Kinberg Explains X-Men Cinematic Universe Timeline, Costumes, and Possible Crossovers

There's been lots of questions about the X-Men cinematic universe after the release of X-Men Days of Future Past. Now, writer and producer Simon Kinberg is explaining how the world is shaping up now. During an interview with MTV, Kinberg explained the timeline for the universe and how everything is shaping up.

The idea is that we’ve sort of reset the timeline after ’Days of Future Past’ in some ways, and if not erased, certainly allowed for change from ’X1,’ ’2,’ ’3,’ everything from ’Days of Future Past’ forward, 1973, everything we set now becomes canon... So the ’Gambit’ movie, the ’Deadpool’ movie, will exist in a world that acknowledges whatever happened in ’Days of Future Past’ and moving forward. Doesn’t mean they’ll always interact with those characters, obviously, it’s not like every movie has all the characters, but they all have to exist within the same rules.

Kinberg went on to say that "There will be interplay between different characters in different movies.” It seems like in the future we could see Gambit, Deadpool, and the X-Men crossover, creating more of a connection between the X-Universe. He says he has a chart on his computer keeping everything together, to make it easier to figure out the directions they want to take in the films.

Finally, Kinberg discussed the look of Apocalypse, played by Oscar Isaac, which has been polarizing among fans from the few images that have been released.

“I feel like we have been, the ’X-Men’ franchise, has been growing a little bit more into science fiction. I think ’Days of Future Past’ with time travel and the Sentinels took us into a slightly broader, more science fiction world than the films had occupied in the past. We felt like the movies were ready for something that was slightly more, let’s say, cosmic. Once we made the decision for Apocalypse to be the villain at the center of the movie, we wanted to be true to the comics, which are sort of, like you, say, not costume, but it’s not just a guy in a helmet. It is more cosmic.”

What do you think about Kinberg's approach to the franchise? X-Men: Apocalypse hits theaters on May 27, 2016.

Current Movie Deadpool and Gambit canon in the X-men movie universe? COUNT ME IN! Can't wait to see Wolverine and Deadpool interact with each other. This time Deadpool actually being Deadpool and not a Mortal Kombat knock off.

FIRST

awesome !

apocalypse is not cosmic, also kinsberg did fan4stic.

I wouldn't call myself an expert on the character by any stretch, but has he ever even been to space? I can't think of any off the top of my head...

kinberg is just trying to cover his ass cause he allmost destroyed x-men with x-men 3. in a way x-1 2 3 has to happen for the new timeline to take hold so in a way those films are canon. i just hate how dofp did the logan jean rogue bobby shit at the end. alot of x-men fans are tired of that shit. even though it is not comic canon most want logan rogue together sinse there bond in x-1 why not take it the next step instead of just being close friends take it to the next step try something new and fresh.

@roaris87:no. I even vaguely recall from an Age of Apocalypse books there is even AoA Cyclops (?) wondering if humanity could have travel into space if Apocalypse did not happen.

Apocalypse has ties to Celestial tech.

@benk111: he didn't say apocalypse is cosmic. Different sentences, i know this is hard for you to comprehend.

I do wish someone had asked him why Stryker was old when Victor and Logan were locked up after Vietnam in Wolverine: Origins, but Logan was walking around free and met a younger Stryker after Vietnam in DoFP.

Yeah we all understand the reset, but what about Logan from the first timeline having his memories yet now existing in the second timeline?

I was under the impression that Simon Kinberg was a co-writer on X-Men First Class as well as DOFP, and therefore, I assumed he was a talented writer, whose involvement I trusted. After you mentioned he was involved with that horrible Fantastic Four film, I went and checked his wiki, and noticed that not only was I mistaken, he also probably has the worst writing credits in the history of Hollywood.

@cobsohn: What about it?

@loganrogue24: hell no to all of this! No! Someone post the gif of The Office please! NOOOO! "Logan" & Rouge don't go together ever. He's more of a father figure to most the women on the X-Men.

