Earlier this year Joss Whedon did something that seemed simply impossible--he made an entertaining and thoroughly satisfying superhero epic that was peopled with scene-stealing characters, yet maintained a sharp narrative focus. Critics raved, and fans were utterly awed by the film. Many saw it multiple times, resulting in stupendous grosses for Disney and Paramount that surpassed the $1.5 billion mark. Unquestionably, The Avengers raised the bar on superhero movie expectations, and buzz on the upcoming X-Men movie Days of Future Past suggests Fox is eager to meet it with their Marvel property.
As the film gears up for production, we've caught word that the feature will fold in characters and actors from Bryan Singer's X-Men and X2, including Ian McKellen as older Magneto, Patrick Stewart as older Professor X, and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, alongside their younger counterparts from X-Men: First Class. The time-traveling tale taken from the comic arc Days of Futures Past allows for a lot of crossover, as well as the introduction of the fan-favorite Sentinels. All this and so much more is contained within the pages of the mysterious screenplay that X-Men: Days of Future Past helmer Singer tweeted with the caption, "Settling down for my 14 hour flight with #Xmen Days of Future Past. Let's hope I don't leave it in the plane."
First off, fanboys and fangirls across the world are most definitely hoping severe jet lag will cause Singer to lose track of the script penned by Jane Goldman, Simon Kinberg and Mattthew Vaughn, as we are eagerly awaiting spoilers on the soon-to-shoot feature. But beyond Singer's comfy-looking accommodations, the pic shows that rather than a typical cover page, the script's top page offers a quote from Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species. It reads:
"As new species are formed through natural evolution, others will become rarer and rare, and finally extinct. The forms which stand in closest competition with those undergoing modification and improvement will naturally suffer most."
All the X-Men films thus far have focused on humankind's fear of what's new and different, namely mutants, with both sides brewing again and again for a battle on a grand scale. X-Men: Days of Future Past will clearly be pursuing this premise, and with Singer back on board it'll be interesting to see where things go from here.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is slated to open July 18th, 2014.
