X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

The full plot of X-Men: The Last Stand runs from the public fight over the cure to a battle on Alcatraz Island, and Jean Grey's return drives most of what happens along the way. Worthington Labs produces the cure, public opinion divides, and Magneto raises an army of mutants to destroy its source.

Jean comes back to life with the dark Phoenix side of her mind in control. She kills Cyclops, then wrecks her childhood family home, and she takes Magneto's side after Professor Xavier is destroyed in the struggle. The X-Men, now led by Storm, are left shaken and short of members.

Magneto's forces then attack Alcatraz Island, where the source of the cure is held. Humans arm themselves with weapons made from the cure and fire them at mutants, which turns some of them human. Wolverine, whose healing makes him resistant to Jean's power, is the only one who can get close to her, and he is forced to kill her to stop the destruction. Magneto is struck with the cure and loses his powers.

Afterward mutant rights are advanced, Storm takes over the school, and Magneto is left a powerless man in a park. The film fits the cure and the Phoenix into 104 minutes, which is 29 minutes shorter than the 133 minutes of X2, so each death and turn arrives quickly.

The ending of X-Men: The Last Stand closes both storylines at once: Wolverine kills Jean to end her rampage, and the battle on Alcatraz ends with the Brotherhood broken. Magneto is depowered by a cure dart and sits alone at a chess board, where a piece twitches slightly, which hints that some of his power may remain. Storm leads the school, and Rogue chooses to stay on as a student.

Why did Wolverine have to be the one? His healing makes him resistant to Jean's power, so he is the only person who can get close to her. In my opinion, that choice is the most deliberate beat in the film, because it turns the love triangle with Jean and Cyclops into a final act of mercy. It could be argued that the death lands with less weight than it should, since Cyclops is already gone and the film has little time left to mourn either of them.

What was the point of X-Men's Last Stand? The cure is the political argument and the Phoenix is the personal one, and the ending settles both. Mutant rights advance, Magneto loses the power that defined him, and Storm inherits the school from Xavier. The chess piece is the one loose thread, and it is the film's quiet way of saying that Magneto may not be finished.

In my opinion, the title promises a finish that the series did not deliver. Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart both return for Days of Future Past, and Logan is still haunted by Jean in The Wolverine (2013). Marvel Studios now has its own untitled X-Men film dated for May 5, 2028 in the US, directed by Jake Schreier, according to TheWrap, and the details are tracked on the new X-Men movie page.

Yes, X-Men: The Last Stand has one post credit scene, and it suggests Professor Xavier is still alive. After the credits, Dr. Moira MacTaggert visits a comatose patient, who greets her in Xavier's voice.

The scene does not explain how Xavier survived. It only implies that his mind lives on in some form, so the answer to how he is alive after the film is left open. Patrick Stewart does appear as Professor X in Days of Future Past, and he also returns in Logan (2017).