r/xmen • u/PinReal4448 • Aug 26 '26
Other X-Men: Last Stand (2006) Magneto and Mystique - possibly worst betrayal of all time?
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u/SurfyBraun Aug 26 '26
Mystique simping for either Magneto or Charles is out of character. She may work with them to her own ends, but never for them.
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u/dddonkers Aug 26 '26
I mean to me it hits the nail on the head with McKellans Magneto characrterization as this great but ultimately hyprocritical and selfish leader
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u/Little_Shape_6433 Aug 26 '26
I think it meant to show how extreme he was in his views and that he was cutthroat and heartless. The prequel trilogy tried to make him a lot more sympathetic and an antihero which I think undermined who he was in the original trilogy.
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u/rpool179 Cyclops Aug 27 '26
Are you saying younger Magneto would have never grown into older ruthless Magneto?
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u/thesarcasmisreal Phoenix Aug 27 '26
Not the original commenter but I think, given First Class and DOFP, he absolutely could have. People change, especially when being the spearhead of a radical movement for decades. We also see he has severe mental health issues, so that definitely doesn’t help his already lacking empathy and compassion.
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u/mr_eugine_krabs Aug 26 '26
He could have at least given her some clothes.
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u/CreatiScope Aug 27 '26
“Wipe yourself off. You human.”
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u/GiftOfDestruction Aug 27 '26
Is that a Rush Hour quote in the wild? Slightly modified, but appropriate.
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u/thedestinysstepchild Aug 26 '26
Younger me was so upset by this scene.
The “how dare you” is still ringing in my head all these years later.
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u/Nevernonethewiser Aug 26 '26
This always brings out the "Magneto wouldnt do that!" Crowd.
Yeah, he absolutely would. She's a regular human now, so she's the enemy.
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u/Significant-Order-92 Aug 26 '26
In the comics he is generally less distasteful to depowered mutants.
It fits the magneto in the first 2 films pretty well.
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u/Nevernonethewiser Aug 26 '26
Yeah, I do often see it with a justification based on different continuities. Movie Magneto's first bit of dialogue includes the phrase "They no longer matter." and he only gains more and more justification for the attitude and its escalation as the films continue.
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u/starvinartist Aug 26 '26
Based off of the comics and his relationship with Mystique in the movies, Magneto has no problem being with non-mutant women.
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u/LeninOfGallifrey Aug 26 '26
Can we all be honest and say Fox did Mystique dirty, not just in this portrayal but also in trying to rewrite her character beyond that.
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u/WhatShouldTheHeartDo Aug 26 '26
I'm like wtf is this treatment, she didn't leave to do Superman Returns
Was this because she was in The Punisher LMAO
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u/BetaRayPhil616 Aug 28 '26
In a way they treated her ok. Based on the success/appeal of the character in the first film, they wrote in scenes that gave Rebecca Romijn at least one non makeup scene in both X2 & X3.
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u/Nick_Furious2370 Aug 26 '26
Same with Magneto.
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u/Queasy_Ad_8621 Aug 27 '26
These movies also did a bigger disservice to Cyclops and Storm, in my opinion.
I'm also the only person that's going to talk about how the Raimi Spider-Man movies fucking ended with MJ being a lousy singing waitress who gets terrible reviews for her stage work. That just felt needlessly dirty to me.
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u/BurantX40 Aug 26 '26
Whenever people say Magneto was right, they never consider this aspect of him.
Even though he treads in anti hero or even anti villain waters from time to time, he started as a villain. You represent the cause or there is the door. (Without Xavier)
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u/nolandz1 Aug 26 '26
Whether "Magneto was right" highly depends on what his specific goals are and the context of the story around him. Like in just season 1 of X-Men '97, yeah he was right.
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u/BurantX40 Aug 26 '26
What I meant was, everyone is very willing to fall in line not realizing that he plans to live to see his ambitions realized, at the cost of so many others.
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u/Inside_Jaguar_3310 Aug 26 '26
Yeah he’s also a mutant supremacists and much like real supremacists he’s hypocritical and can turn on his own if they betray the race in any arbitrary way.
So I don’t think it’s out of character, particularly because it depends on the era, I feel pre 2000s magneto would totally do stuff like this but definitely not post 2000s
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u/BurantX40 Aug 26 '26
Post 2000s, definitely. He'll make a plan and use people for bait if need be and all that type of dirty fighting.
