Is Peter Dinklage Playing The Main Villain In X-Men: Days Of Future Past?

Late last night Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage became the first new actor to join the X-Men franchise since pre-production began on Bryan Singer’s Days of Future Past. Unfortunately, the casting news came without one key detail: who he will be playing. This the announcement many fans have speculated about names like Puck and MODOK, but the former isn’t a mutant and the latter still belongs to Marvel Studios. We have no idea who Dinklage will end up playing, but today it seems that the field has been narrowed down to characters playing for the baddies.

Variety claims to have learned that Dinklage will be playing the villain in X-Men: Days of Future Past. While the trade doesn’t get any more specific, their sources close to the production say that he will “be the main antagonist.”

But even what that means is up in the air at this point. The original comic book arc begins in a future that has been ravaged by mutant hunting robots called Sentinels, so the X-Men send one of their own back in time to stop the key event that led to the horrific future. So with those two timelines to play with, where does the “main antagonist” fit in? Is he the one pushing for the creation of the Sentinels? Is he the one responsible for the cataclysmic event in the past that changes the future?

X-Men: Days of Future Past will also star James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore and Ellen Page. The film will be in theaters July 18, 2014.

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Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.