Earlier today, Entertainment Weekly revealed a highly promising look at Olivia Munn’s Psylocke and, ahem, intriguing first image of Oscar Isaac’s big bad Apocalypse on its new cover, and now some new photos and story details about X-Men: Apocalypse have emerged in the accompanying article.
For one, the mag confirms that Apocalypse is over 5,000 years old and has a bone to pick with all human/mutantkind when he awakens from a long slumber and decides that the Reagan era is far from ideal. As such, he sets out on a mission of utter annihilation, determined to wipe the slate (i.e. all of civilization) clean. “It’s one giant civilization that now requires one giant culling,” director Bryan Singer told EW. “That’s why he needs special assistants in this process.”
Those assistants include a young Storm (a street urchin in Cairo when Apocalypse finds her, played by Alexandra Shipp), Psylocke (working in Russia for Caliban, who is described as a mutant-broker), Angel (part of a Berlin fight club, played by Ben Hardy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender). Apparently, Magneto is done being a villain when the film opens, and he’s instead attempting to eke out a peaceful existence with a lover in Poland. When tragedy strikes, however, he’s reduced to his most animal instincts and is very susceptible to Apocalypse’s demands.
It’s surprising that the Four Horsemen would be such powerful X-Men players, but that just means Professor X (James McAvoy) is going to have his work cut out for him attempting to stop the supervillain. That’s a little outside Charles’ wheelhouse when Apocalypse opens, though. According to the actor, “he’s not teaching anybody how to fight at the moment. He’s teaching people how to control their abilities so that they can work at a bank. But of course this movie challenges all of that.”
Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence, who may actually be around for more than just this movie, contrary to previous belief) may be a little more ready to fight than her fellow mutants. As Apocalypse opens, she’s pushing to rescue enslaved or oppressed mutants around the globe, including young teleport Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee). When she learns that Magneto has been recruited to Apocalypse’s world-ending cause, she sets out to help her old friend.
X-Men: Apocalypse opens on May 27, 2016. The titular villain seems like a truly terrifying opponent for the X-Men, so it will be great to learn more about him as that date draws closer.
