Will The 'X-Men: First Class' Sequel Feature Classic Mutant Story 'Days Of Future Past'?

Those who read X-Men comics in the '80s, or those who have caught up with some of the classic storylines from The Uncanny X-Men, will recognize the name Days of Future Past. The two-issue story ran in 1981 and featured a future in which a political assassination has led to concentration camps holding mutants, and the deaths of many X-Men characters.

AICN was tipped off that Fox has registered Days of Future Past as a title with the MPAA. That quickly led to speculation that the studio is mining the storyline for an upcoming X-Men film. Whether that film could be the upcoming First Class sequel or a fourth X-Men title, if anything at all, is open to question.

The interesting bit is that the time-travel aspect of the Days story means that it could be used to unite the casts, or some of the casts, of the X-Men and First Class storylines. Here's a partial plot recap of Days of Future Past:

The storyline alternates between present day, in which the X-Men fight Mystique's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and a future timeline caused by the X-Men's failure to prevent the Brotherhood from assassinating Senator Robert Kelly. In this future universe, Sentinels rule the United States, and mutants live in internment camps. The present-day X-Men are forewarned of the possible future by a future version of their teammate Kitty Pryde, whose mind traveled back in time and possessed her younger self to warn the X-Men.

So there's a big part for the Jennifer Lawrence character Mystique from X-Men: First Class, and in general the 'present day' scenes could feature the First Class cast, while the future stuff might use versions of characters from the other X-Men films, notably Wolverine. This is already being talked about as a way to unite the slightly contradictory timelines from the First Class and 'normal' X-Men films, but all we've got right now is the fact that Fox has registered the title. We'll need to know a lot more before really understanding how the story might end up on movie screens, not to mention when.