PLOT (BRIEF)
While establishing a research institute to help them study genetic mutations and a group of young individuals with unique and powerful abilities, friends Charles Xavier, Moira MacTaggert and Max Eisenhardt unexpectedly meet a young woman with an unnerving conspiracy about the thriving island nation of Genosha - one involving frightening medical procedures, brutalizing forced labor, and murder.
KEY PLAYERS
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Fancast: X-Men Genosha (pt 1) for more details
PRE-RELEASE MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Prior to the movie's release, a series of short "origins" webisodes would tell the story of the movie's key players via the background checks that Warren Worthington II had done on the institute prior to enrolling his son. Using his connections with the Hellfire Club, Worthington employs a woman known only as Sage to find out all there is to know about Xavier and his team. The background checks would be videos with Sage narrating the scene and giving dates.
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Week 1 "Report:C. Xavier", + "Report: E. Lehnsherr"
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Week 2 "Report: M. MacTaggert" + "Report: S. Cassidy"
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Week 3 "Report: S. Summers" + "Report: A. Summers"
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Week 4 "Report: H. McCoy", "Report: R. Drake"
Hidden in each "report" would be an easter egg instructing viewers to go to a url which would show a video revealing a part of Nathaniel Essex's origin as well. Some would be overtly displayed as URL addresses on billboards or computer screens (ie. "Visit www.TheEssexLegacy.org/1860 to find out more" ,"Enroll in upcoming medical trials at TheEssexLegacy.org/1943", etc.). Those hidden in reports that pre-date the rise of the internet (ie Charles, Erik, Moira and Sean) would be hidden as random combinations of the word "visit" and a numerical IP address (ie. a half torn poster with the word "visit" next to the grafitti IP address "66.18.52.129"
Report: C. Xavier's easter-egg would show Nathaniel Essex in 1858 and his wife Rebecca trying to comfort their young frail and hemophilic son as he enviously watches other kids playing outside his window. In an effort to inspire his son, Nathaniel speaks about the potential for science & medicine to conquer disease, old age, and even death and how one day they would allow him to run and play with other children. In a montage, we see Essex furiously trying to advance his understanding of the human body in order to cure his son of his birth defects - all while neglecting his wife and rapidly declining son.
Report: E.Lehnsherr's easter-egg would show Nathaniel Essex in 1860 being mocked by his peers in the medical field for his unhinged theories on natural selection and evolutionary biology, and being arrested after giving a disturbing presentation involving a desecrated corpse. After he is released from police custody when a friend pull some strings on his behalf, Rebecca confronts Nathaniel about his increasingly erratic behavior after the death of their son. Realizing that his life is spinning out of control, Nathaniel bursts into tears as his wife holds him tightly.
Report: M. MacTaggert's easter-egg would show Nathaniel Essex in 1865 being told by a doctor that his wife and newborn daughter both died during the delivery. In a complete state of numbing shock, Nathaniel walks through the bitterly cold streets of London for hours - torturing himself with memories of his family - until he is lead into an opium den by two strange women. Once inside we see that the den is run by the vampire Lord Ruthven and a horde or succubi who feed off of the life forces and emotional despair of their victims.
Report:S. Cassidy's easter-egg would show Essex in 1866, wasting away with other victims in Ruthven's opium den until the place is attacked by a small group of vampire hunters. While hiding in Ruthven's personal quarters, he watches as the vampire frantically hides a large book in a secret compartment moments before he is attacked and killed. Although Essex is discovered by the members of the vampire hunting group, he is dismissed as nothing more than a pitiful drug addict and is left for the authorities to deal with. Once the hunters exit, Essex starts to leave too, but stops suddenly when he remembers the book that Ruthven hid. After returning to his now dilapidated home with the secretive text, he examines the book, which is labeled Darkhold, and finds an infinite wealth of knowledge about human biology, genetics, physics, engineering, and more on its seemingly endless pages.
