8) Cyclops Is Dead
There are so many terrible plot developments in X-Men: The Last Stand that it’s hard to pick the worst of the lot. With Brett Ratner helming the movie in place of Bryan Singer, the closer to the original X-Men trilogy is undoubtedly one of the most poorly written superhero movies out there, with so many elements that should have been shocking but end up being totally underwhelming or nonsensical.
Could the worst plot twist be Mystique losing her powers and for some reason siding with the humans? How about Rogue getting cured, something that goes against the X-Men’s central message of accepting your flaws? Or maybe it’s the post-credits revival of Professor X which makes exactly zero sense?
It’s tough to choose just one, but we’re going to plump for Cyclops’ death. Jean Grey murdering her fiancee Scott Summers should have been a terrific moment which a) shockingly killed off one of the franchise’s main characters and b) showed just how much Jean had changed now that she’s Dark Phoenix. For unfathomable reasons, though, we don’t even see the scene in full and Cyclops’ death is treated as an afterthought.
At least nowadays, thanks to Days of Future Past rewriting the timeline, The Last Stand has been stricken from continuity, so its stain on the franchise has been somewhat removed.
7) Joker Killed Batman’s Parents
Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie took a lot of liberties with the previous fifty years of comic book history, but its biggest departure was the retcon that Jack Nicholson’s Joker was the murderer of Bruce’s parents. Within the film itself, this plot twist works very well, as it ties Batman and Joker’s origins together and allows Keaton’s murderous, vengeful Dark Knight to get his revenge for his parents’ death.
However, where it fails is in honoring the spirit of the characters from the comics. The Waynes are usually killed by a small-time hoodlum named Joe Chill. As depicted in Batman Begins, Chill is a symptom of a very sick city which leads to Bruce vowing to clean up the whole town. Giving him a clear foe to defeat to ease his pain and grief lessens the impact of his war on all crime in Gotham. In fact, it leaves you wondering why Batman doesn’t just hang up his cowl at the end of the movie.
Likewise, it also mapped out Joker’s biography in contrast with the multiple choice past that the Clown Prince has always been depicted with in the source material. Subsequent versions of the character have understood this better, though Warner Bros. is about to open up another can of worms with its Joker origins movie.
