Most scenes together: Colonel William Stryker & Wolverine (2)
We developed the technology that built his plastic prison.
Senator Kelly This facility is a school.
Sure it is. [he sets photos on the president's desk]
President McKenna What the hell is that?
A jet.
McKenna What kind of jet?
We don't know — but it comes up out of the basketball court.
His name is Colonel William Stryker, and he invaded your mansion for one purpose; he wanted Cerebro, or enough of it to build one of his own.
But that doesn't make any sense. Stryker would need the Professor to operate it.
Which I think is the only reason my old friend is still alive.
Storm Oh my God...[She, Jean and Magneto exchange worried looks]
What are you all so afraid of?
While Cerebro is working, Charles's mind is connected to every living person on the planet. If he were forced to concentrate hard enough on a particular group-let's say, mutants, for example-he could kill us all!
Storm Wait a minute. How would Stryker even know where to find Cerebro in the first place?
Because I told him. I helped Charles build it, remember? Mr. Stryker has powerful methods of persuasion, even against a mutant as strong as Charles.
So who is this Stryker, anyway?
He's a military scientist. He spent his whole life trying to solve the 'mutant problem'. If you want a more intimate perspective, why don't you ask Wolverine? [to Wolverine] You don't remember, do you? William Stryker: The only other man I know who can manipulate adamantium. The metal on your bones. It carries his signature.
But the Professor—
The Professor trusted you were smart enough to discover this on your own. He gives you more credit than I do.
Please, Xavier, don't get up!
I call it the neural inhibitor. It keeps you outta here.
What have you done with Scott?
Oh, don't worry. I'm just giving him a little re-education. Of course, you know all about that, don't you!?
William, you wanted me to cure your son, but mutation isn't a disease...
YOU'RE LYING! You were even more frightened of him than I was. You know, just one year after Jason returned from your 'school', my wife-! You see, he resented us, he blamed us for his condition, so he would toy with our minds, projecting visions and scenarios into our brains. Well, my wife, in the end she took a power drill to her left temple in an attempt to bore the images out. [contemptuously] My boy, the great illusionist!
For someone who hates mutants... you certainly keep some strange company.
Oh, they serve their purpose... as long as they can be controlled.
You arranged the attack on the president.
You didn't even have to read my mind. You know, I've been working with mutants as long as you have, Xavier... but the most frustrating thing I've learned is that nobody really knows how many even exist or how to find them - except you. Unfortunately this little potion won't work on you, will it? You're much too powerful for that. Instead we'll go right to the source. Allow me to introduce mutant 143. The fluid secreted by his brain acts as a mind-controlling agent.
But that's only where it begins.
Jason. Oh, my god, William, this is your son! What have you-
NO, Charles! My son is dead! Just like the rest of you.
Pyro So they say you're the bad guy.
Is that what they say?
Pyro That's a dorky-looking helmet. What's it for?
This "dorky-looking helmet" is the only thing that's going to protect me from the real bad guys. [grabs Pyro's lighter with his power] What's your name?
Pyro John.
What's your real name, John?
Pyro Pyro.
That's quite a talent you have there, Pyro.
Pyro I can only manipulate the fire. I can't create it. [closes his hand, extinguishing the flames]
You are a god among insects. Never let anyone tell you different.
Logan, my tolerance for your smoking in the mansion notwithstanding, continue doing it in here and you'll spend the rest of your days under the impression that you're a six year-old girl.
Logan You'd do that?
I'd have Jean braid your hair. Welcome back.
President McKenna Where did you get these?
Let's just say I know a little girl who can walk through walls.
Erik, what have you done?
I'm sorry, Charles. I couldn't help it.
What have you told Stryker?
Everything. [Xavier and Magneto notices gas being released in prison] The war has begun.
Rogue Bobby, what did you do?
I didn't do this.
Storm So... what... are they?
Nightcrawler They are angelic symbols passed on to mankind by the Archangel Gabriel.
Storm They're beautiful. How many do you have?
Nightcrawler One for every sin. So quite a few.
Nightcrawler You and Miss Grey are schoolteachers?
Storm Yes. At a school for people like us, where we can be safe.
Nightcrawler Safe from what?
Storm Everyone else.
Nightcrawler You know, outside of the circus, most people were afraid of me. But I did not hate them: I pitied them. Do you know why? Because most people will never know anything beyond what they see with their own two eyes.
Storm Well, I gave up on pity a long time ago.
Nightcrawler Someone so beautiful should not be so angry.
Storm Sometimes anger can help you survive.
Nightcrawler So can faith.
Who has the answers, Wolverine? Those people, or that creature in your arms?
Huh? Huh?!
I'll take my chances with him. [walks away]
One day, someone will finish what I've started, Wolverine! One day! ONE DAY!!!
[While Wolverine walks away, Artie turns to Stryker and sticks out his lizard tongue at him]
Why did you come back?
You cut me open! You took my life!
You make it sound as if I stole something from you. As I recall, it was you volunteered for the procedure!
You are just a failed experiment. If you really knew about your past, what kind of person you were, the work that we did together...People don't change, Wolverine. You were an animal then, you're an animal now. I just gave you claws.
The dam's ruptured. It's gonna flood water under the spillway. It's trying to relieve the pressure. It's too late. In a few minutes, we'll all be underwater...Come with me, and I'll tell you everything you wanna know. You can't help your friends. They're as good as dead, Wolverine. You're a survivor--always have been.
I thought I was just an animal. With claws. [Holds his claws up to Stryker's face] If we die, you die.
THERE ARE NO ANSWERS THAT WAY, WOLVERINE!
When will these people learn how to fly?
I was piloting black-ops missions in the jungles of North Vietnam when you were suckin' on your mama's tit at Woodstock, Kelly. Don't lecture me about war. This already is a war.
Mutants. Since the discovery of their existence they have been regarded with fear, suspicion, often hatred. Across the planet, debate rages. Are mutants the next link in the evolutionary chain or simply a new species of humanity fighting for their share of the world? Either way it is a historical fact: Sharing the world has never been humanity's defining attribute.
Mutation: it is the key to our evolution. It is how we have evolved from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward.
