I watched X-Men: Days of Future Past the other day. It’s not just an amazing superhero movie. It’s an amazing movie! It’s incredible how so many characters were incorporated into the story and it had no pacing issues whatsoever.
X-Men: Days of Future Past has two versions of Charles Xavier and Magneto. It has Wolverine, Mystique, Quicksilver, Beast, Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Bishop, Colossus, Sunspot and the list goes on!
I came to the realization that X-Men: Days of Future Past paved the way for Avengers: Endgame. Don’t believe me? If you think about it, it follows a lot of the same story beats.
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Dystopian Intro
Both stories start out in a dystopian setting.
In X-Men: Days of Future Past, we start out in a world where mutants are barely surviving. Humans have developed technology (Sentinel robots) to keep mutants in check. Sentinels are either killing mutants or capturing them to place them in places that draw parallels to concentration camps. Times are so desperate that the X-Men are teaming up with Magneto.
In Avengers: Endgame, The Avengers lost the battle against Thanos. Thanos got all of the gems to the Infinity Stones and managed to wipe out half of all life in the universe. The Avengers and the rest of the world are living pretty miserable lives. A lot of people lost their loved ones. And for a while, The Avengers gave up on the idea of saving the day.
Time Travel Shenanigans
Both stories incorporate time travel to save the day.
In X-Men: Days of Future Past, Kitty Pryde develops another mutant power. On top of phasing through solid objects, she can now ‘phase’ a person’s consciousness back in time. This is how the X-Men have been surviving for so long. When sentinels attack, Kitty phases an X-Men’s consciousness back in time so that they can anticipate the attack and evade. The only problem is that a person’s mind can’t handle having their consciousness go back in time by over a couple of weeks. Wolverine points out that his mind can heal as fast as it’s being destroyed. Everyone agrees to sending Wolverine’s consciousness back in time to the 1970’s, so that he can prevent this dystopian future from happening.
In Avengers: Endgame, Tony Stark figures out how to time travel. Since Thanos destroyed the Infinity Stones in the present day, The Avengers go back in time to get the Infinity Stones from the past. Eventually they return to present day with the Infinity Stones. The Hulk uses the Infinity Stones to bring back all of the people that Thanos killed.
Price’s Paid
Huge prices were paid in both stories.
You can argue that X-Men: Days of Future Past is about Charles Xavier accepting his place in the wheelchair. When Wolverine travels back in time, he learns that Charles has been using a substance by Beast to help him walk again. The only catch is that it gets rid of Charles’ telepathy whenever he uses it.
Wolverine needs to convince Charles to give up the substance so that Charles can use his telepathy to find Mystique. Wolverine needs to stop the pivotal moment in history where Mystique assassinates the President of the United States, Richard Nixon. After Mystique killed Nixon, humans kept on scaling up the capabilities of the sentinels so that they can be protected from the mutants.
Eventually, Charles gives in, stops using the substance and uses his powers to track down Mystique. Charles accepts his responsibility to lead the X-Men and other lost mutants. He listens and empathizes with Mystique. She eventually gives into Charles’ vision of a future where mutants and humans can co-exist. Mystique ultimately decides not to assassinate the President. In doing so, this stops the dystopian future from happening.
In Avengers: Endgame, big prices were paid. Black Widow gave up her life so that The Avengers could retrieve the soul stone. And after a Thanos (from 2014) comes back to the present day and tries to take over the world, Iron Man makes the sacrifice play and uses the Infinity Gaunlet to destroy Thanos and his army.
Conclusion
X-Men: Days of Future Past is an awesome movie that got its praise! I’d argue that it deserves even more praise!
Without X-Men: Days of Future Past, Kevin Feige may not have had the confidence to take Avengers: Endgame into the story direction that made it so spectacular!
What do you think? Do you think that X-Men: Days of Future Past deserves it praise? Do you think that there’s major differences between the two movies?
Let me know in the comments!
Stay groovy,