Is the X-MEN: FIRST CLASS sequel looking at some Days of Future Past?

Fox is certainly moving full steam ahead with their X-Men: First Class plans. Matthew Vaughn was confirmed to be returning as director, we just got an official release date (18 July 2014) from Fox and they’ve ironed out that whole pesky “Jennifer Lawrence needs to be in some other Hungry movie” nonsense.

The only thing we don’t know is exactly what it will be about though. Now thanks to snoopy detective work from AICN, we may have a clue, as it looks like Vaughn and co may be up for some time travel antics.

One of AICN’s sources are reporting that 20th Century Fox have registered the title “Days of Future Past” with the MPAA’s Title Registration Bureau, which is a way for film production companies to ensure that no other productions use or approach your title.

Now, for the non-comic book fanboys among you, you may need to give your geeky compatriots a moment to stop soiling themselves here, before I will explain the significance of this.

OK, good. You all cleaned up? Then let’s proceed.

DOFP is a critically acclaimed and fan favourite story arc written by long-time X-Men architect Chris Claremont back in 1981. It deals with all sorts of time travel and alternate timelines that could make for some interesting stories. Here’s a nice summary of the story taken from Wikipedia:

“The storyline alternates between present day, in which the X-Men fight Mystique’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and a future timeline caused by the X-Men’s failure to prevent the Brotherhood from assassinating Senator Robert Kelly. In this future universe, Sentinels rule the United States, and mutants live in internment camps. The present-day X-Men are forewarned of the possible future by a future version of their teammate Kitty Pryde, whose mind traveled back in time and possessed her younger self to warn the X-Men. She succeeds in her mission and returns to the future, but despite her success, the future timeline still exists as an alternative timeline rather than as the actual future.”

Sound familiar? That’s because JJ Abrams most recently used the very same story mechanic to successfully reboot the Star Trek franchise without scrapping decades of existing continuity. Could Fox be looking at doing the same? Could this be the link between the previous X-Men films and Vaughn’s 60’s based film? Done carefully, this could certainly setup an X-Men 4 that didn’t have the lodestone of mediocrity that was X-Men 3: The Last Stand hanging around its neck.

Whatever happens, I just hope that Vaughn’s idea of opening with the JFK assassination and revealing that it was Magneto as the man on the grassy knoll – using his mutant powers to control to flight path of the “magic bullet” as a retaliation for Kennedy taking all the credit for diffusing the Cuban Missile Crisis, when it had actually been the X-Men’s doing – stays in the script.

Last Updated: June 6, 2012