History Film / XMenDaysOfFuturePast

* TheSeventies: Part of the film takes place in 1973, complete with the PornStache, UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, bell-bottoms and polyester. Gets an EstablishingShot in Wolverine' wake-up scene, with a lava lamp and a waterbed.

** In the comics, the Sentinels are just HumongousMecha, and mutants with strong powers [[note]]the X-Men in the comics are much stronger than in the movies, with Storm, Magneto, Iceman, and Xavier being planetary threats[[/note]] usually take them down by the dozen. They are portrayed roughly as such in the 1973 portion of this movie as well. The future Sentinels, however, are a CompositeCharacter with Nimrod, an advanced Sentinel that racked up a significant body count over the years in the comics. The difference is that there's ''dozens'' of them in the movie and ConservationOfNinjitsu is not in effect: with their ability to duplicate mutant powers to counter their opponents, they are so overwhelmingly powerful that any fight with them is considered outright hopeless.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Peter Maximoff is portrayed more positively ''and'' more negatively in comparison to the original source. In the comics, he is often an outright ''jerk'' (often intentionally), but in this film, he's more of a merry mischief-maker. He can easily flee on his own once the breakout goes bust, but instead, he goes out of his way to save Logan, Charles and Erik, even though he had already freed the latter from prison by technicality. Quicksilver is also clearly not impressed (if amused) by the idea that he helped free the person suspected of killing JFK once he finds out, [[spoiler:and is shown to be stunned and horrified by Magneto's "demonstration" in the climax]]. Comic book Quicksilver may be a world-class asshole and suffer from HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, but he is well-meaning at the core and can be counted on to do the right thing. Here, he's just a bored teenager with a kleptomaniac streak who doesn't really care about being a productive member of society, and who has to have the breakout sold to him as an opportunity to raise hell, as it's clear that he wouldn't have done it of his own volition otherwise.

** Similar to ''First Class'', Mystique has a major role in the story compared to being primarily a henchwoman in the original films. Being played by Creator/JenniferLawrence helps there. There are no explicit contradictions, it's only that the two different portrayals are hard to reconcile (Rebecca Romijn's Mystique was silent and coldly loyal to Magneto, Lawrence's Mystique is much more emotional and independent). Then again, being captured [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil and experimented on]] in the original timeline as well as years of killing most likely lead her to become much colder.

* BadFuture: The premise of the movie is preventing a horrific dystopian future ruled by [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters the worst scum of humanity]] and dominated by Sentinels by changing past events.

* BareYourMidriff: Mystique has this kind of outfit when she's disguised as a blond woman.

* GRatedDrug: Charles' usage and administration off Hank's serum draws parallels to heroin addiction, especially with his Post-Vietnam HeroicBSOD.

* HappyFlashback: 1973 Charles briefly reminisces about the first time he met Raven, which was a much happier and more innocent period of his life than his current state of abject misery and self-destruction. One difference between his memory of the event and what we saw in ''First Class'' is that Charles as a kid never said, "And that's a promise" right after he told Raven that she would never have to steal again.

** Magneto doesn't mention Riptide's death alongside the other deceased Brotherhood members, although Mystique does find a autopsy file on him in Trask's office, indicating that he was killed in-between films as well.

* RealityEnsues:
** Including a demonstration of RequiredSecondaryPowers, Quicksilver has to brace the back of Magneto's head to prevent him from getting severe whiplash while moving at super speed. Despite this, Magneto is still visibly ill and disoriented after moving so quickly.
** Right after they get caught, Quicksilver also incapacitates the guards in the room, with hijinks such as crossing two guard's arms, putting one's fist in his own face, poking another one in the face, and giving another one a wedgie. This proceeds to send ''all'' of them flying, as he did it at such speeds that the sheer momentum hit them with much more force.
** [[spoiler:Despite Wolverine not having his metal skeleton as a weakness for Magneto to exploit, their fight is still a complete curb stomp, with Wolverine only managing to deflect a few objects before he's incapacitated and thrown into the Potomac. For all of Wolverine's hand-to-hand prowess, Magneto has a superior advantage in range.]]
** After he gets a head wound during [[spoiler:his fight with Beast,]] Erik doesn't just put a bandage on it but has to clean and stitch it up using his powers.

* Alex Summers / Havok (Creator/LucasTill)

* Logan / Franchise/{{Wolverine}} (Creator/HughJackman)

* Clarice Ferguson / ComicBook/{{Blink}} (Fan Bingbing)

* Major William Stryker (Josh Helman)

** When she shapeshifts into an Army Colonel in Vietnam, the name on her uniform is "Sanders", whose best-known creation is KFC. The "K" stands for Kentucky - Jennifer Lawrence's birthstate.

* BadFuture: The premise of the movie is preventing a horrific dystopian future ruled by monsters and dominated by Sentinels by changing past events.

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: This trope has ''exploded'' in the BadFuture, with only the worst of the human race left to rule the world while the Sentinels exterminate the remaining mutants and those humans who stand by them. Charles' use of Cerebro indicates humans are terrorizing any remaining mutants they find, and in the Rogue Cut, human scientists apparently in league with the Sentinels are conducting experiments on [[spoiler:Rogue]].

* ApocalypseHow: The BadFuture is at least a class 3. Both mutants and humans have been nearly wiped out and there seems to have been a complete societal collapse.

