X-Men: Days of Future Past is a very confusing story looking back on it now. However, it is also a brilliant story that takes the idea of racism and fear and shows what can happen when these prejudices go too far. In a recent interview, the man who created the story for the X-Men comics points out those exact thoughts, and Chris Claremont hopes that they somehow find their way into the script for the Bryan Singer adaptation.
“The really nice thing with Future Past is that you actually have a superhero film — much to everyone’s surprise, I will hope — that is about something. It’s about racism, I hope. It’s about resisting oppression. It’s about fighting for freedom and the cost of fighting for freedom. I will be fascinated to see how they weave the two together.” – Chris Claremont
There is also a lot more to it than that. What is most interesting is that, as iconic as the story is, and with everything that came after it having so much history beginning with the tale, Days of Future Past was only two issues of X-Men comics. Yet, for two issues, so much happens.
Basically, in the present day (which will be the ’70s in the comics), the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants attempt to assassinate of a U.S. Senator who is trying to pass an anti-mutant act. Meanwhile in the future (which is ironically 2013), the United States is destroyed, thanks to giant robots called Sentinels that the government created to capture and kill mutants. These robots became more dangerous than the mutants themselves, and the Sentinels took over America.
The only way to stop this from happening is to stop the assassination attempt years before. To do this, Kitty Pride (Ellen Page) is sent back in time to inhabit her body as a child in order to warn the X-Men and stop this from occurring. What is great about the comics is, while it looks like a happy ending, it might not be as happy as all hoped. While the X-Men in the present day will win, as they always do, the fate for the future X-Men might not be so bright.
This gives Bryan Singer to have the great opportunity to do something movie fans have never seen before: show the superheroes lose.
“The challenge, the story, is actually what happens in the future. Getting them to the point where you can send Kitty back, and seeing the consequences of what will happen if they fail, and not knowing at the end how it’s going to turn out. You think it’s going to be a happy ending, but you’re not sure, because pretty much everybody dies — in the comic, anyway.” – Chris Claremont
What do you think? Can Bryan Singer pull off this impressive task with his movie, or will it just be another cookie cutter superhero flick?
Source: Newsarama
