Mark Millar Talks Sentinels And Character Balance In 'X-Men: Days Of Future Past,' Promises Final 'Kick-Ass' Film

Mark Millar is known for his willingness to talk, and at times that has led to us peering through a certain amount of inflated discussion of projects that may or may not happen.

But Millar has been on the rise in Hollywood, and his talk about Kick-Ass 2, for example, was on the money. And he's been hired by Fox to "godfather" the studio's superhero films. That puts him in a consulting role on movies such as X-Men: Days of Future Past, which Bryan Singer is about to direct for a 2014 release.

Cornered at an event in Scotland, Millar talked about returning character Kitty Pryde, who presumably has a bigger role in this one than her earlier X-Men cameos. ("Let me put it this way though: Kitty Pryde fans will not be disappointed.) He mentions the mutant-killing robot Sentinels, too. ("I don't really want to give too much away but the Sentinels are a big feature of this story. They will be cool and this will deliver on all of the teasers.")

Millar also discussed the character riser of the film, and you can find those comments below.

Speaking to SFX, Millar praised the script and its ability to manage a large character roster, which includes Wolverine, old and young versions of Professor X and Magneto, and presumably most of the surviving cast from X-Men: First Class as well as some characters from X-Men: The Last Stand.

It has actually been very well put together – Simon Kinberg and Matthew Vaughn worked on it together and they are both great at what they do. Then Bryan Singer came in, and, of course, he is Mr X-Men and he knows exactly how everything works. Just look at these first two X-Men movies: despite the huge cast of characters it all came together really well. These two movies never felt like overload and the balance was really, really good. On the other hand I though the third film felt crowded, but then Singer is excellent at working with ensemble casts. So with this one I feel it is all fine. I have read the screenplay and it doesn't feel rushed and it doesn't feel like it is too many characters.

Pressed on the character list, Millar summarized:

I think the best comparison I can give is to Star Trek – that is an ensemble but it never feels as if there is not enough time with any one character. Or maybe Lost – that is an ensemble but every character gets their own moment to shine.

Finally, Millar is asked about another film in the Kick-Ass series to follow this year's sequel, and he said,

Yeah absolutely. Kick-Ass 3 is going to be the last one though. I told Universal this and they asked me, 'What does that mean?' I said, 'It means that this is where it all ends.' They said, 'Do they all die at the end?' I said, 'Maybe' – because this is a realistic superhero story. And if someone doesn't have a bullet proof vest like Superman and doesn't have Batman's millions then eventually he is going turn around the wrong corner and get his head kicked in or get shot in the face [laughs]. So Kick-Ass needs to reflect that. There has to be something dramatic at the end, he cannot do this for the rest of his life.