X-Men Days of Future Past

(Arrrgh blogger ate this post so here I go again in rewriting it).

After the craptastic showing that was X-Men 3 (how that piece of "ship" got a 58% on Rotten Tomatoes I'll never know, should be in the negatives...) I had zero hopes that even X-Men First Class would be good, but low and behold it was. So, it was with a bit of trepidation we sat down as a family to watch X-Men Days of Future Past on Blu-Ray after Santa dropped it off over the holidays. I have to say I think its the strongest X-Men movie since X-Men 2, X-Men United.  That's saying a lot as X2 is a damn fine movie. Then Marvel pumps out the Guardians of the Galaxy (I'm a fan of the "classic team" but I digress,

Before I go into the movie however its important to cover the actual story it's based on. Days of Future Past follows (roughly) the same mini-arc of X-Men 140-141. Days of Future past came on the heels of the epic Dark Phoenix Saga (widely regarded as one of the best comic book arcs of all time) and in some ways is well remembered, but overshadowed by such a monumental previous storyline. Issues 140-141 has an adult Kitty Pryde react out to her younger self from a dytopsian future where mechanical Sentinels rule North America and are relentlessly hounding mutants to extinction.

Kitty is able to avert the assassination of  Senator Robert Kelly and thus avert the events of the future timeline. In a way it's outcome is mirrored by the T-850 in Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines, "You only postponed it. Judgment Day is inevitable". Since Rachel Summers also comes from that future timeline about 30 issues later, perhaps "Days of Future Past" is inevitable. (Note there are the Days of Future Present and Days of Future Past arcs but these are not the focus of this post).

On to the movie itself: as with most of my objections with the X-men movies, this one of course focuses on Wolverine as the main character. At this stage I'm majorly over Logan. Unfortunately, the movie studio isn't so they keep milking it for all its worth. It's as if they figure a 6'2" actor really portrays a 5' 4" mutant well... more likely they figure actor Hugh Jackman will get women to go to see this as well... Great we get it, he's the anti-hero...next!

So.... with all that said the true star of this movie is the younger Charles Xavier played by James McAvoy who conveys the Professor in an outstanding manner and one can easily see him as the later Patrick Stewart version. From the very first scene as the younger professor he is stealing the show. At first he is walking... which is a bit disconcerting for continuity in the previous movie, but they explain it quick enough. I won't spoil while but they had to do this in order for the story to work given the Professor's prodigious mutant abilities.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the amazing portrayal of Bolivar Trask by Peter Dinklage who is the creator of the Sentinels, 20-foot high mutant hunting  robots. It is the Sentinels who hound the mutant into near extinction in the dytopisian future that Wolverine is sent from. Peter plays a very methodical villain and is a believable one. Then of course after Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw in First Class... yeah....

I won't spoil the main premise of the rise of the Sentinels but lets just say they did a great job with the hows and whys and typing it back to a certain mutant.

They did a great job with continuity in the film tying back to X2, for instance a young William Stryker is in Vietnam just like he alluded to in United and the timeline flows well. The clothes, the furniture, etc. Someone however was paying attention to this did a very, very good job with avoiding continuity errors.

The final battle was well done. When watching it I did notice the rise of tension the fact that you're left thinking that any minute its going to go south. The visuals in some respects were jarring, I think it was the weaponry the sentinels were using that made me notice this. This is probably due to the me knowing them first through the comics in the late 1980s then just seeing them for the first time. The Sentinels of the future likewise are "off" to me. The image I couldn't get out of my mind was that of the machines in The Matrix, bug-like, rather then large lumbering metal giants.

Given the nature of my blog its not a movie review site; I often look at ways to incorporate it into gaming. I think a mutant campaign would be overdone at this stage of the game, but a dytopsian future one would work better. Perhaps a world where every hero is hunted, not just mutants? After all if you are the authorities you never can be too careful right? If going down the road of a Marvel Superheros game, I prefer FASERIP, a setting like this would work well.

There you have it, I give it 4 out of 5 stars. Great story, but would have been better had they used Kitty as the heroine and had flashback scenes a bit different and gritter with Wolverine in the future timeline.