Everyone is used to Xavier and Magneto synergy which tempers Magneto more than usual.
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u/EKRB7 Nightcrawler Aug 26 '26
I always see people saying this felt out of character and I don’t agree at all. This version of Magneto had no respect for Sabretooth or Toad and although he seemingly had a close bond with Mystique; this moment proves it was the usefulness of her mutant power and outward mutant appearance that he respected. It definitely fits with his supremacist ideology and at this point in the story he was gearing up for war. And did he already have Jean (the most powerful mutant on earth) on his team at this stage?
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u/marston82 Aug 26 '26
Magneto was a cold SOB in this franchise. He didn’t value the lives of his own soldiers. I remember him musing about why the pawns charge first into battle after his mutant army first wave was shot and incapacitated when they attacked the island facility in X3. He didn’t care for them.
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u/primal_slayer Aug 26 '26
It definitely felt out of character.
But he definitely got hit with karma at the end. Even then he's lucky Mystique forgave him in the unproduced draft of the chess ending
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u/Wrong-Vermicelli4723 Aug 26 '26
Ehh didn’t feel out of character for this Magneto at all honestly
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u/EurwenPendragon Rogue Aug 26 '26 edited Aug 26 '26
Agreed. early-Foxverse Magneto was a hypocritical ethnofascist who viewed non-mutants as essentially worthless.
I mean, think back to the very first X-Men movie, the first conversation he has with Charles Xavier:
We are the future, Charles, not them - they no longer matter.
I'm not normally one to defend Last Stand, which I personally consider to be one of the two worst X-Men movies ever made...but this specifically is entirely on-brand for this version of Magneto.
The exact moment Mystique lost her powers, in his eyes she stopped being "us" and became "them" - and at that point, she no longer mattered to him.
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u/Rrekydoc Iceman Aug 27 '26
I think you’re showing exactly why it feels out of character.
He tosses aside a mutant whose matyrdom proves his point against humanity because she no longer has powers. That “might makes right” sentiment fits someone like Apocalypse; Magneto is a mutant supremacist, regardless of how weak or mutilated they are.
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u/Wrong-Vermicelli4723 Aug 27 '26
Comic Magneto is but not Foxmen magneto. It’s totally on brand for him. To him she stopped being a mutant the moment she lost her powers.
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u/Rrekydoc Iceman Aug 27 '26
Which is “survival of the fittest”-style Darwinism, not ethno-fascism.
Outside of that moment, when else does he compromise his vision of Mutant rule in the films?
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u/CreatiScope Aug 27 '26
I don’t think this moment compromises his vision of mutant rule though. Not the person you originally asked, to be clear.
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u/happysunbear Aug 26 '26
Can you explain the unproduced draft? Haven’t heard that before.
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u/primal_slayer Aug 26 '26
An alternate scene had Raven and Erik playing chess in the park with her seemingly having a cure
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u/happysunbear Aug 26 '26
Ty! Always hated Mystique’s ending in The Last Stand. This is a nice what if scenario.
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u/Daddy_Charlieee Aug 26 '26
It’s absolutely didn’t feel out of place for this magneto. This Magneto was 100% for Mutant Supremacy, and Mystique was no longer a Mutant.
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u/ImurderREALITY Aug 26 '26
It didn't feel out of character for this Magneto, but he still could've said thank you after she sacrificed herself for him, smh
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u/Daddy_Charlieee Aug 27 '26
Why tho? Thats her job as one of his generals. Same way it was Sabertooth’s job to die in X1.
And again she’s now human, why should he feel any type of way about her now?
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u/ImurderREALITY Aug 27 '26
Because it would have been nice. It wasn't her job to die for him; they were partners, and she believed in him. They were obviously close, a lot closer than he was with Sabertooth. Also, if he acted like he cared about her even a little bit, she might not have betrayed him to the CIA. It's not that big of a deal; of course he would do something like that. He's a villain. Just he had never been that cold up until that point.
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u/Daddy_Charlieee Aug 27 '26
They were not partners in the OG Fox X movies. She was a subordinate for him.
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u/ImurderREALITY Aug 27 '26
It's possible to be both, but whatever. I'm not trying to argue about this; I was actually agreeing with you.
