There are many things uncanny about the X-Men. Their name, their fashion sense, their need to fight for equality in a world that fears but doesn’t understand them, etc. etc. But this afternoon, at Comic-Con, it was all about their ability to make an entrance.
Despite the whole cast not being penciled in to appear at Fox’s big show in Hall H Saturday, the faces of X-Men: Days of Future Past assembled with style. Fittingly, the faces were a mix of those past and present.
Included for the shindig were actors Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters, Shawn Ashmore, Omar Sy, Peter Dinklage and X-Men film universe guru, Director Bryan Singer.
First the footage: The sizzle reel (or whatever you call it) offered essentially a trailer that was more epic than at least two of the last three X-related films (I’ll let you guess which ones) combined. It begins in a dystopian future for the remaining X-Men members of X-Men: The Last Stand, where Xavier and Magneto talk to an old-and-grey Wolverine. In what feels like a deviation from the comics, the plot will somehow involve Xavier and Magneto, now BFFs once-more-and-always, sending Logan back in time to the 1970s and to his ‘70s era body to save the future.
Wolverine asks how will he convince a younger Xavier, to which Patrick Stewart answers, to be “patient.” Meanwhile, McKellen’s Magneto warns merely that his younger self was a “darker person.” Cue shots of Michael Fassbender apparently terrifying Lawrence’s Magneto while attacking what appears to be Richard Nixon’s Oval Office. (Did it look like Mystique and Magneto were fighting?). It was a bit hard for everyone there to fully to tell what was going on, except that it looked awesome and 1970s McAvoy and Fassbender’s costumes are a lot funkier than they were in X-Men: First Class.
The big line of the footage was McAvoy saying, “I don’t want your suffering; I don’t want your future” and Stewart responding, “We need you to hope again.”
To the panel: It was a pretty easy-going rapport from everyone on stage with the highlight being Sir Ian McKellen hitting on a younger version of himself. After smirking about how much nicer California is now that Proposition 8 is in the dustpan of history, openly gay actor McKellen turned to Fassbender to say, “Nice to meet you, Michael.” Clearly someone has been watching Shame.
The biggest surprise for me was the revelation that Peter Dinklage, the magnificent Emmy-winning actor from Game of Thrones, would be playing the character of Bolivar Trask. This news was apparently released with the Carl Jr. and Hardee’s tie-in with the film leading up to Comic-Con, as reported by Slash Film,however the revelation that Dinklage, instead of playing a hero, would be the dastardly madman who wrought the Sentinels upon the world caught me by surprise and is an excellent bit of casting. Dinklage as a heavy? I’m game.
In what is less of a surprise, but more of an expected confirmation, Singer did admit that, yes, X-Men: Days of Future Past would wipe the slate clean as far as time lines and continuity are concerned. Similar to 2009’s Star Trek, the new X-Men movie will use the concepts of Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s groundbreaking comic book story to massage the X-verse into something more manageable (and hopefully palatable) for the future. Sounds like the X-Verse is going to become as confusing as the comic books. And fans were worried about not capturing the spirit of the books?
Omar Sy confirmed that Bishop would be time traveling in this movie, as well. Singer also would not rule out a Deadpool movie in the future, answering a fan question with the assertion that the X-Men Universe is just as big as the entirety of the Marvel Universe.
Other tidbits included Jackman previewing a singing Wolverine in front of the crowd for a never-to-be X-Men musical and Patrick Stewart noting that three of the actresses in the X-films have won Oscars. Clearly though, the real treat is just seeing everyone up on that stage.