^ If you look at the Trask website it shows pictures from history with Sentinals. For example, there is one picture of with a Sentinal at some martial law type situation.
The website states that between 1973 and 1996 Trask produced 8732 Mark I Sentinals for the United States, China, Russia, etc. Are you really trying to state that when the President's life was in danger from a mutant threat in X2 that they didn't have any of the many highly sophisticated, likely very costly, anti mutant robots there to protect the President? Are you trying to state that in X2, after they captured Magneto, the most feared mutant on the planet, that they wouldn't have these anti-mutant robots in the vacinity, likely ones designed from plastic to prevent Magneto's powers from working on them? Or at least ones at the facility to guard against other mutants trying to break their leader out? That when they were transporting Mystique, Multiple Man and the Juggernaught (who shouldn't even have been a mutant) in X3 that they wouldn't be using these Sentinal robots that were designed and purchased for that specific purpose? That when an army of mutants were attacking Alcatraz that they wouldn't have Sentinals there?
To me it would be a huge hole in the story if Singer tries to get us to believe that these Sentinals have been around for all of this time without it ever having been mentioned or shown.
Now here is something to think about...
The Trask-Industries website states that in 2013 the following happened:
"Trask Laboratories unveils groundbreaking ability to create a hybrid gene with mutant DNA"
Seems that this is what is happening in the present.
Next the website states the following happened in 2020:
"Trask Industries announces Sentinel Mark X program"
So, this is helping I think. The future dystopian problem is probably coming from this Sentinal Mark X and possibly the hybrid gene with mutant DNA from 2013 is what is used to create the Mark X (which replaces the Mark I) or creates Nimrod, which could be what goes back in time changing the past.
Now Farren above asked me "What about the mid-credits scene or the online stuff makes you think this isn't possible?" as far as the timeline shifting around the present characters.
Well, the mid-credits scene seemed to be from the normal time preiod (likely 2013). Wolverine is just hanging out in an airport. Umm, how would he ever be able to get through security being laced with adamantium (he still has the stuff on his bones, right)? There are no Sentinals hanging around the airport (and from the information on the Trask Industries website you would expect that there would be Sentinals at the airport).
Also just the way things look it doesn't appear to be some dystopian future, or even one where it is heading that way because Mutants are being hounded by these robots. Things looked, well normal...
So, how would 2013 (assuming it is 2013 in the mid-credits scene) Xavier and Magneto know that they need to send Wolverine back to 1973? Sure seems as though that is where we are going and why they tracked Wolverine down.
So to me, the proper way to have done this movie would have been as follows:
1. Show someone/something from the future going back in time and changing the past. Show Trask being affected by this change to the timeline. It could be anything, from Kennedy's assassination to Watergate to anything else that makes sense. If it was me I would be showing Nimrod being brought online, going through a series of calculations, coming to a conclusion on the best way to deal with the mutant threat, creating a time portal and going through.
2. Show the X-Men in the present, focusing on one individual, likely Xavier. Then have something happen, like a wave, or some individuals, like Xavier (mental powers) or Storm (attuned to the environment) react to some unseen force, showing that they are in pain. Then show things change around Xavier into the dystopian world that Sentinals would cause. Would Xavier know that something is off? If so, why would it be 2013 Xavier that we are being shown and who realizes this, and not Xavier from a different time? The best way to explain this is to show that the thing that changed the past traveled back in time from 2013, so that is why it's 2013 Xavier that we are with and due to his mental powers he feels that something is not right, or maybe he just knows that it's not right.
3. Dystopian present Xavier would then seek out Magneto, or Wolverine, and come up with a way to send Wolverine back to the point in time that needs to be changed. Possibly using new mutants, like Blink, to send Wolverine back. But why 1973 (to prevent the Mark I from being released) instead of a time before that or even to the point that someone or something was sent back that altered the timeline in the first place?
4. Wolvie is sent back, seeks out the 1973 X-Men, works with, or against Magneto and Mystique, and stops the release of the Sentinals. His mind is sent back to 2013 through some means.
