It was no secret that Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy were returning for the X-Men First Class sequel, X-Men: Days of Future Past. They will be reprising their roles as younger Charles Xavier and Magneto, along with Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique and Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy/Beast. To many a fan’s delight, Bryan Singer tweeted today with the announcement that Sir Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen would be reprising their roles as older Professor X and Magneto, respectively.
Thrilled to announce @ianmckellen118 & @SirPatStew are joining the cast of #XMEN #DaysOfFuturePast #magneto #professorX More to come…
Days of Future Past was a pivotal two-issue story arc that swapped a current day X-Men, Kitty Pryde, with her older self from the future. As we follow the younger Pryde in the future, we find a timeline where nearly all but a handful of mutants have been wiped out. The future Pryde in the present (follow that?) has to stop events from taking place in the current day to prevent that apocalyptic future.
From the casting, it seems a safe bet that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen will be playing the Professor X and Magneto in that future timeline, while Fassbender and McAvoy will be the younger versions in the ‘present day’. What I want to know is, who will be the time-hopping X-Man? Also, if we are going into the future, do we get a Fantastic Four tie-in by seeing Franklin Richards? Fox owns the movie rights for both X-Men and the Fantastic Four, so in theory they could use that character.