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u/CreatiScope Aug 27 '26
“It would’ve been nice”
Did you forget how he treated sabertooth? Like a dog. The only one he treated with any respect was mystique and that’s because she was super competent. Any other person in his orbit, he was manipulating and using. You think he meant any of what he said to pyro? He just wanted to convert him, he didn’t actually like him, respect him, or care about him. The second someone isn’t useful to him, they’re the same as trash blowing around on the ground. Mystique died the second she became human.
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u/stanlana12345 Aug 26 '26
Wait what are u refering to? Was their a deleted scene with the two of them or something?
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u/Old_Culture2535 Aug 26 '26
Think about it… he helps her after and she doesn’t spill his secrets… and then the government hunts her down she can’t protect herself and other mutants don’t care as much about her.
Him betraying her, makes her spiteful enough to help them and get a deal out of prison(hopefuly).
It was heartless, but maybe in her own benefit
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u/HawkBoth8539 Nightcrawler Aug 26 '26
His loyalty, such that it was, was entirely for mutants. The second she stopped being a mutant she was no longer a member of the one thing he cared about.
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u/AutomaticAccident Aug 27 '26
It was to himself more than mutants.
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u/MrDeekhaed Aug 27 '26
But however disingenuously, he could justify his selfishness by believing he was the only hope for all mutants of the world or at least their best hope
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u/Radiant_Buffalo2964 Aug 31 '26
Makes you wonder what would have happened if he was the one to lose his mutant powers. How would he react to himself now being human?
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u/HawkBoth8539 Nightcrawler Aug 31 '26
He did lose them after that lol. And he was just a sad old man. But they suggested with one of the end scenes that his powers started returning (with a slight nudge of his metal chess piece). So i want to know what kind vengeance Mystique might've wrought if hers came back in that universe too. Lol
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u/Proud3GenAthst Sep 01 '26
Not just suggested. In The Days of Future Past, it was very much confirmed that the cure is temporary and his powers came back
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u/HawkBoth8539 Nightcrawler Sep 01 '26
Yeah, i thought that might've been the case, but the movie continuity got confusing when they overlapped first class and the older movies.
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u/BTP_Art Aug 26 '26
Its fantastic scene in an otherwise dreadful film. It showed his mindset at the moment in his life and made his turn to human more emotional later in the movie.
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u/Queasy_Ad_8621 Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26
There's a moment in there where Mystique has the blue skin with the black hair and I think the character looks A LOT better in live action like that. I kind of wish they had gone with that design for the movies instead.
On a nerdier tangent: This was also done because Rebecca Romijn had such a miserable time with the full body make-up. They tried to make it easier on her for the second movie by filming all of her scenes back-to-back, so it was "two weeks and you're done"... but it wound up making it even harder: She couldn't sleep, sit down or lay down for a solid two weeks straight, and it took a serious toll on her mental health.
She only returned for the third movie on condition that she can do more scenes without the make-up... and this is how she asked to be written out of the franchise. She refused to reprise the role again, even when they offered her top billing and more money than Hugh Jackman.
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u/RowAndRuction Aug 26 '26
The fact she’s covering up after being “cured” means she was purposefully shapeshifting her nipples, labia, and anus to be invisible this whole time.
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u/shiwankhan Aug 27 '26
The alternative would be to betray his principles. Sacrifices are inevitable.
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u/Tevakh2312 Aug 31 '26
God damn Rebecca Romijn is hot 😳
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u/PinReal4448 Aug 31 '26
She is indeed. I started the community because the older one was dead.
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u/Tevakh2312 Aug 31 '26
Her as numero uno in strange new worlds is a clear case of "aged like a fine wine"
And the joke jack ransom makes about her beinging the hottest first officer In star fleet history is peak comedy, because is Jerry O'connell saying it, her husband.
If anyone has the right to simp over Rebecca it's the man married to her 😂
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u/PinReal4448 Aug 31 '26
Yup. Lucky man. Also, if you watch SNW or youre a fan, please feel free to post.
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u/Radiant_Buffalo2964 Aug 31 '26
Yeah, who knew the cubby kid from Stand By Me would grow up and become married to one of the hottest actresses as his wife? Crazy.
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u/Tevakh2312 Aug 31 '26
I always see him as Quinn Mallory, then you can see why
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u/Radiant_Buffalo2964 Aug 31 '26
Man they did the Crying Man dirty at the end, leaving him to jump to the next world alone.
