This story is one of the top 5 of the ’80s.
There’s a reason Days of Future Past is one of the best known storylines in comic book history.
Many many many reasons.
But the above danger room scene might be my favorite. It’s probably the single best X-Men story of all time, and maybe even better known than the death of Phoenix.
The story involves a different (and adult) Kitty Pryde, from an apocalyptic future where the Sentinels took over and killed nearly everyone with powers (mutant or not), traveling back in time to get the X-Men to prevent her future from happening.
Sound familiar?
Yeah, it’s the plot of Terminator.
She tells the story of this possible future when she arrives in the 616 timeline.
Meanwhile, Mystique appears in the pages of X-Men, coming over from Chris Claremont’s run on Ms. Marvel. She recruits a new Brotherhood.
The debuts of Destiny, Pyro, and Avalanche!
Pyro is cool AF. Simple power set but so cool.
During the fight, Mystique reveals that she has a connection to Nightcrawler.
Later she will be revealed as Nightcrawler’s biological mother. So the shared blue skin is not a coincidence.
The action in the “present” is told at the same time we see the action in the future…
Where we see that it is in fact possible to kill Logan–if you fry every single cell and scrap of flesh, leaving only adamantium bones.
Kitty’s goal is to prevent the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly, because his death sets in motion an anti-mutant level of hate that produces the super sentinels of her future timeline.
After her mission is accomplished, she returns to her future.
But of course Kelly reboots the Sentinel program anyway.
The future timeline and its characters will, in the coming years, continually pop back to the 616 timeline with one of them, Rachel Summers, becoming a founding member of Excalibur and the second human possessed by Phoenix.
Isue #141 has an iconic cover.
Variations have appeared dozens of times. Here’s a feature about it. And here’s a second feature about it.
Good stuff!