X-Men Days of Future Past: Bryan Singer Talk Xavier and Magneto's Relationship, Compares The X-Men Films To Marvel Studios

Talking to IGN, X-Men: Days of Future Past director Bryan Singer talked a bit about the relationship between Professor X and Magneto, and also compared the X-Men film franchise to the Marvel Studios films. Singer was asked what the relationship between Charles Xavier and Magneto would be like in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Singer explained that we'd see the young duo on the path to become the older duo:

I just shot some… yesterday we did James' first scene, not his very first scene but the scene that follows it promptly. When we come upon him, he looks like a homeless guy. [laughs] I mean James, he's really found a great character for where he's at. That's kind of fun. When I made X-Men one and two, Patrick and Ian always had questions about where they came from, what their relationship was, what was their friendship. And so First Class was a beautiful way to explore that, and now this is the story of them slowly becoming, on the journey to becoming Patrick and Ian. So it's nice to have Patrick and Ian in the movie as well to remind us where we want them to go.

Singer was also asked how he felt about the X-Men's popularity compared to that of the Marvel Studios' characters. He said:

I am conscious of the audience outside the fan base, particularly with X-Men. Because if you really compare the success of the X-Men films versus the Marvel films, you see Marvel's reach is so much greater. My mom, everyone knows who Hulk is and Spider-Man -- well, that's Sony, but it's still Marvel. But X-Men has always been a little bit of the bastard stepchild of the comic book universe. It's its own thing, it's very rooted in… it sort of exists on the outside. And it's not instantly… I didn't initially know who Wolverine was or any of that, but I knew who Spider-Man was and who Batman was. So it's important to help make a film that… what I hope with this one, because it deals with so much more and our cast is pretty big, that I can reach a little outside the X-Men bubble of exposure and interest.

In X-Men: Days of Future Past, the ultimate X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods in X-Men: Days of Future Past. The characters from the original X-Men film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from X-Men: First Class in an epic battle that must change the past - to save our future. X-Men: Days of Future Past comes to theaters May 23, 2014.