10 Genius Moments In Otherwise Irredeemable Films

As comic book movies have become somewhat more sophisticated, it makes it even tougher to look back on a jumbled mess like X3 with anything approaching reverence. This quagmire of a sequel was handled with all the delicacy of a child punting a stick of dynamite into the air. So naturally it blew up in everyone's faces.

Director Brett Ratner wasn't the greatest fit, as he didn't have a firm enough grasp on the source material. As such, his writers relied more on stupid internet jokes ("I'm the Juggernaut, b*tch!", etc.) than faithful interpretations of the comics.

But give the guy credit, because he also had a hand in putting together what remains perhaps the greatest opening scene in the franchise.

In the opening minutes, we're introduced to a frantic child who has locked himself in the bathroom. As his concerned father shouts after him, we see a pile of bloody rags sitting by the sink. This boy is mutilating himself. The sounds of clanking from within the bathroom cause his father to kick down the door, revealing his mutant son attempting to hide his "disfigurement" by cutting off a pair of newly-sprouted wings with a razor blade.

It's an intense and heartbreaking scene, and also a false promise to the audience that this might be the most insightful X-Men movie yet.