X-Men: Days of Future Past is a 2014 superhero film based on the fictional X-Men characters that appear in Marvel Comics. A British-American venture,[2] X-Men: Days of Future Past was directed by Bryan Singer; it is also the seventh instalment of the X-Men film series, the sequel to both X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men: First Class (2011) and is the fourth and, currently, final film of the original X-Men series and the second film in the X-Men prequel quadrilogy. The story, inspired by the 1981 Uncanny X-Men storyline "Days of Future Past" by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, focuses on two time periods, with Wolverine traveling back in time to 1973 to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants. The film features an ensemble cast, including Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Ian McKellen, and Patrick Stewart. Simon Kinberg wrote the screenplay from a story he conceived with Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn.
Plot[]
In a year 2023 at a dystopian future, Sentinels have been programmed to identify and hunt down mutants and any humans who dared to help them. A small band of mutants were attacked and Kitty Pryde sends Bishop's consciousness back in time a few days before the attack, in an effort to warn the other mutants so as to ensure their survival.
Professor Charles Xavier and other mutant survivors later meet Kitty Pryde at a remote Chinese temple, and explains the history of the Sentinels, which were designed by Bolivar Trask, whom Mystique assassinated in 1973. Feared by Trask's death, the government forces immediately captured Mystique and experimented on by scientists who used her DNA to advance their Sentinel program explaining how they are able to adapt to nearly every mutant power. Because of Kitty's time traveling ability, Xavier and Magneto plans to prevent Trask's assassination but since Xavier cannot survive going back decades, Wolverine volunteers instead since his regenerative powers would allow him to survive the process.
After awakening in his younger body in 1973, Wolverine arrives at the X-Mansion, discovering the school has been shut down for years due to many of the students and staffs being drafted to the Vietnam War. A young, broken Xavier turned into alcoholism and has shunned his mutant powers by using a specialized serum that suppresses his telepathic abilities in order to walk. Hoping to reunite with Mystique, Xavier agrees to help Wolverine and busts Erik Lensherr, who got incarcerated in 1963 after John F. Kennedy got assassinated due to him (he maintains his innocence later on) out of his prison cell under the Pentagon, aided by Hank McCoy and Peter Maximoff.
Mystique discovers Trask has been experimenting on mutants and in revenge plots to assassinate him at the Paris Peace Accords. Her vengeance results in failure after Xavier, Hank, and Wolverine intervene, and Erik attempts to kill her to prevent the Sentinel takeover from happening. A fight ensures between Hank and Erik which allows Mystique to escape but the three expose themselves as mutants to the world. Trask takes advantage of this event and successfully convinces President Richard Nixon to initialize the Sentinel program.
Erik obtains his signature helmet back from the Pentagon to block out Xavier's psychic powers and secretly takes control of Trask's Sentinel prototypes. Returning to the X-Mansion, Xavier ultimately abandons the serum, regaining his mutant power, and communicates with his future self, who inspires him to protect the relationship between mutants and mankind. After using Cerebro to track Mystique, he, Hank and Wolverine take flight to Washington, D.C. to put an end to her assassination plot on Trask.
At a ceremony where Nixon unveils the Sentinels, Xavier, Hank, and Wolverine search for the disguised Mystique. Erik appears, controlling the Sentinels, and uses the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium to surround the White House. Hank transforms into Beast and fights a Sentinel. Wolverine confronts Erik, but is thrown into the Potomac River. Nixon, Trask, and Mystique hide in a safe room beneath the White House, but Erik rips it out of the building with the intention of killing the U.S. President.
In the future, the Sentinels managed to find the X-Men and launch an attack on them; one by one perished while attempting to buy more time. Meanwhile back in 1973, Xavier persuades Mystique to spare Trask after she saves President Nixon from Erik, altering history and erasing the Sentinels from existence. Erik and Mystique both leave, one a criminal, the other a hero; and Trask is jailed for attempting to sell U.S. military secrets to Vietnamese officials.
Wolverine wakes up at the mansion in 2023 to find Iceman, Rogue, Colossus, Kitty, Beast, Storm, Jean Grey, Scott Summers and Xavier all alive. Wolverine speaks to Xavier, who is also aware of the changes in history. Back in 1973, the younger Wolverine is rescued by Mystique, who is disguised as William Stryker.
