January 23, 2012

Review: X-Men: Days of Futures Past

There's a few X-Men stories that stand out for me during the Chris Claremont/John Byrne period.  My first choice would be the Days of Future Past saga.  The future of superheroes and mutants alike hang in the balance in one the greatest storylines ever, involving the X-Men.  If our heroes fail to protect Senator Robert Kelly, the Mutant Control Act would be enacted enabling the government to utilize Sentinels to hunt down and terminate them.  It was actually released during Claremont and Byrne's final run and the first instance that Claremont would incorporate time travel within the X-Men storylines.

In Days of Futures Past, the future is quite bleak for mutants and heroes.  A majority of them are captured or deceased or interred in camps with Sentinels standing guard. A plan is devised within the remaining mutants and heroes of the future timeline, to telepathically send back the adult Kitty Pryde to 1980.  Upon arriving in our current time, Kitty must convince the X-Men to stop the Brotherhood of Mutants from killing Senator Kelly, who is also a presidential candidate, to prevent the disastrous future that awaits.  Will they succeed in changing the future? Only time will tell.



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The storyline also introduced the adult Franklin Richards, who is the son of Reed and Sue Richards (Fantastic Four).  The telepath who aids them in teleporting Kitty Pryde's consciousness back in time is none other than Rachel Summers, Scott's daughter with Jean Grey.  Rachel travels back to our time as well and eventually joins the other mutant team Excalibur.  Decades later, the same storyline would be touched upon again by Claremont.


Readers will witness the first time travel made an impact on the X-Men. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't the last.  Claremont and Byrne provided a new twist to the X-Men's adventures. Characters like Cable, Bishop, Ahab and Rachel Summers, exemplify the lasting legacy of the Days of Futures Past saga.

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