X-Men: Apocalypse - First Look!

December 12, 2015

X-Men: Apocalypse - First Look!

Some great new for comic-book fans yesterday! A courtesy of comicbook.com, we have our first look at the next installment in the X-Men movie franchise, X-Men: Apocalypse. A direct sequel to 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, this new movie throws one of the X-Men’s most powerful characters at the new ensemble of heroes. The premise of the film is as described by 20th Century Fox:

Apocalypse
X-Men: Apocalypse Official Trailer 1 20th Century Fox

“Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.”

The trailer starts off with a dream sequence consisting montage of quick cuts of different scenes of destruction, depicting what is possibly the end of the world at the hands of Apocalypse. Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) describes this to Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy) who reassures her it’s just a dream. From here we cut to a scene with a hooded figure who is most probably Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), with Storm (Alexandra Shipp) to his right and Caliban (Tómas Lemarquis) standing opposite to them. It will be exciting to see the role that Caliban will play in this movie as he is one of Apocalypse’s longtime associates and was once a part of the Four Horsemen.

Next we see the return of Moira MacTaggert, as played by Rose Byrne, speaking to Professor X and the returning Havok (Lucas Till) from X-Men: First Class. Likewise, we see more of the new cast, as well as the old, with shots of Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), followed by shots of the new cast, starting with Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and Jubilee (Lana Condor). We get a look at another familiar face with Magneto (Michael Fassbender) as one of the Horsemen, and Apocalypse removes his hood to reveal an unrecognisable Oscar Isaac, standing just in front of a menacing looking Storm, who is also part of the Four Horsemen. We also get a quick shot of Olivia Munn as the face of Psylocke as part of the Horsemen.

Angel (Top)
Storm (Left), Psylocke (Centre), Magneto (Right)
X-Men: Apocalypse Official Trailer 1 20th Century Fox

A bit later on we get a clearer look at Ben Hardy’s Warren Worthington III/Angel with the rest of the Horsemen and Apocalypse, in the tunnel leading to Cerebro. As well as a shot of him in the air, shooting his metallic feathers. It has been known for quite a while that he will become one of the Four Horsemen, so his transition from Angel to Archangel should be expected at some point in the film. This explains his metal wings to the normal moviegoer or a less informed comic-book fan, as Angel originally loses his real wings and they are replaced by organic metal wings at the hands of Apocalypse, under the deal that Angel serves him as a Horseman.

Quicksilver (top left, Jubilee (top centre), Nightcrawler (top right)
Jean Grey, Night Crawler, Cyclops (bottom)
X-Men: Apocalypse Official Trailer 1 20th Century Fox

Following a quick interaction between Beast and Mystique, we see the X-Men, along with Moira, on what is probably the X-Jet, heading off to battle. In the background sit Jean Grey, with Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers/Cyclops, and a returning Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver sitting opposite to them, played by Evan Peters. We also see part of the cast in what could potentially be some sort of power-dampening cell, seeing as they are all seemingly incapacitated. A better look at Jean Grey, Nightcrawler and Cyclops follows, with Cyclops wearing a pair of slick Ray-Ban sunglasses to prevent his eyes from shooting off. The backdrop is a destroyed city, which implies that Apocalypse will have already caused plenty of damage to the world and therefore this is probably all towards the end of the film.

Nearing the end of the trailer we get clearer shots of some of the characters, including Magneto, Quicksilver, Storm, Archangel, and Apocalypse. Regarding Apocalypse, his powers can be seen on display as he makes himself grow in what is possibly a dream sequence or a mental battle of sorts, seeing as Professor X is standing and confronting Apocalypse in this shot. Apocalypse can also be seen in what is probably Cerebro in the shot where he is amongst a flowing crowd of people, which one can assume is what is making Professor X’s eyes go black in the next shot.

Professor X/Charles Xavier
X-Men: Apocalypse Official Trailer 1 20th Century Fox

Finally, we get the money shot, the moment all fans have been waiting for since X-Men: First Class. Professor X goes bald. In regards to the “why” and the “how” of the situation, we’ll have to wait until Memorial Day (May 30th) in 2016 to find out. However, there is one question which went unanswered in the trailer, it may be for a good reason or it may not be. Where is Wolverine? Hugh Jackman’s name was mysteriously taken off the IMDb cast list for X-Men: Apocalypse, despite his appearance in the movie as Wolverine being confirmed. This is, however, Hugh Jackman’s second-to-last appearance in the X-Men franchise before the final standalone Wolverine movie, so it is logical that director Bryan Singer would want to make his appearance both special, relevant and possibly influential in the movie. Once again we will have to wait until the movie’s release to find out, until then, anything is just speculation.

If you do have any speculations regarding any aspect of the movie or things that occurred in the trailer, feel free to leave them in the comment section below.

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