Report: S. Summers' easter-egg would show Essex in 1882, conducting inhumane experiments on the homeless and neglected citizens of London in a makeshift laboratory in his home. The experiments have allowed him to slow the aging process in himself by giving him a highly efficient regenerative healing factor. As he is about to begin tormenting another victim in his bid to refine the process even more, the police burst into his home after following a stream of clues related to recent disappearances. Even though he manages to kill most of the men trying to capture him, he is seriously injured in the process and realizes that his regenerative abilities are being outpaced by the damage that he is sustaining from his assailants. Wanting to avoid capture and needing time to fully heal, he escapes the house with the Darkhold but unknowingly loses the book along the way.
Report: A. Summers' easter-egg would show Nathaniel Essex in 1942 working with Nazi Germany and HYDRA under the alias of "Field Marshal Dietrich Aumeier" during Italy's invasion of North Africa in World War II. With his scientific resources restored, Essex continued his barbaric research on African citizens and Allied prisoners of war. His research is halted again, however, when a group of African-American soldiers - which included super soldier Isaiah Bradley - take down his unit during a black ops mission. In the Western Desert of Egypt, Bradley and Essex engage in brutal hand to hand combat. Bradley wins the battle after he snaps Essex's neck and leaves his paralyzed body to die in the desert. A short time after their battle, however, a strange figure emerges from the desert, carefully examines Essex's eyes, and carries his limp body away.
Report: H. McCoy's easter-egg would show the figure, now revealed to be Ozymandias, placing Nathaniel Essex's body on a stone slab in an ancient looking room with glowing equipment scattered throughout. We watch (from Essex's point of view) as his body is brutally prepped by the stoney and silent figure over what may be days or weeks. When we finally get a good view of Essex again, his paralyzed body is riddled with stitches, scars, tubing, and small devices. After rechecking his work, Ozymandias starts up a strange looking machine nearby. After injecting his body with glowing fluid, Essex's body begins to reanimate - in a manor much like a mindless zombie. Watching with disgust, Ozymandias approaches the writhing figure and places a small red jewel on his forehead. As lines of energy move from the jewel through Essex's body, a shocked look enters Essex's eyes as recognition and realization reenter his mind. A now terrified Essex looks up at Ozymandias and struggles to speak, but finds himself unable to do so. Offering nothing in the form of an explanation, Ozymandias commends Essex for making it this far then adds that they still have so very far to go. As the screen goes black, we finally hear Essex let out an animal-like scream over a sound similar to an electric drill.
Report: R. Drake's easter-egg would show rebel forces on the island nation of Genosha holed up in a heavily damaged building on a sweltering summer night in 2005. The revolutionary leaders are close to surrendering to government forces when a group of soldiers bring in a pair of hooded figures that they believe to be government paid mercenaries. Once the hoods are removed, we see a relatively normal looking Essex and Ozymandias standing calmly before the rebel leaders. Believing the mercenaries are their to negotiate terms of surrender on behalf of the government, the group's apparent leader begins listing demands to Essex. Before he can finish, Essex begins giving him a very clinical and thorough definition of cancer. When he is finished, Essex scans the room, with everyone appearing completely dumbfounded by the pale man standing amongst them. Essex continues by explaining that the group and its rebellion are like a cancer and that their surrender today would be the same as a partial remission - a temporary relief from a problem that would be guaranteed to return at some unknown point in the future. With that, he and Ozymandias begin to transform into comic accurate versions of themselves as an energy blast from Essex's hand vaporizes the rebel's leader. In the silent wake of Mister Sinister's reveal, the terrifying wraith that was once Nathaniel Essex calmly states "The Master offers no quarter to cancer...or to the weak who believe themselves to be strong". With that, the screen goes black and we hear energy blasts, gunshots, and screams as Sinister and Ozymandias beginning to massacre the rebels.
MOVIE STRUCTURE (ACT 1)
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Scenes from Act One (The Set Up) of the movie:
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Charles and "Erik" playing chess while having a heady discussion about sacrifice and violence.
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A montage of Scott, Hank, Bobby, and Warren training to better understand and control their enhanced abilities
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Show the kids interacting with their friends and family
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Scott can be seen watching a video message of his Alex hanging out with a pair of beautiful girls at a concert while playfully teasing his older for missing out on all the fun
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Hank is shown bouncing around his uniquely designed, jungle gym-like lab while giving his visiting parents a tour. His dad tries to Skype the whole thing for their friends and neighbors back in Dunfee but can hardly keep up with his hyperactive son. And though no one seems to understand any of the scientific jargon that the young scientist is rapidly firing, they are all happy to see Hank happy.
