X-Men: Days of Future Past, Matthew Vaughn out. Bryan Singer in. Options

[Mister R]

Last week X-Men First Class producer Bryan Singer announced that the films sequel, scheduled for release July 2014, would be titled X-Men: Days of Future Past. The Days of Future Past storyline is arguably second only to the Dark Phoenix Saga in terms of fan love and influence within the X-Men comics so the title has provoked some excitement within the geek world. For those unfamiliar in the comics Days of Future Past sees a future version of Kitty Pryde travel back in time to her younger self in an attempt to stop the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly by mutants. In Kitty's version of the future the assassination of Kelly sets off a chain reaction which sees Sentinels taking control of the US and pushing mutants toward extinction.

Its not clear yet how exactly the First Class team will handle or adapt Days of Future Past to fit the universe they created first time around but it should be noted that the cast and crew from the first film are all scheduled to return. Looking at how they used the Cuban Missile Crisis in the first film I wonder if they might be planning to use another major event from the early 60's as a plot device this time around as well, namely the assassination of JFK. It would fit right into their timeline and allow for very little time to have passed since the end of the first film.

This will also give us the chance to see just how much weight the First Class team are giving to continuity with the original X-Men movies. Kitty Pryde appeared in those films which, barring a major time jump, would presumably count her out of appearing in First Class 2. Although she, and others, could presumably appear in flash forwards to the future timeline.

Also worthy of note is this quote from Singer when he announced the title - I think there's a strong desire to broaden out the universe. The X-Men universe on its own is every bit as big as the Marvel universe and I think it's time to reach out and explore it and perhaps even bring some connectivity between the films, as Marvel's done so well.

This post has been edited by Mister R: Oct 30 2012, 22:28

[atticus]

My favourite comic book story ever. Not sure how it will tie into the first class characters but I look forward to it.

It's the character moments in the story I love. Storm as a rookie leader, her telling a very angry Wolvie not to use his claws, Nightcrawler meeting Mystique. It's all good and the future setting is fantastic.

The JFK assassination would be a great launching point Mister R, Replace Kelly with JFK perhaps but would the writers be brave enough to do that? Or allowed to?

I could see a future Magneto leading a team of X-men in the future as the main story point and then seeing how that came to be.

The absence of Kitty would be sad though but maybe they could skip the body possession part and just have her older self running around.

Singer's mention of tying the movies into the rest of the marvel universe is interesting. They probably want Wolverine as an avenger.

It was rumoured that the recent Black Panther/Storm drama in the comics was to distance her from Black Panther because Marvel wanted to do a BP movie and Fox has the rights to the X-men characters. That's probably crap though, I just think a lot of people hated the rushed marriage, myself included.

I think I'm getting a little too excited for this movie. It's just a title, most of the characters that are pivotal to the story aren't in the First Class Universe.

[fangtastic]

I'm so excited to see his take on Storm.

In a weird way I'm hoping that this all somehow links to the Marvel TV project that Joss Whedon's working on too, as it's (loosely) rumoured the next Avengers film will.

[Mister R]

I'm fairly certain Singer isn't suggesting that the X-Men film-verse is going to connect with Marvel's film-verse. If nothing else that would be a logistical (let alone legal) nightmare for everyone involved.

What Singer is saying however is that there's potential for the X-Men universe to be every bit as big and connected as Marvel's films have been. Now either he's hinting that the original X-Men trilogy (plus the Wolverine spin-offs) are going to be drawn together in an overt way during First Class 2 or he's suggesting that First Class 2 can be a way to introduce the audience to the grand scale of the X-Men universe and ultimately used as a jump off point from which to launch various other X-Men universe films. Or I suppose a potential middle ground between the two with Days of Future Past being used as a way to change the timeline and rewrite the continuity of the original trilogy (and Wolverine to some extent).

Also worth remembering that Fox have got a Fantastic Four reboot in development so if they're feeling particularly adventurous they might want to try and root Fantastic Four in the same universe as the X-Men which could allow for some interesting cross overs.

In fact that could lead a pretty awesome situation where Warner Bros. have their DC universe complete with Justice League cross overs, Disney have their Marvel universe complete with Avengers cross overs and Fox have an X-Men(/Fantastic Four) universe complete with I don't know what cross overs. That would then leave Spiderman as the odd man out over at Sony.

[Astron]

I think with the cameos of Huge Jackman and Rebecca Romijn in First Class it's pretty much proven that the films are all in canon.
I know Emma frost is a bit of a weird factor cause she apparently was in Wolverine Origins as well but then again those type of films always have some contradictions in their continuity.

That would then leave Spiderman as the odd man out over at Sony.

Muahahahahahahaha!!!

[Mister R]

They didn't really have any continuity issues to over come in the first film though although Vaughn was pretty clear that he wasn't really concerning himself with or thinking about sticking to the established continuity.

Days of Future Past presents a lot of potential continuity problems for them though. For example assuming they keep the 60's setting (and don't jump forward 20 years to the 80's which would throw up all new problems for them) with a couple of exceptions every character who appeared in the original trilogy and the first Wolverine would be limited to appearing in flash forwards. You can't suddenly have Storm turning up as a team member (or leader) in the 60's. That would also presumably count out Kitty Pryde and Gambit from being particularly involved in the plot and those were two central characters in the two versions of the story most fans will know best – comic and animated series.

