10 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About The X-Men
4. The Days Of Future Past
Any medium that incorporates time travel into its world should tread carefully so as not to end up entirely paradoxical. This was something the writers of X-Men never feared as they worked time travel into their stories as a pretty central theme and a rather confusing one at times. The film aside, it is also one of the greatest stories ever told within the comic medium and introduced X-Men readers to the concept of time travel. But one thing you should know about the story is that it wasn't Wolverine nor Bishop who traveled into the past to stop a devastating event. It was Kitty Pryde.
It must be noted that when one travels to the past to change an event it doesn't stop the future from coming to fruition. Instead, it simply creates an alternate timeline split between the original future and the result of what was changed. The Days of Future Past timeline still exists within the Marvel Universe. It should also be noted that there are actually two points of divergence in which the Days of Future Past timeline differs from the main Earth-616. Whereas Kitty Pryde travels in time and possesses the body of her younger self in order to stop an assassination attempt on Senator Kelly's life this was not the only event that differed from the main universe.
In fact, Rachel Summers was born following the marriage of Scott and Jean shortly after the Dark Phoenix Saga. In the main 616-universe Dark Phoenix was cast out of Jean's home following a demonstration of her power to her parents. In Rachel's world, however, she was not rejected but instead accepted lovingly leading her to stay on Earth, not die following the Shi'ar battle, and reconcile with Scott, get married, and have Rachel. This poses two points: 1) that the DoFP timeline may have already existed and the world Kitty Pryde traveled to was a separate reality meaning her actions had no effect on her home reality causing nothing to change at all. The past she traveled to could not have been her own as Rachel would have already been born and she was not. 2) Jean Grey is not actually Rachel's real mother but the Phoenix impersonating Jean's form which could explain Rachel's own connection to the entity.
The Days of Future Past isn't the only instance of time travel that many tend to get wrong as the Age of Apocalypse, the Askani timeline, and Bishop's future are also so convoluted that one can't help but scratch their head at the physics surrounding them.