his hated step-brother. He picked the enchanted ruby and read the words of an inscription he found nearby. The ruby granted him immense powers, including incredible durability, strength, ultimate invincibility (he didn't need to eat or breath, although he could be injured temporarily), a personal force field that made him completely invulnerable for short periods, and most notable of all, he was absolutely unstoppable once he gained forward momentum. That means once he's moving forward, there is absolutely no barrier or countering force that can stop him, and possibly not even slow him down.

That's why I called you on what you'd written, because the real Juggernaut was never a mutant, had it's not completely true that "no one can beat the Juggernaut," it is true that no one can stop him, and Colossus never had enough power to actually scare Juggernaut. He had enough power to earn his respect when they ran into each other in a bar and ended up destroying the place. Colossus lost the fight by far, but he gave a great effort, so Cain said he had guts, and he liked that. Cain even tossed the bar owner a big roll of money (likely stolen) to pay for the damages before he walked off.

I had meant to also call you on your choice of teams when they split up. I had thought you were using Movie!Rogue instead of the real Rogue (who has superstrength, invulnerability and can fly), and I figured that a young girl with no ability to handle herself in a super-fight, a brand new mutant like Gambit and Jubilee are a poor choice for back-up with Magneto, plus other dangerous mutants. I see that it is the real Rogue, so considering that Gambit is actually pretty destructive, I guess Jubilee is really the only one who shouldn't be there.

Anyway, again, good job.

 

[Zev]

The X-Men - The proposed Mutant Registration Act has forced Xavier into assembling a new team to basically act as good-will ambassadors to humans. They don't wear masks unless they have to (besides, Cyclops' mask makes his head look like a condom and we all know it). As part and parcel of this, they police mutants because if they don't, they know the government will come down on them hard. As the movie starts with Kitty's arrival, they've already been recruited (although flashbacks will flesh this out), but are untried and untested.

Wolverine - Really, you could have an X-Men team with Wolverine, but it's kind of like having an Oreo without the cream. Why would you? No reinventing the wheel here. Dude with rage issues and amnesia, adamantium claws, heals really quick. Although I'll be merciful and not get into the ninja stuff or half the other things they've dumped on him. Basically, he says what he wants to say, does what he wants to do, and beats up anyone who gets in his way.

Jean Gray - Not the den mother of the team. Not the mother at all (that's Xavier, if you want my opinion). She is, quite simply, one of the most experienced and professional X-Men and second-in-command in fact if not in name. Somewhat repressed (although not nearly to the degree Scott is), she's nonetheless content (if not always happy) with her marriage and life in general. So, what makes her interesting? Why, all that unresolved sexual tension with Logan and the possibility that any minute she might take a walk to the dark side of the street and eat a star.

Cyclops - Okay, he's part of the big three triangle and I've been thinking about how to make him as interesting as the amnesiac berserker with odd hair and the woman who occasionally turns evil and almost blows up the world. Then I got it. He's Batman. Why is Batman so popular? Lots of emotional issues and preptime. What does Cyclops have? Lots of emotional issues and preptime. Let Cyclops pull off half the crazy **** Batman does every week and people will HAVE to sit up any take notice (especially since he's also leading the group). Buttoned down nearly to the point of repression, he's completely oblivious to any dissatisfaction Jean might feel about their relationship and all too aware of the spark between Logan and Jean. So he makes a point of reining Logan in wherever and whenever he can.

Beast - Part of the alumnai, support crew for the second-generation X-Men. The gadget guy, he's as likely to be designing a new Blackbird as fixing the cable. Science teacher. In his normal life, he's a media pundit and expert on mutation. When the film begins, he's not yet a full-on Beast (although his first scene is his fortysomething self checking for gray hairs and finding one that's cordite blue).

Colossus - Because every team needs one really, really strong guy. I'll flesh him out more when the time comes. He lives a thrifty life, sending most of his "allowance" home to his family in Russia. Maybe a bonding scene will show him receiving a package of Russian treats from home and sharing them with the rest of the team (which would be a good opportunity to further the Piotr/Kitty subplot as well).

Storm - I'm going to go for a more "Goddess of weather" interpretation than "pickpocket who controls weather." Because it's more interesting having a girl who was worshipped as a goddess running around and not using contractions.

Nightcrawler - The comic relief. In his spare time, he drinks beer and pretends to be a pirate in the Danger Room. Then surprises everyone in an introspective moment by quoting a pope or the Bible or something. But mostly the beer-drinking buccaneer thing. If I felt the need to pair everyone in the team up, he'd have a thing with Storm. But I don't, so he's a swinging single.