5. He wakes up just where he was when he was sent back, on some table at the X-Mansion, but things look better. "Fixed" for a lack of a better term. Wolvie's dialog can be something like "Is the timeline fixed?" to which Jean can say "You tell me."
Or better yet, Wolvie wakes up in the middle of a battle. The world around him is a ruination of a city, with energy fire all around, fire breaking out all over the place, buildings and bridges caved, and others battling each other. He's disoriented and just drops to the ground. Someone runs over to him and cradles his head. He opens his eyes and sees... Jean. She says something like "I thought I lost you" and kisses him full on the mouth. A Sentinal lands, grabs a car and throws it away in order to get at the mutants. It then points it's hand at the pair as power starts to eminate. All of a sudden the robot pauses as if confused and explodes as metal flies in all directions, but none of it seems to touch Wolverine and Jean. Magneto is hovering above them yelling out to his followers to retreat. Jean helps Wolvie to his feet, just starting to come to his senses. We see that he is dressed very differently than we have come to know and then we see, as he looks down his right arm, that his right hand is missing... Fade to Black!!!
Now they could still surprise me and go this route (something being sent back to change the present (future) around the 2013 charatcers), but it doesn't seem to be the case. I guess it could be that the reason they have sought out Wolverine is to investigate a new threat to mutants, which would be Nimrod (and not to send him back in time). Wolverine would go investigate and they could even have Magneto give him back his adamantium in order to be able to do this (make the audience happy). Wolvie goes to investigate with other X-Men (Storm, Shadowcat, Iceman, Colossus), Nimrod becomes activated and somehow transports back to the past. The timeline then shifts around Wolverine (instead of Xavier). Wolverine's mind is not affected because he was within the "bubble" when Nimrod goes through. The other X-Men were not protected in this way. Reality changed around Wolverine instantaneously, but his mind wasn't affected. He's now in a different place and in an obviously different reality (dystopian present) but he knows it. He finds Xavier, or Magneto, or whomever and meets new characters (Blink and Bishop) and some old. They listen to him and realize he's telling the truth. They come up with a way to send his mind back to the point they think changed the timeline (1973), possibly using Blinks power, and sends him back. Everything else plays out as above...
The website states that between 1973 and 1996 Trask produced 8732 Mark I Sentinals for the United States, China, Russia, etc. Are you really trying to state that when the President's life was in danger from a mutant threat in X2 that they didn't have any of the many highly sophisticated, likely very costly, anti mutant robots there to protect the President? Are you trying to state that in X2, after they captured Magneto, the most feared mutant on the planet, that they wouldn't have these anti-mutant robots in the vacinity, likely ones designed from plastic to prevent Magneto's powers from working on them? Or at least ones at the facility to guard against other mutants trying to break their leader out? That when they were transporting Mystique, Multiple Man and the Juggernaught (who shouldn't even have been a mutant) in X3 that they wouldn't be using these Sentinal robots that were designed and purchased for that specific purpose? That when an army of mutants were attacking Alcatraz that they wouldn't have Sentinals there?
To me it would be a huge hole in the story if Singer tries to get us to believe that these Sentinals have been around for all of this time without it ever having been mentioned or shown.
Now here is something to think about...
The Trask-Industries website states that in 2013 the following happened:
"Trask Laboratories unveils groundbreaking ability to create a hybrid gene with mutant DNA"
Seems that this is what is happening in the present.
Next the website states the following happened in 2020:
"Trask Industries announces Sentinel Mark X program"
So, this is helping I think. The future dystopian problem is probably coming from this Sentinal Mark X and possibly the hybrid gene with mutant DNA from 2013 is what is used to create the Mark X (which replaces the Mark I) or creates Nimrod, which could be what goes back in time changing the past.
Now Farren above asked me "What about the mid-credits scene or the online stuff makes you think this isn't possible?" as far as the timeline shifting around the present characters.
Well, the mid-credits scene seemed to be from the normal time preiod (likely 2013). Wolverine is just hanging out in an airport. Umm, how would he ever be able to get through security being laced with adamantium (he still has the stuff on his bones, right)? There are no Sentinals hanging around the airport (and from the information on the Trask Industries website you would expect that there would be Sentinals at the airport).
