Scarlet Witch is Not in X-Men: Days of Future Past

Posted on August 7, 2013 by John Elrod II in Comics News, Featured, Movie News // 0 Comments

Bryan Singer, director of X-Men: Days of Future Past, has revealed that Scarlet Witch will not be appearing in the film, along with a few other tidbits of information.

Singer recently did a Q&A at The Fantasia International Film Festival wherein, among discussion of many things, he said Scarlet Witch, the mutant sister of Quicksilver, does not appear in X-Men: Days of Future Past. This is the latest development in the back-and-forth between Singer/Fox and Joss Whedon/Marvel over the use of the characters Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch-the tamest cat-and-mouse game since Tom and Jerry: The Movie.

To refresh your memory, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are the mutant children of Magneto. This seemingly-still-friendly pissing contest began back when Whedon teased a “brother and sister act” would be in The Avengers 2. It was later confirmed that the “brother and sister” would be Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. This created a firestorm of speculation-filled conversation on the internet; because Fox currently owns the rights to all X-Men “mutants”, any characters used in a non-Fox film (such as the now titled The Avengers: Age of Ultron) would face a litany of issues. It was at that time that we learned Quicksilver would also be appearing in X-Men: Days of Future Past, being portrayed by Evan Peters. A couple of questions then arose: If Quicksilver was in Days of Future Past, does that mean Scarlet Witch would be, too? If Evan Peters is Quicksilver in Days of Future Past, will he be Quicksilver in Age of Ultron?

Well, we now have an answer to the first of those questions: Scarlet Witch is not in Days of Future Past; fans of the character will have to wait until 2015 to see her on the big screen in Age of Ultron. As for the second question? There is no definitive answer, yet, but the rumor mill is spinning with the notion that Aaron Taylor-Johnson (star of the Kick-Ass films-one of which also stars Evan Peters-and next year’s Godzilla reboot) is close to being cast as Quicksilver in Age of Ultron.

Scarlet Witch may not be in Days of Future Past, but she’s seemingly the only character the ambitious film won’t include. With the returning stars from the original X-Men film trilogy (Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, et al), the returning stars from X-Men: First Class (James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence etc), and new faces (Evan Peters, Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy-BISHOP!!!-and even more!), the film is almost overflowing, as it is.

Some other bits of information Singer revealed about X-Men: Days of Future Past:

Cyclops is not returning. Spoiler alert, the character was inexplicably killed in X-Men: The Last Stand. Singer says he didn’t like that Cyclops was killed off and wanted to bring him back; there just wasn’t a logical way to do so-unlike with Professor Xavier. I think Cyclops could still appear in this film or future films because, even without the idea of using time travel, you still have the comic book reality of parallel universes, alternate Earths, or straight-up altering history without any legitimate explanation. Anything is possible in comics.
William Stryker is in the film, and he is portrayed by Josh Helman.
The film was shot in native 3D, unlike being post-converted as The Wolverine was. This makes Days of Future Past the first X-Men film to be shot this way.
Most of Days of Future Past takes place in 1973; the scenes that are not set in the past take place 10 years after X-Men: The Last Stand. This means, as is to be expected with a cast this large, the roles of Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and company will likely be limited to cameos, while the bulk of the film is carried by James McAvoy’s X-Men.