What X-Men: Days of Future Past Film Could Mean For The Franchise

By Alex McKay / August 3, 2012

The Characters

As previously stated, the events of Days Of Future Past centre around the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly. Although this character was already portrayed in X-Men by Bruce Davison, it's not impossible that he could reappear in the upcoming film as a younger man, as happened with William Stryker in Origins. The larger issue concerns the two main characters of the original story, Wolverine and Kitty Pride. With Origins follow-up The Wolverine currently filming and Days Of Future Past not scheduled to begin production until next year, its is feesable that Hugh Jackman would be able to be a part of both films. However, given the fact that he isn't a part of the X-Men at this point in the series (as established by a brilliant cameo), it is somewhat unlikely. But not as unlikely as Kitty Pride, who has yet to be introduced in the new series and chronologically doesn't become a major player until The Last Stand, where she was portrayed by Ellen Page.

Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde

But this doesn't make the use of her impossible. At the time of The LastStand's release, Page was a relative newcomer to the big screen, but since then has gone on to establish herself as one of the most popular and acclaimed actresses of her generation with staring roles in Juno and Inception. With the use of time travel, it's possible that an alternate timeline or future version of Pryde could appear in the movie version of Future Past. Having established names like Page and Jackman certainly wouldn't harm the film's chances in the box office. Then we have the characters from First Class. With the way the previous film ended, it's probably safe to say that Emma Frost, played by MadMen's January Jones, will play a prominent part, and it's more than likely that Brotherhood members Riptide, Azazel and Angel will return too. The production schedule seems to begin after the filming of Catching Fire, sequel to The Hunger Games starring Jennifer Lawrence, so we can expect Mystique to be back too, possibly as the one attempting the assassination that triggers the film's events. On the X-Men side, its also likely that Beast, Banshee and Havok will all return too. Whether or not there will be additions to either team remains to be seen, though previous statements from Fassbender would suggest this not being the case. And what of the characters yet to be given big screen interpretations? Given their importance in the original story, the Sentinels are almost a sure thing, having previously been scene early on in The Last Stand as part of a Danger Room exercise. Another possible character is that of Rachel Grey, an alternate universe daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey who plays a major part in the graphic novel. She could be used as a plot device to introduce the concept of alternate timelines, thereby decreasing the risk of baffling the audience. Other prominent characters in the X-Men universe that center around time travel and alternate timelines, albeit introduced years after Future Past was published, are the characters Cable, Bishop and Forge. Another alternative timeline offspring of Cyclops, Cable's stories invariably consist of him traveling back in time to our present to kill some prominent figure in the X-Men universe in the hope of making his own timeline less awful. He is an fan favourite and has often been utilised in stories of this nature in the X-Men books.

Cable

On the other side of the same coin, Bishop is usually a character from the same or a silimar timeline who is chasing after and tryng to stop Cable. Bishop's distinguishing feature is the M branded onto the right side of his face, having been born in one of the intermnment camps introduced in Days Of Future Past, often aided by Forge, who sends Bishop back in time from their own timeline and upholds the fight on his side of the timestream.

Bishop

Though these characters are unlikely to feature in the movie version of Future Past, they could be utilised prominently in the story should Goldman chose to use them. Bishop could be used in order to reveal the horrors of the camps and life under the Sentinels to the X-Men (and therefore the audience). Cable, on the other hand, could be the catalyst for the events, traveling from his timeline in order to assasinate Kelly and thus setting off the chain of events that follow.

As previously stated, its possible that Senator Kelly isn't used in this film at all. It could be any number of characters who have been previously established or will be introduced in the next film. For exmple, when Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead, introduced Cable in the Ultimate X-Men title, the man he was trying to assassinate was Charles Xavier. Could that be the event that triggers the establishment of camps and Sentinels? As Xavier is a Mutant himself, that is unlikely, but an interesting take on the concept nonetheless. Even more unlikely to be used is Kirkman's interpretation of Cable being an aging and deteriorating Wolverine. With the character himself and Hugh Jackman being the franchise's biggest draw at the box office, this among all other possibilities is the most implausible. Click "next" below for part 4, "Story"...