X2

Timing

May 2003

Dramatis Personae

Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Jean Grey, Bobby Drake, Marie D'Ancato, John Allerdyce

President McKenna

Magneto, Brotherhood of Mutants, William Stryker, Lady Deathstrike, Jason Stryker

Plot

(Write-up largely taken from the [Wikipedia entry])

A mutant by the name of Nightcrawler attempting an assassination of the President of the United States. After a lengthy battle with Secret Service agents, he is shot and disappears, leaving behind a knife with a tag that reads "Mutant Freedom Now!"

Wolverine finally reaches Alkali Lake, the facility used for experiments related to the WEAPON Project. He finds nothing but an empty dam. Meanwhile, the students of the school visit a museum. Jean Grey is confronted by Cyclops after she demonstrates her lack of focus. She confesses to him that she has been having bad feelings about the future. In the food court, Iceman, Rogue, and Pyro engage in an alteraction with two other young men. After Pyro sets one of the boys' clothes on fire and Iceman extinguishes him, everyone in the museum freezes as if time has stopped. Only the mutants are unaffected. Professor Xavier wheels in, unamused by the situation, lectures Pyro on "showing off" and decides that it is time to leave as coverage of the attack on the president is shown on television.

Wolverine reappears at the School for the Gifted and is immediately asked to "babysit" the children of the school. After some difficulty, Professor Xavier locates Nightcrawler with Cerebro and sends Storm and Jean to retrieve him. They find Nightcrawler in a church and he willingly comes along with them, explaining that the entire time he was in the White House, he had no control over his actions. Meanwhile, Cyclops and Professor X visit Magneto in his plastic prison to see if he had any part in the attack on the President. While reading Magneto's thoughts, Professor X discovers that a covert government operative, William Stryker, has been extracting information from Magneto. During their conversation, a trap is sprung and Cyclops and Professor X are captured.

Wolverine awakens to nightmares of his vague memories of the Weapon X project and heads to the kitchen. While conversing with Iceman, a military invasion of the school begins. The soldiers attempt to sedate every mutant they find, but Siryn wakes everybody up with one of her sonic screams. Colossus and Wolverine round up a number of the students. Wolverine stays behind to confront the attackers, but is shocked to discover that they are being led by William Stryker. Stryker, himself surprised to see Wolverine in the mansion, reveals that he knows much about Wolverine and wishes for him to come with the military to discuss it. Before Wolverine answers, Iceman is able to create an impenetrable wall of ice between them. The kids persuade Wolverine to come with them, to protect them. The other staff and students gather at various points and find places to stay and wonder what has happened.

In the meantime, Mystique has been posing as Senator Robert Kelly and also Stryker's assistant Yuriko Oyama in order to obtain information about Magneto's prison. She eventually manages to trick one of his security guards and drugs him, and injects him with liquid iron. When the guard later arrives at the prison, Magneto extracts the metal and Magneto is able to create small balls of metal, which he uses to destroy his prison and escape.

Wolverine and the kids (Pyro, Iceman, and Rogue) head to Iceman's home in Boston. After an awkward meeting between his parents and Wolverine, Iceman decides to tell his parents (who believe he has been going to a boarding school) that he is a mutant. His parents are shocked to learn the truth, especially when their son demonstrates his power by freezing a cup of tea. During the discussion, Iceman's disgruntled brother runs upstairs and calls the police, telling them that mutants are holding his family hostage. Wolverine meanwhile receives a call from Storm who is coming to pick them up.

Just as the group leaves, the police arrive and draw their weapons on Wolverine and his younger companions. A police officer mistakes Wolverine's claws for knives and orders him to drop them. When Wolverine tries to explain and sheathes his claws, the officer shoots Wolverine in the head. Pyro becomes enraged and begins using his flame-controlling powers to attack the officers and destroy their cars. Just before his attack turns deadly, Rogue grabs hold of him with her bare hand. Pyro falls to the ground, drained of his powers, which Rogue then uses to put the fires out. The Blackbird arrives to pick them all up, and Wolverine, now fully recovered thanks to his adamantium skull and healing factor, stands up and the bullet falls out.

During the flight, the Blackbird is targeted by two Air Force F-16s who attempt to force a landing. After the X-Men refuse to land, the pilots fire missiles. Storm creates a number of tornadoes in order to lose the aircraft. One plane is unable to maintain control and ejects. The other is able to fire two missiles before ejecting. Storm attempts evasive maneuvers, but quickly loses distance. Jean uses her powers at an unnaturally high level and is able to destroy one of the missiles. Unfortunately the other detonates directly behind the jet, rupturing the fuselage. In the ensuing depressurization, Rogue is pulled out of her seat and out into a free fall. Nightcrawler teleports outside the jet to grab Rogue, then teleports back in, saving her life. The jet, still en route to a crash landing, is stopped at the last moment by Magneto, who is standing on the ground.