@sprior93: I guess first I want to know if that last wolverine movie will be after the last scene of days of future past. Will he ever get memories from the new timeline too or will he always be out of the loop with the everybody else mourning the loss of the Logan they knew? I feel like no matter what you are killing a version of Wolverine's consciousness.

@starbrand1: I'm glad they've shifted the talking point towards a cosmic terms as an adjetive to describe the film and not the wanton destruction it was originally annouced with. Gah Man of Steel had just come out and yeah not a good time to associate your product with that.

@nappystr8:nah that's solo David Goyer

He's talking like Fox hasn't fucked up the X MEN many times over.

And yeah Fantastic Four truly shows how much Fox really cares about the comic films

Simon Kinberg is a fine writer, and when paired with the right talent (such as Bryan Singer) his scripts are definitely good. He was the main writer on DOFP, and he also wrote the first SHERLOCK HOLMES script that Guy Ritchie directed. I think you can hardly blame FF on him, even if he did write a draft of the script and was a producer. I think that film had a ton of problems going in that he was simply unable to fix, like trying to patch an already sinking ship (I haven't seen the movie yet, but I've heard nothing but terrible things about it). I think he's got a really solid handle on the X-Men franchise though.

Somebody tweet Simon kinberg and tell him to let FF go. The senseless slaughter and butchering of a beloved franchise must end. Plus gambit is gonna blow. They should make a Cyclops and family movie.

@ravenvice01: Gambit will be stellar, you'll see...

Taken from Apocalypse's wiki: "Apocalypse himself has claimed that he is still not fully aware of the full powers he has been given from the Celestial starship..."

I'd say that qualifies as cosmic since he is partially powered by tech from space gods. I remember there was artwork released from the film that showed Apocalypse in front of what looked like a space ship. They'll likely be revealing something extraterrestrial to the X-film franchise for the first time.

The Celestials were shown in Guardians, though, so I wonder if Fox can use them or if they're similar to Quicksilver contractually.

@stellar421: Right. Because you guys doing nothing but complaining about everything, and me getting tired of it makes me an asshat. Yeah. I don't care if people disagree with me, that's not the point. Its the things you people say that are insane.

How does the guy pointing something out make him insane? Did he complain? No, he just stated that Apo wasn't cosmic. You need to quit being so rude to people for no reason. Don't be an asshat about it.

Is this the first franchise to get an in-continuity reboot?

@benk111: Although Apocalypse may not be an alien, which is what I imagine most people associate with the term cosmic in comic book conversations, he absolutely has a long history with the cosmic side of the marvel universe. He is a mutant, he was born on earth but his enhanced power set, incredible technology and his entire survival of the fittest world view are informed by his relationship with the cosmic Celestials. In case you aren't familiar with the Celestials they are essentially giant space gods who are responsible for mankind's inherent ability to develop super powers in response to various stimuli.

@mangakid1995: you are right. they even mention it in the X-men series Tas.

@sprior93: let me guess u r a fan of channing. The only way Gambit will be big is if u involve a big league x-villain like mr. Sinister or a new generation of the hell fire club and hav a compelling story line.

@ravenvice01: I wholeheartedly disagree with you, respectfully of course. From my point of view there's always been so much potential with a character like Gambit. I'm hoping they take the Thieves Guild and use them well, could even turn Gambit into another heist movie with superpowers. Like you I'm very iffy about Tatum but cmon lets give the guy a chance.

so then only Wolverine remembers original timeline- everything that happend before days of future past movie??

the celestial s were in guardians of the galaxy and cannot be used by fox.

I'm excited to see where the X-Men film franchise goes. It's better for Fox to keep the rights. X-Universe is huge and you can tell lots of stories coming from the comics.

Works for me. The reset was a good idea, and allows a lot of room to play with things as long as they end up the way they did at the end of DoFP

i hate jennifer lawrence as mystique i don't care what anyone say's