The X-Men movie franchise appears to have attracted more intense performances than any other. Perhaps that's down to Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart signing up for the first film, a seal of approval from a couple of legit actors that inspired others of equal talent to give this comic book stuff a go. Maybe it's because the source material is frequently histrionic, bombastic and melodramatic, its soap opera stylings affording actors a chance to go bigger and more intense than most other projects. Brian Cox certainly took that opportunity in X-2 as the genocidal Colonel Stryker. Loosely based on a character from the iconic X-Men story God Loves, Man Kills, Cox's Stryker is an anti-mutant activist who takes things a bit further than most planning to kill everyone with an X chromosome and with a credible motivation his son's a mutant. That Bryan Singer cast Cox because of his turn as Hannibal Lecter in Manhunter should tell you everything.