20th Century Studios
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE
Starring James McAvoy (Charles Xavier / Professor X), Michael Fassbender (Erik Lensherr / Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Raven / Mystique), Nicolas Hoult (Hank McCoy / Beast), Oscar Isaac (En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse), Rose Byrne (Moira MacTaggert), Evan Peters (Peter Maximoff / Quicksilver), Tye Sheridan (Scott Summers / Cyclops), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Alexandra Shipp (Ororo Munroe / Storm), Olivia Munn(Psylocke) , Kodi Smit-McPhee (Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler), and Ben Hardy (Angel) with a special appearance by Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine
Directed by Bryan Singer
Produced by Simon Kinberg, Bryan Singer, Hutch Parker, and Lauren Shuler Donner
Written by Simon Kinberg
Music By John Ottman
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Run Time: 2 hours and 24 minutes
World Premier: May 9, 2016, London, England
Opening Weekend Box Office: $65 million (United States)
Worldwide Box Office: $543 million
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 47%
20th Century Studios
Fun X-Men: Apocalypse Facts
The Apocalypse character became a centerpiece of X-Men lore in 1995’s beloved Age of Apocalypse event; considered to this day to be amongst the greatest X-Men stories ever written. Age of Apocalypse was a collaborative effort and was the first X-Men story to really make a mark and generate widespread acclaim following Chris Claremont’s iconic 17-year run, which ended in the early-1990’s. The story sees Legion travel back through time in an effort to kill Magneto, but Legion ends up inadvertently killing his father Charles Xavier, setting off a chain of events that drastically alter the future. Apocalypse (the first mutant) invades Earth and establishes a rule over the planet. Magneto ends up serving in a similar role to the one that Xavier once did, and Time Travel (via Bishop) is ultimately used to set things right. Age of Apocalypse made comic book history however, as it established a new status quo within the Marvel Universe for several months. The ongoing X-Men comic book titles had their names and numbering changed for several months to reflect the new timeline that Apocalypse had established, and several changes were made to existing X-Men characters as fans previously knew them. When the Apocalypse character was teased during the credits of X-Men: Days of Future Past, many fans were excited about a potential Age of Apocalypse adaptation, but X-Men: Apocalypse ended up having pretty much nothing in common with that series, aside from the plot revolving around Apocalypse and his “Four Horsemen.”
The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse are representations of Death, Famine, Pestilence, and War. In the Marvel comics, there have been numerous characters that have comprised Apocalypse’s unique group. The concept was formally introduced by Walter and Louise Simonson in 1986’s X-Factor # 10. Apocalypse imbues those that he chooses to be his “Horsemen” with substantial power upgrades and once chosen, he is able to woo them over to his side due to his immense power. In X-Men: Apocalypse, the Horsemen of Apocalypse are Magneto, Angel, Storm, and Psylocke. All but Magneto served as Horsemen at one time or another in the Marvel comics.
In X-Men: Apocalypse, several mutant characters from past X-Men movies from Fox are reintroduced as younger versions of the characters that had been featured previously. These include Jean Grey, Cyclops, Storm, and Nightcrawler, and they join the younger versions of characters that were introduced beginning with X-Men: First Class such as Professor X, Magneto, Beast, Mystique, Havok, and Quicksilver. All of the younger versions of the characters seen in X-Men: Apocalypse are recasts, except for Angel, who is portrayed by Ben Hardy, who also portrayed Angel in X-Men: The Last Stand.
X-Men: Apocalypse is set on the new Timeline that was established in X-Men: Days of Future Past when Wolverine was successful on his time traveling mission to prevent Mystique from assassinating Bolivar Trask. The film does not pick directly up from the end of that movie however, as it instead takes place about a decade later, set during the 1980’s. Wolverine’s character trajectory is briefly touched upon, courtesy of a Hugh Jackman cameo where we see that he has landed in the custody of William Stryker and has consequently been experimented upon, becoming Weapon X, just as he did in the Original Timeline, albeit with some subtle changes. Most notable, Wolverine’s appearance in this film is based on the character’s appearance in Barry Windsor-Smith’s Weapon X story, which was published in 1991, complete with a large metallic head piece.
After portraying Charles Xavier / Professor X in two films (X-Men: first Class and X-Men: Apocalypse) while boasting a thick head of hair, actor James McAvoy finally shaved his head for the role in Apocalypse, at long last boasting Xavier’s traditional comic book appearance.
20th Century Studios
It is insinuated in X-Men: Apocalypse that Apocalypse is essentially the God of the Old Testament and that the scriptures written about that deity in the Holy Bible were references to Apocalypse. In the early part of the developmental process, this was to be stressed in the film, but as the script evolved, this was toned down significantly, though these character traits were stressed in some of the trailers.
