9 Genuinely Subtle Ways Movies Planned For The Sequel In Advance

5. Mystique Impersonates Senator Kelly - X-Men

The original X-Men movie ends with Magneto (Ian McKellen) incarcerated in a plastic prison, Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) recovering from their comas, and Magneto then warning Xavier that the prison won't be able to hold him forever.

The film's most prominent hint at where a prospective second X-Men film might be going, however, seems to stem from Xavier directing Wolverine to visit an abandoned military compound at Alkali Lake in order to uncover his past.

But as it turns out, the real set-up for X2 occurs when a climactic news report reveals to the mutants that Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) has impersonated recently-liquefied Senator Kelly (Bruce Davison), and subsequently reversed his stance on supporting the Mutant Registration Act.

This seems like nothing more than a cute gag at first glance, but it actually dovetails perfectly into the start of X2.

In the sequel, Mystique-as-Kelly learns about Magneto's imprisonment from William Stryker (Brian Cox), eventually allowing her to break Magneto out of prison and form an alliance with the X-Men against Stryker, a plot which defines the rest of the movie.