Are you actually asking why Storm doesn't instantly kill Cyclops? Do you even watch movies? That's like asking why the Eagles didn't fly Frodo to Mordor.
Mystique has all the business being the leader. She's the only one in the context of this universe who can lead/train the students. Beast and Xavier are primarily teachers; they have little fighting experience. Cyclops and Storm are far too young.
FYI, Wolverine was never a team leader, not until the movies came out and his popularity skyrocketed even more. I don't remember people complaining this much back then. Mystique, on the other hand, has always been a team leader(Brotherhood, Freedom Force, X-Factor etc.), and we've had two movies of character development to justify her change in personality.
No, I'm not asking why Storm doesn't instantly kill Cyclops. I'm asking why they'd construct a fight scene involving her that makes no sense. Imagine this for me: It's the climactic final battle. Cyclops is going to throw down with a mutant whose only power is incredible skill in martial arts... And for no apparent reason, they have Cyclops decide to take him on in hand to hand combat, no optic blasts. That's basically what's happening here: Storm could do any number of things for a battle, but instead does the one extremely specific thing that Cyclops can directly counter. If they want to have a Cyclops vs Storm fight, there are ways to do that without having either of them do something stupid, but this isn't it.
As for Mystique being the leader due to her fighting experience... Yeah, that doesn't really hold water. Beast is by far better suited to being the leader: For one, his motives/loyalty are unquestionable. For two, his powers are far more suited to leading from the front on the battlefield than Mystique, whose powers actively revolve around nobody even knowing she's there. Which is kind of hard to do when you're trying to lead a team of inexperienced mutants. In terms of that fighting experience, Beast has been around just as long as Mystique. May not have gotten offscreen development into a bada**, but he's just as knowledgeable an X-Man.
And as for Wolverine skyrocketing into a leadership position without complaint: That's because Hugh Jackman could carry the part. He nailed, and continues to nail, the part of Wolverine. He had the charisma to hold that position, so nobody minded. Mystique's actress, on top of filling in for the previous (much better) actress, does not come even remotely close to that level of charisma. The original movie Mystique? Sure, I could buy HER leading a team. Magneto's out of the picture? Oh, definitely. She was cold, competent, ruthless. She had very few lines but I remember two of them quite well, ("It's because of people like you I was afraid to go to school as a child." And, "Because we shouldn't have to." Being the reason she doesn't disguise herself) both of them completely selling her conviction more than the past two movies with... whatshername... Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique. Give me a movie with that Mystique's Brotherhood, I'm down. But this one? Please.
You say we've had two movies of character development to justify her change in personality... Pray tell, where was that? 'Cause I missed it. I seem to recall she was Xavier's childhood friend, then Magneto seduced her into revealing her true self, at which point she became all about mutant pride (Her "Mutant, and proud!" line is the only line of hers I remember purely because of how laughably ridiculous it is). Which apparently meant in the sequel she was all about killing government officials, only to stop at the last second, and now she's back to being on Xavier's side against a greater threat, regressing back into hiding her true form most of the time. 'Cause I guess she got tired of the makeup involved.
She's had two movies with a big center focus to sell her portrayal of Mystique, way more room and opportunity to grow/develop, and she hasn't. She's done what the plot needs her to, flip-flopping between the backstory they made for her of Xavier's childhood friend from First Class and a pale shadow of the femme fatale from the first two X-Men films as needs demand. Which, in the hands of a more competent actress, could be accomplished quite well. In hers, however? Nope.
Too long, didn't read: My complaint isn't with Mystique being portrayed in a leadership position, my complaint is with Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of Mystique not being good enough to believably carry/be deserving of a leadership position.
#Operating on the idea that your post was not sarcastic, the answers are simple.
Because Jennifer Lawrence is popular right now and the majority of movie goers go to see people they like (or more accurately THINK they are supposed to like) instead of the on apparent merits of the movie itself - the 'star' system if you will.
Remember, studios make movies for MONEY, not for the FANS and have no regard for source material - with the unique exception of Deadpool of course.
Completely serious, man. And I had a feeling that'd be the answer to why Storm'd do that. I was just kind of hoping there'd be a better one. I couldn't imagine what that might BE, but I hoped. As for Jennifer Lawrence and the 'star system'... Ugh. Just.... ugh.
Ooooh... That looks promising. It's a shame we won't get old/blind Jeremy Renner and old/grumpy Hugh Jackman team up, but an Old Man Logan movie where instead of escorting Hawkeye, he's taking X-23? I'm down. Especially if they bring back Origins Sabretooth, given he was the only good part of that movie, and they need a good antagonist without... well, all the Marvel villains. And Hulk, the main antagonist of that story.
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