X-Men: Days of Future Past

AUTHOR: Claremont, Chris

ARTIST: John Byrne (penciller and cover artist); Terry Austin (inker and cover artist); Glynis Wein (colorist); Tom Orzechowski (letterer)

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 1981

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2004

Publication History

Originally published in The Uncanny X-Men, issues 141 and 142, Days of Future Past came during the run of writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne, considered a classic period of the X-Men books. The two served as coplotters during their collaboration, with Byrne providing the art and Claremont the final script. Days of Future Past is one of the most famous stories from this period.

The monthly X-Men comic book was first published in 1963 and ran for sixty-six issues. The series went into reprints beginning in 1970, though it continued the numbering that had been established. A new original story was told in 1975’s Giant-Size X-Men, issue 1, and The Uncanny X-Men returned to publishing original stories in issue 94. Claremont wrote the new stories, while Dave Cockrum provided the art.

Byrne became the regular artist and coplotter beginning with issue 108, although he did not work on issue 110. Under Claremont and Byrne, the popularity of the X-Men rose considerably, and Days of Future Past has been collected in several volumes. In 2004, Marvel collected the story, as well as the surrounding issues 138-140 and 143, in a trade paperback entitled X-Men: Days of Future Past. It was also collected in black and white, along with other issues from the period, in 2005’s Essential X-Men, Volume 2, and in color in 2008’s Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men, Volume 6.

Plot

The story alternates between two time lines, the X-Men’s present day and a dystopian future. In the future, mutants are hunted by robots called Sentinels and either killed or sent to internment camps. Kate Pryde, an older version of the young mutant called Sprite, meets an aged and gray-haired Wolverine, who provides her with technology that will disrupt the collar inhibiting her mutant powers. Pryde returns to the camp where she and other mutants have been imprisoned. She shuts off her collar as well as those of the other prisoners, allowing a mutant telepath named Rachel to send Pryde’s mind back to the body of her thirteen-year-old self.

In the present day, Sprite, who goes by Kitty Pryde, has only recently been added to the X-Men’s roster for training in the use of her powers. Kate Pryde’s mind enters Sprite’s body and explains to the X-Men that they must prevent the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly, a presidential candidate with anti-mutant views. This assassination will trigger widespread anti-mutant hysteria that will result in the government building the Sentinels.

In the future, many of the prisoners escape and plan an attack on the computer base that directs the Sentinels’ actions. Wolverine, Storm, and Colossus carry out the attack, but their plan fails and all three are killed by Sentinels.

In the present day, the recently re-formed Brotherhood of Evil Mutants attacks Senator Kelly, but the X-Men are there to stop them. The X-Men win their battle but realize that they cannot account for Destiny, one member of the Brotherhood. Kate Pryde finds Destiny in time to disrupt her aim and prevent Senator Kelly’s death. Kate’s mind then returns to her own time, leaving Kitty Pryde in the present.

The final scene reveals a secret government meeting in which, despite the X-Men’s efforts, Senator Kelly decides to go forward with Project Wideawake, which involves the design and production of Sentinels.

Characters

•Sprite, a.k.a. Katherine “Kitty” Pryde, is the newest member of the X-Men, a Jewish teenager who recently discovered her ability to walk through solid objects. In the future, Kate Pryde is one of the leaders of a rebellion. Kate Pryde’s mind is sent back into the body of her thirteen-year-old self to warn the X-Men to prevent the assassination of Senator Kelly.

•Wolverine, a.k.a. Logan, is a Canadian mutant with an advanced healing ability and three metal claws that extend from each hand. As a result of a Canadian government experiment, Wolverine has adamantium, an unbreakable metal, bonded to his entire skeleton. In the future time line, he is a member of the mutant resistance.

•Sentinels are mutant-hunting robots built by the government to contain the “mutant menace.” In the future time line, Sentinels are commonplace. In the present time line, all Sentinels have been destroyed and no more are being produced.

•Storm, a.k.a. Ororo Munroe, is the field leader of the X-Men. She is from Kenya and has the mutant power to manipulate weather. In the future time line, she is a member of the mutant resistance.

•Colossus, a.k.a. Peter Rasputin, is a Russian mutant with the ability to turn his flesh into “organic metal.” When Colossus’s body is transformed into metal, he has superstrength and near invulnerability. In the future time line, he is married to Kate Pryde and a member of the mutant resistance.

•Magneto is a mutant with the power to control magnetism. A villain in the present time line, in the future he is a member of the mutant resistance.

