ARTICLE: X-Men: Days of Future Past is X4

Since its announcement, X-Men: Days of Future Past has had an extreme amount of mystery surrounding it. While the title would seem to suggest that time-travel would play a prominent role in the plot, the nature of such was kept very hidden until recently.

Days of Future Past Posters featuring the two versions of Magneto and Professor X

Back in November 2012, Bryan Singer, the film's director and writer, confirmed that both Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart would reprise their roles as Magneto and Professor X alongside Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy in this X-Men: First Class sequel.

This casting decision obviously gave away the fact that time-travel would indeed be used in the film, but many, including myself, simply believed an alternate, dystopian future would be created, similar to the one found in the Days of Future Past comics, to allow for the future Magneto and Professor X to appear.

Patrick Stewart (left) and James McAvoy (right) as Charles Xavier

At San-Diego Comic-Con, it was revealed that X-Men: Days of Future Past would not only be a direct-sequel to X-Men: First Class, but also a direct-sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand. How is this possible, you may ask? Since time-travel will be prominent in the film, two concurrent storylines will take place: one happening ten years after the events of First Class and one happening ten years after the events of The Last Stand. So in some ways, this movie is actually X4.

This is how characters from the original trilogy such as Halle Berry's Storm, Anna Paquin's Rogue, and Shawn Ashmore's Iceman will return and once again play prominent roles in the film alongside characters from the prequel such as Nicholas Hoult's Beast, Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique and Lucas Till's Havok.

Halle Berry will return as Storm for the first time since 2006's The Last Stand

In case you did not know, Bryan Singer wrote and directed both X1 and X2, but made the decision to depart before X3. He later returned to write X-Men: First Class. In some ways, this movie will give the power of the X-Men franchise back to Singer, as he makes a full circle and connection between his original movies and his newer one: First Class. This almost seems as a way for Singer to erase the events of The Last Stand, which ruined many of the plans he had for his characters. 

When Singer was still on-board for the sequel to X2, he planned it as a two-part film that would encompass both X3 and X4. This two-part storyline was to explore the Phoenix Force, much like The Last Stand did. Singer also intended to introduce the Hellfire Club and Emma Frost, the villains of his later movie First Class, who would have played a similar role to Magneto in The Last Stand who tried to use Phoenix's power for his own benefit. Unfortunately, Singer left the project which caused the new writers to try and use the scraps of his ideas to make X3.

In Days of Future Past, Singer will erase some of the key plot-points of The Last Stand to make a bright future for the X-Men series. Firstly, Singer has undone Professor X's death, which was hinted in a post-credits scene in The Last Stand where Professor X transferred his consciousness into the body of his twin brother moments before he died. Secondly, the entire "Mutant Cure" plotline is being completely erased, so fear not X-Men fans, characters like Rogue, Iceman and Magneto will get their powers back!

Magneto (Ian McKellan) lost his powers during the climax of The Last Stand

There are, however, some unfortunate things that The Last Stand did that Bryan Singer will be unable to erase with this film. The first, and perhaps most upsetting plot-point that Singer won't be able to erase is the death of Cyclops at the hands of Jean Grey. Cyclops does not have powers that would enable him to come back from death or survive it, like Charles Xavier does. Even if Singer were to somehow say Cyclops survived, the question of where he was during the events of The Last Stand and why he did not help the X-Men stop Jean Grey would be a major plot-hole in the series.

The second thing that Bryan Singer will not be able to erase in this film is the death of Jean Grey. As any reader of the comics knows, Jean Grey's death is rarely ever final, as the Phoenix Force constantly resurrects her. The reason I say he cannot undo her death in this film is because Jean Grey was turned into the Omega-level mutant known as Phoenix in The Last Stand, meaning if she were to come back to life in this film, she would either be a major ally or enemy of the X-Men. In either case, she would leave the antagonists of the film, Bolivar Trask, completely obsolete, as her presence in the film would lead to two outcomes: either Jean Grey has control of the Phoenix Force, meaning she could basically end Trask's tyranny with the snap of her finger or Jean Grey does not have control of the Phoenix Force, meaning she would be a much greater threat than Trask and his Sentinels. This is why Jean Grey's death cannot be undone in Days of Future Past, but there is potential for Singer to maybe bring her back in a later film.

Neither James Marsden (left) nor Famke Janssen (right) will return as Cyclops or Jean Grey

The only other info known about the film is that Wolverine will be the key to connecting both the timelines. The Wolverine from the original timeline will be sent back in time to First Class' timeline in hopes of changing the dystopian future brought on by Bolivar Trask and his Sentinels. How exactly this will play out is unknown, but I'm sure Wolverine won't be the only of the original X-Men to be sent back in time.

This movie is going to be HUGE. The principle cast consists of twenty actors playing eighteen characters between the two concurrent timelines. Aside from the ones mentioned, other characters returning from the original movies consist of Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde and Peter Rasputin as Colossus, starring alongside the First Class stars and newcomers Omar Sy as Bishop, Fan Bingbing as Blink, Adan Canto as Sunspot, Evan Peters as Quicksilver, Booboo Stewart as Warpath, and Josh Helman and Peter Dinklage playing the film's antagonists William Stryker and Bolivar Trask respectively.

Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage will play the film's antagonist, Bolivar Trask

X-Men: Days of Future Past is still almost a year away from hitting theaters, with a release date of May 23, 2014. Singer has stated that this will be his biggest movie ever, which comes as no surprise. Since Singer has decided to connect First Class to the originals, rather than using it to reboot the franchise, Days of Future Past will be a hit or a miss. It will either pick up the shattered pieces that The Last Stand created or spiral the entire franchise into so much dismay that it can never be saved again. Thankfully, I am confident that Singer will make this the best X-Men movie yet, as his X-Men movies have so far gotten better and better with each installment.

The only problem now is the year-long wait for this epic movie to release.

Article By:

Giuliano V.