From alternate timelines to spin-off flicks…there’s an onslaught of mutant mayhem hitting film-goers. From another gruff and brooding loner tale to the somewhat convoluted yet comic iconic sequel title to First Class, Days of Future Past and The Wolverine are currently offering a daily overdose of the X-gene. It’s been assumed that The Wolverine will chronologically take place before the events of the Bryan Singer begun X-Men trilogy, backed somewhat by First Class unofficially writing the less than uncanny X-Men: The Last Stand seemingly out of continuity. Yet in a recent interview with Empire, director James Mangold suggested the plot-inconsistencies of the Matthew Vaughn prequel were not the writers polite way of excusing Brett Ratner’s installment. Apparently Last Stand’s mediocrity might still…well…stand.

“Where this film sits in the universe of the films is after them all. Jean Grey is gone, most of the X-Men are disbanded or gone, so there’s a tremendous sense of isolation for him.”

Hm! This may lend some credibility to the rumors of Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey appearing in Logan’s second solo adventure. Adding to the timeline confusion, the Empire article features photos of Wolvie with his premature bone claws, adamantium free. Much like the later comic books, it appears the X-Men films are jumping back and forth through time like a freaking Delorean. Director James Mangold continues on to say…

“That’s something that for me was very important, that I land in a very specific place in his timeline. I wanted to be able to tell the story without the burden of handing it off to a film that already exists and having to conform to it. The ideas of immortality reign very heavily in this story and the burden of immortality weighs heavily on Logan. For me that’s such an interesting part of Logan’s character that is nearly impossible to explore if you have a kind of league or team movie.”

Drawing from the Frank Miller and Chris Claremont solo title, the clawed canuck ventures to Japan where he encounters many ancient foes like villainous samurai and ninjutsu clans. While it’s unconfirmed if the Hand will be directly mentioned in the narrative, going against their shadowy shtick, ninja actually have been spotted on set. Simultaneously, much like a ninja, Matthew Vaughn has pulled out of directing Days of Future Past as of today. The original X-Men director, Bryan Singer, possibly reenacting his own days of future past, is the frontrunner to helm the prequel sequel set to star the returning Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy.

While The Last Stand did give a brief glimpse at the futuristic mutant-hunting robo-Gustapo with its Danger Room simulation, the Sentinels, famed foes of the Children of the Atom and vessels for the titles tolerance theme, have yet to truly appear. Yet according to Mark Millar, creator of Wanted and Kick-Ass and recently hired as a comic consultant by 20th Century Fox, this may become part of our past. He has this to say about the First Class follow-up…

“[Director Matthew] Vaughn (now former director) is going for a big sci-fi style thing with ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past,’” said Millar. “It’s X-Men meets The Terminator. You’ve got robots, you’ve got time travel, you’ve got superheroes – it’s got everything in one film.”