Before we start, I’d like to state how this whole editorial is pretty much based off of the speculation we have heard about X-Men First Class: 2 since the release of the first movie and the rumor where Magneto would somehow be involved with the death of John F. Kennedy.
First of all, I have never read Days of Future Past fully. I have read an issue or two but I still know what happens in it and I have seen the X-Men Animated Series adaptation even though it used different characters to tell its story. I have also seen all of Wolverine and the X-Men which was also a long loose adaptation of Days of Future Past and The Dark Phoenix Saga. However, X-Men First Class could loosely adapt the event to where a current X-Men from the previous films travels to the past (X-Men FC Films) to prevent an event that happens in that timeline that conceives the idea of Sentinels. This way, we get closure to X3 and we can officially reboot the X-Men film franchise.
"Days of Future Past" is a popular storyline in the Marvel Comics comic book The Uncanny X-Men issues #141 and #142, published in 1981. It deals with a dystopian alternative future in which mutants are incarcerated in internment camps. An older Kitty Pryde transfers her mind into the younger, present-day Kitty Pryde, who brings the X-Men to prevent a fatal moment in history which triggers anti-mutant hysteria.
The movie could open with a opening that mirrors X3’s beginning which is The X-Men fighting against a Sentinel in what seems to be the end of the world and that world is controlled and monitored by Sentinels. I wouldn’t say to reuse footage from X3 but I would say redesign these characters to look like they’ve been through hell and slightly older than they were in their last movie together. Wolverine will once again chop off the Sentinel’s head with the fastball special performed by Colossus and Wolverine then Storm will once again scold him for not listening to orders but instead of walking out of the danger room, they’ll walk in to what’s left of the Xavier Mansion. Storm could say something a long the lines “This isn’t a training simulation anymore, Logan”. This could lead to a small argument and then we are introduced to the new and improved Professor Xavier, who was revealed to be alive at the end of X3 after the credits. Xavier could explain that he has an idea to stop the threat because he’s figured out what first conceived the idea of Sentinels. He reveals that John F. Kennedy had Intel on the event that Xavier and Magneto stopped as seen in X-Men: First Class and that he had the first idea of wiping what he thought were freaks from the planet. In this timeline, he was killed after he presented the idea and started production on it. Xavier also revealed that his powers have evolved to a point where he can repair Cerebra and help his younger self to warn the first team of X-Men about this. Although I think this scene should last about 30 minutes we also need emotion since it is about the end of the world. The X-Men could reminisce about lost team members such as Cyclops and Jean Grey and maybe a Sentinel attacks their already ruined headquarters while Xavier tries to contact the past and the Sentinel kills one of two of them. (I would use this idea because plenty of people have seen Wolverine and The X-Men.) Again, using the world that the X3 simulation created would be a good idea to introduce Sentinels and the storyline itself because fans will recognize that it’s the timeline and characters from X3 and hopefully they can bring back most of the cast including Ellen Page, Anna Paquin, Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart since they are reported to still be under contract for an X-Men 4.
Perhaps in this next part, we can skip back to the timeline of First Class and see Xavier making sketches for an improved Cerebro and trying it out some more. While searching for maybe mutants perhaps Cerebro will make contact with Xavier from the future who warns the younger Xavier about the impending threat of Sentinels and how he can stop the initial idea. Eventually, I’d say he shares this idea to the rest of the X-Men. Somehow Magneto would somehow find out about this impending Sentinel creation idea and plan to murder JFK for thinking of such an idea to kill mutants and since he believes that humanity will never accept Mutants, the only way to stop Sentinels is to kill its original creator. We could also use this film to introduce new X-Men, such as Jean Grey or Kitty Pryde who was the original “vessel” in Days of Future Past. Introducing a new character and having two Cerebro from different timelines interact with each other would be a good idea for the Days of Future Past storyline to start out.
With this happening, perhaps Magneto will actually succeed in killing John F. Kennedy before he tells anyone about his idea to destroy mutants and the sentinel threat would be believed to have stopped forever. Maybe, after the whole past events occur we’ll get an insight into the future where the X3 timeline stands. This time, we’ll see Future Xavier using Cerebro in a perfect world and realizing he had succeeded in his task to prevent the Sentinel timeline. We see him leave the lower level of the mansion where Cerebro is kept and Xavier Mansion is in perfect shape. After the credits we could also get a scene where in the X3 timeline, we see the actual Phoenix Force headed towards Earth and not the crappy suppressed alter ego Jean had in X3. This will confirm that X-Men Origins: Wolverine and past X-Men continuity no longer existed. This would be a Star Trek style reboot and making sure that the timing of the same event that happened in real life is changed, that the whole time stream can be altered.
The Phoenix is among the most feared beings in all of existence — having the power to cut and re-grow any part of the universe, as well as destroy it entirely, which is part of the Phoenix's purpose: "The Judgment of the Phoenix", to burn away the obsolete. The Phoenix Force is described as being "the embodiment of the very passion of Creation – the spark that gave life to the Universe, the flame that will ultimately consume it."
What do you think? Do you think my idea of Days of Future Past rebooting the X-Men franchise could work? If so, click the like button but if you don’t please tell me why!