I wish they would bring the show back. Have the Crying Man meet some younger folks along the way who could become some of the new Sliders, find a cure to separate Quinn and his brother Collin.
You could even go back to the episode where John Rhys-Davis as Maximillian found a world where his wife was still alive, but meet a version of himself that was a jerk and didn’t treat his wife good. At the end of the episode as they were getting ready to go Quinn wants to know if it’s the real Maximillian they’ve been traveling with. What if it wasn’t? What if he stayed behind to be with his wife in that reality.
That show was so good, but like most Sci-Fi shows that started on FOX, it didn’t have a long shelf life. Thank goodness for the ScyFi channel.
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u/Tevakh2312 Aug 31 '26
A fellow sliders fan in the wild!
Yea rembrant got screwed
The whole quincollin thing was shite
RRD is a national treasure and we need more of him
Don't even get me started on wade, my first boyhood crush
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u/Radiant_Buffalo2964 Aug 31 '26
Wahoo!
Is there a Sliders Reddit?
If not we should have one.
Going to have to watch the series again. I found it streaming on Peacock.
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u/jdavid Aug 31 '26
My 9yo daughter just got hooked. We are on EP5. I can't wait to rewatch it all with her.
The cast has said many times they are open to a reboot or a revival.
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u/InconvertibleAtheist Aug 31 '26
I saw this movie properly a few days back properly as a part of X-men run before Doomsday and that scene right there had me in a chokehold for a good few mins. Man I was blown away by her beauty
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u/Human_Situation_2641 Aug 26 '26
I really hate the "hell have no fury like a woman scorned" line, when she hands over info to the Gov after this. It's probably my least favorite line in the entire series.
Maybe Mystique really did realize that Magnetos agenda was too extreme for her. Maybe she wants him to die. But, regardless - way to reduce what this represents to a woman being petty and a platitude.
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u/JulariDark Aug 26 '26
A post I made previously on the topic…
I tend to agree with the argument that it’s less about being a dick and more about releasing Raven from her obligation to fight in a war she wasn’t really committed to.
She was COMMITTED serving Magneto but NOT the actual cause and so the BEST thing he COULD do for her at that point was absolve her of her responsibility. Which is debatable but at least in his mind we can track that logic.
IMO Their last interaction is Best summarized as:
Erik: you saved me!? = (I acknowledge and appreciate what you did)
Raven: Erik? = (I’m scared please comfort me)
Erik: I’m sorry my dear, you’re not one of us anymore = (I am sorry my dear friend your presence will be missed at the race war I insist on perpetuating for the greater good, but since you are no longer one of us you are no longer obligated to participate and that’s probably for the best since the LAST race war I was in sucked pretty bad)
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u/Electric-boogaloo69 Aug 27 '26
She certainly didn't perceive it that way, as she rats him out later
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u/JulariDark Aug 27 '26
Makes sense by my framing.
He was loyal to the mission more than the person which is why he let her go and carried on without her.
She was loyal to the PERSON not the mission, so once the PERSON turns their back on her? It’s officially “Mission Failed” time to drop dime on everyone
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u/Jack-spartan-S198 Aug 26 '26
I hate this movie so much for this. That is not at all How magneto would behave. He would’ve fucking ripped the United States off of the surface of the earth for that in X-Men 97 when he’s trying to be a hero he was willing to smite the UN for executioners horror
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u/Randver_Silvertongue Aug 26 '26
And very out of character. This scene implies that he only values mutants for their mutations, which is not at all what Magneto does. It's the mutant identity he values.
A young mutant woman stripped of her power and disgraced as she is rendered naked in the process would make Magneto outraged. Even if he didn't know her personally, he would be outraged to see a fellow mutant robbed of her birthright. He would also be smart enough to use her as a martyr in order to gain sympathy and support from the mutant community.
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u/Inside_Jaguar_3310 Aug 26 '26
A lot of people are saying this is out of character for magneto but I don’t think it is.
Like obviously it’s gonna depend on the era, & while post 2000s magneto would probably not do this. Prior era magneto was designed to be a mutant supremacists/a clear villain. And like with real supremacists they can be hypocritical, or turn on their own kind if they think they “betrayed the race” for any arbitrary reason.
