SPECULATION: Kitty Pryde Appearing In THE WOLVERINE And X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST?

Hugh Jackman has already confirmed The Wolverine won't have connections to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Being a standalone film gives the impression it might not even have ties to the original trilogy. Going as far as rumors of director James Mangold re-shooting Logan's origin scenes. We currently don't know the film's timeline or connections to the other films. However, GeekFiles (via CBM) has spotted the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning logo on set. The school is founded by Wolverine with himself acting as headmaster and Kitty Pryde as it's headmistress. Could this be the way Fox links X-Men: Days of Future Past with X-Men 4?

Kitty and Logan are important characters to the Days of Future Past source material so it wouldn't be hard to imagine them being featured in Matthew Vaughn's sequel. The pair even had their own set of team-up comics, so Shadow Cat could show up in The Wolverine. It's unknown at this point if they'll be able to get Ellen Page back as Kitty or just recast the part all together. The First Class sequel is set to start production early next year, planting seeds a year before it's release wouldn't hurt.

Jessica Biel had been linked for a role in The Wolverine but oddly walked from talks. The role had been revealed as Viper who has a history with Logan but went to Russian actress Svetlana Khodchenkova instead. Perhaps, she wasn't wanted for Viper but instead an older version of Kitty. If it had been reported that Biel had landed the Kitty role it would be apparent what Fox was trying to do, bridging the two X-Men franchises. We know that the studio is currently trying to put together X-Men 4 and seeking out a new team of mutants could be a way to separate itself from Vaughn's franchise.

'X-MEN FIRST CLASS 2' Writer Calls The Film Epic And Mythic

Collider was able to speak with producer and co-writer Simon Kinberg on the untitled X-Men First Class sequel. He gives little detail but gives the impression the studio is allowing Matthew Vaughn the creative freedom to give the franchise the scale and mythology he wants. Kinberg says the new film is "extraordinarily ambitious, epic and mythic". Time will tell which direction the film will be going but Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Jennifer Lawrence are returning. Simon also confirms the film will begin production in the Spring which was bumped from January. The release date is still aiming for July 18th 2014.

“I wish I could tell you about it, but literally, it’s like the most guarded state secret I’ve ever been around. I can tell you that it’s going really well, and I can tell you that I’ve been working closely with Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman on the script of the movie and that we hope to be shooting in Spring of next year to come out in July of 2014 and that I’m really excited about it, because the only thing I can say, because I have to be extraordinarily vague about it, because the last time I talked to anybody about it, I got in trouble…big trouble…what I can tell you is [that] it’s extraordinarily ambitious. It is unlike the other X-Men movies and yet very much a celebration of the X-Men movies.”


“I don’t know enough of what he [Vaughn] has or hasn’t talked about. I can tell you it’s been a very fluid process in the sense of we really went into it, Matthew, Jane and myself, just wanting to create a movie that was as…I’m very proud of First Class…as dramatic as that movie, I think it is as dramatic as that movie, but more epic, mythic in a way as well. So, there are ideas that we’ve started with that haven’t survived, there are ideas that we started with from conversations we had from making First Class that are going to be in the sequel. So, it’s vague but…”


“It’s one of those movies that, because it’s such a big deal for the studio, they have some sense of what it is that we’re writing and they are ambitious about the movie, too. I don’t know what the budget’s going to be, we’ve got to finish the script before we have a budget, but I would assume that it is a bigger movie than the last in physical scope, and that we have the license to do that because of the success of First Class. And because I think Fox has had success with interesting movies in the last couple of years in the genre, like Planet of the Apes was a really good movie, Chronicle was a cool movie, First Class, they’re just narratively or creatively a little bit more ambitious. So they’ve encouraged us to do that with the sequel.”

Avengers seemingly has changed the level of action a comic book film franchise can handle. We could see the next X-Men installment double it's scale and action sequences. 20th Century Fox has been slowly making their films to meet the demands of audiences. We've seen this with Prometheus earning an R-rating and excellent handling of Rise of The Planet of The Apes and original project Chronicle.