* Logan / Wolverine (Creator/HughJackman)
* Charles Xavier / Professor X (Creator/JamesMcAvoy and Creator/PatrickStewart)
* Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto (Creator/MichaelFassbender and Creator/IanMcKellen)
* Raven Darkhölme / Mystique (Creator/JenniferLawrence)

* Bobby Drake / ComicBook/{{Iceman}} (Shawn Ashmore)

* James Proudstar / Warpath (Booboo Stewart)

[[folder:Tropes A to C]]

** The film ends with appearances from [[spoiler:Anna Paquin as Rogue, Creator/JamesMarsden as Cyclops, Creator/FamkeJanssen as Jean Grey, and Creator/KelseyGrammer as the older version of Beast, all of whom were restored to life after the heroes stopped Mystique from killing Trask]].
** [[spoiler:A young version of En Sabah Nur, a.k.a. Apocalypse]], appears in TheStinger.

** While the ComicBook/ScarletWitch is absent in the film in spite of her relationship with Quicksilver, a girl with red hair is later seen with him. Interestingly, she is only credited as "Peter's Little Sister," making her identity ambiguous (some think she's Peter's ''half''-sister Polaris), though it definitely counts as a MythologyGag. Bryan Singer says there was a cut-out scene where the little girl was told to "go bug your sister." This scene is restored in ''The Rogue Cut''.

* TheSeventies: Part of the film takes place in 1973, complete with the PornStache, Richard Nixon, bell-bottoms and polyester. Gets an EstablishingShot in Wolverine' wake-up scene, with a lava lamp and a waterbed.
* SeventiesHair:
** The younger Professor X still has a full head of hair, and sports a longer, hippie-style mane.
** Mystique rocks some hairstyles of the time in her human form and in one scene, masquerades as a black woman with an enormous afro.
** Quicksilver's glam mop upset many fans in promotional materials, but it fits in with the era perfectly.
** Trask's hair helmet is very appropriate for the time period.
** Wolverine still wears his muttonchops even in the future scenes.

* TimeShiftedActor: Creator/JamesMcAvoy and Creator/MichaelFassbender return as the young versions of Professor X and Magneto, while Creator/PatrickStewart and Creator/IanMcKellen portray them in the BadFuture segments of the movie. Creator/JenniferLawrence once again plays the young Mystique. Josh Helman plays young William Stryker, replacing Danny Huston as [[Film/XMenOriginsWolverine middle-aged Stryker]] and Creator/BrianCox as [[Film/X2XMenUnited old Stryker]]. Evan Jonigkeit portrays a young version of Toad (played as an adult by Creator/RayPark in the [[Film/XMen1 original movie]]), and [[spoiler:Creator/NicholasHoult returns as the young Beast, while Creator/KelseyGrammer reprises his role in the surprise EveryoneLives ending set in the future]].

* Comicbook/KittyPryde / Shadowcat (Creator/EllenPage)

** Due to a combination of PlayingGertrude and that Creator/EllenPage is OlderThanTheyLook, Kitty Pryde is another example.

** Kitty Pryde, somewhat. The viral website states the events of ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'' occurred in 2006 when Kitty appeared to be, at the most, in her mid-teens. The BadFuture is said to occur in or very close to 2023, putting Kitty in her early 30s even though the films were released just 8 years apart and Creator/EllenPage was 26 during filming.

* SoftGlass: A glass ceiling that has been cracked into a thousand pieces falls right on top of Erik, and he doesn't get a single scratch. In RealLife, the stunt double suffered from mild injuries, according to Creator/BryanSinger's commentary, because real glass was used for that scene.
** Also when Mystique has to jump through a glass window [[spoiler:to avoid Magneto shooting her. The only injury she has on her is a bullet wound from Magneto manipulating its trajectory, and a blood droplet on the ground is the only available sample of her blood Trask can get]].

* {{Trekkie}}: It's hinted that Hank is a fan of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' (an episode is playing on one of his [=TVs=]), which is fitting considering that he's {{Adorkable}} and a HollywoodNerd. He describes Peter's mutation as "fascinating," which is a reference to Spock. Creator/BryanSinger's favourite fandom is ''Franchise/StarTrek'', so it's natural that he would want to bestow that quality on the character (who, coincidentally, can be called Dr. [=McCoy=]). His Trekkie-ness is more obvious in ''The Rogue Cut'' because Beast is enjoying the episode while sipping a beverage.

* BadDreams: Past Charles is plagued by these, which is why he informs Erik that he takes the serum so that he can sleep at night.

* GRatedDrug: Charles' usage and administration off Scott's serum draws parallels to heroin addiction, especially with his Post-Vietnam HeroicBSOD.

* ChekhovsSkill: Erik says that he used his power to curve a bullet to [[spoiler: save]] JFK. [[spoiler:He later uses this power to try and kill Mystique when a gun is knocked from his hand after firing a single bullet.]]

** Magneto is accused of using his powers to [[MagicBullets curve the bullet]] which killed JFK. [[spoiler:He later uses this power to try and kill Mystique when a gun is knocked from his hand after firing a single bullet.]]

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: At the start of the film three Sentinels [[spoiler:make a TotalPartyKill]] with one only losing an arm. For the finale [[spoiler:even after bottle necking the ships with stormy weather and an exploding aircraft]] the remnant still destroy more Sentinels than at the start. It's justified in that the mutants have doubled their numbers with some very poweful mutants in the finale, and also in that [[spoiler:Storm and Magneto have area-effect attacks that the Sentinels can't easily adapt to.]]