Thunderbird - I won't lie to you. If he even makes it in, it's just so that he can die to show the seriousness of the situation. First mission, BAM, a piano gets dropped on his head or something. Guy might as well be wearing a redshirt. Nice character death and the fans can't complain about it because it was in the comic books.

Iceman - Another one of the alumnai, the youngest. A bit of a slacker and a screw-up, he's more likely to be cooking up a wacky scheme than volunteering to save the world. He and Beast are the Abbott & Costello of the support crew. He's the gym coach at the Institute.

Warren Worthington III - An "out" mutant businessman and another alumnai, although not one that lives on campus. He is Xavier's liaison to a shadowy coalition of financial backers sympathetic to the X-Men's cause who are referred to as the "board of governors." Mutants who've used their power to get ahead on Wall Street, Hollywood, Washington. Xavier turns a blind eye to them and/or doesn't want to know where the money comes from. In fact, the whole deal fairly reeks of protection money. Not that Warren shares this information. But hey, aren't those rich closeted mutants kinda reminiscient of the Hellfire Club? Yes. Yes, they are.

The Students - Since mutation begins at adolescence, it's only natural that they're all high-school age or older. They're taught by a variation of Herr's "virtual teacher" idea (with the X-Men and alumnai as sort of hands-on role model/mentor/big brother figures).

Other Alumnai - Not all of Xavier's old students were X-Men. These guys perform other services around the mansion (maybe a chlorokinetic to manage the shrubbery?), along with humans that can be trusted.

Kitty Pryde - The audience identification figure who idolizes Wolverine. The youngest member of the second-generation X-Men and the one with the biggest (and only) crush on Colossus. Of course, it only makes sense that this upper-middle-class Jewish princess would be roommates with Rogue. Has a thing with Piotr because 1. it was in the comics and 2. that draws in the WB crowd (although I guess now it would be the CW crowd). Don't worry, I'll keep it relatively painless.

Rogue - More movieverse than throws-cars-while-cuddling-with-Gambit. Going back to the early Claremont characterization here, a sassy, tough, jaded Southern goth girl who has a mysterious connection to Mystique. Because damnit, no team is complete without at least one snarky outsider! Has a street fighting style consisting mainly of rapid holds (to drain an enemy's power) and throws. Just to make her a bit more useful, let's say she can absorb strength from your average human as well as memories. So the phrase "strength of ten men" can quickly become literal. Sample line of dialogue: (to Logan, upon seeing him without a mask) You must go through a lot of mousse.

Xavier - The backbone of the team and, oh yeah, really creepy. Because he could be picking through your brain and making you like country music and you'd never know it. Although he can be a little ruthless, he nonetheless has a real moral center and idealism, which is what separates him from Magneto and what compels almost every mutant he's ever taught to follow him. The headmaster.

Magneto and the Brotherhood of Mutants - Well, Magneto, obviously. Beyond that, not too sure. Basically, whoever can be appropriate counters to the X-Men. Since Colossus is here, Juggernaut obviously. Mystique too. Toad, so there can be a cool Nightcrawler/Toad fight (you know that would own your soul). Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch to take on Scott and Jean (likewise, you know Scott using tactics to take our Mr. Superspeed in some badass way would be... well, badass!). More later.

Senator Kelly - Not such a bad guy, but by no means a good guy. He's no hate-monger, he just wants to "control the mutant problem" and has no idea of the consequences this would have for your average Johnny Mutant. Who knows, maybe he'll have a moral reawakening. Or die.

Omega Red - Magneto's right-hand man. Because Wolverine needs someone to have a one-on-one fight with. And hooboy, do I have a doozy planned...

 

[Herr Logan]

I'm really sorry I didn't respond to this sooner. I've had a lot of distractions (some of them actually crucial to my life) and I wanted to avoid being perfunctory about this.

Thank you. I thought your astral plane write up was fine and the most logical way to shorten it would be to simply cut down the length of the battle. If you think about it, psychic battles probably don't last that long in real time anyway, so this is a good way of showing how much information is going on in the character's minds in a brief amount of time.

I don't remember what the book was called, but there was a collection of short stories about the X-Men that included one about the Professor's first battle with the Shadow King. Someone, possibly a child, was throwing a ball to someone else across a short distance, in the vicinity of the cafe where Xavier and Amahl Farouk were staring each other down and having a big ol' tussle on the Astral Plane. This gave a timeframe which ultimately made the fight last about a second in real time. On the Astral Plane, it can seem to take God knows how long (it's happening at the speed of thought) but for the purposes of the movie, it would have to be reasonably short, but obviously more than a second.

