Movies

New 'X-Men: Days Of Future Past' Photo; Mark Millar Hints At Connectivity With 'Fantastic Four'

days-of-future-past
By Russ Fischer/

[Photo removed at legal request from Fox.]

The shot above is the image released to celebrate the wrap of shooting on Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past, which finished it's last days over the weekend.

The pic shows the film's core characters. While we know that the film really brings together the cast of Singer's original movies with the cast from the First Class prelude, Comic Con footage and other materials that have emerged since really suggest that this is a story about the evolution of Charles Xavier, with fellow First Class teammate Beast along for the ride and Wolverine as a guiding force. And so there's your core trio.

But Days of Future Past may only be the next chapter in Fox's evolving strategy to develop more and more films based on the Marvel characters licensed to the studio. Fox also has Fantastic Four on the way, and an X-Force movie in development. With that pic out of the way, the bigger topic is the potential connectivity developing between the X-Men movies and Fantastic Four.

We get the sense that, in the post-Tom Rothman Fox, there's a goal to emulate Marvel's approach in building a connected set of films and characters. And since the comic book incarnations of the X-Men and Fantastic Four have several crossovers and relations, there's reason to think that we could see the same on film.

Mark Millar, who may or may not have a big role in Fox's roadmap to superhero success (depending upon who you talk to) told SFX that there's definite crossover potential with these movies.

Without question I think you have to see some of these guys showing up in each other's movies... I think the most exciting thing in superhero movies, until 'The Avengers' came along, was when Nick Fury showed up in 'Iron Man.' Even though it was a guy with an eye patch it was really cool – and I expect we will see more of that.

That certainly sounds like we might expect to see a character from the X-Men films show up in Fantastic Four, or perhaps vice-versa. (Franklin Richards wouldn't be out of place in the future scenes of Days of Future Past, for example. But if he's in the film it's a well-kept secret.) Then Millar said this to clarify:

Also at Fox is the proposed X-Force movie, with Kick-Ass 2 writer/director Jeff Wadlow attached as the leading creative. He talked about potential connectivity between that film and others, telling Den of Geek:

Let me put it like this. It will seamlessly exist in the X-Men cinematic universe, but it's not a sequel.

Part of that "seamless" existence could be due to the character Sunspot, who was part of the original X-Force incarnation, and is also in Days of Future Past. But the X-Force film is in pretty early stages now, and could be changed around depending upon the further developments with other Fox movies.

X-Men: Days of Future Past, starring Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Halle Berry and many more, will be released May 23, 2014.

The X-Men send Wolverine to the past to change a major historical event that could globally impact man and mutant kind.

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