Bryan Singer Shows Off Charles Xavier's Counterculture Look In 'X-Men: Days Of Future Past'

There have got to be many great papers out there on the clash of mainstream and counterculture ideas in X-Men stories. Just as a starter, the whole cycle is based on a discriminated minority (mutants), but for much of the series said minority is officially headquartered in Westchester, NY. You don't get much more whitebread than Westchester. (Except for the fact that, irony probably intended, the area was originally heavily settled by an Algonquian people, the Lenape.)

Bryan Singer's next film, and the next installment of the cinematic adaptations of those stories, is X-Men: Days of Future Present. Being as it deals with the possible internment and extermination of mutants, that mainstream vs counter-culture angle might be out in full force.

The time-traveling conceit in the film allows Singer to make use of the cast he originally assembled for 2000's X-Men, and the group that starred in the prequel X-Men: First Class from 2010. We've already seen a shot of Patrick Stewart playing the older version of X-Men leader Charles Xavier. Now we've got a shot of James McAvoy playing the younger Xavier, replete with full-on period style: long locks, facial hair, and a polyester shirt.

Here's the photo, with Singer's zinger #Serpico:

X-Men: Days of Future Past also features Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Shawn Ashmore, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Ian McKellan, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Omar Sy, Daniel Cudmore, Booboo Stewart, Fan Bingbing, and Peter Dinklage. It opens July 18, 2014.