•Franklin Richards is the son of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four. In the future time line, he is a member of the mutant resistance and is killed during a Sentinel attack.

•Rachel is a mutant telepath in the future time line who sends Kate Pryde’s consciousness back into her thirteen-year-old body. It is later revealed that she is the daughter of Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Jean Grey (Phoenix).

•Angel, a.k.a. Warren Worthington III, is one of the founding members of the X-Men. He has wings sprouting from his back that allow him to fly. He has recently returned to the team after some time away and is still becoming accustomed to the fighting styles and personalities of his new teammates.

•Nightcrawler, a.k.a. Kurt Wagner, is a German mutant who has the ability to teleport from one location to another. Due to his mutation, he is covered with blue fur and has fangs, yellow eyes, and a pointed tail. Despite his demonic appearance, Nightcrawler is fun-loving and devoutly Catholic.

•Professor X, a.k.a. Charles Xavier, is a telepathic mutant who is confined to a wheelchair. He is the leader of the group, having gathered the original X-Men to train them in the use of their powers. Xavier is an advocate for mutant rights.

•Mystique is the leader of a new version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. She has the ability to alter her form to look like any other person. In her regular appearance, she has blue skin and red hair. She is behind the plot on Senator Kelly’s life.

•Avalanche is a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. He has the power to make solid objects vibrate hard enough to shatter.

•Pyro is an Australian mutant and member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. He can manipulate flames to be any size or shape.

•Destiny is a blind mutant who can see into the future. She is a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

•Blob can resist any physical harm and alter his mass to make himself immovable. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

•Moira MacTaggert is a nonmutant human who is frequently an ally of the X-Men. Though initially introduced as the X-Men’s housekeeper, she is a scientist, and her laboratory on Muir Island is dedicated to studying mutations.

•Robert Kelly is a U.S. senator who is running for president. He often uses anti-mutant rhetoric. His death is believed to have triggered the anti-mutant hysteria that results in the Sentinel-controlled future.

Artistic Style

Like many superhero artists of his time, John Byrne’s art is heavily influenced by Jack Kirby and Neal Adams, though it is less angular than Kirby’s and less detailed than Adams’s. It features smooth, rounded edges, though the characters’ forms and faces are typically detailed and expressive, lending a sense of motion to the art.

The panels are all rectangular and the panel layout creates a smooth, straightforward progression for the eye to follow. The pages are dense, often with eight panels on each. Byrne rarely employs the flashy splash page in these issues. Even a moment with a dynamic and memorable visual, such as Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton falling to the floor, is afforded only one of five panels on the page.

While the shape of the panels remains consistent, Byrne does sometimes allow figures to break the edges. Wolverine’s claws will pass out of one panel and into the next, or a Sentinel’s head cannot be contained in its space and so passes beyond the upper edge of the panel. These panel breaks are rare, thus emphasizing moments in the story that call for added motion, emotion, or menace.

Themes

The dystopian future that Kate Pryde is sent back in time to prevent is triggered because of the anti-mutant hysteria caused by Senator Kelly’s assassination by mutants. In response, the government begins the production of Sentinels to control the mutant population. The reader, knowing the eventual result of Kelly’s assassination, is aware that hatred and violence cannot be stopped by hatred and violence; violently attacking a bigot will only confirm the bigot’s beliefs. Implied in this story is that the logical way to counter bigotry would be to increase understanding through communication, rather than resorting to violence.

However, the ominous final scene of the story reveals that, despite the X-Men preventing Kelly’s assassination, the government still plans to begin production of the Sentinels that are responsible for the dystopian future. One interpretation of this scene recognizes a fatalistic finale to the story. No matter what the X-Men do, their terrible future seems to be inevitable. Fate cannot be altered by actions, no matter how well intended. This finale implies that there is no difference between killing Senator Kelly and saving him. On the grand scale, the choice to be moral or immoral, heroic or villainous, makes no difference to the final outcome.

On the other hand, it may be interpreted as demonstrating the irrationality of hatred and prejudice. The X-Men make the correct decision, showing Kelly firsthand that mutants are willing to risk their lives to protect his, but his prejudice blinds him so much that he focuses only on the threat he saw presented by mutantkind. In this interpretation, the message is not that choices do not matter, but that there is no reason or logic behind prejudice.

