As of June 2014,
X-Men: Days of Future Past has become the highest-grossing installment in the franchise, which has now earned just over $3 billion internationally. To date, the film is director Bryan Singer's most successful movie, but it leaves audiences wondering where the series will go next. While
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) has been confirmed to take place in 1983, it is safe to assume that Twentieth-Century Fox wants to hold onto the characters for the future.
Here are some possibilities as to what may yet happen:
Diverse villains
The original 2000 film depicted Magneto as the antagonist with the Brotherhood of Mutants as a counter foil to the X-Men. Colonel William Stryker served as the villain for X2, and Magneto and Dark Phoenix were the main villains in X-Men: The Last Stand. The Wolverine films had Weapon X and the Japanese Yakuza as the antagonists, respectively. Although Magneto and the Brotherhood are recurring foes of the X-Men, it would not hurt for the team to face different antagonists in the film franchise. However, since DOFP featured Boliver Trask and the Sentinels, it appears Fox has decided to incorporate more characters from the comic books into the movies.
So far, the mutant Apocalypse has been confirmed by writer-producer Simon Kingberg as the villain for the 2016 film. Characters such as Mr. Sinister, the Morlocks, and the Phalanx could be strong antagonists in future installments. Sinister would be an excellent choice, because he has a long-standing history with the character of Cyclops. The Mutant Liberation Front could be used as the antagonists of the upcoming X-Force film adaptation, because they have been pited against the X-Force in the comics.
Extraterrestrial elements
During the early years of the film franchise, the studio opted to avoid the otherwordly aspects of the X-Men mythos, presumably for budgetary reasons. Namely, this meant alien races such as the Badoon, the Kree, the Shi'ar Empire, and the Skrulls were not featured, as well as the X-Men blasting into space. (Although Fox and Marvel Studios share the Skrulls, the former retains exclusive rights to the Super-Skrull character). Bryan Singer and the producers instead focused on earth-bound adventures and the themes of discrimination and prejudice.
Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy is being released in August, and it is predicted to be one of the summer's biggest hits. Assuming GoTG will be successful, Fox might consider expanding its own Cinematic Universe by introducing the alien races, which would add to the series' themes of prejudice and war. Furthermore, Corsair and the Starjammers would make an interesting spin-off film, as well as a way to explore Cyclops' backstory as a character. Assuming Fox might introduce the Shi'ar, who wouldn't want to see a proper Dark Phoenix adaptation of Jean Grey destroying Shi'ar warships, or Lilandra being introduced as an ally and love interest for Charles Xavier?
Focus on different X-Men
The first X-Men film depicted Wolverine as the main character, while placing less emphasis on the other characters in the subsequent follow-ups. In contrast, X-Men: First Class and Days of Future Past each focused on the young Magneto and Professor X in their early years. The former was largely concerned with Magneto's rise to villainy and the latter was Charles' story of rebirth. Furthermore, Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of Mystique offered a new perspective of the themes of alienation and prejudice felt by mutants. Although Wolverine was a major player in DOFP, he served in the mentor role and link between both timelines. Bryan Singer was able to balance Charles, Erik, Logan, Mystique and Beast's character arcs evenly. However, he succeeded in giving supporting characters like Bishop, Blink, Colossus, Iceman, Kitty Pride, Storm, Quicksilver and Warpath the chance to shine.
As mentioned above, the original trilogy focused on Wolverine to the detriment of other characters. Specificially, Cyclops received less screen time in X2 and was killed (offscreen) in The Last Stand, while Rogue went from being a main character to a supporting role with no participation in the action scenes. Simon Kinberg has since expressed regret for the way Cyclops was treated in The Last Stand.; due to James Marsden's schedule for Superman Returns, they had a limited amount of time to work with him. Despite not helming the film, Singer has admitted he would not have killed off the character, had he returned to direct the film. However, as the ending of Days of Future Past depicts, Cyclops is alive and well in the new timeline. When looking at Marsden's surprise cameo, the actor does not appear to harbor any grudge over being marginalized in the previous films. On multiple occasions, he has expressed a willingness to reprise the role of Scott.
Halle Berry has also stated the possibility of a Storm spin-off, while Joss Whedon mentioned he would love to see a Kitty Pride/Shadowcast film. However, this could just be wishful thinking on their part. Nevertheless, the idea of the series exploring different characters' points of view sounds appealing to fans.
Spin-offs
After X-Men: The Last Stand was released, Fox decided to use the "divide and conquer" route by developing spin-off films for certain X-Men characters. Hugh Jackman reprised his role as Logan in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and The Wolverine (2013), respectively. Whereas the first film received mixed critical reception and modest box office returns, the follow-up earned better reviews and became the second-highest gross in the series. In contrast, other planned films were abandoned or ended up in development hell. Elements of the Magneto prequel were incorporated into X-Men: First Class, and the long-gestating Deadpool movie with Ryan Reynolds has yet to actually enter production.
There are concrete plans for Jackman to return for a third Wolverine film, and Fox has been discussing a possible Mystique spin-off with Jennifer Lawrence reprising her role. Aside from X-Men: Apocalypse, Channing Tatum is currently in talks to play Gambit in a solo movie. If this is the route Fox is taking, these films might be the best way to expand the movie universe and develop characters. Even a Cyclops movie or a Cable spin-off would be welcomed by fans.
To paraphrase a line from J.J. Abrams' 2009 Star Trek film, anything that can happen in the realm of possibility can happen. As we have seen with the altered 1973-onward timeline, things are going to be significantly different in the X-Men Cinematic Universe. While the events of X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand have been prevented, it is important to note X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men (2000) and The Wolverine are likely to happen, albeit in different fashion. As Beast noted in DOFP, time is like a river- the ripples may change the tide, but the river keeps following.
There is simply no telling which direction the X-Men will go.