In he Oval Office, the President met with retired military scientist Colonel William Stryker (Brian Cox), a power-mad covert government operative whose main genocidal objective was to destroy every mutant on Earth.McTeague proceeds further along the track with the rescued, injured bird in his hand.Another miner maliciously hits his hand and the bird is carelessly knocked away from his hand.Anger grows on McTeague""s ransformed face to reveal his more violent side.In a rage, he grabs he miner, heaves him up over his head, and tosses him off the track down into a ravine where he lands in running water.The film""s literate screenplay was written by previous Academy Award winner Howard Koch (screenwriter forCasablanca (1942)), and adapted from a 1922 short story (novella) by Stefan Zweig.His panicky, angry father Mr.Warren Worthington II (Michael Murphy) ordered the door to be opened.He was exasperated when he caught his son standing amidst feathers: "Oh God, not you."Now "in the not too distant future," a simulated apocalyptic training battle (with flames and enemy fire) was held in the Danger Room for four students, led by adult mutant X-Men from Xavier""s School: Storm (Halle Berry) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), who was subbing for mourning field leader Scott Summers/Cyclops (James Marsden).