(CBR) Just days after the 50th anniversary of the real-life assassination of 35th U.S. president John F. Kennedy, 20th Century Fox has unveiled a viral marketing site promoting the upcoming Marvel Comics-based film “X-Men: Days of Future Past” that connects fictional villain Magneto to the infamous historical event.
“The Bent Bullet” site makes it clear that the JFK assassination will play a central role in the movie, stating, “Half a century ago, Magneto was implicated in the mutant plot to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. The events of that fateful day in November have been a point of contention between humans and the mutants ever since.” A video on the site says Magneto (played on screen by both Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen) was arrested for the crime in the “Days of Future Past” world, though the evidence was “circumstantial” — with a report declaring that Magneto used his metal-controlling power to alter the trajectory of the fatal bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald.
The original “Days of Future Past” storyline, which ran through 1980’s “Uncanny X-Men” #141 and #142, also centered around an assassination: Robert Kelly, a fictional senator with an anti-mutant platform.
Directed by Bryan Singer in his return to the franchise after 2000’s “X-Men” and 2003’s “X2,” “X-Men: Days of Future Past” opens on May 23, 2014.