Who said it would be voluntary .

I don't like Professor X being too shady.

The way I imagined it, Proffesor X would be the psychic equivalent of an internet classroom, where his students would be able to see and hear what's going on in a real class taking place a great distance away. Taping into a proffesor's mind to create this would not be such a violation , IMHO, that Xavier woud feel bad about doing it without said proffessor's opinion.

Of course, these are just random ideas, and I really like the virtual classroom thing. Additionally, teaching the X-men courses the way he tought some of them English would also work, and be the easiest "movie way" of explaining their education.

I'll have to think about this some more.

As there are exceptions to every rule, I think this falls under the exception. If having Cyclops explain his origin's to another character is a key part of his arc, then it works. But I still think you should show some part of the origin for Bobby. Maybe Cyclops can be the only character without an origin scene which might add to the mystery of the character, and we do not find out the depressing truth untill much later in the film during a quiet scene with Jean? Just throwing out ideas.

I definitely want to show a scene where Scott Summers is running away from an orphanage (or similar institution) and he accidentally shoots the cable that drops the I-beam and then shoots the I-beam so that it doesn't hit anybody. Perhaps that could be the teaser and the scene with Xavier and Farouk could be later on, as an actual flashback.
If Mr. Sinister is a big part of the plot of 'Uncanny X-Men 4,' I'd have a flashback or two for Scott Summers as a kid and/or young teen. I guess I should bring Havok into the story at that point as well. Also, i I put him on Storm's Gold Strike Team, that would balance out the numbers between the two teams. I think I posted my ideas for that movie and how Jean Grey will reappear, having been switched with a clone created by Mr. Sinister in 'Uncanny X-Men 2.'

Maybe Jean's flashback should be in the second film, where the dangers of her powers at high levels truly come into play. If that's the case, then in the first movie, I'd just have Jean tell Scott about her psychic trauma at age 10. I would have her telepathy starting to develop throughout the first movie, too, and in the final battle sequence, Jean will, among other things, relay messages between the team members telepathically (although they should also have electronic communication devices, composed mostly of plastic... perhaps Magneto will render them useless anyway and Jean's power is needed). When she starts using her telepathy during her first year back at Xavier's, she'll tell Scott why she didn't tell the other X-Men she had that talent before.

I agree. You have to walk a fine line with Cyclops because you risk making the character boring and uninteresting to the audience. However, if the filmmaker generally cares about the character (and I imagine you do), than I doubt this would be a problem.

Exactly. If the people doing the movie want to get it right, then they will get it right, God dammit! Cyclops needs to be interesting, or at the very least, entertaining. The fact is, not everybody is going to be all that interested in Cyclops-- and I do not mean that in the same way people say "you can't please everybody, aim for the 'general audience'"-- I mean that different people prefer different characters, and I want Cyclops to be as accessible to most people as he can be while still remaining very much in character.

And don't get me started on the Batman thing. Heaven forbid a mysterious creature of the night should... hide his emotions! People are idiots.

Hey, feel free to get started... but do it in the Batman Safe Haven, though, please.

Go hog wild.

That's becoming very popular in film and television today (Begins, Lost, ect.), but that doesn't mean it's bad. I think the key deciding factor has to be the pace of the film. If the pace of the film is even and comfortable, leave the beginning at the beginning. If it's not, than you might want to inter disperse the origins. But leave that damn Xavier intro at the beginning of the film. It's a good tease, and drives home the point you are making in your X-men film; that Xavier believes he is a hero who must fight against renegade mutants who threaten humanity (as well as other mutants). That's an interesting point that's almost non-existant in the current franchise, and hasn't been touched on much in recent comics (except Whedon's). Now adays, the X-men are looked at as more of a paramilitary strike force, and if you want your X-men to come off as heros (or would-be heros), you should show that.

That's a good point. I definitely want to emphasize the heroism aspect of Xavier and the X-Men (although I still want to show Xavier as more of a hard-ass headmaster than he was in the Singer movies, although I think I'll draw the just before, "X-Men, meet me in my study in 15 seconds... tardiness will be punished!").

