'X-Men: Days of Future Past' trailer: A deep dive

Even though it can sometimes feel like all of human existence is just an extended teaser-trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past, the latest trailer for the super-sequel actually contains a few new pieces of information, mostly focused on previously-unfinished special effects and the always-controversial Quicksilver factor. Check out the trailer here, and now let’s dive deep into the last tantalizing piece of promotion until the movie finally arrives and human existence becomes an extended teaser-trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse.

First of all, we need to talk about Young Professor X. In First Class, James McAvoy played the ’60s-era Charles Xavier as a dashing academic. Now it’s the ’70s, and the years have not been kind. We find him stalking through the shadows of Stately X Manor, sort of like Bruce Wayne at the start of The Dark Knight Rises. Except really, he just looks like the Dude from the Big Lebowski! Also, just to clarify: Even though we saw Professor X in a wheelchair at the close of First Class, he’s up and walking here. Presumably, there will be an explanation. Or maybe the famous X-Men movie discontinuity has struck again, and this takes place in the bizarro-’70s of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where Emma Frost was played by Not January Jones.

The new trailer highlights what appears to be at least one key plot thread in the movie: Breaking Magneto out of his prison several miles underneath the Pentagon. What follows is basically an Ocean’s Eleven montage, with Wolverine assembling a crack squad of supermutants: Beast, Mystique…

…and another guy. “He’d be a young man now,” says Wolverine. We see a telltale mailbox…

…And then we are in Quicksilver’s total sweet pad, which has a full-sized Pong cabinet. (Pong was released in 1972) Quicksilver is played by Evan Peters, and his appearance in this trailer adds yet more confusion to the already twisted Quicksilver Conundrum. Refresher: In his original comics incarnation, Quicksilver was a bad guy who became an Avenger; later, it turned out he was actually the son of Magneto. Because of his dual status as an X-person and an Avenger, Quicksilver technically belongs to two completely different corporations. He already appeared on the big screen in the credits teaser of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where Aaron Taylor-Johnson teased his role in next summer’s Avengers. This Quicksilver is not that Quicksilver. In fact, from what Wolverine says, he’s not even Magneto’s son: Just some mutant Wolverine knows in the future. Now, theoretically, this could mean that we will actually see an Old Quicksilver, and that the multiplexes of the universe will be host to three different Quicksilvers within the span of two months. Ideally, Old Quicksilver should be played by Nicolas Cage.

Suffice to say, the Dude is very confused.

The trailer also features our clearest look yet at the Retro-Sentinels, the first batch of mutant-hunting robots. Look kinda scary, don’t they? But if you wanna see something REALLY scary…

THEN FEAST YOUR EYES ON THE SENTINEL WHO GUARDS MY OFFICE! Currently joined by his partners in evil, King Joffrey Baratheon and Venom. Yes, the special effects are a bit chintzy, but at least my Sentinel gets to interact with Spider-Man villains.

A quick shot of Bishop confirms that the dystopian future of Future Past is a world where everything looks like a Berlin discotheque at 3:31 a.m. on a Monday in 1982.

One more important point that this trailer clearly establishes: While Future Wolverine has claws of adamantium…

…past Wolverine has claws made of bone. This clearly places the events of Future Past‘s past before Wolverine went through the Weapon X program, which also means that the Wolverine of the future who has kinda-amnesia will be mind-hopping into the brain of a Wolverine of the past who does not have amnesia. This would make Future Past the first film to spend a significant amount of time with Bone-Clawed Wolverine. Another weird thing to point out: The Wolverine apparently took place in the present day, and ended with Wolverine running into Professor X and Magneto. But earlier in the trailer, Wolverine clearly states that he traveled 50 years in time — setting Future Past‘s future in 2024. In short, time is a flat circle.

Also, Magneto picks up a baseball stadium. Something to be said for expensive special effects, guys.