Twenty years since X-Men 3: The Last Stand (2006)
By Mark Wegierski
web posted February 23, 2026
X-Men 3: The Last Stand, 104 minutes, 2006, directed by Brett Ratner, script by Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn, based on the comic books by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, et al. Hugh Jackman (Logan/Wolverine), Halle Berry (Ororo Munroe/Storm), Ian McKellen (Eric Lensherr/Magneto), Famke Janssen (Dr. Jean Grey/Phoenix), Anna Paquin (Marie/Rogue), Kelsey Grammer (Dr. Hank McCoy/Beast), Rebecca Romijn (Raven Darkholme/Mystique), James Marsden (Scott Summers/Cyclops), Shawn Ashmore (Bobby Drake/Iceman), Aaron Stanford (John Allerdyce/Pyro), Vinnie Jones (Cain Marko/Juggernaut), Patrick Stewart (Professor Charles Xavier), Ben Foster (Warren Worthington III/Angel)
The X-Men were introduced to the comic book world in the early 1960s, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. They are representative of the so-called new-style comic books, which are mostly directed at slightly older audiences, and where the heroes are often angst-ridden and troubled. It should be noted that the script by Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn wove together disparate elements from decades of the comic-book series, including the work of other authors such as Joss Whedon, endeavoring to distill the essence of "the best of the best" of the X-Men "universe".
It could be argued that today, in what could be called late modernity, there have arisen a plethora of imaginative, speculative subgenres such as comic book superheroes, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc., which endeavor to address the lack of heroism and of meaning in life evident in the late modern wasteland. Typically existing outside the context of what many late moderns perceive as the strictures of traditional religion and nation, they are not conceptually problematic to the typical late modern person. Therefore, it is possible that some persons may feel their way toward more noble and ethical behavior by imbibing such cultural products.
On the other hand, however, these subgenres may constitute a major distraction from the necessary tasks of life and sometimes become an entire ersatz identity for a considerable number of persons. It is possible that an obsession with these various cultural products may result in increasing disinterest in actual religion, politics and society. At the same time, these cultural products may have the unfortunate effect of contributing toward a "short-circuiting" of possible identifications with the currently rather frowned upon idealisms of traditional religion and nation. If much of the emotional appeal of participating in something "greater" or "higher" is satisfied through these subgenres, then the person is less likely to feel their way toward traditional piety or patriotism.
Indeed, the vast resources Hollywood is willing to commit to these cultural products (although of course in most cases the money committed is made back in spades) suggest that they may be serving a role similar to that of the Violent Passion Surrogate (VPS) in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. In Aldous Huxley's book, the VPS is a kind of chemical treatment, but in the otherwise rather uninspired rendering of Huxley's book in a U.S. television mini-series, the VPS was shown as a sort of "virtual reality theater". It could be argued that what critics have called the managerial-therapeutic regime maintains itself not only by administrative strictures, but also by a vast array of "emotional engineering" techniques. It is doubtful that all that many people are driven by the ideological zeal to uphold the strictures of "political correctness" – rather, to most of the population, a more indirect emotional appeal is made to various "good feelings" associated with such things as sexual desire, or with jolts of vicarious horror given to more jaded audiences. The very crudest expressions of sexuality or of vicarious horror and violence do not fit well with the somewhat more refined palettes of at least part of the more reflective and decent-minded people – hence, certain cultural products, especially in the subgenres named above – have to operate at a level somewhat above the crudely visceral.
Movies such as the X-Men series offer a large degree of what might be termed ersatz idealism. Certainly, such movies better nourish the soul than the more usual, far cruder Hollywood products.
The main premise of the X-Men "universe" is the arising of so-called "mutants" with extraordinary powers. What constitutes the precise analogy for the "mutants" in actual human society is of course open to question. Some liberal reviewers suggested that it is an analogy for homosexuals in current-day society. Some might suggest that it represents persons with disabilities. However, in both these cases, it is difficult to argue that those groups possess "superhuman" powers.
Perhaps a somewhat better analogy is that the "mutants" represent the so-called "world-historical individuals" – i.e., those people in human society who have highly reflective, coherent outlooks, and are engaged in some kind of social, political, and cultural struggle on behalf of their outlooks. Of course, there are world-historical individuals who deploy their powers on behalf of evil, and those who endeavor to uphold the good.
It has sometimes been argued, in rather elitist fashion, that most people in history are simply clay that has been shaped by the various world-historical figures. Certainly, looking at the contours of current-day society, one does not see much hope for the arising of a large number of truly reflective persons. Most people seem to be content to follow along with the flow of the current-day "mediocracy" – their lives absorbed by following sports, celebrity-gossip, and -- insofar as they pay attention to politics at all -- mouthing the various bromides and buzzwords of current-day low politics.
It could be argued that the multifarious textures of the media-driven, consumption-addled society have actually pushed us into a near-dystopic state, where real heroism and high art is dying, and the crisis of meaning (or meaninglessness) afflicts almost everyone.
Ironically, the more idealistic, reflective persons (whether nominally on the Right or Left), are often crushed and powerless beneath the grinding system of consumerism, late capitalism, and political-correctness. It should be stressed that the "hard", "competitive", "right-wing" side of the managerial-therapeutic regime is also an important element of control, which is deployed especially against the more idealistic, reflective persons, who appear to be chronically "maladjusted" toward holding remunerative employment within the technocratic side of the system. At the same time, the positions where more artistic and creative talents can be utilized, are hedged around with the strictures of political-correctness and a deeply antinomian drive, where even a hint of respect for traditional piety or patriotism amounts to professional exile.
Indeed, from today's vantage point, there appears to be little hope of overcoming the current, deep-seated crisis of society, politics, and culture.
The main lesson which the reviewer can derive from the X-Men movies is that, regardless of the extent of fictive superpowers which are afforded the "mutants", they are all still human beings in that they have to make significant moral choices, to take sides in a battle between good and evil. In the same way, the struggle between good and evil continues throughout human society today, among both the so-called "world-historical individuals" and every other human person in society. 
Mark Wegierski is a film and science fiction aficionado.