FASERIP, aka Marvel Superheros and its damn awesome

Some like Champions with its crunch, some like Villains and Vigilantes, for me its neither. If I'm going for a Super hero system it has to be Marvel Superheroes. In my mind nothing else even comes close. The Marvel system does a great job recreating the comic books. Henceforth I'll be referring to it as MSH.

One huge advantage that the system current enjoys is there is a wealth of information for the game out there, no more so then:  http://www.classicmarvelforever.com/cms/ To put it bluntly there is no shortage of material for the judge to pick from. TSR then Wizard of the Coast apparently let the copyright expire and it went to Public Domain, Woot!

The Marvel system is a breeze with many fans knowing it as Marvel FASERIP. FASERIP stands for attributes in the game Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Institution, and Psyche. The first four are combined to create the characters Health score and the the later three are likewise combined to determine the characters Karma. Health is analogous to Hit Points while Karma is akin to Luck Points in other systems. Characteristics range from Feeble (2) to Beyond (unlimited) with most being somewhere between Typical (6) and Monstrous (75). Once you start getting above Unearthly (100) it starts to get a bit dodgy but I think a skilled Judge can pull it off. In Marvel there is always someone tougher then yourself or you group.

Talents are likewise well thought out and easy to use. Equipment is likewise straight forward and does not bog the game down. In way the entire rule-set is an early version of the Savage Rules when one things about it, keep it "Fast, Furious and Fun"? MSH does just that.

While there are powers listed in the rule book the best route to go is to use the Ultimate Powers Handbook (don't forget the errata from Dragons #134 and #151 respectively). Powers is always something of a weak spot in MSH. The main problem is you pick a grouping, say Defensive and then roll to see what you get. I think it works because everyone would be picking the same powers (can you say every character with Danger Sense, Cosmic Awareness, True Flight, Regeneration and Invulnerability? That said in my groups we just picked powers and after rolling for the number of them and it always seemed to work out.

The box set is a great entry into the game ans has everything that fledgling players and the Judge needs to get rolling. I recommend actually getting the base game, and go for advanced rather then the basic rules (the picture above is from the Advanced game box set).

Most of my experience with the game was in High School where we played it irregularly which is a shame as it is a fine system. Most of my characters were mutants as I liked characters who actually had powers. This is probably because I also disliked DC comics whose heroes were typically non-powered as typified by Batman. One of my gaming crew from back in the day was a big fan of the rule set, but paradoxically a big fan of DC and created his own version of Batman he tried to foist on me. I had none of that and preferred to play my own characters.

"Don't leave super hero headquarters without me."

Task resolution is handled via well thought out system of green, yellow and red intensities. The task becomes harder as it goes from green to red and requires a higher % dice roll. Speaking of which being based on a d100 makes it easy to use and visualize for players where their scores lie. It also works perfectly with the rankings system of Feeble (2) up to Unearthly (100) in the attributes, one would guess they did this on purpose...

As noted above the Judge is spoiled for choice. He has a vast amount of material to draw on in the Marvel Universe before even writing his own stuff. The Basic line and the Advanced line covers all of the main material from the main run of the Bronze Age of comics in the 80's to the early 90s. 

If I were to play today I think a hi tech wonder character ala Ironman would hold the most interest for me. There is just something about being able to tinker with ones battle suit adding more gizmos then R2-D2 that is appealing.

No matter what you inkling you really cant go wrong with MSH as its a great system.

The Night Gwen Stacy Died

 Gwen Stacy: The Fall That Changed Everything

In June of 1973, one of the most important comic book arcs of all time reached a devastating conclusion — The Night Gwen Stacy Died.

I was only four months old when that issue hit shelves, and I wouldn’t read it until years later while raiding my older brother’s comic book stash. At age eight, it didn’t fully register. But decades later, when I picked it up again via a Spider-Man DVD-ROM collection, it hit like a gut punch. Gwen’s fall from the George Washington Bridge hurled her into comic book immortality — and left a mark on the medium that still echoes today.

