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WEIRD SCIENCESo, are flying, self-healing and telepathic mutants really about to start popping upeverywhere? Total Film asked science expert Robert Weinberg...Phoenix rising: Professor Xavier(Patrick Stewart) and therecently-dead-but-improvingJean Grey (Famke Janssen).(Nightcrawler) and Ray Park (Toad). Both may bemissed but are, frankly, expendable. Not so PatrickStewart (Professor Xavier), who needed two longphone conversations with Ratner to convince himthe movie was in safe hands (“There was a bigquestion mark about the project,” he admits).Oscar-winner Halle Berry (Storm), on the otherhand, came on board with a set of demands.“I wanted to fly!” she tells Total Film in her LosAngeles home. “I’ve worn this cape for two moviesand I wanted to put it to use. On a bigger level,I also wanted Storm to have a voice and a definitepoint of view this time so people can betterunderstand who she is.”Her wishes were granted. Not only is Storm’sdialogue plentiful and potent this time round, butshe’s an integral part of several of the actionsequences; action sequences that will, if youbelieve the cast, be the biggest, baddest and bestestof all the X-Men films to date. Hyperbole? Perhaps,but if one man should know, it’s Jackman. “I sawa take of this one stunt and I couldn’t believe it wasreal,” he says. “It’s this thing where Halle flies about100 feet, spinning like you can’t believe. I figuredthey must have sped it up or something, but no,they actually did it for real.”WOLVERINEMutant powersAdamantium-coatedskeleton, apparentlyinfinite ability toheal himselfScience says “Wolverineis the typical ‘comic-bookcharacter who makes no sense.’ When you possessa healing factor that, if analysed and duplicated bymodern medicine, could save hundreds of thousands(most likely millions) of lives each year, why not dothat instead of engaging in constant lethal combat?Healing factor or not, I’ve also no idea how he can movewith metal coating his joints.”PROFESSOR XAVIER ANDJEAN GREY/DARK PHOENIXMutant powers Telepathy, telekinesis (the abilityto move objects with the mind)Science says “Telepathy is the power that seems tohave the most possibility of existing, though there areno real scientific results showing telepaths actuallyexist (whatever parapsychologists might claim). Ifthey did, why aren’t they all in Las Vegas or Monacomaking a fortune at cards?”BEASTMutant powersSuperhuman agility,massive strength,bright blue furScience says “Again,we run into problemswith the laws of nature.Make him as strong as suggested and he’d be somuscle-bound he couldn’t move, much less jumparound. Having him blue just seems garish, ratherthan impossible.”MAGNETOMutant power Cancontrol mighty forcesof magnetism withnothing but his mind,can manipulate metaland fly through the airusing the same powerScience says “How someone’s mind could controlmagnetism is far beyond me. Not even the mostoutrageous facts about quantum mechanics canexplain what Magneto does. And while I don’t haveterrible problems with him using magnetism to liftcars, I have no explanation of how he can fly aroundand hover using magnetism – at least, not withouta giant magnet over his body. Also, the less saidabout him disrupting the Earth’s magnetic fields,the better...”STORMMutant power Can controlthe weatherScience says “Is weathercontrol even possible? Notat present. Especially notby any human powers thatwe know about. We stillhave a hard time predicting it, much less controlling it.”JUGGERNAUTMutant power He’s anunstoppable forceScience says “No matterhow strong he is, there’sa limit to what his humanbody can withstand. Justbecause his bones won’tbreak when he punches a wall that doesn’t mean hishand will penetrate the wall. There’s a big differencebetween unbreakable and unstoppable. He’s more thefirst than the second.”ANGELMutant power WingsScience says “A normalhuman-sized being withwings just wouldn’t workbecause of the ratio ofweight to muscle neededto lift it. Even with someextra muscles, Angel would still need hollow bones.Which would make rough-and-tumble fighting a deathdefyingproposition.”CYCLOPSMutant Power Opticbeams from his eyesScience says “The eyesare a one-way mechanism– light goes in, nothingcomes back out. Andexactly what do Cyclops’eye beams do? Hit something with laser rays? Usea force to move things? His powers are hard tounderstand, much less imagine.”MYSTIQUEMutant powerShapeshiftingScience says “Colourchanging is possible innature, but not this kind ofshape-changing. There’sthe question of adding andsubtracting mass, if nothingelse. Shape-changing hersize, figure, and most of all,her sex, is a trick I can’teven begin to explain. She’sjust impossible.”Robert Weinberg is co-authorof the books The Science OfSuperheroes and The ScienceOf Supervillains.TFM115.feat_xmen sec31034/4/06 5:27:03 pm