4. Character Deaths
It is unforgivable what The Last Stand did to Cyclops. In my mind, he didnt die, but the film strongly suggests that he probably did. But then again, Cyclopss representation in even the great X Men 1 and 2 was always lacking. James Marsden plays him well enough, but in none of those films is he portrayed as anything resembling the leader of the X-Men (arguably THE X Man). So killing him off in The Last Stand was so unacceptable for two reasons. First being, he is the most important X Men and deserves a lot better, and a lot more screen time (he was even mostly absent from X2) and second being, did any of us even care? He was so underused in all the films he might as well not have been there in the first place. But the fact that I would say that, barring in mind that my favorite comic book character of all time is Cyclops, is what makes The Last Stand such a disappointing film. That said, at least The Last Stand had the guts to kill off some pretty important characters, and I remember being truly excited when I witnessed these deaths for the first time in the cinema. As much as I hate to admit it, Professor Xs death was truly thrilling, and was a well put together scene. At the risk of sounding controversial again, the scene in which Jean dies is also poignant. In comparison, First Class kills off its villain, Sebastian Shaw (not exactly unexpected) and Darwin, the one character who probably shouldnt have been killed so easily. Also, was Sebastian Shaw a racist (I guess he was a Nazi so yes, of course he was), because he kills off the only black guy in the team. Come on First Class, you must know the awful movie conventions, traditions and cinemas terrible history of killing off the black guys first. That is unforgivable in this day and age, and they should have known a lot better.