How Will X-Men: Days of Future Past Link Its Storyline With Newly Announced 'Apocalypse' Sequel?

Trust Bryan Singer to reveal some major sneak peeks and teasers through his tweets. The X-Men: Days of Future Past director has dropped a mysterious hint on Twitter, seemingly implying that the next film in the Marvel Series called X-Men: Apocalypse is in the works for 2016:

#Xmen #Apocalypse 2016!
2:52 AM - 6 Dec 2013

- @Bryan Singer

Singer is currently working on the hugely awaited X-Men: Days of Future Past, which will pair mutants from both the original X-Men series and the 2011 prequel X-Men: First Class, in the same film.

The Wrap has even more information on the announcement, pegging the release date as 27 May 2016. While the X-Men franchise has certain proved a venerable moneymaker for 20th Century Fox, this kind of early announcement only serves to highlight how much the studio is banking on the franchise.

While it hasn't been immediately confirmed that Singer himself will be helming the picture, the fact that the director was the one to break the news, not to mention his strong association with the franchise, makes it a strong possibility, according to a report in The Verge.

There has been no official word with regard to the film's star cast. But it is a bit difficult now to imagine an X-Men film without Hugh Jackman playing the moody Wolverine.

Apocalypse is a major villain from the Marvel comics. He first showed up in the classic X-Factor run in the 1980s which reunited the original five X-Men (the original five from the comics, that is) -- Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel, Beast, and Iceman, says a report in IGN.

Created by Louise and Walt Simonson, the villain became a staple of the X-world, eventually leading to the famed alternate-universe storyline Age of Apocalypse. How this all ties into where Days of Future Past ends remains to be seen, but it is not hard to imagine that the film's time-travel story somehow resulting in an altered reality for the characters.