X-MEN: DOFP 'Future Sentinel' Design Explained; Plus All 25 Cover Gallery

Film after film, it feels like this series just barely works. They've never hit that stride where the studio just finally relaxes and stands back and gives the filmmakers the support to try something really grand. This should be that movie, and while I think there's a lot of it that works on the page, I'm also well aware that I read an early draft and that I've had some big problems with the last few films Singer has made. I'm not sure I would have chased him down and had him back for this movie, but Fox seems to be gambling that Singer will be able to bridge the new films and the old films with one of the most complicated stories anyone's ever tried to tell in one of these superhero movies.

This is actually what we're going to see onscreen first, and I was curious to see how different the future Sentinels were from the more traditional design that started this entire parade of character covers. I suspect this will one of the more controversial designs, at least until people learn what these Sentinels were made to do and how that was accomplished. It changes the entire nature of how they fight, and I think it's really intriguing as an idea. We'll see if it pays off.

As the cover says, he "absorbs cosmic energy and releases it in plasma blasts," and we learn in this one that Alex Summers has joined the army. He's one of several mutant soldiers who have agreed to be tested by Trask Industries as part of the program that eventually leads to the development of the Sentinels, hence the uniform we see here. I'm not sure about Empire's spelling, though. He's "Havoc" in the script.

So far, I like these designs. I think the Beast design is a continually evolving thing, and they've gotten better at making him look scary while still giving the actor plenty of freedom to play through the make-up. Nicolas Hoult returns as Hank again, and when we meet him in the film, he's the one person who hasn't given up on Charles Xavier, watching over him even when Charles doesn't feel like watching over himself anymore.