Tuesday, May 27, 2014

#NerdTalk - X-Men Days of Future-Future

Since I really liked Days of Future Past, it got me thinking about all things X-Men once again.

So I wanted to take this occasion to random-discuss about X-Men, X-Men movies and stuff.



Apparently, this is only the beginning for 20th Century Fox, as they clean up their X-Men franchise and try bringing it back to the forefront - only fitting since the original X-Men was the sole responsible for bringing superheroes back in full form on the big screen (Blade aside, that first one was more of a muted attempt, only Guillermo del Toro's Blade 2 really amped up the stakes and the production values).
Warning Spoilers! Be warned, I might spoil whatever film/plot comes to might below, for discussion purposes!

Sidenote: I LOVED this game!!

Apparently the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse and third Wolverine movie are a done deal, as far as Fox and Bryan Singer are concerned, expected for a 2016 and 2017 release dates, respectively.


On one hand you have Hugh Jackman who has become very familiar with the character over the years, who wants to have an Old Man Logan adaptation, which would be neat, different and really unique compared to the rest of the X-Men flicks so far (and even "superhero" films in general). He knows he's not going to be able to play the character forever, and would probably love to have this be his final episode.

On another Fox really wants to keep these movies rolling (on a yearly basis?) and would no doubt prefer another Wolverine adventure before ever resorting to this dark tale, I imagine.

And they'd prefer more epic-scale Days of Future Past-things I suppose - hence En Sabah Nur next film.

Why did they shoehorn the Phoenix Saga as a B-plot in X-Men 3 back then, again?

Oh wait, they can even remake it/repurpose it in the new timeline created in the aftermath of Days of Future Past! Heck they can even decide to do it with the younger cast from First Class or with the older actors from the original trilogy!

Sky's the limit now, specially since Fox won't shy away from giving the films a proper budget, now that Marvel established superhero films as a viable blockbuster "genre".


Speaking of Apocalypse, I'm not 100% fan of the way they're going at it.

Apparently, so far all we know is that this will follow the First Class-cast, take place in the 1980s (yay! although Apo's always been more of a product of the 90s, so.. nay? they should use the 80s-setting for Phoenix methinks...) and several old faces AND new faces are expected to come back.

I imagine this will take place as Prof' X really opens his school for good AND actually take his "First Class" mutants in. So that means younger Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm joining the company of Charles Xavier and Beast. This was all but confirmed in DoFP's dialogues - Wolverine mentioning them to young Xavier, the nods at those precise characters at the end, during the epilogue in the future-present.

Meanwhile, the producers have already confirmed Gambit and the new actor who will get to portray the "Ragin' Cajun" and Singer mentioned how he wanted to also bring in a young Nightcrawler.

That provides us with a rough idea of the complete cast of X-Men members to expect. It's more than enough mutant protagonists to take in Apocalypse (or become some of his Dark Riders).

This gives us an idea how that particular plot might be adapted, on a movie scale, and in the movie-verse.

This only leaves two important questions - will time travel be once again involved as the original comic AND the last X-Men film to date, Days of Future Past? That brings in another point: will we get to see an "Age of Apocalypse" (sadly missing from the movie's title)? Singer will once again get to direct it - no doubt due to DoFP's immense success (don't ever give these films to Ratner - never again!!)?

Singer mentioned he is going for a Disaster Film/Rolland Emmerich-kind of feel for Apocalypse, which is a good thing. The renewed interest in these films (and Marvel films in general), is the new attempt to give each new entry a particular different flavor. But this might suggest we won't get the proper dark dystopian future, but a plot to prevent it from happening actually.

Or we might get 2 (or more??) Apocalypse films down the road. Bryan Singer did confirm he wanted to bring Apocalypse as a proper new leader, in terms of character, with his own faction and set of goals. Think Charles Xavier Vs. Magneto... Vs. Apocalypse??

But this also brings me to my second important question... what about Apocalypse's techno-organic virus?


What about this main villain's very own arch-nemesis... Cable??

From what I gather, they have only been slightly planning an X-Force movie aside, for probably later date, after both the Apocalypse and 3rd Wolverine films. Which in my eyes is a very bad move... what will Cable's motivation be? Something totally unrelated??

I personally know, as a fan, that the character can work perfectly fine on its own. Far away from any Apocalypse-related plot. (Genosha? Hope? something time-bending no doubt..) But if time travel's again involved with him at a late point in the franchise, that might be stretching it a bit much for the movie-goers fans. I mean, will the X-Men movie franchise become so intertwined with Back to the Future-type of plots from now on!?

They should, no, they MUST make the film before X-Men: Apocalypse! Like, in under a year, aimed for next year... or move all their estimated release dates forward!

As of now, Kickass 2 director Jeff Wadlow is attached to the project, and Mark Miller announced the only planned-film-for now will feature 5 protagonists. So I imagine, we can guess this will also be an attempt to finally get Deadpool right on screen probably... You know, Wolverine Origins not being canon anymore/or having happened completely different in this new timeline now.

Which brings me to the next point-


How did Weapon X even happen now..? Did you caught Stryker's eyes glowing at the end - Mystique-style. Confirming she was impersonating the general. Did she take over the program? Repurpose it for her own goals? Did she keep Wolvie in her side/group/team/camp now? Wouldn't Sabertooth be looking for him to join him in Vietnam? I'm sure Sabertooth would still be able to locate him anyways! (Vietnam, working for Stryker's super-team, then the Weapon X program)

Would Weapon X take place generally the same way or simply earlier?

Does Weapon X happen?

Does Wolverine still get some adamantium claws? (btw it's really to imagine how he would get them in the future... Magneto alluding he could give his claws some metal in the 70s, Wolverine only lost his adamantium-claws in The Wolverine, Magneto could just have easily stretched some metal over his claws that regrew in the film, the same way he coated the giant sentinels with metal through them)

And speaking of Weapon X,


Can we even get X-23 on film? I mean, can X-23 even happen in the movie-franchise?

Hey, this is the end of my random blog-post. I can throw as many random ideas up here as I want.

Speaking of bringing in more comic elements,


One final suggestion.

Can we get this all-new status quo, this opportunity to finally get Mystique that more closer to her comic book persona. To finally get her right.

She has taken a new direction, a new path away from both Magneto and Xavier. This would be the perfect time to bring in her "spy persona".

And why not even finally give her a proper "new costume", since the character is now on her own! No more random blue-naked lady (I know, guys, I know.. but I always felt it was kind of stupid for her to do so, the clothes being her outer skin one way or another).

Plus, let's be honest, her look in the comics has always been so badass! Look at this black dress! So classy~

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