10 Terrible Threequels That Ruined A GREAT Trilogy

Much like the first two Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies, the original X-Men provided a sturdy introduction to these characters in live-action form, only for sequel X2 to surpass it in every which way.

X-Men: The Last Stand was one of the most hotly anticipated blockbusters of the entire 2000s, then, enough that even subbing out franchise director Bryan Singer for the decidedly less-skilled Brett Ratner couldn't stymie the excitement too much.

But X3 is just packed to the gills with frustrating issues, almost all of which come down to the script. Firstly, it's just overstuffed with characters and subplots that its mere 104-minute runtime simply can't support.

Elsewhere the storytelling logic is shaky at best, numerous character deaths are total letdowns, and its attempt to adapt the Dark Phoenix Saga results in a hurried, scarcely coherent mess.

It proved infuriating enough to fans and even Singer himself that he later jettisoned most of it from the X-Men continuity via timey-wimey shenanigans in X-Men: Days of Future Past.