As quaint as it sounds by today's standards, the trilogy model represented a best-case scenario for any superhero film series in the early 2000s. Three movies was the mark of tremendous success for a genre considered radioactive less than a decade earlier, cementing the legacy of a property that managed to achieve this feat as a certified franchise and reliable money-maker. It also proved to be something of a double-edged sword in that the third entry typically represented the end of the line. Due to the reality of diminishing returns, changing tastes, and the complexities of reassembling an increasingly sprawling ensemble cast, conventional wisdom maintained that this was as far as a studio could realistically push it. Of course, cheaper spin-offs and derivative projects smaller in scope certainly remained in play to continue milking the franchise. But for all intents and purposes, it was three-and-done for the mainline, continuing narrative. Perhaps as a byproduct of the ballooning production and the pressure to turn out a respectable profit against a massively inflated budget, studio oversight tended to increase significantly for this supposed final outing -- arguably at the cost of quality control. In that respect, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND may as well be the poster child for the trilogy treatment kiss of death in blockbuster superhero filmmaking.