I remember when X-Men: First Class came out, I thought the film worked just fine as a genuine reboot if the studio were inclined to go that direction. Turns out they’re not, as Bryan Singer’s tweet above confirms that worlds are colliding, cats are screwing dogs, and your First Class Magneto and Xavier will appear in a movie with their much older counterparts.
I suspected as much back in September, when I theorized Stewart’s willingness to return to the franchise might be a guarded way of saying “Peoples, I’m in the next X-Men movie!” Granted, that was before Vaughn walked away from the project. But given the mutant mashup lenses this January, one would assume that Stewart and McKellen have been in play for a while.
The other aspect to consider is where this leaves Hugh Jackman. His cameo in First Class already establishes his Wolverine is alive and well in that timeline, but is Singer’s promise of “More to come…” a hint that Jackman’s involvement is the next announcement? Or anyone else’s for that matter?
I think it might be. If the film’s playing in two separate timelines, there’s no better connective tissue than a character who looked the same in the 60s as he will in the 2000s, not to mention Wolverine figured into the comic prominently during this arc. I have a hard time believing that, as Fox goes about getting their X-House back in order, Jackman and Wolverine aren’t a part of that plan. This of course opens the door for James Marsden and Famke Janssen to return as well. Halle Berry not so much.
Not trying to hate on this, but I can’t help but point out that it pretty much cements X-Men: First Class as a one off, if not in narrative then at least in tone. Matthew Vaugn did a great job of folding the X-Men back into the kooky 60s setting, even capitalizing on the Cuban Missile Crisis. With Bryan Singer on board, and in light of current happenings, I see Days of Future Past vibing more with X2 than Class, as this will undoubtedly be the passing of the torch film that establishes McAvoy and Fassbender as rebootqueled characters in a new Singer-ized timeline. It’s been a long crawl, but it looks like Fox is finally retconning X-Men: The Last Stand.
Just throwing this out there, but if there’s time traveling involved, I feel like all the future characters need to have sex with their counterparts in the past. For posterity’s sake, and because I worry that all these timehoppin’ mutants will be left without a whole lot to do: Time Orgy. Just sayin’…
6 comments
I really can’t see the point of a “passing the torch” film now. First Class already established the characters. This is like Star Trek Generations being made AFTER Star Trek First Contact. Not to mention that the majority of the old X-Men were killed off during Last Stand, so having them magically reappear is going to be a retcon clusterfuck.
I agree with the Star Trek comparison. But I’d point out that the timelines probably intersect BEFORE Last Stand. The only way it would work. Explaining Xavier’s death, even though they sort of un-did it in the post credits, is a shit amount of unnecessary work.
I’d say the total mess of timelines and continuity we’re getting makes this series a much more faithful adaptation of the X-Men comics than I would have thought possible. The confusing title conventions and weird narrative dead-ends of X3 only add to the experience.
I think jumping ten years into the future (from X3) might allow them to handwave a lot of it away, though. Professor X is alive because something happened in the last decade they’re not going to get into right now.
Of course, it could be that Professor X has been body-hopping for ten years, and has figured out how to do it through time, too, and jumps into himself.
I can see it being turned into a ‘passing the torch’ movie, especially if Stewart and others want to just leave the X-Men business after this one. I seriously hope the story doesn’t rely on that. In nerd-speak: I’m hoping for more TNG’s ‘Tapestry’ and less Generations.
Who would have thunk that The Last Stand had the power to possibly stain another series of X-Men movies?
I think you may have something there. I say spend the first five minutes of the budget on holding Ratner at gunpoint and making him apologize for Stand, but I like your theory too.
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