First off let me say X-Men: First Class was the best X-Men film so far. Vaughn caught the essence of the X-Men closer then Singer and Ratner. Now one thing that pissed me off was that they killed Darwin in his forth scene.
As I watched the movie I kept thinking, maybe Darwin will come back but he didn't and I was mad at that. It's not because Darwin was African-American and it probably seemed racist that he was killed early, but because when Darwin first appeared in X-Men Deadly Genesis I became a huge fan of him. So to kill a mutant who's mutation is to adapt to servive is pretty remedial, in that situation Darwin could have teleported like he did when he was fighting the Hulk or solidified or even absorbed the energy.
Now when I watched First Class a second time I couldn't help but notice that Darwin's explosion was a "bit" abnormal and I can't help but think when he reached out to Havok did he someone combine himself in an energy state to Havok similar to what he did with Garbriel Summers(Vulcan, who is Havoks younger brother)
What else makes me to believe that Darwin could possibly be returning for possible sequels to First Class is that when he separated himself from Vulcan he made a body of pure energy and was discovered by Beast and Professor X, two key players in First Class. Now aside from just being discovered by Professor X and Beast he was found by Moira MacTaggart and taught by Charles, instead he is found by Charles and Erik in First Class and killed by Shaw.
Now Fox and Vaughn could be going a different route with Darwin being linked with Havok instead of Vulcan, and possibly Charles can read Darwins mind in Havok and released him, some more possibilities I have are if Havok were to die Charles felt so guilty he took in Havoks brother or son, I think Fox is making Havok Scotts father and with Havok dying Darwin seperates himself. Or maybe The First Class of X-Men go to Krakoa and thats when Charles assemble a rescue team of Cyclops, Jean, ???. And from there Darwin could be rediscovered
Again this is just a theory, I am just a fan of Darwin who thinks he shouldn't have died, he would be of great use with the X-Men because The Brotherhood has Magneto, Emma Frost, Azazel, Angel, Riptide and Mystique where as the X-Men have Professor X, Banshee, Havok and Beast. I believe that if you are going to introduce a mutant with a power like this you can't kill them that early I mean Toad and Sabertooth were in X-Men longer then he was in First Class and Riptide made it until the end, without a single line though. So I don't believe Darwin isn't dead because of how X-Men First Class is played, it seems like the First Class might just be the team to go to Krakoa and plus Darwin can't die so.
Thumbs up if you want Darwin to return in the sequel(s)