X-Men: Days of Future Past is Still Perfection, With One Major Exception

Many still regard X-Men: Days of Future Past as one of the best X-Men movies ever, but some details have not held up so well. Released in 2014, Days of Future Past became a massive success for 20th Century Fox, currently sitting with a 90% critic score (Rotten Tomatoes) and a worldwide box office gross of nearly $750 million. Marking the seventh chronological release in the franchise, this film redefined what comic book movies could do.

Out of 20th Century Fox's 13 pre-MCU Marvel/X-Men movies, Days of Future Past is often ranked at or near the top of lists of fan and critic reviews. It did a fairly decent job of adapting the original Days of Future Past storyline from Marvel Comics, with some changes to adapt to the established Fox movie timeline. Additionally, it was one of Fox's most entertaining X-Men movies, using Hugh Jackman's star power and combining casts from both the original 2000s films and the newer 2010s movies to great effect. However, fans have noticed some significant plot holes and continuity errors in the story.

Firstly, Jackman's Wolverine returns to this movie with the same adamantium claws he has in most of his other X-Men appearances. At the end of 2013's The Wolverine, which takes place about 10 years before the start of Days of Future Past, the Silver Samurai slices the adamantium claws off, leaving Logan only with the original bone claws first seen in 2011's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. While some fan theories hint at Magneto regrafting the adamantium onto Wolverine's skeleton off-screen, that plot point is not addressed between the films.

The issues then move to Bolivar Trask, played by Bill Duke in 2006's The Last Stand, before Peter Dinklage took over the role in Days of Future Past. While Duke's character is similar to Trask from the comics, his first name is never mentioned, and fans also noticed the change in the character's race from Duke's portrayal to Dinklage's. Given their differences, it is difficult to see them as the same person.

Moving to Sir Patrick Stewart's Professor X, his place in the movie is a big question mark after the ending of The Last Stand. In that film, Famke Janssen's Jean Grey killed Charles Xavier, but he projected his consciousness into the body of a comatose hospital patient in the post-credits scene. 

At the end of Days of Future Past, Wolverine wakes up in a new timeline with memories of a future that technically never came to be. However, Professor X seemingly remembers both timelines, leaving some confused about how he has that knowledge. Some have attributed it to his Omega-level telepathy, but it does not seem to track perfectly through.

Even with these and other continuity errors, Days of Future Past still stands as one of the best-received Marvel movies. It delivered emotion, drama, and action, and its characters were developed effectively across multiple timelines in a way that had not often been done before.

X-Men: Days of Future Past was directed by Bryan Singer and written by Simon Kinberg (see more on Kinberg's hopes to return to Marvel here). Starring Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Halle Berry, Peter Dinklage, Ian McKellen, and Patrick Stewart, the film depicts Wolverine in a dystopian future where Sentinels drive mutants to the brink of extinction, leading him to travel back in time to save his universe. X-Men: Days of Future Past is streaming on Disney+.

What's Next for the X-Men?

After Deadpool & Wolverine broke countless box office records upon its 2024 debut, the X-Men will get a new resurgence to close out the MCU's Multiverse Saga. This includes at least seven legacy actors who either starred in the original X-Men movies, the MCU, or both, coming to Avengers: Doomsday, and more are expected to join the party.

After that movie and Avengers: Secret Wars, the mutants are confirmed for a reboot within the MCU, as a Marvel Studios-made X-Men movie is already confirmed for development. Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier will bring this story to life with a script written by Hunger Games scribe Michael Lesslie, and the film could be on Marvel's upcoming 2028 movie slate.

As of writing, there are no official reports on who will bring the new X-Men to life, even though rumors have run rampant about what may come to fruition. Sadie Sink is one of fans' top choices to play Jean Grey (even though her Spider-Man 4 role is unknown), and stars like Daniel Radcliffe, Jeremy Allen White, and Taron Egerton have all been in discussions about playing Wolverine post-Hugh Jackman.