‘X-Men: Days Of Future Past’ – Everything We Know About The Upcoming Sequel!

You stayed through the end credits of James Mangold’s ‘The Wolverine’ this past weekend, right? Those who did learned that Hugh Jackman isn’t ready to hang up his adamantium claws just yet. Mangold included a post-credits scene teasing Wolverine’s involvement in ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past,’ director Bryan Singer’s sprawling mutant sequel that has been in development for some time.

Now that ‘The Wolverine’ has opened, let’s turn our attentions to ‘Future Past’ and break down everything that we know about it, starting with a release date.

When Will ‘Days of Future Past’ Open?

Earlier than expected.

While 20th Century Fox once programmed the sequel for a July 18, 2014 release date, it recently bumped up that date to May 23. That pits ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ against Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore’s rom-com ‘Blended.' It also gives the superhero sequel a few weeks to capitalize on audience interest until Tom Cruise’s ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ opens on June 6.

Who’ll Star in ‘Days of Future Past?’

The better question might be, “Who isn't starring in Singer’s sequel.”

The hook of ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ is that it’s going to marry the original cast members of Singer’s initial ‘X-Men’ films with the younger cast of Matthew Vaughn’s ‘X-Men: First Class.’ That means Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, Anna Paquin and Ellen Page – to name just a few – will share the screen with James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult and Jennifer Lawrence. That doesn’t even include franchise newcomers Evan Peters (Quicksilver), Booboo Stewart (Warpath), Fan Bingbing (Blink), Omar Sy (Bishop), Adam Canto (Sunspot) and Peter Dinklage (Bolivar Trask). The end-credits sequence could run for days.

What will that look like? Well, Comic-Con attendees got a brief tease when Singer and Jackman invited the full ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ cast on stage in Hall H for a question-and-answer session. Singer shared the above photo on his Twitter feed, and also screened some official 3D footage from ‘Days of Future Past.’

So, What Did the Footage Show?

Basically what you would expect, given the ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ storyline.

For those who don’t know, Singer is working loosely off of a classic ‘Uncanny X-Men’ plot involving time travel and narratives set in different decades. Written by Chris Claremont – who also penned the story arc Mangold used for ‘The Wolverine’ – the ‘Future Past’ plot found Kitty Pryde warning the modern-day X-Men about an event they need to prevent in order to avoid an apocalyptic future in which most of the team is deceased.

Singer will tweak the timeline for his film, given the fact that he has the ‘First Class’ cast waiting in the 1970s for Wolverine (and not Kitty Pryde). The footage shown in Hall H showed an older Logan with Magneto (McKellen) and Xavier (Stewart) in a distant, bombed-out future. They are hatching a last-ditch plan to return Wolverine to his younger body in hopes that he can convince young Xavier to somehow reverse course. We saw a montage of action shots, most taking place in the 1970s, with Fassbender and McAvoy wrestling with the hard truth Wolverine’s trying to sell them.

But we didn’t see Sentinels. Not yet, anyway, though we know that they do appear in the film.

What Else Will Be Different In ‘Days of Future Past?’

A few things, based on what we know already.

Singer is making space in his ensemble for characters like Quicksilver (Evan Peters) and Warpath (Booboo Stewart), even though they are not part of the Claremont story. And Dinklage, of ‘Game of Thrones’ fame, is confirmed to play Bolivar Trask … creator of the massive mutant-hunting Sentinel robots. But those who saw Brett Ratner’s 2006 ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ may remember ‘Predator’ co-star Bill Duke playing Trask. That’s going to have to be resolved.

Also, Azazel and Tempest (seen in 'X-Men: First Class') have been killed off and won't be returning for this film.

Is This Film Rewriting History?

A viral site for the film talks about how Magneto and Mystique were responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy, angry with him over his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Mystique reportedly shapeshifted as Lee Harvey Oswald and carried out the act. The events of 'X-Men: First Class' reportedly follow Wolverine being sent in top to assist the 'First Class' mutants in stopping Mystique from assassinating General Edwin Partridge.

At the very least, Singer’s sequel will be an ambitious attempt at bridging two successful Marvel mutant franchises, hopefully setting the stage for many more mutant movies to come. ‘X-Force,’ for instance, has been teased. We shall see. For now, ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ will be in theaters next May.