Superhero movies always have some underlying comic book from which the filmmakers are pulling their material. For Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past it was the two-issue story of the same name from Uncanny X-Men published in 1981. If you were wondering if it’s a faithful adaptation, there are only general similarities between the page and the screen. Watch this video for a breakdown of the differences.
The folks from CineFix decided to take it upon themselves to deep dive into the comics to see just what Singer and co. left out and what they brought faithfully into the Days of Future Past film. If you’re already familiar with the comics, the biggest difference has to do with the main character. Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, played by Ellen Page in the film, is the one who travels back in time from this Sentinel-ridden, post-apocalyptic future. Rachel Summers, the child of telekinetic and telepathic daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey, is the one who sends her back in time to meld with her past body. But, you know how things go — Hugh Jackman is the star, so he needed to be at the center of all of this. But it still doesn’t really explain why Kitty, who’s ability is merely to phase through solid objects (and, in the comics, walk on air), can all of a sudden telepathically send people back in time through their past selves.
The surrounding characters are also a major shift from the comics to the screen. In the comics, Storm, Wolverine and Colossus were among the mutants helping to protect the body of future Kitty as she was in her time-traveling state. They moved around constantly to avoid Sentinel attacks. In the film, this role was filled by the older generation of the X-Men from the original trilogy, as well as some newbies like Bishop and Blink. In the past, Kitty melds into her past self as she’s testing her abilities in the danger room, instantly putting her in the path of the past X-Men. Logan, however, has to set out on his own to rally the wayward mutants; Professor X (James McAvoy) has lost his faith and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is sitting in a prison cell. You can check out a full breakdown in the video above, but you can use these tidbits to dazzle your friends during afterwork happy hour.
The X-Men animated series also included an adaptation of the Days of Future Past story line, but it too changed around some things. Bishop was the main character in this iteration, which might explain why Singer decided to include the character (played by Omar Sy) in the film. The more you know, amirite?
