How many mutants can you count in this first look at X-Men: Days of Future Past? Careful you don't give yourself a headache, because there are a lot of them to see in this latest installment, uniting the timelines of the original X-Men trilogy and 2011's X-Men: First Class and handing us a huge roster of superpowered characters, including two Magnetos and two Professor X's and a mentally time-traveling Wolverine.
In Days of Future Past, which comes to theaters May 23 next year, the future versions of Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) must team up to help avert a major event with catastrophic consequences; to do so they send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back into the past to warn their younger selves (James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender) about how to change the future. The man causing all the trouble is Bolivar Trask, played by Game of Thrones's Peter Dinklage, who is responsible for inventing the Sentinels, the giant mutant-hunting robots who cause all kinds of trouble for our heroes. There's no glimpse of the Sentinels in this tease, possibly because Singer has said the effects are largely unfinished, but we've gotten some interesting peeks at them in blueprints and set photos.
But let's not focus on what's not in this teaser and dig into what's here, which helps put together a lot of pieces from the set photos and other bits that have emerged online in the last few months, from seeing Mystique in action to what looks like a major scene featuring Magneto in Washington D.C.. Because the effects work isn't finished some of the stuff we're most curious about, including the appearance of Quicksilver, isn't included. But what this character-heavy tease can really emphasize is the emotional moments, which were a big part of what made First Class feel so special. If you thought it was moving to watch Professor X and Magneto working together and then fall apart, how about watching it happen in two different timelines? And with Wolverine witnessing both sets? It's easy to forget given how long it's been since Stewart and McKellen were cast as the two lead mutants, but we are insanely lucky to see all these characters played by such massive talents.
Let us know what grabbed your attention most in the comments, and check back later for more thoughts on this big reveal.
