Hot on the heels of a successful Phase One in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and its collective $3.8 billion dollar revenue), 20th Century Fox has been scrambling to copy Marvel Studios' recipe for greatness with their follow up to
X-Men: First Class. It appears as if they are opting to take a step closer to source material to appeal to the kingdom of X-fans by taking a page right out of the classic John Byrne story arc, "Days of Future Past." With Bryan Singer getting back in the director's chair and several actors from the initial
X-Men trilogy set to return, mutant-lovers everywhere are expecting nothing less than an all-out geekfest. Here are just a few things that fans want to experience in
X-Men: Days of Future Past:
1. Sentinels One of the most noticeable things missing from the first three X-Men flicks was the presence of the classic mutant-hunting robots, the Sentinels. Sure, there was a quick little nod to them in the opening scene of
X-Men: The Last Stand, but that was a Danger Room simulation and doesn't count. These guys have been staple antagonists throughout the publication of X-Men issues and everybody remembers them being prominent players in the 90's animated X-Men series. Wouldn't it be great to see a climactic battle with our mutant pals taking on dozens of Sentinels? Of course it would. Heck, even Nimrod or Master Mold could get in on the action. Let's hope Mr. Singer is reading because a Sentinel showdown is long overdue.
2. Classic Costumes (or something like them) Bryan Singer has already let us know that there will be "no leather suits" via his Twitter feed, and for die-hard fans this is interesting. Something that irked quite a few viewers of his first X-Men outings was that the team was wearing those dreadful, black leather uniforms that looked more like a troupe of futuristic Hell's Angels than superheroes. Needless to say, it would be quite the sight to see an older, salt-and-pepper-headed Logan confronting a younger Logan and making a snarky jab at his colorful costume. Perhaps we're asking too much? We saw a little attempt at hinting towards costumes with the jumpsuits towards the end of
First Class. At any rate, some old fashioned blue and gold could do this franchise some good.
3. Lockheed Alright, alright, so this one's a bit of a stretch. But can you blame me? Who wouldn't want to see Kitty's little dragon alien buddy burst into action? No doubt his actual origin would be a bit outside the realm of a reasonable running time, but a cameo could be done. Since time-travel is already going to be a key element in this film, a shot of future-Kitty and a purple dragon-like character would be a nice nod to the fans. Especially if he were to take down a whole slew of baddies at the last minute with a breath of fire. Yep. Sounds good. Okay, moving on...
4. Rachel Summers While rumors are that Famke Janssen may come back for a cameo as Jean Grey in
The Wolverine, we may see another from the Summers family pop up on the big screen in
Days of Future Past: her and Scott Summers/Cyclop's daughter, Rachel. To put it simply, in the original story arc the film will be based on, Jean lives, marries Scott, and they have a child named Rachel who inherits her mother's potent psychic powers. Rachel is the one responsible for sending the Kitty Pride from the future timeline back in time, so there's a chance we may see a new X-Man suit up on the big screen. There are a number of lovely young actresses who could pull this off, but my pic would be an Ashley Greene or Emily Blunt, the latter of which has been wanting to jump on the superhero bandwagon for some time now.
5. Apocalypse I list this not only because many fans are dying to see this villain hit the cinemas, but because I think it is very possible Singer will see to it. Part of the hype building at the close of
The Avengers this summer was the mid-credits sneak peek that revealed Thanos, the extremely powerful cosmic villain orchestrating the chaos that occurred in the film. For Marvel Studios this has only pandered to fans who are hungry for more in Phase Two of Marvel building their movie universe. The recent addition of comic writer-extraordinaire Mark Millar as Fox's consultant for their superhero films seems like a move to emulate Marvel's way of doing business. Since they need the X-Men franchise to continue, what better way than to finally introduce the first mutant himself? An end credits scene similar to the Thanos shot in Avengers would be quite the way to set up an
Age of Apocalypse-inspired sequel the next time around.
There are undoubtedly several other things folks are waiting and wishing to see in
X-Men: Days of Future Past, but they'll have to wait til July 18th, 2014 to know for sure. Thanks for reading and feel free to comment!