We knew 20th Century Fox was planning a surprise for Comic-Con. They even reserved a block in their press session for a surprise press conference.
When they rolled out 17 chairs, it could only be one thing.
Sure enough, the entire cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past gave a press conference before their surprise appearance in Hall H. Halle Berry, Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Anna Paquin and others combined to form possibly the most star-studded assemblage in Comic-Con history.
As far as news on the details of what Bryan Singer described as an “inbetweenquel” to his X-Men movies and X-Men: First Class, screenwriter Simon Kinberg explained some changes he made to the “Days of Future Past” comic book storyline.
“The biggest difference is Kitty is not the one who goes back in time,” Kinberg said. “Kitty is the one who sends someone back in time. As people will see in our reel today, Wolverine goes back in time. That’s the biggest change.”
One fan reporter asked Singer about rumors the new continuity would invalidate or erase events from X2. We imagined he would correct some perceived problems with X-Men: The Last Stand, but Singer may be going nuclear and rewriting the entire original movie trilogy.
“Whenever you’re going back in time, and this is every bit as much a time travel movie as it is an X-men movie, there are those risks,” Singer said. “So some of that’s going to happen. Yet there are some things that if you believe in certain physics and multiverses, things like that, then you also have a respect for the continuity as we have it, I’m less entrapped in those previous films. I do believe in certain continuity that will maintain but some will change. It’s the nature of time travel. You go back and mess about and things happen. Some of those rumors are probably somewhat true.”
Hugh Jackman, doing double duty promoting The Wolverine, revealed he goes into the future, too.
“In the future, the X-Men suits are unbelievable,” Jackman said. “First of all, hell of a lot more comfortable to wear than X-Men 1 and 2, but they look amazing. People in the future wear suits who’ve never worn suits before.”
the crux of the story is the Wolverine generation meeting the First Class generation. Wolverine never aged so Jackman can easily have scenes with James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence.
Singer also hinted there was a way for some of the new cast to meet their counterpart actors.
“Primarily, since Wolverine is the journeyman, his interaction with the younger cast is primary,” Singer said. “There is a moment you’ll see a beat of in the reel I’m going to show where these two characters come face to face [James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart]. We try to do it in a unique way. It’s been done before. I wanted to do my best to create a set of rules, respect them and stay within those rules, but there is a bit of interaction.”
Stewart said he was just happy to be asked back, after being seemingly definitively killed off in The Last Stand.
“I heard about this movie and I was immediately filled with such sadness because most of you probably won’t recall, but at the end of 3, I was vaporized by Jean Grey,” Stewart said. “That really hurt by the way. I hope it never has to happen to any of you. My assumption was, you know, there’s going to be Ian and Halle and Hugh back, but it won’t be me. But something happened, which I’m not allowed to talk about.”
Actually, Singer was willing to talk about the resurrection of present day Charles Xavier in Days of Future Past.
“Characters come back in the comic,” Singer said. “I can’t just do it flippantly. I have to believe in the idea, the conceit. So in my own mind, I understand how Xavier is alive from X-Men 3. There’s a beat at the end of X-Men 3 where his consciousness is alive in a woman in the hospital. Mix that with mutants, anything’s possible.”
The First Class cast is still on their way to becoming the mutants we saw at the beginning of X-Men. Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) is no longer the shy, innocent girl in blue we saw in First Class.
“She’s mutant and proud,” Lawrence said. “[In First Class], she was struggling with that problem normal human people struggle with, being uncomfortable how they look. Now, she’s mutant and proud.”
Singer added that the new cast got really nostalgic to visit the sets rebuilt from the original trilogy.
“I built the old hallways from X-Men 1, 2, and 3 and this is the fourth time,” Singer said. “It was really fun because when they walked on the set of an X-men movie, they’d been on the set of an X-men movie, but not those iconic halls. [Lawrence] was looking at her costume and asked, ‘Can I see Cerebro?’ I said, ‘Sure, you can see Cerebro.’”
X-Men: Days of Future Past opens May 23, 2014.
Comic-Con 2013: X-Men: Days of Future Past Panel
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Patrick Stewart speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Hugh Jackman speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actress Halle Berry speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actress Ellen Page speaks at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actress Anna Paquin speaks at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Shawn Ashmore speaks at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor James McAvoy speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Omar Sy speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actors Patrick Stewart (L) and Ian McKellen speak at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Director Bryan Singer speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Hugh Jackman speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor James McAvoy speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor James McAvoy speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actors Hugh Jackman (L) and Patrick Stewart speak at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
(L-R) Actress Jennifer Lawrence, actor Michael Fassbender, director Bryan Singer and actor Hugh Jackman speak at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
(L-R) Actor Ian McKellen, actress Halle Berry and actress Anna Paquin speak at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
(L-R) Actor Patrick Stewart, actor Ian McKellen and actress Halle Berry speak at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor James McAvoy speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Shawn Ashmore speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Hugh Jackman speaks at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actress Halle Berry speaks at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Peter Dinklage speaks at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actress Anna Paquin speaks at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Evan Peters speaks at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actress Halle Berry speaks at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Ian McKellen speaks at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Patrick Stewart speaks at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Nicholas Hoult speaks at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Ian McKellen speaks at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Peter Dinklage speaks at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
(L-R) Actors Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
(L-R) Actor Nicholas Hoult, actress Jennifer Lawrence and actor Michael Fassbender speak at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Hugh Jackman speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Hugh Jackman speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Hugh Jackman speaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor James McAvoy nspeaks at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actors Patrick Stewart (L) and Hugh Jackman at the 20th Century Fox panel "X-Men: Days of Future Past" during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Director Bryan Singer (L) and actor Peter Dinklage appear at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
(L-R) Actors Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Jackman and James McAvoy appear at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actresses (L-R) Anna Paquin, Jennifer Lawrence, and Halle Berry at the 20th Century Fox panel "X-Men: Days of Future Past" during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
(L-R) Actor Hugh Jackman, actor Patrick Stewart, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Fox Filmed Entertainment Jim Gianopulos and actor Michael Fassbender appear at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actors Ian McKellen (L) and Michael Fassbender appear at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actors Ian McKellen (L) and Michael Fassbender speak at the 20th Century Fox panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actors James McAvoy (L) and Patrick Stewart appear at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Comic-Con 2013: X-Men Days of Future Past Panel
Actor Shawn Ashmore (L) and actress Ellen Page appear at the 20th Century Fox "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel during Comic-Con International 2013 at San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