Impact

Published during a period of rising popularity for the X-Men franchise, Days of Future Past is considered one of the creative high points of the series. Though sales would subsequently increase and the X-Men franchise would expand significantly to include numerous spin-off titles, the Claremont-Byrne run (1977-1981) is considered by many to have produced the greatest X-Men stories. In this period, Proteus, The Dark Phoenix Saga, and Days of Future Past all solidified X-Men in fans’ and critics’ eyes as one of the most innovative and exciting comic book series. The Claremont-Cockrum issues laid the foundation for the later success of the X-Men franchise, which was then firmly established by Claremont and Byrne’s collaboration.

Byrne has taken credit for devising the plot of Days of Future Past and has noted, to his chagrin, that he may have inadvertently plagiarized large portions of it from “Day of the Daleks,” a 1975 series of episodes from the British television show Doctor Who. Both stories involve a team of rebels from a dystopian future sending people into the past to prevent the act that triggers their dystopia. Byrne saw the episodes in his youth, and when saw them again, years after plotting and drawing Days of Future Past, he immediately made the connection.

Several themes, characters, and settings from this story line have been used in subsequent X-Men stories. The dystopian world of the future has been identified by Marvel as Earth-811 and has appeared in other stories. The character of Rachel Summers, one of the rebels from the future, returns to the present day to become a recurring member of the X-Men and then a founding member of Excalibur, a team of mutants located in Great Britain. Nimrod, a recurring X-Men villain, is a Sentinel from the future time line depicted in the story. Days of Future Present, a story line that uses characters from Earth-811, was published in several Marvel annuals. Wolverine: Days of Future Past acts as a prequel to the future time line, detailing what happens to several characters between Kelly’s assassination and the rebels sending Kate Pryde’s mind back through time. Other stories that touch on Days of Future Past include the Excalibur issue “Days of Future Tense” and Weapon X: Days of Future Now.

This is the first dystopian future the X-Men are warned of; since its publication, such warnings have become common in the complex narrative of X-Men-related comics. Cable and Bishop are two popular characters who both travel from the future to the X-Men’s time in order to prevent their time lines from coming to pass. While certainly not the first time-travel story in superhero comics, the popularity of Days of Future Past and its recognition as a classic comic book have helped to cement the time-travel trope as an element of the superhero genre. Dystopian versions of reality are the basis for X-Men stories such as The Age of Apocalypse, X-Men: The End, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and many issues of Exiles.

In 2001, Marvel polled fans to determine the one hundred greatest Marvel comics of all time. The first half of Days of Future Past, issue 141 of The Uncanny X-Men, was voted as number twenty-five. As part of the celebration, Marvel reprinted the top twenty-five selections in a series of issues entitled The One Hundred Greatest Marvels of All Time.

Films

X-Men: The Last Stand. Directed by Brett Ratner. Twentieth Century Fox, 2006. There is a brief sequence in the X-Men’s training facility that is set in a destroyed cityscape. The team faces a Sentinel robot, which Wolverine decapitates. Some have identified this scene, due to the setting, the villain, and the members of the X-Men team present in the training exercise, as an allusion to Days of Future Past. However, there is little action that reflects the narrative, and the rest of the film has no resemblance to Days of Future Past.

Television Series

X-Men: The Animated Series. Created by Stan Lee. Saban Entertainment and Marvel Productions, 1992-1997. “Days of Future Past” is a two-part story in the first season of X-Men: The Animated Series, combining elements from two comic book story lines, the original Days of Future Past and a later story arc involving Lucas Bishop. Bishop is sent from the future to stop a traitor within the X-Men from assassinating Senator Kelly and causing a dystopian future. The rebel turns out to be Mystique, who shape-shifted into the form of Gambit so that Gambit would take the blame for Kelly’s murder. The X-Men stop Mystique’s attempt on Kelly’s life, and Bishop returns to his time line, where he discovers that nothing has changed despite his success. In the present day, it is discovered that Kelly has been kidnapped by Magneto, causing Bishop’s time line to remain unaltered.

Further Reading

Bendis, Brian, and Olivier Coipel. House of M (2008).

Claremont, Chris, and John Byrne. X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga (2006).

Lobdell, Scott, et al. X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic, Book 1 (2006).

Bibliography

DeFalco, Tom. Comic Creators on X-Men. London: Titan Books, 2006.

Genter, Robert. “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: Cold War Culture and the Birth of Marvel Comics.” The Journal of Popular Culture 40, no. 6 (December, 2007): 953-978.

Wolk, Douglas. Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean. Cambridge, Mass.: DaCapo Press, 2007.