It’s been 18-years since X-Men: The Last Stand and fans weren’t too fond of the final film before it’s official reboot. Considered the worst X-Men movie to most of the masses, X-Men: The Last Stand is notable for killing crucial characters (Cyclops and Professor Xavier for example), a messy story with underdeveloped characters, and a terrible adaptation of the Dark Phoenix comic.
There’s simply way too much going on in X-Men: The Last Stand: we got the main Dark Phoenix plot. Then the story about the cure for mutants, including Rogue’s battle on whether she should take the medicine or not. Then there’s the whole plot with the Juggernaut and the mini-rivalry between Iceman and Pyro. Overstuffing the film made it impossible for important characters moments to land.
However, despite the many flaws of X-Men: The Last Stand, there’s plenty of great ideas that warrant another adaptation. X-Men: The Last Stand is far from the worst X-Men film ever made. It’s certainly not in the same league as First Class, Days of Future Past, and X2, but it’s also better than Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix. However, The Last Stand would’ve been better as a mini-series.
The Dark Phoenix Story Would’ve Gotten The Proper Development
The Dark Phoenix story is nothing like the comics. However, it didn’t particularly need to be. X2: X-Men United teased the Dark Phoenix at the end of the film, but it should’ve went further than that. I like the notion that Charles Xavier has been suppressing Jean Grey’s true power this entire time. That story should’ve been developed throughout the ENTIRE series.
Just like Peter Parker and Harry Osborn’s story developed in Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, there should’ve been more focuses on the dynamic of Jean Grey and Charles Xavier. Like the Osborne/Parker story, it didn’t have to dominate the first two films, but it should’ve been enough development to lead into The Last Stand. The Biggest problem with the Dark Phoenix story is that it comes out of nowhere. We’re fed this exposition about how it started and Jean is suddenly killing of big names in a manner of an hour.
A mini-series would not only give better development of the story, but it would also give some better context between Charles Xavier, Jean Grey, and Scott Summers. The latter would greatly benefit from it as he’s sadly been portrayed as nothing more than Jean’s lover boy. Even then, the love story was more on Logan and Jean Grey. His death lacked mean because he was a side character with name value only. The Dark Phoenix story can be properly developed, but it was impossible to do so when there was so much going on in The Last Stand.
The Rogue Story Would’ve Gotten Some Better Context As Well
Rogue is a fantastic character in the animated series and comics. Unfortunately, the film didn’t do much with following the first film. Rogue is arguably one of the most powerful mutants on the planet, but they severely suppressed her true power in the adaptations. The story of her character longing for love and companionship is a compelling one. A mutant struggling with the curse of her powers adds a different wrinkle to the interal conflict angle.
The issue is that we aren’t given time to really dive into Rogue’s psyche about this. Like the Dark Phoenix saga, it would’ve been great to showcase her true power, and how much it drains her on a day-to-day basis. We understand the context of Rogue’s dilemma, but we don’t see the battle behind her decision to entertain such a life changing decision. Most of the X-Men in the live-action series was short-changed, but given that Rogue had more development that some of the bigger names in the comics, it’s a shame that most of her crucial moments that led her to get the cure were mainly offscreen.
The Juggernaut
The Juggernaut was kind of treated as a goofy numbskull in this film. Though his powers matched the ones in the comics, he felt like one of the least important characters in the film. We NEVER really understand his true motivations. His reasoning is that he’s grateful for Magneto helping him escape.
There’s a deeper and better developed character lying under that heavy helmet. A mini-series would’ve better allowed us to get more meat on why he’s decided to help Magneto with his plans. Plus, the relationship between him and his step brother, Charles, could’ve gotten some focus. The familial ties aspect has always been a theme when it comes to the X-Men, so it’s quite shocking that it doesn’t have any impact of Juggernaut’s story in The Last Stand. Either way, it would be nice to see him be something other than a dumb brute.
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