X-Men: Days Of Future Past... No, Really

      Whether you read the initial comic books or watched any of the animated series, you have always wanted to see “X-Men: Days of Future Past” on the big screen. Not too long ago Bryan Singer (X-Men, X2 Director… First Class Producer) announced that the sequel to X-Men: First Class will be loosely based on the classic story from the comics, Days of Future Past. Every mutant fanboy has waited to see this classic story come alive in a big budget film since it’s original release in 1981. But I fear we shouldn’t get excited just yet. While there are plenty of reasons to suggest that this comic-to-movie idea will be great, we must consider what is needed in order for this film to be a success.

       First Class brought the mutant franchise back to life after the disappointing “Last Stand” and mediocre “Wolverine” films. It established brand new characters and revamped classic ones like Xavier and Magneto. One thing that Days of Future Past needs to do completely different from its predecessor is stay away from creating a “prequel.” The filmmakers of First Class must think we fans are completely clueless; to attempt to convince us that First Class was a prequel when countless errors were made in regard to that assumption: Alex Summers being born before Scott, Beast being “hairy” then not, and much more.

    Some quick, key elements that should be incorporated in the film include:

-       Sentinels, Sentinels, an army of Sentinels. They are a nearly endless, unstoppable force, worthy of battling the X-Men of the present and the future.

-       We all liked the cast of First Class, so we want to see as many of them return as possible. Also, since the story takes place in the future this is a great time to introduce new characters to the films; classic mutants like Bishop.

-       Trying to replace Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is like replacing Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, it can’t be done, so bring him back to the new film as an “older” Wolverine, trying to save the future alongside Bishop.

         The great thing about comic book movies (and what makes the majority of them a treat to watch) is the fact that the creators have years and years of classic characters and stories to examine and recreate. In my opinion, when a superhero film tries to create too much out of nothing it usually doesn’t end too well. First Class was a success due to the many references to the classic comics. This is very important in this case, especially when a very delicate and unique story like Days of Future Past is being used. My impeccable advice to the filmmakers is: try to make it as similar to the comics as you can. I’ll be happy, X-Men fans will be happy and you will be happy knowing you just created yet another successful X-Men film.