Yesterday X-Men:Days of future past director Bryan Singer broke the news through a tweet via Twitter that the white haired speedster would also appear in the 2014 film played by Evan Peters, almost a year before Joss Whedon planned to use him in his upcoming film The Avengers 2, which hit screen a year later in 2015.
As expected this caused a huge overblown and overreaction at the matter, where Fox Studios and Singer are being called this and that and are apparently out to “sabotage” Marvel Studios, due to Whedon announcing before Singer that he planned to use the character. There’s also a notion that Whedon will have to remove the characters that he wanted to include from his script and the film due to Fox “stealing” them despite legally owning the rights to also use the character.
So let's look at why Singer has decided to use the character in his film and why it's possibly not something he suddenly decided to implement and churn out whilst on the toilet seat last Thursday.
He wanted the character in X-Men First Class
Two years ago in a fan Q&A Singer (who was involved in the story and a producer on the film) stated ago that a character that he wanted in First Class, development in 2010 by the way, was in fact
Quicksilver.
He referenced the character in X-Men 2
In X-Men 2(directed by Singer), both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were referenced as Maximoff's and appeared on a list which was compiled of mutants.
The character’s father is in the film
For those we don’t know, in the comics the master of magnetism, Magneto, is the father of both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Magneto will be one of the main characters in the film, which could see the character interact with his son and present an interesting sub-plotline and dynamic if used, whether or not this happens remains to be seen.
The script of the film was written last year and is not in “early stages” like The Avengers 2 script
The script for this film was written and finished last year; additionally Singer became director of the movie in
October 2012 and not after Whedon confirmed that the character was in his script
last week.
Singer reportedly has designed a specific “action” sequence for Quicksilver
This could be similar to how characters with certain powers have been used for visual sequences in previous X-Men films e.g. Nightcrawler teleporting in The White House in X-Men 2 and Riptide creating water tornadoes in First Class.
The general concensus is that the character showing up in Days of Future Past will be detrimental to the version in The Avengers 2. Let’s look at reasons why that won’t be the case.
One (quicksilver) will be more far prominent and fleshed out in one film than the other
Though both versions of the character will have supporting roles in their upcoming films, The Quicksilver in The Avengers 2 will have a larger and more substantial role in that film with most likely more than one action sequence. Whedon has alluded that he’s got an arc for Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch in his film
“You know, they had a rough beginning. They’re interesting to me because they sort of represent the part of the world that wouldn’t necessarily agree with The Avengers. So they’re not there to make things easier." Furthermore Singer has
reportedly designed a specific and sole action sequence for Quicksilver in his film which further indicates that the character won’t have that much of a role in the film.
Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch will have new backstories and won’t be mutants in The Avengers 2
In Days of future past, Quicksilver will be a mutant and
possibly Magneto's son, whilst in The Avengers 2 he'll be something else (Inhuman, Kree, a product of the Higher Evolutionary etc,it remains to be seen) with a confirmed sister instead of a possible father and will be completely unconnected to the DOFP counterpart with exception of the name. This will distinguish the two versions from each other.
They’ll look different visually
With the exception of the white coloured hair, which comes in many shades, the two versions will look different from each on screen. They’ll have different costumes. Despite their powers being the same you can showcase it in different ways to make it visually look different on screen despite the power being the same e.g. using speed trail effects, quick fast paced shots or slow motion.
Take a look at the flying variation in these two clips, note how despite them essentially being the same (power) they come across as different due to the presentation style and shots used.
The character isn’t that “big”
Too many are acting like we’re about to see to see two different versions of Spiderman or Batman by two different studios. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch won’t be the main characters in The Avengers 2, as it’s an Avengers movie, they’ll be supporting characters. They’re also not that well known to warrant any sort of confusion among the average movie goer. We won’t be seeing two carbon copy clones of the character for that to be the case. Additionally Quicksilver will only be called “Quicksilver” in one movie and only “Pietro” in another.
So calm down and get a bit of perspective; it’s not the end of the world, Fox/Singer aren’t the devil incarnate and are not out to “sabotage” Marvel Studios or even trying to do so, both versions of the character will work fine and perfectly in conjunction with one another in their respective movies.