11 Sci-Fi Movies That Got Science Completely Wrong
6. X-Men – Evolution Doesn't Work Like That
The X-Men are an iconic part of both the superhero and the sci-fi genres, although a key part of their backstory is nonsensical on closer observation.
The idea behind the X-Men's powers - that super-powered mutants hiding among us are a result of evolution - borrows real science and warps it so dramatically that it's a wonder Charles Darwin hasn't rolled right out of his grave.
The vast majority of the world have enough knowledge of evolutionary theory to know that mutated super-powers don't really fit into Darwin's theorem. While X-Men's writers do their best to explain it away as "leaps in evolution", it'll never be anything more than a lazy appropriation of actual science.
The simple fact is that if the human race was evolving to have something akin to super-powers, you'd see it happen so incredibly slowly that it would be hardly noticeable at all, and we'd all be developing the same powers, generation by generation getting a little closer to becoming Wolverine or Magneto.
Yes, it's an awful way to manipulate fact to fit fiction, but that shouldn't take anything away from the years of entertainment it's given us (just not The Last Stand - that one can get in the bin).