Magneto has learned that Stryker orchestrated the attack on the President in order to gain approval to attack the school and has been experimenting on mutants (including Nightcrawler) at a secret base. Jean Grey reads Nightcrawler's mind and determines that Stryker's base is located at Alkali Lake. When Wolverine claims that there is nothing at Alkali Lake, Jean insists that the base is inside the dam. Stryker is able to control mutants with a powerful drug that he has used on Nightcrawler, Magneto, and a number of other mutants, including Lady Deathstrike. He has also stolen enough equipment from Xavier's own Cerebro unit to build a second Cerebro and plans to use Professor X to kill all of the mutants in the world. The X-Men and Magneto join together to stop Stryker.

Stryker gains control over Professor Xavier through his son, Jason Stryker (a former student of the professor), who is able to project powerful visions in the mind, blinding a person to reality. Jason (in the form of a young girl) instructs Professor X to use Cerebro to find all existing mutants and kill them. Magneto, Mystique, and the remaining X-Men stage their assault on the facility, by having Mystique infiltrate disguised as Wolverine. Stryker orders his guards to let "Wolverine" in, as he believes his experiment has finally decided to come home. Somehow Mystique's disguise doesn't fool Colonel Stryker. Mystique quickly incapacitates the soldiers and manages to take control of the control room, opening up the main gates so that the X-Men can enter the Alkali Lake Facility. Storm and Nightcrawler pair off, searching for the kidnapped students. Jean Grey joins Magneto and Mystique in order to keep an eye on them as they attempt to bring Professor Xavier back to his senses and rescue him. On their way, they are attacked by a brainwashed Cyclops. Jean stands her ground against Cyclops in order to buy Magneto enough time to get to Dark Cerebro and stop the coming mutant annihilation. Jean withstands Cyclops' optic blast, reflecting it again at an extremely high level and both are propelled backwards, causing damage to the generators that keep the dam from collapsing. The destruction of the base is unstoppable.

Wolverine runs off on his own to look for Stryker. He finds Stryker in an adamantium smelting room along with Lady Deathstrike. After Stryker leaves, Wolverine attempts to follow him but is attacked by Deathstrike. A battle of blades ensues, which results in Wolverine pumping Deathstrike full of molten adamantium metal, killing her. Wolverine finds Stryker on a landing pad and stabs him in the stomach. Stryker attempts to bargain with Wolverine, telling him that if he comes with him he can tell him about his past. Wolverine refuses and straps the wounded Stryker to the helicopter wheel, saying that if the X-Men die, Stryker will too.

Magneto breaks into the new Cerebro and uses Mystique, disguised as Stryker, to convince Jason of a "change of plans" - to kill all humans. Magneto escapes on the helicopter, taking Pyro along with him. The X-Men save Professor X and stop the killing process, but the dam is falling apart. As the team prepare to leave, Wolverine revisits Stryker and gets rid of his mutant tag. A malfunction aboard the Blackbird prevents it from taking off and the dam finally bursts. The flood gets stronger, drowning Stryker. Jean Grey leaves the jet, uses her heightened powers to stop the onrushing flood, and raises the jet at the same time, all the while surrounded by a flaming energy field (the Phoenix fully manifesting itself). Nightcrawler attempts to grab her but she prevents him from teleporting. She raises the jet just high enough for it to take off as the water floods over her. Cyclops and Wolverine both mourn Jean's death.

Back at the White House, the President prepares to address the country on the perceived mutant threat. Just as he begins his speech, the lights flicker and everyone in the room freezes except for himself. The X-Men appear before him and Rogue gives him the files from Stryker's private offices while Professor X tells him about the events of the last few days, saying that in the files some humans and mutants tried to start a war and there have been casualties on both sides. Then Professor X gives him an ultimatum: either humans and mutants work together to build peace, or they will destroy each other through war. The mutants leave in the same manner they entered. As everyone else in the room returns to motion, the shocked President looks at the files and is uncertain whether to continue his speech.

Returning to the school and rebuilding the damage, the staff and students hold a memorial service for Jean and Pyro leaves to join Magneto's Brotherhood.

External Links

[IMDB]

[Wikipedia entry]