In the Fall of 2014, Fox announced that Bryan Singer would be returning to direct X-Men: Apocalypse. Singer previously directed X-Men, X2: X-Men United, and X-Men: Days of Future Past for Fox. One month before the theatrical release of X-Men: Days of Future Past, Singer was accused in a civil lawsuit of sexual assault of a minor. Singer denied the allegations but withdrew from all planned public appearances to promote the film; his official X-Men homecoming. Singer’s accuser withdrew his suit in August, but in the meantime, Singer faced new and similar allegations from another accuser. After directing X-Men: Apocalypse, Singer began helping Fox develop Dark Phoenix. However, further sexual assault allegations emerged in 2017 and 2019 which resulted in Singer being dismissed by Fox and the longtime director’s subsequent self-imposed exile from the public eye.
X-Men: Apocalypse was one of four Marvel films that were produced in 2016, but X-Men: Apocalypse was made without any input from Marvel Studios, as the working relationship between Marvel and Fox ended with 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, with Marvel Entertainment promoting Kevin Feige to lead the Marvel Studios team that would birth the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Studios produced both Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange in 2016, while Fox produced both Deadpool and X-Men: Apocalypse. Captain America: Civil War was the highest-grossing film of 2016 ($1.1 billion) while Deadpool ($782 million) was the ninth highest-grossing film of the year. Deadpool outperformed both Doctor Strange ($ 677 million) and X-Men: Apocalypse ($543 million), with Apocalypse finishing as the third highest-grossing X-Men film of all-time and just the third X-Men film to ever cross the $500 million mark.
Beyond X-Men: Apocalypse, Fox produced the critically acclaimed film Logan in 2017, which at the time, served as the Cinematic conclusion to the stories of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier (whom James McAvoy portrays a younger version of in X-Men: Apocalypse).
On December 17, 2017, the Walt Disney Company announced that an agreement had been reached with 20th Century Fox that would see Disney acquire Fox’s television and film divisions, among other things. Disney had acquired Marvel Entertainment at the end of 2009, and Marvel Studios with it. The lucrative Fox deal therefore landed the film rights to Marvel’s mutants under the Disney / Marvel Studios umbrella. Fox shareholders unanimously approved the transaction on July 27, 2018, and the deal was finalized on March 20, 2019. In the meantime, Deadpool 2 was released theatrically in 2018, followed by Dark Phoenix in 2019, and New Mutants in 2020. New Mutants marked the thirteenth X-Men film and the last X-Men project produced by the previous regime at Fox.
The Fox X-Men film Universe is more than a little complicated, but in making sense of things as best I can, I assume that mutants generally age differently (slower) than normal humans, which is how so many of these characters look so young twenty years removed from their introductions in X-Men: First Class, which was set during the 1960’s.
Actor Oscar Isaac, who portrayed Apocalypse in X-Men: Apocalypse, would go on to be cast by Marvel Studios in the role of Moon Knight for the 2022 Disney+ series Moon Knight.
In 2021’s WandaVision series produced by Marvel Studios for Disney+, Evan Peters was cast by Marvel Studios to seemingly portray Quicksilver within the MCU 616-Universe, complete with the power set and name of Marvel Studios’ version of Pietro Maximoff that was previously portrayed by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Peters as Pietro looks as he did in Fox’s X-Men films and shares several scenes with his “sister” Wanda (portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen), and furthermore retains the same sort of charisma and comedic timing that made him so likable as the character in Fox’s X-Men films. At the time, many fans thought that Marvel Studios’ casting of Peters was to be MCU fans’ formal introduction to the Multiverse and that this version of Quicksilver was in fact the same version of the character that was introduced in X-Me Days of Future Past and whose story continued in X-Men: Apocalypse, but the series went on to reveal that the character that Peters was portraying had merely been brainwashed by an ancient Witch named Agatha Harkness, who bestowed his identity and accompanying abilities upon him through magic. The character Peters was actually portraying was a resident of Westview, New Jersey (a whole town that had fallen under Wanda’s spell) named Ralph Bonner.
20th Century Studios
My X-Men: Apocalypse Review
X-Men: Apocalypse opens in ancient Egypt, and we see the ritualistic process of the consciousness of the mighty mutant En Sabah Nur being transferred into the body of another mutant; one that boats a healing factor. Outside, an ambush is plotted however, and the followers of En Sabah Nur are killed and En Sabah Nur himself is entombed alive. Thousands of years later, En Sabah Nur is freed, and he awakens in the modern world where he seeks to reestablish his rule. His first recruit is the young mutant that we’ve come to known as Storm. He soon adds Angel and Psylocke to his group before recruiting Magneto.
As for Magneto, he had settled into a quiet life off the grid in Poland, marrying a woman and fathering a child. He loved his family dearly and was happy and content … until an incident at work during which he used his powers to save a coworker during a violent earthquake. The reveal that Erik is a mutant prompts the local militia to seek him out and a standoff results in the careless and unnecessary deaths of his wife and daughter. This tragic turn of events sends Erik over the edge, and he murders the militiamen and all of his coworkers. Apocalypse soon comes calling and having lost all faith and hope in anything else, the embittered Erik accepts the invitation of En Sabah Nur to become his fourth Horseman.
