The X-Men franchise entered uncharted waters last year when time travel was introduced as a possibility. It is a crucial part of X-Men mythology and serves as a driving plot device for at least two iconic story lines in the comic books, ‘Days of Future Past’ and ‘Age of Apocalypse.’
Not so coincidentally, X-Men: Apocalypse is prepping to film in Montreal, for a summer 2016 release. Screenwriter Simon Kinberg recently admitted that “the aftermath of Apocalypse is something that will really alter the course of history, in that world, in much the same way Days of Future Past did.” Starting with X-Men: First Class, X-Men films reinvigorated the superhero genre by setting the reboot decades in the past and using the X-Men characters to rewrite famous real-life historical events. First Magneto and Xavier were included as key participants in the Cuban Missile Crisis, in First Class. Then Mystique made a failed assassination attempt at the 1974 Paris Peace Treaty, in Days of Future Past. History was further rewritten when Wolverine traveled back into the 70’s and altered the natural flow of events. Kinberg explains how these and other events will affect Fox’s Marvel film universe going forward.
“From 1973 forward the world knew about mutants. A mutant took a football stadium and dropped it on the White House, that’s not the history we were raised on. So instead of ignoring that all the movies that come out after it in the timeline acknowledge it and embrace it and it becomes part of the complicated reality of X-Men history. I would say certainly all of the films will be informed by one another”
The upcoming Deadpool and Gambit films are expected to be connected, since they are both mutants and part of the X-Men expanded universe in the comics. Not to mention the upcoming Fantastic Four film will inevitably be brought into the fold eventually as well. From the sound of Kinberg’s comments, X-Men: Apocalypse will serve as the cinematic ground zero for Fox’s stable of Marvel films from this point forward. He also noted that with each property “things that happen in one film are acknowledged by the other movies.” Deadpool would seem to have the best shot for a pretty self-contained story, despite the presence of X-Men strongman Colossus in the movie. It will be the first solo movie out of the gate in February 2016. Apocalypse hits theaters in May later that year and will be followed by Channing Tatum’s Gambit in October, which should theoretically reflect a new landscape for the X-Men universe.
The strength of Kinberg’s script for Days of Future Past was the simplicity of the explanation of time travel, which can become unwieldy and overly convenient in many movies. It’s unknown if we will actually see someone time travel again in Apocalypse, like Bishop or Cable did in the comic book version. However, it could be that the events of X-Men: Apocalypse are simply born from ripples in the space-time continuum that occurred when Wolverine made the leap previously. Possibly that was the event that activated the ancient mutant Apocalypse, from his thousand year slumber. In any case, we have potentially the most epic X-Men adventure ever put on film on the way, so we will make sure to bring you the latest news every step of the way.
Deadpool shoots up theaters on February 12th, 2016. X-Men: Apocalypse hits May 27th, 2016. Gambit is set to open October 7th, 2016.
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Source: Comicbook.com,