While I’ve only just managed to see X-Men: Days of Future Past, its release could not come at a better time, as it wasn’t until this year that I finally discovered the film franchise, based on the long running comic series, that started fourteen years ago. After catching up with the X-Men’s past, I am now looking at their future, and in which ways we could be seeing more of the Uncanny X-Men on screen. Here are some ways 20th Century Fox could be making some more money, off the films that have already made 2.9 billion, and counting, at the box office.
#1 Apocalypse – Not even my idea here, as it has been confirmed to be the next film in the series, hitting cinemas in 2016. Taking place in the 1980’s, it will feature the ‘first class’ cast, and will introduce younger versions of Cyclops, Jean-Grey, Storm, Nightcrawler, and Gambit (who will be played by Channing Tatum). The return of Kurt Wagner, and the introduction of Gambit sounds promising. If you walked out of Future Past confused about time travel and timelines, better get you head around it, as this film will most likely take place in the new timeline that Wolverine created. Sounds like it will be a hit coming off the success of DOFP.
#2 Wolverine 3 – At the very end of Future Past, Xavier sits Logan down to tell him everything that has happened to him in this new timeline, before the screen cuts to Mystique, posing as Stryker, rescuing him from the bottom of the ocean in 1973. But we see nothing more. The next solo Wolverine film, which will be released a year after Apocalypse, should really show Logan in this new timeline, and how it all lead to him being a history teacher at the school.
#3 X4 and X5 – The Last Stand left us with the death of Cyclops, Jean-Grey, Prof. X, and the loss of Magneto’s powers. When we left Brett Ratner’s one-and-only X-Men film, Magneto was slightly regaining his powers, and a post credits scene showed that Xavier might be somehow still alive. Cut many years ahead to Future Past, Magneto’s powers have fully returned, and Prof. X is most definitely alive. But there is no explanation for this at all. I would love to see one, or even two films, focusing on Xavier, Magneto, Kitty Pryde, Storm, and Ice-Man as they reach the events seen in Future Past. Have the plot focus on first the group directly after The Last Stand, and then there involvement in the war. One cool thing about this, is that we would be able to see more of Bishop, Blink, Sunspot, and Warpath, all who weren’t a major part of the Future Past. Fan Bingbing, who plays Blink, revealed recently that DOFP is the first X-Men film out of her five film contract that she signed with 20th Century Fox.
#4 Solo Films – This is something that needs to be done to expand the X-Man franchise to the heights of Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s been known for many years that a Deadpool project (which once had Ryan Reynolds involved) has been in development for over a decade now. With the signing of Channing Tatum to play Gambit, talk started that there might be a solo film for his character. Two other origin stories I would be interested in seeing are solo films featuring Ellen Page as Kitty pryde, and Rebecca Romijn/Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique.
#5 The Dark Phoenix Saga – Just because the past has been changed, doesn’t mean history can’t repeat itself. It was done poorly in The Last Stand, but I think fans would support seeing it being the plot of a whole X-Men film, not just as a side plot that get pushed aside in the final act.