It always seemed peculiar to me how Xavier believed that by gathering a training a group of superpowered field operatives, he could somehow bring humans and mutants to an age of peace and acceptance. At some points it seemed like the fighting supervillains was a secondary goal. I want to make it clear that Xavier's first intention for the X-Men themselves is to make them an effective "peacekeeping force" (soldiers that try to neutralize superhuman threats and save civilians without killing anyone), while his life's ultimate goal is to educate the world about mutants and spread the message that peace can be achieved through knowledge and empathy. The X-Men themselves will be given a range of options for occupational training, the specialty being a course that combines education of genetics, sociology, political theory and history, and other studies that will leave a graduate of the Xavier Institute in a position to actually, literally teach others about Xavier's Dream and how it can be acheived through education and cooperation. When I say teach, I don't just mean at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, I mean in other schools and places as well.
The Beast will take this course of study, among other physical sciences (he's going to finish earning his Ph.D.s in Biochemistry and Genetics towards the beginning of 'Uncanny X-Men 2'), but that doesn't mean he will immediately begin teaching people, since the Xavier Institute is the only school where there is such a course, and it takes time to open colleges and universities to this kind of option. Let's face it, it would be a preachy class with a strong political bias, so it's not exactly a sure pick in today's world, where education is widely seen as something that should be neutral (regardless of whether it really is).

So yeah, not everyone at Xavier's is required to become an X-Man or a teacher, but those are options.

I'm hesistant about villain flashback scenes as you run the risk of exhausting the audience. A Magneto flashback could work, as it was one of the only things the current franchise really nailed. As for the Scarlet Witch, perhaps Magneto could perform some act of kindness during the course of the film, or, something could come up and she would be reminded of the debt she owes him. I'm not sure either way. Hell, someone could ask her why she works for him and she could say, "Magnus saved us from the bloodthirty human mob. I would die for him." (And I am well aware that suggesting this is a bit hypocritical, but rules are meant to be broken). I would also avoid Xavier/Magneto flahbacks. It should be obvious from the dialogue that they were once friends, and you'll have more than one movie to develop their relationship. You won't need to cram everything into one film.

I haven't thought of a solid plot for Magneto in subsequent films, although recently I started toying with the idea that Magneto could show up in 'Uncanny X-Men 2' when the Sentinels are wreaking havok and aid the X-Men in destroying them. He could also try to help Jean Grey contain the nuclear explosion resulting from one of the Sentinels' power sources becoming unstable. I would have Magneto at a good distance away at the moment (fighting a Sentinel or three over there), so he'd be projecting his force field from afar and wouldn't be in the same danger that Jean is in (if their combined force fields actually contain the blast... if they didn't, everyone in the city would be in danger, obviously), as she is right up close to it, shielding herself as well as the world outside the telekinetic (and then also electromagnetic once Magneto realizes what's up) sphere of energy. Magneto would feel some guilt over Jean's apparent death (she turns out to be in a coma, though), but he wouldn't have directly contributed to it.
He would not be present for most of the movie, though. If Mystque's Brotherhood of Mutants and the Morlocks are the villains of 'Uncanny X-Men 3' and Mr. Sinister and/or Apocalypse are the villains of 'Uncanny X-Men 4,' I'm not sure how to fit another major Magneto plot in, other than to restructure the plot outlines for the others. I could do a write-up for a fifth one eventually, but I'd like feedback on whether you think the general ideas for 3 and 4 are good ones first.

I do want the Scarlet Witch to follow Magneto partly because she believes he's right in his quest. This is partly because she experienced firsthand the savagery and unreasoning hatred with which baseline humans can treat mutants, partly because Magneto is the first person she met who is willing to try to help her control and master her powers, partly because he's extremely charismatic when he wants to be, largely out of obligation because Magneto saved her from a mob of humans and she feels obligated, and it's partly a vaguely "Stockholme Syndrome" type dynamic that relates to the previous reason. He has asked her to to help him in return for what he did, and she would rather believe there's a good reason behind him obligating her to bring harm to other people than to believe she's being forced to do this completely against her wishes. It's a defense mechanism.
Quicklsilver, on the other hand, doesn't give a damn one way or another what happens to the human populace or about Magneto's ultimate goal, but since his sister refuses to leave Magneto, he resolves to stay with the Brotherhood, whether Magneto wants him to or not. He's not afraid of Magneto, at least in terms of his own safety, and Magneto values this trait to some degree and keeps the hope alive that Quicksilver will adopt his viewpoint and start believing in the cause. Quicksilver is sort of Magneto's unofficial second-in-command in terms of field operations. While he isn't devoted, he's more trustworthy than Mastermind and far more competent in general than the Toad. Unus the Untouchable doesn't even want to be the number two guy in the gang, so we don't know whether he'd be competent or not, but we get the impression he isn't up to it.