Also just the way things look it doesn't appear to be some dystopian future, or even one where it is heading that way because Mutants are being hounded by these robots. Things looked, well normal...
So, how would 2013 (assuming it is 2013 in the mid-credits scene) Xavier and Magneto know that they need to send Wolverine back to 1973? Sure seems as though that is where we are going and why they tracked Wolverine down.
So to me, the proper way to have done this movie would have been as follows:
1. Show someone/something from the future going back in time and changing the past. Show Trask being affected by this change to the timeline. It could be anything, from Kennedy's assassination to Watergate to anything else that makes sense. If it was me I would be showing Nimrod being brought online, going through a series of calculations, coming to a conclusion on the best way to deal with the mutant threat, creating a time portal and going through.
2. Show the X-Men in the present, focusing on one individual, likely Xavier. Then have something happen, like a wave, or some individuals, like Xavier (mental powers) or Storm (attuned to the environment) react to some unseen force, showing that they are in pain. Then show things change around Xavier into the dystopian world that Sentinals would cause. Would Xavier know that something is off? If so, why would it be 2013 Xavier that we are being shown and who realizes this, and not Xavier from a different time? The best way to explain this is to show that the thing that changed the past traveled back in time from 2013, so that is why it's 2013 Xavier that we are with and due to his mental powers he feels that something is not right, or maybe he just knows that it's not right.
3. Dystopian present Xavier would then seek out Magneto, or Wolverine, and come up with a way to send Wolverine back to the point in time that needs to be changed. Possibly using new mutants, like Blink, to send Wolverine back. But why 1973 (to prevent the Mark I from being released) instead of a time before that or even to the point that someone or something was sent back that altered the timeline in the first place?
4. Wolvie is sent back, seeks out the 1973 X-Men, works with, or against Magneto and Mystique, and stops the release of the Sentinals. His mind is sent back to 2013 through some means.
5. He wakes up just where he was when he was sent back, on some table at the X-Mansion, but things look better. "Fixed" for a lack of a better term. Wolvie's dialog can be something like "Is the timeline fixed?" to which Jean can say "You tell me."
Or better yet, Wolvie wakes up in the middle of a battle. The world around him is a ruination of a city, with energy fire all around, fire breaking out all over the place, buildings and bridges caved, and others battling each other. He's disoriented and just drops to the ground. Someone runs over to him and cradles his head. He opens his eyes and sees... Jean. She says something like "I thought I lost you" and kisses him full on the mouth. A Sentinal lands, grabs a car and throws it away in order to get at the mutants. It then points it's hand at the pair as power starts to eminate. All of a sudden the robot pauses as if confused and explodes as metal flies in all directions, but none of it seems to touch Wolverine and Jean. Magneto is hovering above them yelling out to his followers to retreat. Jean helps Wolvie to his feet, just starting to come to his senses. We see that he is dressed very differently than we have come to know and then we see, as he looks down his right arm, that his right hand is missing... Fade to Black!!!
Now they could still surprise me and go this route (something being sent back to change the present (future) around the 2013 charatcers), but it doesn't seem to be the case. I guess it could be that the reason they have sought out Wolverine is to investigate a new threat to mutants, which would be Nimrod (and not to send him back in time). Wolverine would go investigate and they could even have Magneto give him back his adamantium in order to be able to do this (make the audience happy). Wolvie goes to investigate with other X-Men (Storm, Shadowcat, Iceman, Colossus), Nimrod becomes activated and somehow transports back to the past. The timeline then shifts around Wolverine (instead of Xavier). Wolverine's mind is not affected because he was within the "bubble" when Nimrod goes through. The other X-Men were not protected in this way. Reality changed around Wolverine instantaneously, but his mind wasn't affected. He's now in a different place and in an obviously different reality (dystopian present) but he knows it. He finds Xavier, or Magneto, or whomever and meets new characters (Blink and Bishop) and some old. They listen to him and realize he's telling the truth. They come up with a way to send his mind back to the point they think changed the timeline (1973), possibly using Blinks power, and sends him back. Everything else plays out as above...