We must be getting close to the release of “X-Men: Days Of Future Past” if the fast-food tie-in commercials are already airing.
Here's what I don't understand. Quicksilver, played in Bryan Singer's movie by Evan Peters, is one of the main new characters in the series, and he plays a key role in securing Magneto's escape from an impossible prison in the film. We've seen photos of Peters in his costume from the film, but he hasn't featured in any significant way in the trailers so far.
That means that our visual introduction to Quicksilver in motion comes in the form of 30 seconds of him eating an X-tra Bacon, Egg & Cheese biscuit. If they were hoping to make him seem interesting or intimidating or cool, this is pretty much the opposite of the way they should have handled things.
Did they see “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and decide that they wanted to get their version of Quicksilver in front of audiences now to try to counter the view we get of Aaron Johnson playing the same role during the scenes that are played post-credits in that film?
I get the financial reasons behind these crazy fast-food deals, and I know it can make a huge difference to a studio, especially when they are making a movie that costs several hundred million dollars. But the introduction of a character is really important, and now when I see Quicksilver in the film, I'm going to be thinking about him jamming a breakfast sandwich into his face. It's a huge tactical mistake, and I'd be curious to know how the filmmakers feel about it. It would be one thing if they were using actual clips from the film, but they're not. This is Quicksilver, in character, eating their product.
Even weirder, the behind-the-scenes footage in the other thing Carl's Jr. just released features more dialogue from Daniel Cudmore as Colossus than we've heard from him in every X-Men movie so far. Way to make an impression, Fox.
Take a look for yourself. Here's the commercial:
And here's the behind-the-scenes thing:
You tell me… does this kind of commercialization of a character bother you at all, or is it just par for the course in the age of franchises?
“X-Men: Days Of Future Past” opens in theaters May 23, 2014.