Anyway, if I don't give Wanda a mob attack flashback, I will just have them reveal what happened through dialogue. I had wanted to show it instead of telling it with a brief scene that picks up after Wanda's powers caused an accident and a mob gathers and corners her. There would be a shot or two of Quicksilver trying to come to her aid, but he is being held down by many humans who are actually piling on top of each other in order to keep him down (his powers would easily shake off people who were simply holding his arms or whatever) and it looks like he's taken a severe beating already, the bruises explaning part of why he isn't stronger at the moment. The look of terror and helplessness in Pietro's eyes would be heartbreaking. Suddenly, Magneto comes floating down from the sky in his shining red armor (I'm going to have sections of it be flat-out plate armor, similar to the knights and gladiators of old... it fits with the gladiator-style helmet) and his cape spread out and flapping in the wind. He would command the mob in a booming voice to leave her be, and when they hesitate, he tosses them in all different directions with his power, not caring whether they live or die. This grandiose shot would hopefully give the audience a better idea of why she would stay with this man even though she knows he's dangerous and basically a fanatical terrorist who's willing to pretty much anyway to achieve his goals. I really wanted to keep something like that in, which would also, by implication, explain why Toad is there and why he's such a sycophant (he's a "toady," get it? Man, that Stan Lee sure was clever with words...), and why Mastermind and Unus see him as their ticket to the big time.

Quicksilver is glad that Wanda was saved, but he is jealous when it comes to her and who gets to save or protect her, which gives him one more reason to dislike him. He knows what Magneto is and that he's extremely dangerous. Furthermore, he allies himself with lecherous psychopaths like Mastermind and creepy, vile, borderline stalker-types like the Toad (who has a huge crush on Wanda, which he doesn't hide, and no social skills whatsoever). I mean, if your sister (assuming you like her) resolved to work with a hateful, violent, unspeakably powerful terrorist who could do anything to you from tossing you through the air with a thought to making a refrigerator eat you to dropping a building on you, who hires a remorseless bastard who can make you see, hear, taste, smell and feel anything he wants to and a lonely, creepy unstable freak with deadly, inhuman strength, would you be okay with it? That's Quicksilver's role in the movie, and he's constantly keeping an eye on her, rarely ever leaving her out of sight. By the end of the movie, when the X-Men defeat the Brotherhood, leaving Magneto (wounded) to escape, Mastermind to get while the gettin's good, and Toad and Unus in government custody, Quicksilver will gather up the nerve to tell his sister once and for all how it's going to be from here on out. She's coming with him, like it or not, and she is not going to be joining up with Magneto and his minions or any other dangerous faction again... peroid!!

I don't feel I need to actually have a flashback with Xavier and Magneto. Xavier would gather his students and tell the truncated story, and explain why people like Magneto are so dangerous. One of the students, probably Beast (the most philosophically interested member), will ask him how an uninvolved individual or group would be able to to distinguish a charismatic and powerful leader like Magneto from a charismatic and powerful leader like Professor X in terms of who is actually "right." Hank would put a disclaimer first and say that he means no disrespect, and Xavier would tell him that he should not be afraid to ask such questions. On the battlefield and/or on rescue missions, the X-Men are expected to follow the chosen field commander (Cyclops) without dispute for the most part, but at the school (or any non-dangerous situation), they not only can ask such philosophical questions, but should. I would like it if Professor X would lay it out for the X-Men and the audience, how morality is essentially relative on a factual/intellectual level. In practice, however, he strongly believes that a person of action must choose their set of values or side of an issue, and act according to their value system. It is important that the X-Men realize that there is some truth to Magneto's rhetoric, and that is why intelligent people may join his cause (he doesn't want them underestimating Magneto's followers' intellect in general), and also why Magneto is so dangerous. Someone like Unus the Untouchable is dangerous because he has power and is selfish. Someone like Magneto is more dangerous, not only because he has a hell of a lot more power, but because he truly believes he is right and is not at all insane for believing what he believes. I want it shown that the X-Men are not treated like mindless minions to execute Xavier's will. It's a progressive institution on many levels, and although certain rules are strict, the intellectul atmosphere is not oppressive.

