SPLICED Issue 04\r\n\r\n X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST\r\n\r\nISSUE 04\r\n\r\neverything) - the team, in spite of being superpowered, are still human beings. Their wanton\r\npersecution, the responsibility of their powers and\r\ntheir constant fear is soul crushing.\r\nWhere the film differs from the comic it draws\r\ninspiration from however, is that Wolverine is\r\nthe one whose future mind is sent back to the\r\npast to give the warning to the team instead of\r\nShadowcat and that the focus will be very much\r\nplaced on Xavier and the turmoil he faces. Instead\r\nof the excited and inspired young man we saw in\r\nthe previous film, now all that\'s left is a crippled,\r\nbroken husk on the verge of giving up. This will\r\nplay up well to his relationship with Magneto and\r\nMystique, who are now enemies. Watching the\r\ntwo most important people in his life, people that\r\nhe genuinely loved, was truly heart-breaking at the\r\nend of the last film, so imagine how devastating it\r\nwill be to see this broken, wretched man.\r\nBeast washing\r\nMagneto\'s a hair\r\nin a fountain.\r\n\r\nThe true strength of the X-Men franchise\r\nhas always lain in the interpersonal relationships\r\nbetween the mutants, whether friend or foe. Despite\r\ntheir differing views, all of them fall under the\r\ncommon banner of being freaks, societal outcasts\r\nreneged to back alleys and hidden from public sight\r\nbecause of their differences. Whilst one faction\r\nadheres to the moralistic, if naively optimistic path\r\nof advocating equality, the other takes on the mantle\r\nof aggressive segregationist - that is to say \"If you\r\ndon\'t want us, we\'ll make a place for ourselves and\r\nnone of you can stop us\". Up against both sides is\r\nthe massively overwhelming population of normal\r\npeople that fear the mutants for their difference\r\nthat abhor their existence and react with malice and\r\nhatred. It\'s incredible just how poignant these themes\r\nhave remained over the five-odd decades that the\r\nX-Men have been around.\r\nWhilst the dark days of colonisation and\r\nApartheid may be over, society is still rendered\r\nasunder by rampant bigotry, homophobia, religious\r\nsegregation and misogyny - we fear what\'s different\r\nbecause it makes us uncomfortable. How is it that\r\nwe haven\'t changed in hundreds of years? This is the\r\n67\r\n\r\n