I had theories on X-Men 3 and Spider-Man 3 that have only been reinforced by recent announcements.

I will begin with X-Men 3. Major spoilers about the plot are listed in this article. I will do my best to not reveal too much of what is said therein, only using what I need to support or debunk my theories.

It had been revealed several weeks ago that three major characters will die and one will lose his/her mutant powers. I theorized that the three deaths would be Cyclops, Storm, and Xavier; and that the power loss would be given to Juggernaut.

Cyclops was my first choice for death simply due to 'professional' circumstances. James Marsden had already been signed for Superman when X3 pre-production was announced. Marsden was adamant about doing both films, but I figured that the writers decided to kill Cyclops off early in the movie just to avoid potential scheduling conflicts with Marsden. The spoilers revealed that Cyclops is indeed one of the four mutants to either die or lose powers.

Storm was my second choice for political reasons. Ever since X2, Halle Berry has been said to not want to do X3 unless she got a bigger part in the story. I figured they'd axe Storm so as to not have to deal with Berry nor recast the role; however, in the spoilers, it is said that Storm takes on a bigger role as leader in X3. Such a role would be necessitated were Cyclops and Xavier, the two head honchos of the X-Men, to kick the bucket, thus further supporting the theory that those two will die. Yet, my theory of Storm being the third victim thus holds less water, coupled with the fact that she and Wolverine have a little thang going. Unless, of course, she kicks it at the end (the third act of the story having no spoilers released yet), which would mean that my theory is correct; moreover, the producers could say, Halle, you got your bigger part, but we're tired of you so 'bye, bye.'

As for Xavier, I simply chose him as one of the deaths because of its shock value. While veteran comics fans wouldn't be surprised per all the deaths that come and go and get annulled in comics, the majority of people who either only know X-Men from the movies or don't know X-Men much at all would never see it coming. How could they kill the leader of the X-Men, the savior of human/mutant relations? these viewers might think. Also, as I said above, Xavier being killed is supported by the chain-of-command being taken over by Storm. In the US government, when the President and Vice President die, the head of the House of Representatives becomes the new President. So for Storm (the head of the House) to become leader, Xavier (President) and Cyclops (VP) would both have to die. One final spoiler demonstrates how Xavier might be killed - he and Jean Grey get into a psychic battle.

As for Juggernaut, he was being played as the major villain in X3, so it seemed fitting that he would lose his powers - a way to ensure his defeat. Yet, the spoilers indicate that Juggernaut is only a henchman in the first two acts, so unless he is a bigger part in the third act, I doubt he will lose his powers. The spoilers say that Rogue wants to lose her powers, but as that is a common thread with the comics and as it would be anti-climactic for her to actually lose them, I doubt she will. The strongest candidate for losing powers, in my opinion, is Jean Grey. As she may be the cause of death for both Cyclops and Xavier, she may voluntarily take the 'serum' to get rid of the powers that killed her love and father-figure. Morover, to avoid redundancy from X2's ending, the writers surely wouldn't kill Jean for her crimes, so losing her powers would be the most practical result.

Finally, while it has nothing to do with theories, I just wanted to remark that Cannonball should not be introduced into X3 as has been announced. My reasons for such as is also why I do not think Emma Frost would have been a good addition to the cast will be noted in an upcoming article.

PS - Are the spoilers that have been announced for real? It seems like they are giving to much away about the script regardless of how the third part has been left out. Comics fans will remember that Marvel has been known to dupe people in recent years, most notably with the Sentry fiasco and the hint that Phoenix would be resurrected (via a deceptive illustration) when it was actually Colossus making a return. Only time will tell.