I'm just bustin your balls, I'm kind of an anti-corporate guy. However, I completley agree that having real life brand names scattered through a film does help to make the audience feel that they are seeing a world similar, if not identical, to their own. As a matter of fact, removing brand labels, which is done in some films, often stands out and seems awkward. The key is restraint. Does it make sense for Peter Parker to use a soda can as webbing target practice in SM1? Of course it does. Is there anything wrong with the can clearly reading "Dr. Pepper"? Absolutley not. But is it nessescary for that can to get a full two second close up (an eternity in film) when Peter Parker loudly and awkwardly slams the can down on his dresser? Just a bit.

So yah, it's no biggy that Wolverine drinks name-brand beer, and storm crashes into a giant billboard. Just as long as the cinematographer hasn't sold his soul to Wallmart, it'll be ok

It makes a hell of a lot more sense for Spider-Man to use an empty soda can for webbing practice than his framed picture of May and Ben. What an unexcusably badly imagined scene. That was. Way to go, Raimi and Koepp, you managed to compromise or completly strip away pretty much every single facet of Peter Parker's personality.

Yeah, I get what you're saying. I'm not strictly anti-corporate (as in don't trust corporations, but I just don't have an overabundance of energy directed against corporations in general, but I frequently and vehemently condemn certain examples, mainly movie studios and comic book publishers, as all you people well know). I don't like needlessly compromising good art for commercial value. I don't think it's anywhere near impossible to accomodate both sets of demands, if the creators want to do a good job and have the ability.

My pleasure. I really like how this X-men franchise is turning out, and I'm impressed that you're able to start from the first team and still make it really engaging.

Thank you very kindly.

I really appreciate your input, man.

 

[The Batman]

Zev, i agree about Cyclops!!!

I was thinking the same thing....Batman is the tactical genius of the JLA. He does the coolest crap, and is genuinely a badass. He's a bit withdrawn like Cyclops, wants the job done efficently like Cyke, etc.

I always thought Cyclops should be like JLA Batman. He has a plan for almost any situation. Everyone else is freaking out, while scotts there strategizing. To me, that makes him badass in a way different from logan.

 

[Herr Logan]

The X-Men -

Nice work, Zev.

I'm not crazy about a couple of members on that Brotherhood lineup (Juggernaut and Omega Red) but I won't go into it.

That's a pretty large X-team you've got there. Were you planning on splitting it up and having more than one leader?

Nice character death and the fans can't complain about it because it was in the comic books.

Not sure what to say about this. Are you trying to tell me something?


Anyway, overall, nice job.

 

[Zev]

Well, as I said, the alumnai (save for Scott and Jean) don't go into battle, nor do Rogue and Kitty (although I'm thinking of having Kitty stowaway on the Blackbird and a plot twist will put Rogue right in the mix of the action in the end. Omega Red is there as a mercenary-for-hire because Magneto needs him to complete an appropriately supervillainish scheme to give mutants dominion over the earth (while killing a whole buttload of humans, natch) and Juggernaut is just freed from jail by Magneto to go after Xavier as a distraction. Basically, while the second-generation team is away, Juggernaut attacks and the alumnai (Iceman, Beast, and Angel) try to stop him. Somehow Colossus is there too (maybe something to do with the Kitty subplot) and there's a BIG fight that ends with, of course, Juggernaut's helmet being disabled and Xavier or Jean doing Bad Things to his brain (if Jean, then there's a nice opportunity to do some foreshadowing with the Phoenix, maybe have Scott stop her just short of killing the guy).

Mostly kidding with the Thunderbird thing. Plotty things have made his role sort of redundant.

By the way, did you see Christian Bale on the MTV Movie Awards? Won for Best Hero and thanked Nolan for getting rid of the Bat-nipples and "bringing some dignity back to the Dark Knight," then he turned to Brandon Routh and said that Batman was cooler than Superman. It was pretty awesome.

 

[Herr Logan]

No, I did not see the MTV Music Awards.

So they had Movie!Batman talk trash to Superman In Name Only, mirroring the inane, asinine, purely tribalistic feud some of the more immature and unintelligent fans of Batman and Superman engage in? That's adorable.

Too bad they chose not to bring some dignity back to Superman.

I apologize for my demeanor. I'm not quite sure why I'm such a foul mood. I mean, I just found out I got a "C" on my Statistics exam. I should be elated!
It was probably looking at various ignorant comments on the Hype. That's always good for a bring-me-down.

 

[Herr Logan]

I know I've been all over the place with my X-Men movie ideas, coming up with stuff in a very non-linear fashion, across several movies. I just figured I'd write down what I've got for the very end of 'Uncanny X-Men 2'. First, a little setup:

Early in the movie:
​

The new X-Men members are presented with stylized belt buckles (with a big X-insignia) to wear with their distinctive individual costumes. Wolverine scoffed and refused to wear it, grabbing his crotch and saying "I got yer school spirit right here," while walking away.