More Than Just a Love Interest

Gwen Stacy wasn’t just Peter Parker’s girlfriend. For many fans — and creators — she was the one. Not Mary Jane. Not Felicia Hardy. Not Betty Brant. Gwen. Introduced early in Amazing Spider-Man #33, she was Peter’s equal: smart (chemistry major), kind, elegant (Stan Lee wanted her to be “a lady”), and drop-dead gorgeous — a former beauty queen with the classic girl-next-door vibe. The boots, the dresses, the signature black headband — she was iconic even before her death.

Stan intended for Peter to marry her. But fate — and the editorial team — had other plans.

The Moment

In Amazing Spider-Man #121–122, Gwen is kidnapped by the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) and thrown from a tower of the George Washington Bridge. Spider-Man’s webbing catches her... but the sudden stop snaps her neck. Whether it was the Goblin who killed her or Peter’s attempt to save her — it didn’t matter. Gwen was gone.

And so was the Silver Age of Comics.

Why It Mattered

Gwen’s death mattered because it was the first time a superhero truly failed — and not in a “lost the fight” kind of way. This was personal. Tragic. Devastating. The hero didn’t just lose the girl. His actions directly caused it. Uncle Ben died due to Peter’s inaction — but Gwen died because he tried to save her.

That kind of emotional complexity was unheard of at the time. And it shattered the illusion that superheroes always win.

The impact was so great, Marvel received a tidal wave of letters — angry, heartbroken, confused. Editors later tried to walk it back with the Clone Saga and other retro-cons, but the damage (and brilliance) was done.

Gwen’s death defined the Bronze Age. It ushered in darker themes, morally gray heroes, and stories where the good guys didn’t always get the girl — or win at all.

Peter’s Greatest Loss

Here’s the thing: Gwen wasn’t just important to readers. She haunted Peter Parker far more than Uncle Ben ever did. Ben’s death was formative, but Gwen’s was personal. She was real. Developed. Beloved. Her death had weight — not just for Peter, but for the entire comic book world.

Years later, even when Peter was married to Mary Jane, it was Gwen who lingered in his thoughts — as if he still sought her approval from beyond the grave.

The Legacy (and Lame Attempts to Undo It)

Of course, the Big Two can’t resist a resurrection. Gwen’s been cloned, revived, rebooted, and retconned more times than Kenny from South Park. But the truth is: she’s never truly come back — and that’s why her death still resonates.

It’s also why Sins Past — the infamous story line that tried to tie Gwen romantically to Norman Osborn (ugh) — was retconned out of continuity almost immediately. Fans rejected it because it spat in the face of everything Gwen was and stood for.

When she died, she became untouchable — forever preserved as perfect, untainted by years of character drift or editorial meddling.

Why Not Mary Jane?

It’s ironic: in the ’80s, Marvel decided Peter needed a wife — and they turned Mary Jane into Gwen Stacy to make it work. MJ, once the carefree party girl, was reimagined into a grounded, sensible, supportive partner. The bad girl became the good girl… which raises the question: if you wanted Gwen, why not just leave Gwen?

Even in the Sam Raimi films, they mashed the characters together. That wasn’t Mary Jane on-screen — that was Gwen with red hair.

Which is why The Amazing Spider-Man reboot felt so promising. Enter Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy — smart, strong, stylish — and finally, the real deal. And for once, no Mary Jane in sight. (Though for the record, where was the black headband, guys?)

A Story That Shouldn’t Change

Gwen’s death is comic book tragedy done right. It still hurts. It still matters. And that’s what gives it power. If they had saved her — or worse, just “faked” her death — the whole arc would’ve felt cheap. Instead, it hit like a freight train — and set the standard for emotional stakes in superhero storytelling.

If the movies ever go back and really tell that story — the real version — they could make cinematic magic. Think Castaway levels of heartbreak. Peter standing on that bridge, Gwen’s body in his arms. No snappy comeback. No win. Just silence. Just failure. Just loss.

That’s powerful.

Final Thoughts

Gwen Stacy was amazing. Still is.

In a sea of anti-heroes, edgy brooding types, and sunglasses-at-night clichés, she reminds us of a time when superheroes were noble, when tragedy meant something, and when comics weren’t afraid to make us feel something real.

As long as comic book fans are out there, there will always be some of us who remember her — not just for how she died, but for what she represented.

Gwen Stacy: the first, the best, and the one who never came back.