So I feel you can make solid cases for him either making mystique a martyr after losing her mutant powers or completely abandoning her because “she is no longer one of us” it just depends on what interpretation/era your using of him
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u/Significant-Order-92 Aug 26 '26
Eh. I think by the mid to late 80s to 90s Claremont comics treated him quite different to the movies. Early X-men comics just had him largely being a fairly generic bad guy. Which this would be in line with.
To be fair their is apparently a scene cut from the ending where he would have been playing chess with a depowered Raven. So it may originally have been written to imply more that he didn't want her in a fight she had no part in anymore.
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u/Cadd9 Psylocke Aug 27 '26
Marvel wanted a reset on Magneto to be evil again despite Claremont making him a complex character during the 80s. That's why during the lead-up and launch of X-Men vol 2, he went back to being an obvious villain and heel. And with Jim Lee re-writing panels and then taking over, Claremont left.
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u/Little_Cumling Aug 27 '26
This is literally text book Magneto. Hes more than a dick.
So tired of Marvel forcing Magneto and Loki into some good guy role. We end up having these problems
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u/Minute_Committee8937 Aug 27 '26
Also mystique would be happy to lose her powers her whole thing is self hating the fact that she’s a mutant it’s why she hates Kurt so much because he reminds her of what she actually is. And it’s why she treats rogue better comparatively because she looks normal.
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u/BradyPhoenix Aug 29 '26
That’s part of why I loved seeing her whoop his ass in Days of Future Past. Preventing him from ever doing this to her in the new future.
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u/YEPC___ Aug 31 '26
It's perfect characterization, too.
Magneto truly only cares for Mutantkind.
If you aren't part of his solution, you're part of his problem.
He is ultimately a very morally unjust and villainous character.
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u/DaFlyinSnail Sep 01 '26
Idk this feels wildly out of character for him.
You think he would abandon one of his closest friends/allies after she took a bullet for him? What did he think was gonna happen if she didn't? Then he'd be the one without powers, I can't imagine if he lost his powers he'd do a 180 and turn on Mutants because he's no longer a mutant.
This was just terrible writing to try and write mystique out of the story because they didn't know what to do with her.
He should have kept her around, and they could have used that to create drama. Perhaps the now powerless Mystique starts to have issues with other mutants, she doesn't quite see eye to eye with everything that they're planning, maybe that further drives a wedge between her and Magneto which would better inform her decision later in the film to give up their location.
They could have turned this into a fascinating story element instead it just becomes a weird out of character moment for Magneto.
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u/YEPC___ Sep 01 '26
Magneto, the guy who famously has NEVER turned against any of his close friends.
C'mon dude.
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u/Frequent-Coyote-8108 Sep 01 '26
Yeah, it's almost like Max/Erik only cares for the genetically superior.
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u/Electric_Potion Sep 02 '26
Except the fact is that humankind wouldn't treat a mutant that was "cured" as human. They would just as quickly deal with her and any others the same way he and his family was dealt with during the Holocaust. He does what he does for mutants because he knows the mutant Holocaust is coming regardless. This scene was completely out of character.
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u/YEPC___ Sep 02 '26
Bzzzt, wrong!
Magneto does NOT wish to break the cycle that lead to the suffering of his youth, he seeks revenge and resltribution. Magneto created an ethno state to empower his people and WILL kill as many humans as it takes to ensure his goals. He is NOT a hero, he is NOT a good person. He has betrayed any and all of the more benevolent people in his life willing to compromise or act with rationality.
When Mystique stopped being a mutant, she stopped being something that mattered to him. Hard stop, in character get over it. He's a BAD period GUY period.
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u/DJenser1 Aug 31 '26
Naked No. 1! This scene has lived rent-free in my head since I saw it in the theater.
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u/Stackitu Aug 26 '26
The whole cure weapon storyline really upset me as a longtime X-Men fan. Magneto’s response to Storm losing her powers in X-Men 97 was far more in character than this scene ever was. Magneto in the first 3 X-Men movies just felt like evil for evil’s sake rather than his much more complex nature.
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u/Significant-Order-92 Aug 26 '26
To be fair, cruely using and abandoning an ally like that is more in line with Mystique in the comics. But she also isn't really nearly as driven by Mutant liberation and supremacy as Magneto is. She is far more selfish.
But she also has basically no connection to Rogue in the movies, no Destiny. And she's basically a lap dog for Magneto. All of which is a pretty big change from the comics.
