So... now having seen Days of Future Past, how do the events of that movie inform this one?
Here's what we (think we) know about Apocalypse so far...
- It will take place in the '80s, which could be pretty cool. This hasn't been confirmed yet, but I'm pretty sure the filmmakers have hinted as much.
- It will introduce new, younger iterations of Jean Gray and Cyclops (who will eventually grow up to be the Famke Jansen and James Marsden versions of the characters). Again, not confirmed, but alluded to by the filmmakers.
- Gambit may play a role as well.
- Apocalypse will obviously be the villain, returning from wherever he's been hiding since ancient times.
Where we left off in 1973...
- Charles and Beast are still the only two "good" mutants currently part of any kind of a bond/team.
- Wolverine is alive, but presumably with no memory of the events of DOFP, and in the "possession" of Mystique, who is masquerading as Colonel Stryker. For what purpose, we have no idea.
- Magneto flew away from White House to likely regroup / recruit / hatch his next plan-of-attack.
Despite its many flaws and inconsistencies, I definitely enjoyed DOFP for the most part. The main thing that bugged me, though, was how the purpose of its plot seemed to contradict Charles' (McAvoy's) final voice over at the end, where he basically says the future is unwritten. The entire point of the movie was that the mutants of an apocalyptic 2023 HAD to go back in time in order to save civilization from near-total annihilation via Sentinels - the mutants succeed in their mission - and we see that a new, better timeline/2023 is created in its place. And we know the next movie will focus exclusively on the First Class/1973 group. Yet, because we've already seen their future, we know that things ultimately work out in the end, and that at least Charles, Wolverine, Jean Gray, Cyclops, Storm, Beast, Kitty, Bobby, and Rogue live. So, whatever events happen in Apocalypse, those events WON'T result in the death of those characters, and won't lead to any kind of actual apocalypse. In other words, their future IS written, contrary to Charles' voice over, because we've actually read the end result via that final scene in the mansion where everything's okay, and everyone's alive (which IS the end-result of the new timeline, the one we'll see partly play-out in Apocalypse).
I mean, yes, it'll be interesting to see what ultimately becomes of Magneto and Mystique in the new timeline (since we weren't shown their fate), and watching the 1973 Wolverine eventually join the team (and potentially get his adamantium again) might be kind of cool - but still, knowing that basically ALL the "good" mutants live through Apocalypse is a huge level of suspense removed from the next movie. We'll get to see the "original team" come together, but knowing they'll never break up or lose a member is pretty lame.
What are everyone else's thoughts?
And how can the Apocalypse story of the comics play into what we now know?
[This message has been edited by TCTTS (edited 5/25/2014 5:46p).]