In the meantime, Scott Summers is brought to Xavier’s school by his brother Havok and Mystique brings a young Nightcrawler to the school. Scott meets – and quickly falls for – a young Jean Grey. There are all kinds of little scenes with the young mutants getting to know each other, which include a trip to the mall (and comments on how the third film are always the worst in a trilogy). Everything leads however to Charles psychically reaching out to Erik amidst all of the powerful disturbances he has been detecting and when Xavier does this, Apocalypse hijacks Cerebro through Xavier and uses the machine to force world leaders across the globe to launch their respective nuclear arsenals into Space.
Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen then raid Xavier’s Mansion, abducting Xavier, whom Apocalypse wishes to transfer his consciousness into. Havok tries to defend Xavier, sparking a massive explosion that endangers everyone in the school. Quicksilver intervenes in an awesome rescue sequence set to Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Eurythmics. Havok dies in the explosion, however.
The ever-mutant-hating William Stryker arrives and abducts Beast, Mystique, Quicksilver, and Moira MacTaggert, leaving Cyclops, Jean, and Nightcrawler to give chase in an effort to save them. The mutants end up encountering Weapon X (Wolverine), whom Jean helps free after he unleashes hell on Stryker’s forces.
20th Century Studios
Meanwhile, Magneto uses his abilities to alter Earth’s magnetic field. Xavier summons his X-Men to Cairo, Egypt to combat Apocalypse and his Horsemen. Xavier battles En Sabah Nur on the psychic plane and Storm and Magneto turn against Apocalypse. Ultimately, it is young Jean Grey who is the key to conquering Apocalypse. She summons the full power of her abilities and incinerates the first mutant, teasing the coming of the Phoenix.
Back in New York, Erik helps repair the mansion, but decides against staying on as a teacher. It was also revealed earlier that Erik is indeed Peter’s father. With the school restored, Beast and Mystique begin training the new X-Men, complete with uniforms.
A post-credits scene sees the Essex Corporation retrieve blood samples and x-rays from the Weapon X facility.
X-Men: Apocalypse had SO much potential to be another epic X-Men film, building off the excellence of X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past, but the third time was not exactly a charm, and this film was largely disappointing. When I heard the film was set in the 1980’s, I was hoping to see what became of Wolverine after Mystique possessed his body at the end of the previous X-Men film, but instead, there was a 10-year time-jump and Wolverine was relegated to a mere cameo as Weapon X (though that cameo was definitely badass!).
As it was, this movie had a lot to juggle with the new young X-Men, and Apocalypse and his “Four Horsemen.”
20th Century Studios
This left a lot of characters quite underdeveloped, as there wasn’t a lot of time to do each and every character justice. The concept of Apocalypse was set up in some very exciting ways, what with the religious overtones and all, but I think Apocalypse and his Horsemen could have used another 20-minutes of development at least.
On top of all of that, this film did a lot to muddy the continuity waters after Days of Future Past did so much to rectify past mistakes and that was frustrating to say the least. Mystique taking Wolverine’s body ended up being completely irrelevant (which I discussed in my Days of Future Past review), but again, Hugh Jackman’s cameo as Weapon X was nonetheless amazing and was probably my favorite part of the film.
Maybe X-Men: Apocalypse needed MORE Wolverine and maybe it needed MORE Apocalypse, or maybe it needed less Simon Kinberg, or some combination of all three? I’m also sure that Bryan Singer was more than a little bit distracted.
James McAvoy was still great, and it was cool that he shaved his head for his role and Michael Fassbender did a really great job again, and I also really liked Sophie Turner as Jean Grey. The other young mutants all worked hard to do justice by the characters they were cast to portray, but a lot if it didn’t really land with me as a viewer or an X-Men fan. I love Nightcrawler for instance, but I found myself greatly missing Alan Cumming. Meanwhile, turning storm evil or whatever was interesting in concept, but not executed very well … and that’s probably my overall problem with this film.
In the end, there was just too much going on for it to all come together in a satisfying way. I think there were some really great ideas that were just poorly executed when it came to bring it all together. This wasn’t the worst X-Men film by any means, but it was far from the best at the same time. Just an average, if not mediocre movie, which was a letdown given the excellence of recent X-Men projects from Fox at that time.
20th Century Studios
Highlights of X-Men: Apocalypse:
Weapon X!
James McAvoy as Charles Xavier
Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr / Magneto
Sophie Turner as Jean Grey
Another Awesome Quicksilver Scene!
Apocalypse and the Religious Undertones and Overtones Surrounding his Character
20th Century Studios
Notable MCU Concepts and Characters Introduced:
X-Men: Apocalypse serves as a sequel to X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past, films that feature various versions of a Universe of characters that are rumored to be set to be formally introduced in Marvel Studios’ upcoming film Deadpool 3, including a purported Variant of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, whose story moves forward from Days of Future Past in this film. X-Men: Apocalypse also furthers the story of Charles Xavier / Professor X (portrayed by both Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy in the X-Men films), a Multiversal Variant of which (existing on Earth-838) was later seen in the 2022 Marvel Studios film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness that looks nearly identical to the version of Professor X portrayed by Stewart, with the Multiverse of Madness version of Xavier also being portrayed by Patrick Stewart.
Leave a Reply