X-Men: Days of Future Past - The Team So Far

Since Bryan Singer has been filling fans in piecemeal via Twitter, it's easy to lose track of what characters are officially in and out of Days of Future Past; which actors have or have not been officially confirmed as in or out; and who's playing which character. We decided that, with two new team members revealed next week and shooting already underway, it seemed like as good a chance as we were going to get to take a look at who's in, who's out and to give our non-comics-reading friends a bit of a cheat sheet on the players. Of course, since this movie is a bit of a sequel to both X-Men: First Class and X-Men: The Last Stand, there will be some characters who appear more than once, and some characters whose roles are not exactly clear. We'll do our best. We've got a number of actors whose parts are as yet unconfirmed and some characters whose actors are unconfirmed. We're pretty confident in matching them up for you here, but if there's a surprise or two left in the casting, we apologize. Unconfirmed roles are indicated after the actor's name. Professor Charles Xavier Played by: Sir Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy The "X" behind the X-Men, Charles is one of the only characters to appear in every big-screen X-Men film. Often compared to Martin Luther King, Jr., Xavier believes that if they try, humans and mutants can live together in harmony. The founder of the X-Men, he was injured during a battle in X-Men: First Class and has been wheelchair bound ever since. A bit like the blind oracles of ancient myth, Xavier's physical handicap often causes people to underestimate his massively powerful brain; his psychic and psychokinetic powers are nearly unmatched. Because he was presumed dead at the end of X-Men: The Last Stand, the nature of Stewart's role in the film is unclear. Magneto Played by: Sir Ian McKellen, Michael Fassbender The leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Magneto is the X-Men's archenemy, in spite of having been Professor Xavier's best friend for years. A survivor of Auschwitz, Erik Lensherr committed himself to the notion that his people--mutantkind--would never be abused and exterminated as were people of Jewish descent during the second World War. Often compared to Malcolm X, he's not really evil--just extreme in his philosophy and methodology. Still, his anger tends to get the better of him and from time to time he can drift into pure evil territory.

A nearly-immortal mutant who's been around for about a hundred years, Logan has an impressive healing factor as well as powerful claws built into his hands which are augmented by a skeleton lined with adamantium, the strongest metal known in the Marvel Universe. Jackman has appeared in every installment of Fox's X-Men franchise, including his standalone film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He will appear in The Wolverine, a direct sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand, before X-Men: Days of Future Past is released. In the comics, much of the story revolves around the massively-popular character of Wolverine and Kitty Pryde, a favorite character of author Chris Claremont. The series' most enduring image, seen at top, features the pair of them in an alternate future where mutants are hunted and killed en masse. At right, you can see Jackman wearing the big-screen version of the leather jacket pictured in the comic book cover above.

Kitty PrydePlayed by Ellen Page In the course of the first three X-Men films, there was a sense that they always wanted Kitty around the mansion, but she was never important to the plot. As a result, three different actresses played her in X-Men, X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand. While X-Men: Days of Future Past director Bryan Singer didn't work on The Last Stand and has seemed a bit standoffish regarding using elements from the film, Page (the third Kitty) is now an established box office draw, and if the character is going to have a more significant role, she was the most obvious choice to bring back.

StormPlayed by Halle Berry This weather-controlling mutant hails from Africa and appeared in the first three X-Men films. Berry is not the most popular performer in the franchise, and so fans had wondered whether she would even come back for another movie ten years after the previous one--but she was one of the first we got to see in costume. Berry herself is pregnant, and has speculated that the film will play down her role as an action star. Given the fact that she actually had a role to play in the comic book version of Days of Future Past, it might be a more likely scenario that they use a lot more stunt performers than they ordinarily would, and that she'll remain part of the action. I still hope we get the mohawk. Bishop Played by Omar Sy (unconfirmed) Since Bishop's casting has yet to be confirmed and he didn't play a role in the original Days of Future Past, we'll keep our speculation as to what he might do in the movie to a minimum. In the comics, he's  a time-traveling mutant who was sent back to prevent the betrayal of the X-Men, but ended up caught in a never-ending loop of conspiracies and confusion. Blink Played by Fan Bingbing Another character who didn't appear in the Days of Future Past comics, Blink is a fan-favorite and, having been killed in one of her earliest appearances, regularly appears in alternate-universe or dimension-hopping stories...so she's a great fit for a time travel movie. Warpath Played by Booboo Stewart (unconfirmed) One of a few mutants who have never appeared in the movies before, Booboo Stewart's Warpath is the brother of Thunderbird, a Native American X-Man who was killed very soon after his debut. Warpath sided with some bad guys for a while to get revenge, blaming the X-Men for his brother's death, but eventually came around. Which side will he pick in a movie that's already pretty crowded? It's hard to say; it isn't as though Singer has ever been scared of too many mutants before. Iceman Played by Shawn Ashmore A fan-favorite among many of the moviegoers, Iceman and Rogue's relationship was one of the favorite bits of added character dynamic and chemistry in the film adaptations. So far, though, the only photo of him on set has him talking to Shadowcat. Could we be seeing him primarily in an alternate timeline? Then he wouldn't even have to shave that beard!

Looking more like the Kelsey Grammer version of the character than ever before in the makeup test tweeted from the set of the film, Hoult rejoins his Jack the Giant Slayer director for another installment of the X-series and will, at least in theory, provide some useful guidance as one of the smartest mutants on the planet at a time when time travel will require, presumably, a little technical help. Rogue Played by Anna Paquin

SunspotPlayed by Adan Canto (unconfirmed) The only character on the list whose actor is known for sure but whose character name is not yet confirmed (as opposed to guys like Bishop and Warpath, whose names appeared on chairs on the set), Sunspot is widely accepted as being Canto's role after the actor said of his part, "I might turn into a ball of fire if someone pisses me off." Colossus Played by Daniel Cudmore Cudmore didn't really get much to do with this character during the original franchise, but it's worth noting that he's a character whose role was greatly expanded during and after the Chris Claremont run of which Days of Future Past is a part. So it can't hurt him any to hang around and see how that plays out!

MystiquePlayed by Jennifer Lawrence After the massive success of The Hunger Games, no studio who has a Jennifer Lawrence contract in their pocket is going to let it expire--so the sexy shape-shifter Mystique is back for yet another installment. She's possibly the oddest character to appear in so many films (given her small role in the comics relative to many of the other characters), but given the fact that Rebecca Romijn embodied the character before Lawrence came along, it certainly fits the Hollywood mold. Gorgeous, mostly-naked women? You can put that on a movie poster. Will they tease the old Mystique-as-Rogue's-potential-mother thing here? While it didn't make a lot of sense given the age difference between the original cast, now you've got a First Class that took place in the '60s and Mystique was around. Suddenly it doesn't seem so implausible for her to have a teen in the late '90s. UNKNOWN Played by Peter Dinklage The Game of Thrones star will appear in Days of Future Past, reportedly as a villain, but nobody has confirmed even that much, let alone his identity yet. Most fans are expecting him to be Bolivar Trask (the man who runs the Sentinel program), who was previously played by another actor in the franchise, but some are holding out hope that he could be delivering a motion capture performance as Apocalypse.