100 Greatest Superhero Stories Ever
By Steve Lam
Image Courtesy of 20th Century Fox
#21. X-Men: Days of Future Past
Medium
Live-Action Feature Film
Release Dates
May 10, 2014 (Jarvis Center)
May 23, 2014 (United States)
Credits
Director: Bryan Singer
Writers: Simon Kinberg, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine, James McAvoy as Charles Xavier / Professor X, Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier / Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Erik Kehnsherr / Magneto, Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkhölme / Mystique, Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe / Storm, Nicholas Hoult as Dr. Henry “Hank” McCoy / Beast, Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Henry “Hank” McCoy / Beast, Anna Paquin as Marie / Rogue, Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde / Shadowcat, Peter Dinklage as Bolivar Trask, Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake / Iceman, Omar Sy as Bishop, Evan Peters as Peter Maximoff / Quicksilver, Josh Helman as Major William Stryker, Daniel Ducmore as Peter Rasputin / Colossus, Fan Binbbinb as Blink, Adan Canto as Sunspot, Booboo Stewart as Warpath, Famke Hanssen as Jean Grey, James Marsden as Scott Summers / Cyclops, Lucas Till as Alex Summers / Havok, Evan Jonigkeit as Toad, Michael Lerner as Senator Brickman, Gregg Lowe as Ink, Mark Camacho as Richard Nixon, Brendan Peddar as En Sabah Nur.
The Reason It’s Great
How do you even meet the standards of a legendary comic book story? You up the stakes and go big on everything. That’s exactly what X-Men: Days of Future Past did when it had the daunting task of recreating the famous “Days of Future Past” storyline on the silver screen. The Sentinel’s weren’t putting mutants in internment camps anymore, they were wiping out everybody—humans too, because they had the potential to create mutants.
In 2023, the X-Men make their last stand (no, not that “Last Stand”) against the Sentinels. The original plan is to have Kitty Pryde send Charles Xavier’s mind back in time to stop the assassination of Bolivar Trask—which would kick off the events leading to their current dire situation. However, the strain of the journey would tear Charles apart, so Logan, who’s invulnerable, volunteers.
Logan soon finds himself in 1973 in his younger body. With time running out, Logan finds Charles and discovers that the powerful mutant is not the same man. Logan must now build a team and act as a mentor to a figure who would later become an inspiration and teacher to all mutants.
X-Men: Days of Future Past was released to critical and fan acclaim. Considered the best installment since X2: X-Men United (another film on our list), it went on to become the highest grossing film in the franchise. That record would later be broken with the release of Deadpool (also a film on our list).