Two ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ Characters May Return for ‘Dark Phoenix’

A bit of mutant news for this Tuesday morning: That Hashtag Show (h/t Cinema Blend) notes that actors Evan Jonigkeit and Gregg Lowe have entered negotiation with Fox to appear in the upcoming sequel/prequel/spinoff/reboot/I-have-no-idea-what-this-franchise-is-anymore X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Logic dictates that the two young men would reprise their roles of Toad and Ink (respectively), last seen in Days of Future Past. You may not remember the two characters, as Days of Future Past hit theaters back in 2014, and was even more difficult to follow than the famously convoluted comic book source issues, and the characters were onscreen for all of two minutes. So, a refresher:

Toad, more prominently featured in the original X-Men movies, was Magneto’s number-one whipping boy in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants back in the comics. So named for his long, prehensile tongue and ability to spit corrosive slime, Toad often teamed with Blob and Mystique to carry out Magneto’s bidding. Ink, meanwhile, was a member of the Young X-Men who derived power from the tattoos imprinted on his skin. (In his Days of Future Past appearance, Ink has a tattoo of the Phoenix force, positioning him for a key role in any upcoming plot.) When we last saw Toad and Ink, they were serving in a mutant Vietnam squadron liberated by Mystique, and then vanished as the storyline followed their brother-in-arms Havok.

Frankly, it’d be surprising if any forthcoming X-Men movies managed to be worse than the recent, profoundly dumb X-Men: Apocalypse. So, Toad/Ink cameos or no, you gotta be optimistic. Nothing either character could do would possibly be as ill-advised as “LEARNING.” X-Men: Dark Phoenix hits theaters November 2, 2018.