Cyclops’ Death Was One Mistake Bryan Singer Couldn’t Fix With ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’

Remember when, in Brett Ratner's 'X-Men: The Last Stand,' Cyclops, himself being a mainstay in the 'X-Men' universe, met his end offscreen at the hands of a mentally unstable Phoenix/Jean Grey? Fans held on to the hope that he might still return to the big screen somehow in Bryan Singer's 'X-Men: Days of Future Past,' especially after James Marsden was spotted flying back from the Montreal set with former co-star Halle Berry (playing Storm in the new movie). However, this was one event Singer could not change.

'X-Men: Days of Future Past' was featured during the recent Fantasia International Film Festival on Monday evening in Montreal, where Singer debuted two minutes of footage from the 'First Class' sequel and participated in a Q&A. The folks at JoBlo were on hand and reported that, while the director initially planned on using this film to right certain wrongs from 'The Last Stand,' Singer could not bring Cyclops back to life.

Although he stated that he wasn't happy with the decision to kill off the character, the one person he could justifiably revive was Patrick Stewart's Professor X; although he too was obliterated by Phoenix, a post-credit scene suggested he used his telepathic abilities to transfer his consciousness and build a new body around it. That much was confirmed by Singer during the festival.

Marsden already revealed to Vulture recently that the leader of the X-Men would not be returning. "If this next film really works, Bryan has said he wants to fix a few things, so hopefully that's one of them," he said. "I always liked Cyclops, but they have a lot of characters that they have to parcel out, spend time with each one, make sure everyone feels like they've been given their due, introduce them appropriately, but you could do a spinoff of every one of those characters and give them so much depth to the storyline."