Bigger than characters though is whether you stay true to the continuity of deaths and events in X3 in particular. Plus you have the sticky situation of having to explain how those events happened at all if the catalyst for Sentinel production happened in the 60's...

I think they're probably best just to ditch continuity and start from scratch by playing an alternate time line card or something. Although they'll probably have to try and tie it in with Wolverine since that's still an on going franchise...

[Psychosyndrom]

Just because they are using the name does not mean they are going to adapt the story completely.

All this means is that we will likely get time travel and Sentinels.

I would suggest this was a way to bring back some of the previous actors in their roles, but keeping the current as well.

As such, we may see Patrick Stewart meeting James McAvoy, or James Marsden popping back up as Cyclops

[Astron]

I wouldn't be happy if they pretend the other films never happened. It could be very easy to write around some of the issues you mentioned.
It's not like they didn't take many liberties regarding the source material already anyway.

[atticus]

X-Universe films could be what he's suggesting. Plenty of potential there. Probably not X-Factor though since Cowell wrecked that name
If they use the time travel aspect, it should help link the other films - if that is what they want.
I'm looking forward to seeing what new characters will get introduced.
It would be good to know which company owns the rights to which characters. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch for example fit into the X-men verse but The Avengers could have dibs on them.

[Mister R]

Just because they are using the name does not mean they are going to adapt the story completely.

It won't be a straight adaptation of the actual comic story but it seems a fairly safe bet they'll take the basic plot (a member of the X-Men travels back in time to try and stop a catastrophic event and change the future) and that basic plot is going to be where they run into continuity problems. Although I suppose what they could do is have someone travel from the 80's or 90's to the 60's which would deal with part of that problem and pretty much all of it if you go alternate time lines and the X-Men 'fix' the problem allowing the trilogy to take place as is.

It would be good to know which company owns the rights to which characters. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch for example fit into the X-men verse but The Avengers could have dibs on them.

Interesting to note that this point came up in an interview with Kevin Feige (head of Marvel Studios) and he essentially said that Fox and Marvel both have shared ownership of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. If Fox want to use them in an X-Men film they can and if Marvel want to use them in an Avengers film they can And presumably they can both use them simultaneously if they really wanted to. The Skrulls also have some degree of shared ownership as well. Presumably also with Fox who own the Fantastic Four. Apart from that the characters are all apparently pretty cut and dry on the ownership front.

Sony own anything Spiderman. Fox own anything X-Men, Fantastic Four and currently Dare Devil. And I think Marvel now own everything else (but I might be forgetting something).

Kingpin is the only character I'm slightly unsure on. Although since he appeared in Dare Devil I assume Fox own him and not Sony (and that it isn't shared ownership).

This post has been edited by Mister R: Aug 8 2012, 16:56

[daikaioshin]

Considering they replaced Kitty with Bishop for the animated series' take on DOFP, they could really use any of the X-men. For all we know, the Fox X-men films could easily be in an alternate reality! Currently in X-Force we have Nightcrawler from an alternate dimension as the mainstream one was killed, so a similar set-up could be used.

I think that it's no doubt that they'll keep the time-travel elements, and JFK's assination could be the triggering event, seeing as how they used Kennedy in XMFC.

It'll be interesting to hear more about casting etc to get an idea of who's involved that's for sure!

[spunknutzolly]

Hopefully the changes to the timeline by the end of FC2 will mean the evnts of XTLS panned out differently and we can get an X4.

[boogie_artist]

Looking forward to this, First Class was mint!

[Mister R]

Hopefully the changes to the timeline by the end of FC2 will mean the evnts of XTLS panned out differently and we can get an X4.

The events of Last Stand don't actually preclude a fourth X-Men film.

[Jonnycondom]

Looking forward to this, First Class was mint!

This.

Nothing else needed to be said.

[sexyy1010]

Looking forward to this, First Class was mint!

I found the first one quite slow and everything happened at once.

I want something more fast paced abit like the previous trilogy. I'm not so bothered about the origins of the storylines and what not but it'd be kinda cool if Marsden and Berry popped back for a cameo or more.

[AdrienAsche]

Hopefully the changes to the timeline by the end of FC2 will mean the evnts of XTLS panned out differently and we can get an X4.

The events of Last Stand don't actually preclude a fourth X-Men film.

If anything, half the cast seemed pretty checked out for most of X-3. Getting even five of them back would be the most preclusive problem. Then getting the audience to remember after all the prequel continuity loopholes.

[Mister R]

Changes seemingly afoot on First Class 2.

Reports are suggesting that Matthew Vaughn has dropped out of directing the sequel in favour of taking on another project at Fox (possibly an adaptation of Mark Millar's Secret Service) and that Bryan Singer, who directed the first two X-Men films and produced First Class, will take over in the directors seat for the sequel. None of that is confirmed at this point but Singer should certainly jump at the chance to take over on the film given the nose dive his career has been in since leaving the X-Men franchise. Interesting to note that Singer was originally supposed to direct First Class but couldn't make it work because of a schedule conflict. Vaughn is set to stay on as a producer and again it should be noted that something similar happened to this during pre-production for First Class – Vaughn was unhappy with how quickly Fox wanted the film threatened to quit and then didn't.

[boogie_artist]

This could be the olive branch for Singer, he does need it although I am sure even if it's good he will be dismissed as a one trick pony.

[Mister R]

Singer has signed his deal. He'll return to direct First Class 2. Expect official confirmation soon.