The ‘X-Men’ come out

“Have you tried not being a mutant?” asks the mother of Iceman, one of the misfit kids in Bryan Singer’s “X2,” the 2003 sequel to his 2000 “X-Men.” Iceman may attend Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters, but he’s more than gifted and not exactly a youngster.

Indeed, his mutant nature, which includes the ability to freeze ponds with his fingers, only becomes stronger as he ages. A minor character in the original “X-Men,” Iceman comes into his own in “X2,” revealing his true nature to his baffled parents, who react as if he’s just announced he’s gay. His mother worries that it’s all her fault, while his brother is so revolted that he calls the police.

Brett Ratner’s addition to the franchise, “X-Men: The Last Stand,” includes a character new to the “X-Men” films, Angel, whose disapproving father finds him trying to hack off a pair of wings attached to his back. As a child, Angel is deeply ashamed of his ethereal nature. As an adult, he finds that he can literally fly away from parental rejection.

“The Last Stand” begins with a flashback to the childhood of another mutant, Jean Grey, whose parents were ashamed and afraid of her telekinetic abilities. As an adult, she vigorously defends the kids’ right to be different.

Jean, Iceman and presumably Angel are heterosexual, as are the other mutants in the “X-Men” pictures. But they behave a lot like runaway gay kids, forming their own families of gifted outlaws as they escape birth parents who feel nothing but embarrassment for having brought them into the world.

In “The Last Stand,” which the producers emphasize is not the last installment in the series (after all, the first two collected $700 million worldwide), Iceman is completely “out” as a mutant. He uses his frosty charms to woo Rogue, who matches his ability to chill out.

Their chief opponent in the first “X-Men” is a self-proclaimed “God-fearing” senator, whose intolerant anti-mutant speeches sound a lot like current anti-gay and anti-immigrant rhetoric. “People like you are the reason I was afraid to go to school as a child,” says a mutant who kidnaps him.

Where are the next compelling X-stories?

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But once they’re not afraid, once they’ve gained control, what does the future hold? Thanks to a series of lethal surprises lurking near the finale of “The Last Stand,” it’s not clear what the mutants can or will do next. Some appear to lose their powers or their lives, but perhaps this is only temporary, like Jean Grey’s far-from-terminal “death” in “X2.”

Hugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine, is developing a follow-up film. The crafty villain Magneto (Ian McKellen) is also set for a spin-off, as the final shot in “The Last Stand” suggests. Aside from Magneto, whose story spans several decades, Jean Grey has had the clearest character arc.

While “The Last Stand” seems to exhaust her possibilities, there’s plenty of potential in the rest of the cast. It’s easy to imagine a spin-off in which shape-shifting Mystique takes on every role in the script — which she nearly did in “X2.” In a wittily androgynous episode, she tricked Wolverine into lusting after her impersonations of both Jean Grey and the male villain, played by Brian Cox.

Which follow-up is likely to reach multiplexes first? If Jackman gets caught up in too many other projects (five more Jackman movies are scheduled for release during the next year), another mutant could prevail. In any event, the idea behind the franchise will survive in some form or other, just as it has in the past.

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