Days of Future Podcast: Examining the X-Men

As the long wait for the MCU's X-Men movie continues, listeners of the show know we've been feeling a little ambivalent and even sometimes down about the current comic book movie scene lately. Is it possible the two big superhero cinematic releases of July 2025 have changed all that? Join us as we take a break from discussing Marvel's merry mutants (well, except Franklin, I guess), as we share our thoughts on both Superman, the new DCU kickstarter from writer/director James Gunn, and the MCU's Fantastic Four: First Steps, the third (fourth?) attempt to bring Marvel's first family to the big screen. We discuss what worked and what didn't for us from both film, how they are similar and different from each other, and what both might hint at in terms of the future of superhero movies.

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We're about to make a name for ourselves here! It's finally time to read and review the screenplay for the unmade Channing Tatum Gambit movie that was in the works as part of the Fox X-Men universe for oh so long. The version we have is a "Second Draft," dated August 28th, 2015, by screenwriter Joshua Zetumer. Join us as we go through the script scene by scene, offering not only a play-by-play on the story, but also our thoughts on whether or not this truly would have been a worthy solo movie debut for Tatum's version of the Ragin' Cajun.

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Having had some time to ruminate, Trev and Joe finally offer their thoughts on the various X-Men related casting announcements for Avengers: Doomsday. But first, Joe congratulates Trev on the recent success of Noah Wyle and The Pitt, Trev congratulates Joe on his, errr, Jack Black's recent success with A Minecraft Movie, and they both congratulate each other on being listed one of the top 15 X-Men podcasts…even as Trev shares some surprising news about who his real co-host might be.

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Trev and Joe are here to record a quick DOFP episode about recent MCU X-Men casting rumors. But then, an unexpected visit from Uatu the Watcher sends us into the multiverse, where the guys do not host an X-Men podcast, but instead are the hosts of Casting Podmerica, a show about all things Captain America. Perfect timing, as the multiverse Trev & Joe are able to review the recently released Captain America: Brave New World, to share their thoughts on how the movie not only stacks up to the previous Captain America films, but how strong of an MCU entry it is in general, at a time when the overall franchise is arguably struggling. Does the film do Sam Wilson justice? Is Harrison Ford actually good as Thunderbolt Ross? Can the movie's trouble production history be felt in the finished product? Trev & Joe of another world discuss all this, and more!

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Casting Podmerica Theme Song: "Color Me America" by Dolly Parton

Believe it or not, Days of Future Podcast is ten years old! That's right, a full decade of talking the weather, Richard Kind, and The Single Guy, with the occasional bit of X-Men discussion, as well. To celebrate this important milestone, we're reviewing the original "X-Men #10," from January of 1965, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In this issue, the original five X-Men journey for the first time to the Savage Land, as the X-Men and Marvel readers alike are introduced to Ka-Zar, the lord of the jungle, and his sabretooth tiger, Zabu. You've been waiting ten long years to hear us talk about Ka-Zar (uhhh...right?), and now, finally, here is your chance!

But first, we reminisce on ten years of DOFP, debate whether the X-Men franchise is a better place today than it was a decade ago, and share our thoughts on which X-Men characters have changed the most since we started the show. Plus, Trev struggles to keep straight the nationalities of X-Men member Banshee and '60s folk rock icon Donovan, while Joe asks which X-Men is most likely to be friends with Bob Dylan?? All this, and more!

Here's to another ten years!

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***On the eve of our upcoming 10th Anniversary episode, we're giving you a little bonus - a recent episode of Trev's other podcast, Failure to Franchise, dedicated to failed movie franchise-starters, in which Joe joined Trev and his co-host Chris to discuss 2020's The New Mutants. That's right, it's a comic book style crossover, with two podcasts joining forces to try to figure out just what the hell happened with this movie.***

It's a new year, and a new theme! F2F is transforming - or should we say "mutating" - the month of January into "The Mutant Gene-uary!" That's right, a month dedicated to mutants, and we're kicking it off with 2020's The New Mutants, the last film released from the original regime of the 20th Century Fox X-Men franchise. Based on a popular X-Men spin-off comic, The New Mutants was meant not only to expand the horizons of what a superhero movie could be, by taking a more horror-based approach, but also to add a new offshoot franchise to the overall X-Men cinematic universe, with a brand new team of young mutant heroes. But after a troubled production and multiple release-date delays, The New Mutants ultimately limply arrived after Disney's purchase of Fox meant the existing X-Men film franchise would be no more. Putting the behind-the-scenes politics aside, did The New Mutants truly deserve its fate? To discuss this, in the spirit of shared universes and comic book crossovers, we're joined in this episode by Joe, Trev's co-host on the Days of Future Podcast: Examining the X-Men podcast, for what promises to be an X-cellent conversation. (get it?)

