Halle Berry’s X-Men Line That Still Gets People Talking

It’s been a big few years for the stars of early 2000s superhero flicks. Chris Evans has had another crack at The Human Torch, Tobey Maguire’s donned the Spidey suit again, and Jennifer Garner’s back as Elektra. If she can let bygones be bygones with a character that nearly derailed her career, there’s hope for anyone. With Marvel now holding the X-Men rights, there’s a fair chance we’ll see some familiar faces return, including Halle Berry, who played Storm in the original trilogy.

Berry, an Oscar winner, took on the role of Ororo Munroe—better known as Storm—in all three of Fox’s first X-Men films. She wasn’t always front and centre, but her character was crucial, using her weather powers to take on the baddies and even switching up her hairstyle a couple of times. She made a brief appearance in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but hasn’t been back since. Maybe she’s still wary after the studio’s attempt to pull a fast one on her during X-Men: The Last Stand. Or perhaps she’s never quite shaken off the memory of one of the most awkward lines in blockbuster history.

The Scene That Won’t Be Forgotten

Towards the end of the first X-Men film, Storm faces off with Toad, one of Magneto’s crew. After setting him up for a zap, Berry asks, “What happens to a toad when it’s struck by lightning?” You’d expect a bit of a pun or a cheeky quip—maybe something like ‘it croaks’—but instead, she delivers, “The same thing that happens to everything else.”

This odd bit of dialogue came from Joss Whedon, who later went on to direct The Avengers. He was brought in to tweak the film’s final act, including this scene. In an interview, Whedon said,

“It was supposed to be like a throwaway, and she did it like she was King Lear,”

and added,

“I was trying to explain what I had written versus the actor who played it. But all people remember is you’re the one who wrote that terrible line. I should have never told that story.”

Delivery or Direction?

Whedon reckoned the line could have worked if it had been delivered with a lighter touch. Berry’s take was dead serious, much more so than her other lines. Her commitment to the moment, mixed with the oddness of Toad hanging on by his tongue, just made the whole thing even stranger. Whedon might have been aiming for a bit of an anti-joke, taking the mickey out of the usual superhero banter, but it didn’t quite come off that way on screen.

Some reckon director Bryan Singer should have picked up on the intended tone, since Berry could only do so much with what she was given. Still, the line’s stuck around, and it’s become a bit of a cult moment for fans. It’s the sort of thing you look forward to when rewatching the film, and you have to wonder if we’d still be talking about it all these years later if it had just been a standard zinger.