Celebrating 20 years of X2: X-MEN UNITED

X2: X-Men United released in theaters 20 years ago today! The highly-anticipated sequel to X-Men met critic and audience expectations, earning rave reviews across the board!

In the film, mutants continue their struggle against a society that fears and distrusts them. Their cause becomes even more desperate following an incredible attack by an undetermined assailant possessing extraordinary abilities. The shocking attack renews the political and public outcry for both a Mutant Registration Act, and an anti-mutant movement, now led by William Stryker.

Scroll to learn 12 behind-the-scenes film facts re: each character:

Professor X

• Production had to rent Professor X’s wheelchair “for a significant sum,” from a lawyer who purchased the prop from the first film.

Magneto

• Magneto’s prison escape pays homage to Hannibal Lecter’s escape in The Silence of the Lambs.

Nightcrawler

• Alan Cumming endured 10 hours of makeup and prosthetics for the church scene where Nightcrawler appears shirtless.

Pyro

• Pyro’s lighter has a shark design on it, which is a tribute to Jaws (1975).

Storm

• The script underwent rewrites to give Storm more to do after Halle Berry’s historic Oscar win.

Mystique

• The makeup and prosthetics team for Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique were able to reduce the application process length from 7-9 hours to 5-6 hours.

Iceman

• The ice wall Bobby creates to separate Wolverine and Stryker was real ice, weighing 3,500 pounds.

Rogue

• When Rogue is thrown out of the X-Jet, “flying” in the sky, the stunt was performed by Anna Paquin; not a stunt double!

Lady Deathstrike

• Deathstrike’s talon claws were actually glued to the bottom of Kelly Hu’s own fingernails. She had to grow them out in order for them to fit securely.

Cyclops

• Already low on screentime, James Marsden’s Cyclops had an entire dream sequence deleted of him and Professor X escaping Stryker and flying a helicopter to the mansion.

Wolverine

• Wolverine’s berserker rage scene where he stabs one of Stryker’s guards had to be trimmed by a couple seconds for ratings purposes in the USA. A more intense version played in other countries, and is included as a deleted scene.

Jean Grey

• The original plan was for Jean Grey to go temporarily blind following her fight with a brainwashed Cyclops. It was filmed as such, but ultimately edited out.