[UPDATE: Bryan Singer has responded to this X-Men rumor.]

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X-Men: Days of Future Past is an ambitious film. For Fox, it's their first attempt at a shared universe and will combine all their X-Men movies into one franchise, paving the way for even more X-films - like X-Force and Apocalypse - down the line.

The real draw, however, has been that Days of Future Past sees the return of several characters from Fox's first trilogy of X-Men films. Storm in particular was a character fans anticipated returning, especially once actress Halle Berry teased her character's "integral" role, despite her pregnancy keeping her from flying and being as typically "badass" as in previous films.

Unfortunately, there may be some bad news for those looking forward to Storm's role in Days of Future Past. A gossip column in the NY Daily News reporting on rumors Berry and her husband are living separately are also saying Berry's role has been almost entirely cut from the film.

Their source is quoted as saying Storm appears in only one scene and "only has one line in the whole movie." They follow that with a catty remark implying Berry isn't aware of this and wouldn't have found out until Days of Future Past released, which kind of makes this all sound like trashy, insider gossip.

UPDATE: Bryan Singer has shot down this rumor:

@digitalspy: @bryansinger are the rumours about Storm being cut down to just 1 scene true? :(” No.— Bryan Singer (@BryanSinger) March 17, 2014

Halle Berry

Storm wouldn't be the first character to have her role in Days of Future Past on the chopping block. Anna Paquin's Rogue, who appeared in the first teaser footage for the film (as did Storm) was said to have had her entire role excised from the film - by Bryan Singer, no less! The director later clarified his statement by saying just because Paquin's largest sequence as Rogue was cut "does not mean that we won’t see her in the film." Whether she's in it or not, it appears Paquin's role was significantly downsized and there's no reason the same couldn't have happened to Berry's.

One film featuring two generations of X-Men is a lot of mutants. In the past, having too many mutants has been a real problem for the X-Men films. X-Men: The Last Stand, for instance, tried including so many mutants that those who should have served as fun references for fans became toss away characters, pointless and forgetful. And with that in mind, perhaps giving less screen time to the future X-Men - a real possibility since we know only past and future Xavier interact - will only benefit Days of Future Past.

Then again, one scene and one line is a pretty raw deal for a character and mutant as powerful as Storm. What are you thinking, Screen Rant readers? Is it likely Fox has cut Berry's role as Storm so significantly? Would this be a good thing or a bad thing?

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X-Men: Days of Future Past releases in theatres May 23rd, 2014.

Source: NY Daily News (via CBM)