In the latest episode of the Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday podcast, co-host Iman Vellani (Kamala Khan) took a moment to talk about her issues with X-Men 3, aka X-Men: The Last Stand, which is widely viewed as one of the worst installments in the 20th Century Fox franchise.
At the end of X3, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) - who had been almost completely taken over by this movie's version of the "Phoenix Force" - regains her senses just long enough to beg Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to kill her in order to put an end to her psychic rampage.
A devastated Logan uses his claws to do just that, and the movie concludes with the surviving team members back at the X-Mansion.
Vellani's biggest problem with this plot point is that it "fridges" Jean, but can the term really apply in this instance? As many have pointed out on social media, Grey is killed at the very end of the movie, and while her demise does obviously "make Wolverine sad," his arc ends shortly after hers.
Was Jean killed just so "the man could have something to be sad about," or was this simply an example of the hero taking down the villain at the end of a superhero movie?
Have a look at the clip below, and let us know what you think.
Vellani, who debuted as Khan in the Disney+ Ms. Marvel series, was a huge Marvel Comics fan before she ever joined the franchise, and it sounds like her encyclopedic knowledge of the MCU was a benefit to her cast and crewmates while filming The Marvels.
According to a 2023 article from EW, the unofficial motto on set was: "If you don't know, ask Iman Vellani."
"I've just learned to trust Iman because she really has her timelines in order," Brie Larson told the site. "She's the one that's always schooling us. I wouldn't know how old Carol is without her. She really does the math."
"In Marvel Studios’ The Marvels, Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as The Marvels.”
The film also stars Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Samuel L. Jackson, Zawe Ashton and Park Seo-joon. Nia DaCosta directs, and Kevin Feige is the producer. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Mary Livanos and Matthew Jenkins serve as executive producers. The screenplay is by Megan McDonnell, Nia DaCosta, Elissa Karasik and Zeb Wells.