Yesterday it was revealed that Twentieth Century Fox had registered the name Days of Future Past with the MPAA. While this might turn out to be nothing, I’d say it is pretty significant clue as to what the future holds for an X-Men First Class sequel, now scheduled to come out in Summer 2014. The idea of using Days as a template is a minor stroke of genius on the part of director Matthew Vaughn, and if Days in indeed the inspiration for the new movie, here are some reasons why it is a brilliant move.
The Original Story Is A Classic
The original Days of Future Past story was a two parter that ran in 1980, and closed out Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s legendary run on Uncanny X-Men. Along with The Dark Phoenix Saga, it is considered one of the greatest X-Men stories ever told, and one that has been revisited many a time. The original story deals with a dystopian future, one in which mutants are incarcerated in concentration camps and the city of New York is patrolled by mutant hunting Sentinel robots. An older Kitty Pryde transfers her mind into the younger, present-day Kitty Pryde, who brings the X-Men to prevent a fatal moment in history (in this instance, a political assassination) which triggers anti-mutant hysteria. The story constantly switches between the past and the present.
One can imagine that if DOFP is used, then certain story elements would be radically altered. A character from the “future” X-Men team would need to have a physical presence in the past as well for the whole mind switch thing to work, and since the “present” scenes are presumably still in the 1960’s era (and since there is no Kitty Pryde character among the First Class kids) my money is on Mystique. With Jennifer Lawrence’s star ascending thanks to the Hunger Games, Fox will no doubt want to expand her role in a sequel. Mystique could be a member of the future X-Men, who (like the original comic) include mutants that are former enemies like Magneto among them, banded together for survival.
Days of Future Past Is A First Class Sequel AND an X4
Fox has been mulling an X4 ever since the end of Last Stand. Sure, most fans hate X3, but it made a gajillion dollars. The only reason that Fox didn’t do another one right away was because everyone’s salary would have had to double to come back, and they didn’t think it was worth it with that many principle players. But the “Future” segments of DOFP could serve as an unofficial X4, although it is likely that only Wolverine (and maybe one other member of the original cast) would still be around. X3 killed off Cyclops, Jean and Charles Xavier (sorta) and a subsequent mutant Holocaust could get rid of the other dead weight, *cough*HalleBerry*cough* leaving an older grizzled Wolverine and an “X-Men” team of survivors. This would be a good time to flesh out characters like Colossus and maybe even Angel, characters who just stood around in the last movie with little to no characterization. And unlike Wolverine, no one will care if those other parts are re-cast.
And let’s not pretend the leader of the future team and main returning X-Man will be anyone but Hugh Jackman as Logan; let’s face it, whether you are sick of him or not, Hugh Jackman is THE face of the X-Men franchise. His presence alone would guarantee more asses in seats. And unlike so many other members of the original X-Men cast, he sems to genuinely love playing Wolverine, and seems happy to continue doing so for as long as he’s able. The idea of an X-Men sequel with rising stars Jennifer Lawrence and Michael Fassbender sharing top billing with Hugh Jackman must have Fox salivating right now.
It Ups The Stakes In A Post Avengers World
As far as super hero movies, especially super hero team movies are concerned, the success of Avengers just changed everything. Long gone are the days when a handful of X-Men can have a fight in the gift shop of the Statue of Liberty and people were satisfied with that. But a dystopian future, where giant robots roam Manhattan fighting mutants? That’s thinking big, and thinking big is what the X-Men franchise will have to do from now on if it wants to compete.
It Frees Future New Films From Bad Continuity
Despite what many fans might think, First Class was not a total reboot; the opening scenes of both the original X-Men and First Class in the German death camps are identical, not to mention just having Hugh Jackman cameo as Wolverine is letting you know this is the same universe, some minor continuity errors aside. The biggest problem is that the end of First Class contradicts the beginning of X3, where an older Charles Xavier and Magneto are still allies as late as the 1980’s, and Charles is still walking.
In the original DOFP story, the future Kitty Pryde prevents the assassination attempt that was supposed to result in her oppressive future. But upon returning to her own time, she finds it exactly the same, as she discovers you can’t change the past, only create a new, alternate timeline.
If the movie keeps this ending, it serves two purposes. One, it’s a bittersweet ending, because while Kitty (or whoever replaces Kitty in this movie) can’t save her own world, she creates a new world where the atrocities she experienced may not happen. Second, it frees any remaining First Class sequels from the shackles of continuity; They would now be free to introduce Cyclops without worrying about him going out like a red shirt, or even redo the whole Dark Phoenix saga correctly. Storm could be introduced and not be Halle Berry. It opens up the X-Men universe again without negating the previous movies, and also not worrying about how this matches up with that. This is the same solution JJ Abrams came up with for his Star Trek reboot, and it worked there, it can work just as well in the X-Men world.
Sentinels, Sentinels, Sentinels
Along with Magneto and Dark Phoenix, the Sentinels are among the most iconic adversaries the X-Men ever faced. And yet, they’ve never made it into a movie (no, the cameo in X3 does not count) DOFP creates a perfect opportunity to introduce various types of Sentinels. Because who the hell doesn’t wanna see the X-Men fight giant robots?
Of course, in the next few days and months, it could be revealed that DOFP isn’t really the basis for the new movie at all, and I’ll feel really silly here.