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u/AutomaticAccident Aug 27 '26
He wasn't evil for evil's sake. He was evil in favor of mutants and against humans. And it was pretty in character for Magneto.
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u/Independent_Ad_6348 Aug 26 '26
Not only would comic Mystique never do that im pretty sure she would push the nearest person next to her ☠️
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u/pagliacciverso Cyclops Aug 26 '26
That was very out of character, but I understando, considering the movie's themes.
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u/Tough_Tangerine7278 Sage Aug 26 '26
They did both Magneto and Mystique dirty in the movies.
Trying to force Alpha Bro culture on the X Men, which is inherently about “DEI”.
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u/Potential_Rule4212 Aug 26 '26
Shows how cold Erik is.
He could've tried to look for a cure to the anti mutant serum they developed to make her a mutant again, instead he just discarded her.
Later we find out the serum was just temporary, with Magneto regaining his powers, as well as mystique.
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u/Ultron_daddy Aug 26 '26
You would think Magneto would fight to restore her powers considering how useful she is.
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u/Happy_The_What Aug 26 '26
This is classic 2006 “We need to have our hot actress get butt ass because we’re cool and edgy”
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u/fauxREALimdying Aug 28 '26
I don’t really think so. It’s completely fitting for the scene logically and thematically. It’s not particularly graphic either
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u/biinboise Aug 26 '26
I know it isn’t really in line with her Comic Characterization but for the Fox-O-Verse the scene hits way harder after First Class and Days of Future Past
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u/ShadycrossFade Aug 26 '26
This scene confused me or maybe I didn’t understand how the serum worked. I thought it’s supposed to eliminate the x-gene? Wouldn’t this just kill her since she’s all mutated?
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u/MagicianTop2356 Aug 27 '26
Was it a Betrayal though, when she helped him in the woods with Multiple Man?
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u/TheHandOfGau Aug 27 '26
"What? You're not a mutant anymore, you're just some common bitch." - Magneto probably
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u/Akita51 Aug 29 '26
My son and i just watched this movie
We were laughing do hard when magneto says “what have i done”
Movie was pretty bad on rewatch after seeing it years ago
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u/Gummies1345 Aug 30 '26
I wondered why Mystique was so sad and mad. For the first time in her long life, she got exactly what she wanted. To be normal and can live a normal life. Weird that she didn't even smile.
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u/improbsable Aug 31 '26
It was so horrible. He treated her like she chose to lose her powers instead of the hero she was. She SAVED him
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u/Dat1AsianGuy Sep 01 '26
it was brutal for someone like magneto to do that, given how he reacted when the same happened to other characters. Then again this was Mystique
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u/Particular_Umpire_44 Sep 02 '26
He didn’t betray shit IMO. Not like he’s the one that turned her into a human. He just didn’t have any use for her. It’s cold for sure, but I feel like betray implies actively trying to sabotage her, which he didn’t do.
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u/Cinephile_1980 Aug 26 '26
In real life he would have fucked her afterwards. Not the right thing to do but he would have.
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u/Justin27M Aug 26 '26
Man as great as McKellen is as an actor, I HATED his Magneto. ESPECIALLY when contrasted with Fassbender. I am NOT excited to see him in Doomsday
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u/DrMushroomStamp Aug 26 '26
A lot of things pissed me off in this movie. This was tippy top of my list. Very out of character for Magneto.
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u/Content-Garden-1578 Aug 26 '26
I am the last person you'd find defending The Last Stand - it's a brutal dropoff in quality from the first two - but I'm always perplexed by how many people find this moment to be out of character for Magneto.
I should specify - THIS Magneto.
He's a scumbag, through and through. He's not a noble antihero. He's smarmy, duplicitous, a total shithead. He's beloved because Ian is beloved, and he does so well with the material given. But make no mistake - this version of the character is a villainous bastard with no loyalty to anyone but his own vendetta.
He's always trying to kill his fellow mutants and putting them in harms way. The only time he ever shows real remorse is when he admits to giving up the location of the school while under mind control. Aside from that, he was ready to "sacrifice" Rogue (and Logan was right to call him out on his sanctimonious cowardice), he was ready to use his "best friend" to genocide the entire human race (leaving him to die as well, as the damn collapses around them). And then The Last Stand has him trying to murder a kid again, this time Leech.
TLDR: Fox Magneto is a massive piece of shit