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How X-Men: Days of Future Past predicted the future of superhero movies like Avengers: Endgame, according to James McAvoy

X-Men’s James McAvoy says Days of Future Past tackled alternate timelines and universes before it was cool

You know that one superhero movie where they go to an alternate universe or timeline?

If I asked you that question, I could be talking about The Flash, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Into the Spider-Verse, Avengers: Endgame, or countless others. However, James McAvoy, who played Charles Xavier in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise, wants us to remember that the X-Men did it first.

McAvoy was asked which X-Men film he preferred, Days of Future Past or First Class. Notably, Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix were left out of the question.

“I go back and forth. It’s a tossup between First Class and Days of Future Past,” McAvoy says during a panel at New York Comic Con 2025. “I feel First Class sort of tried to do something quite different and do a different kind of tonal approach, which I thought was really cool. And then Days of Future Past kind of went sort of classic, but it did it so well.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, and I’m not trying to claim anything, because I didn’t direct it or write it, but it was sort of one of the first ones that did all that timeline stuff and different universe kind of crossover stuff, that we kind of weren’t used to as much back then.”

“It just felt a bit different and a bit new.”

It may not feel as new now, but maybe the X-Men deserve some credit (or blame) for kicking off the multiverse craze.


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Joshua Lapin-Bertone

Joshua Lapin-Bertone: Joshua is a pop culture writer specializing in comic book media. His work has appeared on the official DC Comics website, the DC Universe subscription service, HBO Max promotional videos, the Batman Universe fansite, and more. In between traveling around the country to cover various comic conventions, Joshua resides in Florida where he binges superhero television and reads obscure comics from yesteryear.

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