[WARNING: This article contains potential SPOILERS for 'Days of Future Past.']

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With the release of X-Men: First Class, the X-franchise began tying itself very closely to real events in history. Not only was that film a period piece set in the turbulent 1960s, but the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 served as the film's climax and was revealed as a pivotal moment in history between humans and mutants.

Now that X-Men: Days of Future Past intends to bridge the gap between Fox's two generations of mutants, even more connections between historical events and the emergence of mutants are being made. Through the film's viral marketing, we've already learned about Magneto's implied involvement in the J.F.K. assassination as detailed in The Bent Bullet. Integrating an explanation for the fabled second shooter isn't new and frankly a little clichéd, but this hasn't stopped DOFP's marketing from drawing even more connections between human history and mutants.

Their latest viral site, 25 Moments, takes this thinking to the next level, detailing 25 instances - from 1962 to 2018 - where mutants played an integral role in shaping the outcome of some of history's most famous (and infamous) moments. The video above teases a few of these pivotal moments in the ongoing struggle between humans and mutants, but the website's timeline provides further details about each event.

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Beginning with the Cuban Missile Crisis and followed by the J.F.K. assassination one year later, the timeline continues linking mutants and those fearful of them with other crucial events in history. President Nixon, for instance, held a secret meeting with Bolivar Trask in 1972, yet no record remains as their meeting was conveniently erased from the White House tapes. This implies that in Days of Future Past, those missing 18 1/2 minutes don't implicate Nixon in the Watergate scandal, but rather the beginnings of the Sentinel program, which the President unveils one year later.

Many of these 25 moments feature mutants we're already familiar with as well as a few we'll meet in Days of Future Past. In 1977, Pietro Maximoff a.k.a. Quicksilver is involved in a scandal after he breaks eight track and field world records, forcing officials to enact genetic testing to determine whether or not athletes exhibit the mutant gene. In 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear facility meltdown causes mutations in the surrounding population to begin expressing much earlier, as is the case with who we can only assume is an infant Colossus in the image below. South Africa ended apartheid in 1991 and, as this timeline implies, not only became a safe haven for those seeking racial equality, but mutant acceptance as well. And, through more questionable photoshop, Storm is shown to be present at one of these rallies.

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From there, it's explained that mutants took part in the Zapatista Rebellion in Mexico, and it's implied that Mystique was involved as a rebel soldier. In 1996, the outbreak of Mad Cow Disease is linked with Trask Industries' first failed attempt at creating a cure for the mutant gene. And in 2001, Guantanamo Bay is expanded to house mutants considered a danger to national security.

However, as the years tick into the future, what's revealed is even more interesting. After the events from the films X-Men, X2, and X3 comes the aftermath: the mutant inhibitor collar, Trask Industries taking over Xavier's Mansion and turning it into a research facility, and the creation of prison camps.

There are even fatalities, as it's revealed that Warren Worthington III a.k.a. Angel was killed during an Occupy Wall Street protest of the mutant cure in 2011. In 2015, Hank McCoy, now an ambassador to the U.N. working to improve human-mutant relations, was dragged from his home by an angry mob and murdered.

That last moment is especially shocking considering the rather large role McCoy plays in Days of Future Past, but since we've heard rumors Kesley Grammer returned to shoot a secret cameo scene, it wouldn't be out of the question to assume it's in some way related to his tragic death.

Clearly, 25 Moments has provided the largest bulk of background information about the world in Days of Future Past and how it differs from our own. Do scroll through the website yourself as there are even more events and clues about what's happening in and between the film's two timelines.

What do you make of these pivotal 25 Moments? Is Days of Future Past trying too hard to connect itself within our already established history? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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X-Men: Days of Future Past will open in U.S. theaters on May 23rd, 2014.

Source: 25 Moments