The latter portion of the movie:
​

Jean Grey, who, with the help of Mastermind and the White Queen, gradually lost control of herself and her vastly augmented powers to a new personality called "Phoenix", destroyed an entire city block in Manhattan, then fought the X-Men, then got reigned in by Professor Xavier, then killed herself to spare her friends and the world.
Wolverine disappears shortly after this, presumably having left the team without giving notice. After the funeral, Cyclops decides to leave, not knowing for sure whether he'll be back to rejoin and lead the team.


At the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, Early morning

A shadowy figure enters the mansion shortly after dawn and creeps up to the living quarters and into Nightcrawler's room. the figure leans in close to the sleeping Kurt Wagner. Kurt's room in a bit of a mess, with several empty beer bottles on the floor and a half-eaten sandwich on his desk that was left overnight, if not longer. Jean's death has hit all of the X-Men hard, and Kurt's room reflects that somewhat, as his room was not this disheveled before.

WOLVERINE: Rise and shine, elf.

NIGHTCRAWLER: Was in Hölle?! Wer gibt es?!
​

Nightcrawler awakens abruptly, startled, and teleports to the ceiling of the room. He sees Wolverine, fully dressed in his costume.

NIGHTCRAWLER: Vielfraß?? Logan, we thought you'd left.

WOLVERINE: I did. Now I'm back.
​

Kurt crawls down the wall and sits on the bed, rubbing his eyes.

NIGHTCRAWLER: Where did you go?

WOLVERINE: Out.
​

Nightcrawler stares at Wolverine, silently prodding him to elaborate.

WOLVERINE: I just had some grievin' to do, alone. That gets old after a week or so, so I'm back.
​

Nightcrawler notices Wolverine is now wearing an X-Men belt buckle, which he refused to wear months ago. I don't really have to spell out what this signifies, right?

NIGHTCRAWLER: I'm glad you're back.

WOLVERINE: Yeah? Prove it by givin' me your best shot in the Danger Room. Same stakes as usual; loser buys the beer.

NIGHTCRAWLER: Ja, okay. Just give me ten minutes.

WOLVERINE: Hurry up, elf. Can't be sleepin' the day away when there's all kinds o' prejudice, violence and beer that needs tendin' to.
​

Wolverine walks toward the door, stopping briefly to pick up the half-eaten sandwich on Kurt's desk, sniff it and start eating it.

NIGHTCRAWLER: Hey, Logan?

WOLVERINE: What?

NIGHTCRAWLER: That new belt buckle...

WOLVERINE: What of it?

NIGHTCRAWLER: It really looks good on you.

WOLVERINE: Yeah, whatever.
​

Wolverine heads toward the nearest elevator to take him to the lower levels of the complex and continues to eat the leftover sandwich. On the way, he passes Storm, dressed in her costume minus the cloak, who is watering some plants that are sitting on small tables that line the hallways. He approaches from behind, not breaking stride, and gives her a good slap on the ass and a verbal greeting as he passes her, which startles her.

WOLVERINE: Mornin'.

STORM: Logan?! You are back. And with a death wish, apparently.
​

Wolverine pauses and turns towards her. Storm is half-attempting to look angry, but she's smiling.

WOLVERINE: Yup. That, an' this spiffy new belt buckle that you guys are so fond of.

STORM: Yes, I see. Have you talked to Kurt yet?

WOLVERINE: Yeah, he's meetin' me in the Danger Room in a few for a friendly game o' "Best Get Me 'fore I Get You." Wanna join?'
​

Storm gives a smirk.

STORM: That depends. Are you ready to be put in your place, little man?
​

Wolverine grins.

WOLVERINE: Always, darlin'. Always.
​

He turns back around and keeps walking and eating Kurt's sandwich.
Theme song starts playing.

Storm opens the curtains of a window the hallways, and the camera switches to outside the mansion looking in, pulling back gradually.

At some point, the screen flashes white and then fades in on a photograph of all the X-Men that are left and the Professor posing for the picture. This also happens at the end of the first movie, with the old team.




What do you think? Try to fill in all the dramatic pauses and the theme music when you visualize it.

 

[Zev]

I know I've been all over the place with my X-Men movie ideas, coming up with stuff in a very non-linear fashion, across several movies. I just figured I'd write down what I've got for the very end of 'Uncanny X-Men 2'. First, a little setup:

Early in the movie:
​

The new X-Men members are presented with stylized belt buckles (with a big X-insignia) to wear with their distinctive individual costumes. Wolverine scoffed and refused to wear it, grabbing his crotch and saying "I got yer school spirit right here," while walking away.