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Check out more (and subscribe to) Failure to Franchise at our Libsyn, Spotify, or Apple Podcast pages.

We're back, just in time for one of our most stressful events of the year - trying to figure out what to do for another DOFP Halloween special! This time around, we have decided to review X-Statix Presents Dead Girl, a five-issue 2006 miniseries from Peter Milligan, Nick Dragotta, and Michael & Laura Allred. Intended as a coda to Milligan and Allred's then recently-completed, critically acclaimed, cult run on X-Force/X-Statix, Dead Girl sees the titular mutant team up with Doctor Strange and a squad of (at the time) dead superheroes, to travel through the various levels of hell in an attempt to thwart the plans of a group of dead supervillains who are trying to use arcane magic to be resurrected. Stylized as a goofy adventure story and a meta-commentary on the impermanence of death in modern superhero comics, Dead Girl is an interesting read today - especially when remembering this was written before the creation of the MCU and the elevation of Doctor Strange to A-List status. But is it any good? We're here to figure that out.

But first, a bunch of talk about 30 Rock, Trev's wedding and Vegas adventures, the recently announced X-Mansion Lego set, MTV veejays, and more.

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Opening Music: "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" by Donald Glover & Tracy Morgan

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It's September, and that means it's officially "Back to School" season! And we're in the academic spirit, reading and reviewing X-Campus, a four-issue miniseries, from 2010. "As told by some of Europe's greatest comics storytellers," including writer Francesco Artibani, X-Campus re-imagines the X-Men mythos and the origins of the team, re-casting the characters we know and love as the faculty and students of the Worthington Foundation, a special High School for gifted youth. Does this reimagining work? Which characters are best suited to this sort of approach, and which feel out of place cast as modern teenagers? And should Marvel try more "Elseworlds"-style re-tellings of the X-Men mythos? We discuss all this, and more!

But first, we look at the recent, controversial public dispute between fired X-Men '97 showrunner Beau DeMayo and Disney, offering our take on their war of words and accusations, and where the truth may lie (and, of course, for the second episode in a row, even more stuff about this came out not long after we recorded, so this probably won't be the last of it you'll hear from us, either).

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In this episode, Trev and a Covid-brain addled Joe discuss the Marvel Hall H panel at last month's San Diego Comic Con. Are we excited for Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and Fantastic Four? Are we happy the Russo Brothers are returning to comic book movies? What do we think of the return of Robert Downey Jr. to the MCU, as...Doctor Doom?? And, most importantly, how disappointed are we that no X-Men or mutant related movies were announced, and how do we see the X-Men possibly fitting into these upcoming projects, if at all?

Plus, Joe reflects on the perils of being a "Jack Black type" nowadays, and we discuss a few other recent pieces of X-news, including X-Men '97 creator Beau DeMayo complaining that he wasn't invited to the Emmys.

NOTE: This episode was recorded literally an hour before more details about the alleged behavior that may have led to DeMayo's X-Men '97 firing was made public. Don't worry, we'll be discussing all of that in our next episode!

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Deadpool & Wolverine is finally here, breaking box-office records and generating lots of discourse. So of course we are legally and morally bound to add our voices to the mix. Our mixed feelings on Ryan Reynolds and the Deadpool franchise is well recorded, but so is our love of Hugh Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine, so what did we think of this eagerly anticipated team-up? Is it the saving grace of the MCU it was suggested to be? Is it anything more than a cameo-filled nostalgia fest? Which surprise characters did we enjoy seeing? Why did Marvel and Disney spoil some of the surprises? Were we correct in any of our pre-movie predictions? Did the movie make us laugh? Did it make us cry?? We examine all this and more, in our in-depth discussion of Deadpool & Wolverine!

But first, for no good reason other than our own amusement, an update on actor Joey Slotnick's Twitter account, and Joe shares his dismay at J.D. Vance's love of Diet Mountain Dew.

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