X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST: Bryan Singer Talks About the Science of Time Travel and Kitty Pryde's Power

Time travel is the biggest plot point in X-Men Days of Future Past. But how does director Bryan Singer make something that is heavy in science fiction influence believable?

While talking with Total Film, Singer briefly discusses how he is making time travel both believable and as realistic as possible.

"I had to figure out a system by which things could occur in two different times that would have a logic to it. So I created a conceit based loosely on quantum physics. The details of that, without getting into too much gobbledegook, deal with the notion that until an event is observed, it hasn’t fully happened yet. 

"So when history can go either way – when it’s not set yet, not ‘observed’ – it’s called a ‘superposition’. And then when the observer opens their eyes, that collapses the ‘super position’, which is kind of what’s happening here with the Wolverine character."

Singer then went into some details regarding Kitty Pryde's power and how she is able to shift Wolverine's consciousness into the past.

"So the Wolverine character’s consciousness journeys back in time, and while he’s back there the past and future can co-exist until that moment ends. And then the future takes hold. 

"Is Kitty’s arc very different from the comic-book version [in the comic, she’s the one who travels back rather than Wolverine]. Well, yes and no. She has the power to ‘push’ consciousness and move someone. At the beginning of the film, she’s using it as an escape mechanism. She uses it to warn their group, the refugees, that they’re under attack. But then the challenge becomes: can they go deeper into the past? 

"Wolverine has, you know, a unique ability that makes him able to do that. So her goal is to keep him there. Because the moment he returns, whatever he’s done, for better or worse, takes hold. "

Got it? X-Men Days of Future Past comes out on May 23, 2014 to (hopefully) better understand this concept of how time travel works in the X-Men sequel.

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