Marvel Announces X-Men: Days of Future Past Prequel From Arrow Creator
Marvel is celebrating the X-Men's 60th anniversary this year, and part of that is revisiting the classic X-Men story "Days of Future Past" with a prequel. Arrow creator and X-Men writer Marc Guggenheim (X-Men Gold, X-Tinction Agenda) will team with artist Manuel García on X-Men: Days of Future Past -- Doomsday, a new limited series revealing the events that led to the dystopian future established in Chris Claremont and John Byrne's seminal original "Days of Future Past" story. The story begins at the moment that Kate Pryde attempts to alter history and create a better future, as seen in the opening pages of Uncanny X-Men #141. From there, X-Men: Days of Future Past -- Doomsday will chronicle the dark history of the "Days of Future Past" timeline, revealing previously unseen deaths of major mutant characters, with Marvel superhero guest stars and other revelations.
"Growing up, I never thought I'd get the chance to write the X-Men as many times as I have. I particularly never thought I'd be able to play around in the amazing timeline that Chris Claremont and John Byrne brought to life in Days of Future Past," Guggenheim says in a press release. "I still have the most vivid memory of visiting the stationery store where I used to buy my comics and seeing Uncanny X-Men #141 on the rack. That iconic cover blew my nine year-old mind."
He continues, "My goal with this story is to fill in some missing gaps in the thirty-year period that Kate Pryde summarized in just four panels back in the day. Prior familiarity with the original story won't be required. The end result is an event that feels like the X-Men story to end all X-Men stories. At least, that's the bullseye we're aiming at!"
Editor Mark Basso adds, "This future timeline has always been such fertile ground for stories, and for the first time we're getting the bigger picture only hinted at in various spin-offs over the years. There's some details fans have been waiting decades to understand the context of, as well as completely untold facets that bring will bring the Days of Future Past fully into focus for the first time."
What is X-Men: Days of Future Past?
Published in Uncanny X-Men #141–142 in 1981, "Days of Future Past" helped redefine the X-Men mythology, making time travel, dystopias, and alternate timelines all central to the group's adventures, while also offering a tangible example of how much humans hate and fear mutantkind. The story involved Kate Pryde traveling back in time, inhabiting her younger body as Kitty Pryde, to get the X-Men -- Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, Banshee, Cyclops, Angel, and Professor X -- to prevent the assassination of Senator Kelly, which would lead to the ratification of the Mutant Control Act and the official sanction of Sentinels.
Since then, Marvel has published several "Days of Future Past" spin-offs. 20th Century Fox adapted the story into the 2014 X-Men: Days of Future Past film. X-Men: The Animated Series used the story as inspiration for an episode, and "Days of Future Past" inspired the very premise of Wolverine and the X-Men. Yet, the story of how the world changed from the one the X-Men know in the present to the one seen in that dark future has gone untold until now.
X-Men: Days of Future Past -- Doomsday goes on sale on July 12th.
- X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST – DOOMSDAY #1 (OF 4)
- Written by MARC GUGGENHEIM
- Art by MANUEL GARCÍA
- Cover by GEOFF SHAW
- On Sale 7/12