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Bobby can be seen online gaming and trash talking with Ned Leeds. Around his room are pictures of his parents and articles about other heroes in the MCU (i.e. Spider-Man, Quake, Iron Man, etc)
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Warren is shown on the phone with one of his friends from back in the U.S. We can hear the friend talking about all these really shallow and superficial things while Warren intently reads a copy of The Pearl by John Steinbeck. We can see other books stacked around him as Moira quietly drops off a copy of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.
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A weak and disheveled Jean Grey arrives at the institute and is brought to Moira's medical wing for care. She and Xavier seem to vaguely recogize one another before she collapses. After being brought to Moira's lab to receive medical attention and rest, she is telepathically "questioned" by Charles, Moira, and Erik via a mind link. The trio quickly stumble upon the few details that Jean knows about the conspiracy behind Genosha.
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Cut to Mister Sinister receiving a report from Count Nefaria that his operatives are having trouble tracking down and recapturing Jean. Sinister's reserved demeanor gives way for a moment, as seething violence fills his voice and he indirectly threatens Nefaria's life. Afterwards he returns to a room where he and Genegineer Moreau were experimenting on the mutant Graymalkin.
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After a few days of healing, Jean Grey begins exploring the institute -seeing young mutants like Siryn , Storm, and Thunderbird displaying various abilities while working with researchers. She runs into Bobby and Warren who are on their way to meet up with Scott and Hank in Hank's lab and takes them up on their offer to tag along.
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After taking some time to think things over, Charles, Moira, and Erik decide that they must do something about what's going on in Genosha, with Moira reluctantly agreeing not to contact Interpol or The United Nations for fear that the diplomacy and beauracracy of regular channels might lead to the murder the conspiracy's victims. On the suggestion of fellow institute member and former Interpol agent Sean Cassidy, the trio agree on a information and evidence gathering operation before deciding to do antyhing else. Meanwhile, Jean is becoming fast friends with Scott, Hank, Bobby, and Warren but is also tortured by memories of the lives left behind on Genosha.
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When Jean confronts Sean about what Xavier and the others plan to do to help those mutants left behind on the island nation, he promises that the trio are working on a solution at that very moment.
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We see Charles, Moira, and Erik working undercover in different parts of Genosha as part of their evidence gathering mission.
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Feeling frustration and a bit of survivor's remorse, Jean storms back to her room at the institute and starts gathering her things so that she can leave and take down Sinister on her own.
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Scott, recognizing that Jean is mad and on the verge of leaving the campus, pretends to agree with plan while pointing out several flaws in it that would most likely lead to her being recaptured or killed while those responsible for Genosha would just carry on with business as usual.
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The two have a close moment with Jean admitting that she feels as though she is about to breakfrom the weight of all the responsibilities that life has thrusted on her and that just wants to live a normal, carefree life. In response, Scott offers an uncharacteristic hug and a simple "I know".
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Taking matters into their own hands, the team decided to access Charles computer to see what progress has been made so far to bring Genosha down.
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They see files about Genosha, The Nefaria's, and David Moreau as collected by the Hellfire Club investigator Sage . There are also files on Nathan Milbury, Arnold Bocklin, Dietrich Aumeier and Nathaniel Essex which all seem to be aliases of the man now calling himself Dr. Robert Windsor.
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Simultaneously, we see Charles and Moira sharing a kiss in their hotel room while Erik sits in his hotel room staring at a freeze frame of a BBC report showing a photo of former Avenger and international fugative Wanda Maximoff. After a few moments, both rooms are broken into by Nefaria's operatives who take down the trio after an intense battle
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A group including Blindfold and Feral takes down and captures Charles and Moira.
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A group including Rogue and Azimuth takes down and captures Erik
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Before finally slipping into unconsciousness, Charles reaches out telepathically to Jean and warns her that she and the others may not be safe at the institute.
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