Rumors have been pointing to seeing the Sentinels becoming a major element of the sequel with the inclusion of Days of Future Past being the inspiration for the new film. It could really expand the franchise now that mutants are finally now in the open. Leading to an extremely large sandbox for the characters to play in. Bringing in time travelling and giant robots hunting mutants could help usher this in bridging a lot more of the X-Men heroes/villains. Not to mention including more fan favorite mutants instead of wildly obscure ones.

Bryan Cranston Could Have Played The Villain In 'X-MEN FIRST CLASS'

While you may think that Bryan Cranston (John Carter, Total Recall, Drive, ) aims to be in every big film during an interview with Collider he reveals he turned down a rather big film. Bryan says he had been offered the role of Sebastian Shaw the leader of the Hellfire Club and villain of X-Men First Class while looking at another project. He weighed the two roles by how much he liked the characters and went with Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive instead. He mentions there was another role offered which I'd have assume was Stryker.

I read for the Kevin Bacon role in X-Men: First Class. And it was like, “Ah, there’s a possibility. ” Then there was this thing happening over here. It’s kind of like things coming up like materials and projects that are coming in and out. Quite often, it’s almost like a wave. “Here it comes, here it comes. . . oh no, that wave didn’t break. ” Why? Funding went this way, the lead dropped out, any number of things can happen. Or the studio says it’s too much money. Projects ebb and flow all the time, and the same thing in an actor’s career. There’s interest, and there’s ebbing and flowing all the time. “You have the offer! Oh, no you don’t. ” So, that was happening. They offered it to Kevin, and they offered me a different role in it.


At the same time, I read Drive, and I thought, “Oh, this is what I’d rather do. ” I turned down X-Men for the role in Drive because I liked the character better. Much better. The experience with Ryan Gosling and Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman and Carey [Mulligan]—it was terrific. We had a great time. What was so much fun about it is that we’d go over to Nicolas Refn’s, the director’s, house in the canyons, and we’d all get together with the writer, and we would pitch out ideas and thoughts. “What about this? What about that? ” There’s nothing more satisfying than to have your thoughts and comments welcomed and incorporated in the script. So, we really feel ownership and part of that. You’re not just a hired hand, coming in, doing your job, and leaving. And Nicolas took a real kind of film noir, European feel to it, and it’s really hip and cool.


SOURCE: Collider

Cranston has a massive following thanks to Breaking Bad which is going into it's last season. I'm sure he'll be pursued again by Fox for the First Class sequel. If the sequel is taking cues from Days of Future Past we could see humans becoming the villains creating the Sentinels. Scientists Bolivar Trask and Stephen Lang are some of the people involved with the creation of the Sentinels.

Trask had appeared in X3 played by Bill Duke (Predator, Commando) and his character is credited for building Magneto's prison and the mutant prisoner transport which held Raven, Juggernaut and Multiple Man. First Class is a reboot of sorts so I wouldn't be shocked to see Trask retooled.

Could Polaris Join The 'X-MEN FIRST CLASS' Sequel?

We've been hearing bits and pieces of possible storylines for the X-Men First Class sequel. During the week it was revealed that Fox registered the film title Days of Future Past leading us to believe the famous alternative time-line could be used as source material. That could mean that we could see the return of both Kitty Pryde and Wolverine. Lucas Till who plays Havok has his own idea who he'd like to see join the X-Men lineup as he talks with IGN. He mentions Polaris (Lorna Dane) as a possible love interest who had been teased in X2 on Stryker's computer which also included Gambit. Currently, Till hasn't been listed as a returning cast member for the sequel. One thing the X-Men in the sequel will be lacking is female members so it's likely characters like Jean Grey, Rogue (rebooted) and Storm could be making appearances as well. You never know with this new franchise they could make Havok and Polaris the parents of Cyclops.

"All I know is that my mom told me we're going to start shooting in January. It's funny because she tells me everything that goes on before I know. I don't know if you saw, but Havok shoots hula hoops out of his body. I remember when (director Matthew Vaughn) told me, and I was like, 'NOOOO!' It's going to ruin it for all the fans of Havok and I tried to make the best of it, but I really hope in the next one that the chest piece—because there's always that circle in the middle so you could tell where his power level was at—but not necessarily used as a device to channel the energy from. I want some gauntlets or something to shoot it out of my hands, and I want Polaris in there. I want a sexy green-haired girl to fall in love with. That's all I'm asking for."