Bryan Singer Says 'X-Men: Days Of Future Past' Will "Fix" 'X-Men: The Last Stand;' Also Talks Larger X-Men Universe, Returning Characters And More

Bryan Singer's first two X-Men movies are generally very well-regarded. They were so well-regarded, in fact, that Singer was given the keys to the biggest superhero of them all: Superman, leaving the door open for Brett Ratner to direct the third film, X-Men: The Last Stand. The results were disappointing. The Last Stand looked like an X-Men film, but the script was all over the place, killing major characters and all but destroying the franchise. Thankfully, Matthew Vaughn swooped in to fixed much of the damage with the reboot X-Men: First Class.

The 2014 sequel to that film, X-Men: Days of Future Past, brings Singer back into the director's chair with the very unique opportunity to doing a sequel to a reboot of your own franchise that's also going to tie into the original franchise. Say that five times fast.

In a new interview, Singer admits that The Last Stand had some problems and X-Men: Days of Future Past will fix some of them in a way that's satisfying for fans. He also talks about the balance between the original and First Class characters, the potential to start a X-Men Cinematic Universe, Jean Grey and Cyclops returning and much more. 

The interview in question is over on IGN. Head there to read the whole thing but here are a few highlights, starting with the exchange regarding franchise repair.

IGN: One thing that's interesting about the alternate universe/timeline in Days of Future Past is that it could potentially give you the opportunity to revisit things that happened in the third film in terms of characters and endings that you might like to see changed.

Bryan Singer: You mean, what you're politely saying is, "fix s**t." Is that what you're saying? That's what I'm hearing. [Laughing]

IGN: [Laughing] Maybe...

There's going to be a little of that, a few things I can repair.

IGN: Are fans going to be pleased with these things you will be repairing?

I think so, I think so, yes.

Singer talks about the first time he saw The Last Stand, how awkward it was, and why he decided to leave the franchise for Superman Returns. No surprise, it was a contract negotiation issue. He's then told fans would love to see Jean Grey and Cyclops returning:

Who wouldn't? Who wouldn't? [Laughing] That's all I can say.

Singer next explains that the balance between the First Class characters and original characters will be based upon a method of "time displacement" that's "steeped more in the X-Men [mythos]." But balancing the different looks and feels of the timelines would be a challenge:

The majority of it...or that part of it, takes place in the early 70's, 1973. So Nixon is a character, and there will be different styles and automobiles. And there will be some futuristic, as well as retro, technology which you haven't seen. There are science fiction aspects of the movie, and then there's some retro science fiction that the X-Men films haven't had quite yet. So we're exploring that, which will be fun. And there's an attitude [difference]. We discover our characters, particularly the younger characters, at a different place in their lives. Every character you discover in this movie is in a completely different place than you've ever seen, emotionally, and it's about them moving through that. Hilarity ensues!

Finally, Singer admits that with Days of Future Past setting up multiple different timelines, the possibilites for X-Men movies are as large as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and points to The Wolverine as the first example. So, have he and the producers began to thought about what could happen after those films in a larger, connected Marvel sense?

It's just something we're thinking about. Really my big focus was this movie. Because it's really massive, and we're going to start shooting soon. But we're talking, [producer] Lauren Shuler Donner and I, and we'll see.

There's much, much more in the IGN interview which I urge you to go check out. Singer is very open and, obviously, very excited about this ambitious film.