X-Men depicts a world where an unknown number of people have become mutants. The fact that they have superhuman powers has caused humanity to distrust them, leading to the passage of a political bill in Congress.
Runaways Wolverine and Rogue are thrown into the middle of this conflict as two different groups of Mutants remain torn over how best to reason with humanity. Xavier's X-Men and Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants threaten to collide, and if they do, who will come out on top?
Why does magneto hate humanity?
Eric Lehnsherr lived in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1944, where we begin our film, and saw the worst of humanity. During this excellent introduction, we see a young Eric separated from his parents at the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
As they walk to their deaths, Eric's powers emerge and he is restrained by four men who struggle to control his power. With its twisted, branching metal doors, it not only symbolizes the brutal, twisted nature of the Nazis, but also foreshadows what will happen later in the film.
Fast forward to today (or in this case 2000) and humanity still "fears what it doesn't understand". Specifically, it comes in the form of US Senator Robert Kelly, who wants to pass the Mutant Registration Act. This would essentially force all mutants to reveal their personalities and abilities.
Like the seals in Auschwitz and other concentration camps, Eric sees this as another way to rule and stigmatize them all like cattle, and decides to form his Brotherhood to fight back.
What is Magneto's plan?
Magneto's plan is actually pretty clever when you think about the logistics of what he's trying to do. With Robert Kelly directing the show, it's the orchestration of a major UN Summit in the near future.
All major leaders will be looking to vote on a variety of issues, including global warming and the aforementioned Mutant Registration Act.
Eric intends to use a special machine to project a shock wave that forces people to receive mutant genes, effectively "speeding up evolution" and bringing more "brothers" into Eric's cause. He intends to hit the most powerful people on the planet with this shock wave, turning them all into his work in one fell swoop.
What happens to the senator? Is he dying?
Magneto flies to his base of operations on a lonely island off the main coast, using the talents of the shape-shifting mutant Mystique to trick the senator.
With Kelly knocked out, tied up, and left at Magneto's mercy, Eric tests his mutant turning machine on the Senator as an experiment.
In his cell, the senator's powers are manifested, turning his physical state into a liquid. After escaping (much to Magneto's disgust), he washes up on shore, where he ironically seeks help, attending Charles Xavier's school for the gifted. But the cells in his body die because they reject the mutation.
What does Magneto want with Rogue?
At the beginning of the film, we are introduced to Rogue, who has the power to take people's life force simply by touching them. On the run, he ends up in Canada, where he meets Wolverine (Logan), a hardened mutant who fights in cage matches for a living.
Eventually, the pair cross paths and end up at Xavier's school. Although initially skeptical, Logan soon realizes that Xavier wants to help people and stops Rogue from escaping after an earlier incident where he took his life force to heal his wounds.
Anyway, Magneto appears and takes Rogue, intending to use her to power his machine. After using this machine with Kelly nearly killing Magneto, Logan and the others realize that Magneto intends to transfer his powers to Rogue, killing him but seeing through his plan at the same time.
Can the X-Men save the day?
With Charles Xavier out of business, Storm, who sabotaged Serebron thanks to Mystique, Cyclops and Wolverine show up on Liberty Island to stop Magneto and his cronies. Storm kills Magneto's partner Toad and Wolverine kills Sabretot. He also leaves Mystique for dead after capturing her in the main lobby.
Wolverine confronts and distracts Magneto while Cyclops manages to detonate him, allowing Logan to stop the machine, which had already started. Thankfully, the shock wave destroys the island before it reaches it. Unfortunately, Rogue is in rough shape and she's knocked unconscious.
Rogue dies?
Desperate, Logan removes his glove and touches Rogue's face, holding her tightly, intending to transfer her powers to him. As we saw earlier in the film, this was foreshadowed by his recovery from a fatal stab wound (inflicted by Wolverine himself).
Rogue regains consciousness, uses Wolverine's healing abilities, and manages to rejuvenate herself. Rogue survives, and Logan wakes up a few days later at Charles' School.
Does Wolverine get the answers he's looking for?
Specifically, we see the experiments conducted on it shine.
His entire body is grafted with adamantium, a nearly indestructible metal. This is something we learn more about in X-Men 2, but for now, Wolverine gives the coordinates of an abandoned military installation in Canada that may well hold the answers he sees.
Wolverine takes Scott's motorcycle - a recurring joke in the film - and takes off after saying goodbye to Rogue. She puts the dog tags on him. The first thing Rogue asks him in the movie is about his time in the military, and it's a pretty symbolic move that sparks the conversation.
How do the X-Men build X-2? How does the movie end?
X-Men ends with Mystique escaping Liberty Island and impersonating Senator Kelly. He tells the audience that he has done a 180 on his views on mutant reform and apologizes to the masses. The X-Men quickly realize that it is Mystique and that this fight is far from over.
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