The latest X-Men adventure, Days Of Future Past, is shaping up to be somewhat of a school reunion - provided the institution in question is Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Hot on the heels of word that Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart will be back for the new movie comes the news that Hugh Jackman is also in talks to bring Wolverine back to hang out with the gang once more.
Of course, unlike Stewart and McKellen, Jackman has never really left the X-universe, since he had** X-Men Origins: Wolverine**, popped up for a memorably sweary cameo in First Class and has The Wolverine headed our way next year. With the other two returning, a Jackman presence seems that much more appropriate.
We’re guessing he’ll have more to do in the new movie than First Class, with Bryan Singer directing from a Simon Kinberg script. It’ll be based on the titular run of the Marvel created by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin that is partially set in an alternate future where mutants are hunted and killed, with the survivors rounded out by Sentinels and kept in concentration camp. Our heroes must stop a key event in order to keep the future from coming true.
Of course, no one yet knows how much of the storyline will be translated to the big screen, but with James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult and Jennifer Lawrence all back as the younger versions of Xavier, Magneto, Mystique and Beast, we can expect some time-warping to have them meet the X-Men of our near-future. In the comic-book storyline, incidentally, Wolverine plays a role in the future-set sections where he leads a desperate attack on Sentinel headquarters; possibly here they could have him in those future-set bits but not the First Class-era sections, since he's not established as a member of that team.
Now we have to wonder who will be next. Could Halle Berry Crop up as Storm? Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler? Anna Paquin’s Rogue?
While Days Of Future Past isn’t set to arrive until July 18, 2014, you won’t have to wait that long for your next hit of mutant madness: The Wolverine will be with us on July 25 next year.