In a post-credits scene, set in Ancient Egypt, an Egyptian crowd is seen chanting to En Sabah Nur, who telekinetically elevates building blocks to forge pyramids as four horsemen observe him from afar.[4][5]
Cast[]
- Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine
- James McAvoy as Charles Xavier/Professor X
- Patrick Stewart portrays the older Charles Xavier/Professor X
- Laurence Belcher portrays Charles Xavier/Professor X as a child (via archive footage from X-Men: First Class)
- Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto
- Ian McKellen portrays the older Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto
- Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkholme/Mystique
- Morgan Lily portrays Raven Darkholme/Mystique as a child (via archive footage from X-Men: First Class)
- Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy/Beast
- Kelsey Grammer portrays the older Hank McCoy/Beast in a cameo
- Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe/Storm
- Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat
- Peter Dinklage as Bolivar Trask
- Evan Peters as Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver
- Anna Paquin as Marie D'Ancanto/Rogue
- Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake/Iceman
- Omar Sy as Lucas Bishop/Bishop
- Josh Helman as William Stryker
- Brian Cox portrays the older William Stryker (via archive footage from X2: X-Men United)
- Daniel Cudmore as Peter Rasputin/Colossus
- Fan Bingbing as Clarice Ferguson/Blink
- Adan Canto as Roberto Da Costa/Sunspot
- Booboo Stewart as James Proudstar/Warpath
- Famke Janssen as Jean Grey
- James Marsden as Scott Summers/Cyclops
- Lucas Till as Alex Summers/Havok
- Evan Jonigkeit as Mortimer Toynbee/Toad
- Mark Camacho as President Richard Nixon
- Jan Gerste as Gwen
- Massimo Cannistraro as Ramone
- Andreas Apergis as Col. Sanders
- Gregg Lowe as Eric Gitter/Ink
- Jaa Smith-Johnson as Daniels
- Michael Lerner as Senator Brickman
- Chris Claremont as Congressman Parker
- Len Wein as Congressman Davis
- François Paquette as Congressman McCarter
- Zehra Leverman as Ms. Maximoff
- Thai-Hoa Le as General Nhuan
- Gregory Hlady as General Petrov
- Brendan Pedder as En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse
The Rogue Cut[]
Main article: X-Men: Days of Future Past (The Rogue Cut)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released an alternate version of the film, titled The Rogue Cut, on July 14, 2015. It added 17 minutes of previously unused footage, including a subplot involving Anna Paquin's character Rogue, whose role was reduced to a brief cameo in the theatrical release.[150] The Rogue Cut was also screened at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International.[151]
In the Rogue Cut, Rogue's role is more consequential, and the narrative is more complex: when Kitty Pryde is accidentally wounded after Wolverine's consciousness experiences a phase between past and future from seeing Stryker in 1973, Bobby Drake (Iceman) proposes breaking into the heavily guarded remains of Cerebro at the former X-Mansion, the one place where Xavier's mind cannot reach others from the outside, in order to rescue Rogue, who is being held captive there. Xavier, Magneto, and Iceman succeed in rescuing Rogue, but at the cost of Iceman's life. Rogue uses her power to take over for Kitty in regards to keeping Wolverine's mind in 1973, for the remaining time until the moment history is changed, with a suggestion that Wolverine is aware of the switch as he appears to feel Rogue's presence. The Sentinels are able to find the X-Men through a tracking device inside a Sentinel's hand that was severed from the X-Jet during their escape. In another major scene, Mystique stops at the X-Mansion the night before the Sentinel-unveiling ceremony, revisits her previous romance with Beast, and destroys Cerebro the following morning in order to prevent Xavier from finding her. A new mid-credits scene shows Bolivar Trask imprisoned at Magneto's former prison cell beneath the Pentagon for selling military secrets to foreign countries.
Sequels[]
X-Men: Days of Future Past was followed by two sequels: X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019).
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
| X-Men |
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| X-Men (2000), X2 (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011), The Wolverine (2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Deadpool (2016), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Logan (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019), The New Mutants (2019), Deadpool 3 (2024) |