The latter portion of the movie:
​

Jean Grey, who, with the help of Mastermind and the White Queen, gradually lost control of herself and her vastly augmented powers to a new personality called "Phoenix", destroyed an entire city block in Manhattan, then fought the X-Men, then got reigned in by Professor Xavier, then killed herself to spare her friends and the world.
Wolverine disappears shortly after this, presumably having left the team without giving notice. After the funeral, Cyclops decides to leave, not knowing for sure whether he'll be back to rejoin and lead the team.


At the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, Early morning

A shadowy figure enters the mansion shortly after dawn and creeps up to the living quarters and into Nightcrawler's room. the figure leans in close to the sleeping Kurt Wagner. Kurt's room in a bit of a mess, with several empty beer bottles on the floor and a half-eaten sandwich on his desk that was left overnight, if not longer. Jean's death has hit all of the X-Men hard, and Kurt's room reflects that somewhat, as his room was not this disheveled before.

WOLVERINE: Rise and shine, elf.

NIGHTCRAWLER: Was in Hölle?! Wer gibt es?!
​

Nightcrawler awakens abruptly, startled, and teleports to the ceiling of the room. He sees Wolverine, fully dressed in his costume.

NIGHTCRAWLER: Vielfraß?? Logan, we thought you'd left.

WOLVERINE: I did. Now I'm back.
​

Kurt crawls down the wall and sits on the bed, rubbing his eyes.

NIGHTCRAWLER: Where did you go?

WOLVERINE: Out.
​

Nightcrawler stares at Wolverine, silently prodding him to elaborate.

WOLVERINE: I just had some grievin' to do, alone. That gets old after a week or so, so I'm back.
​

Nightcrawler notices Wolverine is now wearing an X-Men belt buckle, which he refused to wear months ago. I don't really have to spell out what this signifies, right?

NIGHTCRAWLER: I'm glad you're back.

WOLVERINE: Yeah? Prove it by givin' me your best shot in the Danger Room. Same stakes as usual; loser buys the beer.

NIGHTCRAWLER: Ja, okay. Just give me ten minutes.

WOLVERINE: Hurry up, elf. Can't be sleepin' the day away when there's all kinds o' prejudice, violence and beer that needs tendin' to.
​

Wolverine walks toward the door, stopping briefly to pick up the half-eaten sandwich on Kurt's desk, sniff it and start eating it.

NIGHTCRAWLER: Hey, Logan?

WOLVERINE: What?

NIGHTCRAWLER: That new belt buckle...

WOLVERINE: What of it?

NIGHTCRAWLER: It really looks good on you.

WOLVERINE: Yeah, whatever.
​

Wolverine heads toward the nearest elevator to take him to the lower levels of the complex and continues to eat the leftover sandwich. On the way, he passes Storm, dressed in her costume minus the cloak, who is watering some plants that are sitting on small tables that line the hallways. He approaches from behind, not breaking stride, and gives her a good slap on the ass and a verbal greeting as he passes her, which startles her.

WOLVERINE: Mornin'.

STORM: Logan?! You are back. And with a death wish, apparently.
​

Wolverine pauses and turns towards her. Storm is half-attempting to look angry, but she's smiling.

WOLVERINE: Yup. That, an' this spiffy new belt buckle that you guys are so fond of.

STORM: Yes, I see. Have you talked to Kurt yet?

WOLVERINE: Yeah, he's meetin' me in the Danger Room in a few for a friendly game o' "Best Get Me 'fore I Get You." Wanna join?'
​

Storm gives a smirk.

STORM: That depends. Are you ready to be put in your place, little man?
​

Wolverine grins.

WOLVERINE: Always, darlin'. Always.
​

He turns back around and keeps walking and eating Kurt's sandwich.
Theme song starts playing.

Storm opens the curtains of a window the hallways, and the camera switches to outside the mansion looking in, pulling back gradually.

At some point, the screen flashes white and then fades in on a photograph of all the X-Men that are left and the Professor posing for the picture. This also happens at the end of the first movie, with the old team.




What do you think? Try to fill in all the dramatic pauses and the theme music when you visualize it.

I think it'd work better without pointing out the belt and just leaving the audience to grasp it. Maybe have someone say "It looks good on you," and him saying something along the lines of "Needed something to hold my pants up."