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“What’s the last thing you remember?” a question that is posed by Patrick Stewart’s Professor X in the closing scenes of Bryan Singer’s triumphant return to the X-Franchise. With so many stand-out moments for an audience to choose in the latest instalment from Fox – including James McAvoy’s powerful turn as a substance dependant Charles Xavier; the somewhat surprisingly charismatic portrayal of Quicksilver; or just the immensely satisfying badassery of the
Terminator-esque future sequences – it is a challenge to boil it down to any specific element of what many people are toting as the best X-Film yet. However, one thing that seems is universal amongst audiences is the shared sense of relief now that the mistakes of certain lesser films in the series have been masterfully eradicated from the canon.
Most heinous of these mistakes was the maltreatment at the hands of Brett Ratner of core team members, Cyclops and Jean Grey; the former having been unceremoniously killed off in the opening scenes of the film and the latter defecting to the other side in a messy iteration of the cherished Dark Phoenix character. Certainly, a lot of the blame also falls to Simon Kinberg as screenwriter who actually makes no secret of his guilt over
The Last Stand fiasco and even goes as far as to claim in an interview with Empire magazine that his
Days of Future Past script was a chance to atone for his past sins. And atone he did, essentially negating every film (aside from 2011’s
First Class) that has come before it, as proved by the presence of Cyc and Jean alive and well in what is referred to as The Happy Mansion closing scene.
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But is it just an act of repentance that has drawn these two characters back to the fold or is there a more strategic reasoning behind this alteration of the timeline? It was announced sometime before the release of
DOFP that the next instalment of the X-Franchise would be subtitled
Apocalypse. If you were patient enough to wait out the credits and watch the stinger at the end of
DOFP you will have seen a young Apocalypse (then known as En Sabbah Nur) constructing the pyramids of Egypt. Aficionados of the comics will know that the title refers to arguably the X-Men’s most dangerous foe: a near indestructible ancient mutant who, given the opportunity, eventually enslaves man and mutant kind alike. More importantly, this all but confirms the inclusion of Apocalypse’s arch nemesis: a grizzled time traveller and beloved fan favourite named Cable.
Here’s where it gets interesting. For those who don’t know, Cable – or to give him his full name, Nathan Dayspring Askani’son Summers – is a radical freedom fighter sent back to the present day from a future that sees Apocalypse’s tyrannical reign over the earth, to destroy the maniacal mutant and thus prevent the suffering of his own personal future. But Cable isn’t just any old run-of-the-mill time-travelling mutant: he has contracted a ‘techno-organic virus’ that has infected his left arm turning it to solid metal which he keeps in check with telekinesis so powerful he is arguably the strongest of his kind…oh, and he is the offspring of Jean Grey’s clone and Cyclops aka Scott Summers.
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This would suggest that their re-inclusion into the franchise was a necessity in order to properly portray Cable on film and give him his full backstory. This would also have the added effect of making the events of
DOFP directly responsible for those in
Apocalypse as it is the presence of a mutant as powerful as Cable that initially wakes the ancient mutant from his slumber. It is understood from Kinberg that the next film will keep the focus on the
First Class team which as of yet is distinctly missing Jean and Scott form the roster. Perhaps this will be a way of introducing their younger selves as Cable jumps back to the 1980s in search of his parents for help.
Admittedly, the time travel element does ring a little too familiar after having just covered the same theme in
DOFP. Kinberg himself has expressed the fatigue felt after juggling the timelines once already and it sounds that he is unwilling to do that again. However, for Cable to come back we are by no means talking about a balancing act of criss-crossing narratives in the same way as seen in
DOFP. Cable’s future could simply be seen in a prologue and nothing more allowing for virtually all of the film to take place in the present day (or past…whatever, you know what I mean).
Since the announcement back in July 2013 that Fox intend on expanding the X-Universe with an X-Force feature film (the Cable led black-ops division of the X-Men) this prediction – or some approximation of it – would be a neat way of introducing key characters to new audiences. It should also be noted that this announcement came straight from Rob Liefield, creator of not only Cable but also the woefully mistreated Deadpool (as seen in
X-Men Origins: Wolverine) who just so happens to also be a member of the X-Force roster. Those hoping to see the Merc with a Mouth given a second chance on screen may well be in luck. Either way, the possibilities are many and we will certainly be watching this space.
Read the full article here:
http://www.themoviemaniacs.com/x-men-what-days-of-future-past-could-mean-for-the-apocalypse/