a5c7b9f00b In a world where both Mutants and Humans fear each other, Marie, better known as Rogue, runs away from home and hitches a ride with another mutant, known as Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine. Charles Xavier, who owns a school for young mutants, sends Storm and Cyclops to bring them back before it is too late. Magneto, who believes a war is approaching, has an evil plan in mind, and needs young Rogue to help him. A band of unique power-possessing mutants live in a world where their kind is hated and persecuted by humans. Under the guidance of their leader, Professor Charles Xavier, the X-Men strive for a world where humans and mutants can peacefully co-exist. The superheroes must also combat those radical mutants with intentions of exterminating human the race. As a fan of the X-men for 20 years, I think this was a fine flick. BUT, it left me a little empty. The character development was too shallow on everyone except Rogue and Logan. That Rogue was in "the Brotherhood" (albeit briefly and unwillingly) was a nice touch. Overall, though, a job well done. The addition of Jubilee, Shadowcat and Iceman was a bonus. Kudos all! After years of watching DC Comics' characters get good movies, Marvel finally scores one for their recognizable superheroes. As an anti-fan of the mutant hero phenomenon, I was pleasantly surprised to find that apart from the expected great work of Patrick Stewart and Ian MacKellan there were also standout performances in the roles of Wolverine and Rogue. They turned my least favorite X-characters into my favorite ones (for the span of one movie, anyway). Of course, there's much to be said for their costume and makeup designers' work on the Mystique character, but that's not for a family Web site... When it comes to stoopid fun, X-Men could be the summer movie to beat. When her first kiss puts her boyfriend in a coma, Marie D'Ancanto (<a href="/name/nm0001593/">Anna Paquin</a>) recognizes that she's a mutant and takes off on a journey away from those she loves, lest she harm them with her touch. Now calling herself Rogue, she meets Logan, another mutant who goes by the name Wolverine (<a href="/name/nm0413168/">Hugh Jackman</a>). When their camper gets in an accident, they end up at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, a cover school for mutant children on in Westchester County, New York. There they are introduced to the director, Professor Charles Xavier (<a href="/name/nm0001772/">Patrick Stewart</a>), who leads a group of mutants called the X-Men—Doctor Jean Grey (<a href="/name/nm0000463/">Famke Janssen</a>), Scott Summers aka Cyclops (<a href="/name/nm0005188/">James Marsden</a>), and Ororo Monroe aka Storm (<a href="/name/nm0000932/">Halle Berry</a>). Unfortunately, they come in direct conflict with the Brotherhood of Mutants, led by Xavier's old friend Eric Lensherr, who now calls himself Magneto (<a href="/name/nm0005212/">Ian McKellen</a>). Magneto and his followers—Sabretooth (<a href="/name/nm0541932/">Tyler Mane</a>), Toad (<a href="/name/nm0661917/">Ray Park</a>), and Mystique (<a href="/name/nm0005381/">Rebecca Romijn</a>)—are cooking up a plan to turn the world's leaders, all of whom are meeting for a summit on nearby Ellis Island, into mutants as a means of insuring the acceptance of mutantkind by humans. X-Men is based on the Marvel Comic book series, also titled either X-Men or The Uncanny X-Men, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962. The story line and screenplay for the movie were written by David Hayter, Tom DeSanto, and Bryan Singer. The success of the movie led to eight sequels including close-knit spinoffs: <a href="/title/tt0290334/">X2 (2003)</a> (2003), <a href="/title/tt0376994/">X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)</a> (2006), <a href="/title/tt0458525/">X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)</a> (2009), <a href="/title/tt1270798/">X: First Class (2011)</a> (2011), <a href="/title/tt1430132/">The Wolverine (2013)</a> (2013), <a href="/title/tt1877832/">X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)</a> (2014), <a href="/title/tt3385516/">X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)</a> (2016), and <a href="/title/tt3315342/">Logan (2017)</a> (2017); a loose spinoff being the Deadpool film series. Cyclops can't control his optic blasts when his eyes are open or uncovered by the lens (in his combat visor) or lenses (the Oakley sunglasses) that he normally wears. The original history of the character according to Marvel canon has always maintained that Summers lost the ability to control the beams when he and his brother survived a fall—the impact resulted in brain damage that permanently disrupted the control Summers would have had. When he was young, a doctor/scientist developed "ruby quartz" lenses that contain the beams, and Scott was required to wear them continuously. Toad, using his tongue, snatches Summers' combat visor, causing Scott to release a quick blast before he realizes what happened and closes his eyes. Scott is then forced to keep his eyes closed for the remainder of the scene, leaving him all but helpless. Jean stabilizes Wolverine telekinetically, while Storm blows him to the top of Magneto's machine. Cyclops gets off a blast that knocks Magneto away from the machine, allowing Wolverine to rescue Rogue, who is near death. Holding Rogue near to him, Wolverine transfers his regenerative ability into her, bringing himself near death, too. He wakes up in Jean's laboratory, lying next to Professor Xavier, who has recovered from his coma. When Wolverine is fully recovered, he decides to relocate to an abandoned military compound near Alkali Lake in the Canadian Rockies in hopes of learning more about his past. Just before he leaves, a news broadcast shows what can only be Mystique impersonating Senator Kelly (<a href="/name/nm0001117/">Bruce Davison</a>), who publicly announces withdrawal of his support for the Mutant Registration Act. In the final scene, Xavier is playing chess in Magneto's plastic prison cell. Magneto warns Xavier that the war is still coming and he intends to fight it. "And I will always be there, old friend," Xavier assures him. It is unknown whether Toad was killed by Storm's attack. Toad was hit by lightning and then hurled screaming into the air, splashing in the water. As he still made sound while falling, the electricity of the lightning was probably not lethal. Provided that Toad fell from one of the stories within the foundation of the Statue of Liberty (where the exhibition is located), his plunge was at least 65 feet (20 meters), and could have been as high as 154 feet (47 meters). A fall onto a water surface from such heights can be lethal, but is not necessarily so. Besides, Toad is a mutant with a physique capable of jumping enormous heights and dropping onto other people without harm to himself, so he could have survived the fall into the water. This, of course, does not rule out the possibility that he passed out and drowned. A set was constructed (and not used) inside Stryker's underground bunker for X2, which was meant to be the stage for a fight between Nightcrawler and Toad, so the filmmakers probably intended for Toad to have survived his fall. Sabretooth is hit by Cyclops' optic blast, sent through the wall of the Statue of Liberty, and sent plummeting into the roof of a boat and likely into the water below. It is unclear whether or not he is dead. Given that he can survive falls from great heights, this wouldn't be a concern, his healing abilities would be able to mend any broken bones. However if he was knocked unconscious either by the optic blast or the impact from the fall, he could have drowned. He doesn't appear in the two sequels to this film and is never mentioned again.