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45 Years Ago Today Marvel Kicked Off the Greatest (And Darkest) X-Men Story Ever Told
When it comes to the X-Men, dystopian futures and the fight for survival seem to go hand in hand. There have been plenty of grim potential tomorrows for the mutants in the Marvel Universe over the years and even now, the publisher is taking the X-Men and readers into a future where things aren’t exactly great for mutants or non-mutants with the Age of Revelation event. But while many future-set X-Men stories deal with things like devastating viruses or other transformative elements that create real issues for everyone, there’s one X-Men story that is not only the gold standard for dystopia in superhero comics, but one of the greatest X-Men stories ever told — and it kicked off 45 years ago today.
“Days of Future Past” is a storyline that ran through The Uncanny X-Men #141 and #142. While The Uncanny X-Men #141 was cover-dated January 1981 as was standard practice at the time for comics, the book actually published on October 20, 1980. A creation of creative team Chris Claremont, John Byren, and Terry Austin, the story provides a glimpse into a future where mutants are incarcerated in internment camps after a single terrible moment in history sets off a wave of bigoted, anti-mutant hysteria. It’s a dark, sobering story that has had massive impact not just on the X-Men, but superhero comics on the whole ever since.
“Days of Future Past” Is A Grim Masterpiece
In “Days of Future Past”, the then-future year of 2013 is a dark place for mutants (and arguably non-mutants as well) as Sentinels rule the United States. Having conquered all of North America, the Sentinels hunt mutants and other superhumans, putting them in internment camps and have now shifted their focus to conquering the entire world the same away. With the threat of nuclear holocaust imminent, the last remaining X-Men make one last desperate attempt to save the day, sending Kitty Pryde’s consciousness back in time to the body of her younger self in the hope that she can prevent the moment in history that started all of this: the assassination of presidential candidate Senator Robert Kelly by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. While Kitty is in the past, the last of the X-Men make their final stand in the future.
For X-Men fans — and indeed, fans of most superhero comics — there are a lot of beats to this general premise that will fee familiar. You have the heroes in the underdog position fighting against seemingly insurmountable sources with what can only be described as the most unlikely of chances of actually saving the day. The stakes are at their absolute highest. With “Days of Future Past” it’s executed exceptionally well. The writing is tight and concise and the story is told over two issues, making it digestible and thus giving it a lot of weight and impact. The art in the story is also top notch which has also contributed to not only the overall quality of the story but it’s longevity as well. But what might make “Days of Future Past” a true masterpiece is that it never fully resolves.
In the story, the mind-swapped Kitty informs the X-Men of the impending catastrophe and they are able to stop the assassination of Senator Kelly, first with a battle between the heroes and the Brotherhood and then with Kitty stopping Destiny directly. With Kelly spared, it would be logical to assume that the day (or rather, the future) is saved, but the story does something unexpected. While Kitty is successful, the future is left ambiguous when it’s revealed that Kelly, despite being saved, goes forward with approving Project: Wideawake, the program that builds the advanced Sentinels that ends up controlling the bleak future. Readers are left to speculate if all’s well that ends well or if the dark future has merely been delayed. It’s something that keeps the reader engaged long after they’ve closed the issue and moved on and continues to be a source of discussion and debate in terms of the larger implications of if you can prevent the future by fixing the past.
“Days of Future Past” Has Influenced Countless Dystopian Comics Stories Since
Going beyond the fact that it’s just a very good story, “Days of Future Past” has proven to be extremely influential over the past 45 years as well. Marvel has used the same general trope numerous times since — think stories like The Last Avengers Story, Avengers: Twilight, and even “Age of Ultron” — but the story has had much wider reach than simply the Marvel Universe. DC has also dabbled in dark, apocalyptic futures that shares at least a little thematic DNA with “Days of Future Past”. Stories like Armageddon 2001 and Earth X come to mind, but even the more optimistic Elseworlds story Kingdom Come fits the bill.
One could even argue that “Days of Future Past” continues to live on with stories like the current Age of Revelation event. This event takes a slightly different approach — this time it’s a mutant utopia that is the dark future — but the soul is much the same: it will be up to the remnants of the X-Men to try to change things against massive odds. It just goes to show that a good story never dies and “Days of Future Past” is one of the best.
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