'X-Men: Days Of Future Past' Panel Brings All-Star Cast Together At Comic Con

The X-Men: Days Of Future Past panel was by far one of the most crazy Comic Con events ever, and Fox pulled out all the stops, uniting casts from the past X-Men trilogy and the recently revamped X-Men: First Class cast. What resulted was a gathering of a cast that includes representatives from Star Trek, The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games, True Blood, The Following and American Horror Story (all Comic Con staples) – not to mention, X-Men.

From X-Men: First Class, Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), James McAvoy (young Charles Xavier) and Michael Fassbender (young Magneto) were all on the panel. From X-Men trilogy (and current spinoff franchise, Wolverine), Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Anna Paquin (Rogue), Ellen Page (Shadowcat), Halle Berry (Storm), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Patrick Stewart (Professor Xavier) and Shawn Ashmore (Iceman) were on hand in San Diego, as were newcomers Omar Sy (Bishop), Evan Peters (Quicksilver) and Peter Dinklage (Bolivar Trask).

By the time everybody took their seats, the panel was halfway over – but the cheers from the crowd never ceased, and fans and cast alike seemed excited to be gathered together in Comic Con’s Hall H. The panel, which was never officially announced prior to Comic Con weekend, premiered footage from the film, currently in production. Though the footage has not been made available online, it’s contents are no mystery. The footage showed Wolverine being approached by Magneto and Professor Xavier – the latter is somehow back from the dead, having been killed in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). They want to send his consciousness back in time to his younger self so that he can convince a younger Xavier and a younger Magneto to put aside their differences and work together to save the mutants from a war that will bring them to near extinction (which will happen in the future should Wolverine fail). The plot is, without a doubt, difficult to wrap your head around but, for those who fear this plot synopsis means that the past and future Magneto’s and Professor X’s will never meet onscreen, rest assured that part of the footage shown at Comic Con did, in fact, feature Stewart and McAvoy onscreen together.

Speaking of the joining of the two casts, Jackman expressed his gratefulness (he is the only actor to have bridged the gap between the two X-Men movies universes so far, when he made a cameo appearance in X-Men: First Class).

“This is something I’ll never forget,” said Jackman, causing the entire panel to nod in agreement.

Berry echoed his statements, saying, “I love being a part of this franchise, and I love all the people I’m sitting up here [with].”

The best moment of the panel, however, goes to Ian McKellen, when he took a moment to extend a proposal of sorts to Fassbender.

“I’d just like to say how great it is to be back here in California. I feel safe here now you’ve gotten rid of Proposition 8,” McKellen began, eliciting cheers of approval from the panel and audience.

“I’m looking for a husband,” McKellen continued, adding, “It’s great to meet you Michael!”

The crowd erupted in giggles, and the flirty comment led Fassbender to blow McKellen a kiss from across the table. But, then McKellen decided it was time for the crowd to die down so he could talk about reuniting with the cast, saying, “I don’t want Patrick to get jealous.”

Now, that's a love triangle we can get behind. Hopefully the chemistry between the two casts will be just as good onscreen as it is off.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is scheduled for a May 2014 release.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong