As one of the first successful Marvel franchises, Fox’s X-Men films deserve a certain amount of respect. Though not always perfect, they feature what most people consider their definitive Wolverine. Hugh Jackman is canonically too tall for the 5-foot-3 Canadian ball of rage, but he still warms the hearts of nostalgic fans. Perhaps this is why the MCU is taking its sweet time in bringing mutants to the big screen for the imminent X-Men reboot. Seeds have already been planted in shows like Ms. Marvel, revealing Kamala Khan as a mutant. But if Marvel wants to not incur the wrath of millions of fans, they have to get the X-Men right. And one of the biggest slights in the X-Men movie timeline was the depiction of the infamous villain, Apocalypse.
Poor Oscar Isaac did not stand a chance of filling the extremely large shoes of one of the oldest mutants in history. As his name implies, Apocalypse is larger than life. He should fill up the room with a commanding voice that strikes terror and could conceivably be a character that takes over the world like in Age of Apocalypse. Through no fault of his own, Isaac did not meet expectations. With a whispery voice and the height of a normal person, the character wasn’t exactly ripped from the pages of the comic. The MCU has the perfect opportunity to set things right, and fans know exactly what needs to happen.
Apocalypse was not imposing enough
If the MCU is going to do Apocalypse right, the studio needs to not hold back. The ancient mutant is one of the most formidable villains for the X-Men and makes Magneto look downright reasonable. Determined to make humans inferior to the ruling class of mutants, Apocalypse has no issues with genocide and frequently killed millions of humans at a time. This type of foe is much bigger than the meek attempt in X-Men: Apocalypse which was essentially just a building-up for rebooting the Phoenix Saga in the next film. Fans on Reddit agree that Apocalypse should be a force to be reckoned with, on par with other villains of his stature.
Fans also noted that Isaac’s height took them out of the narrative. No matter how much of a talented actor the Moon Knight star is, he could not compensate for the diminished stature of Apocalypse. In the comics, the villain is close to 7 feet, imposing in his powers as well as his appearance. Though the production put a lot of work into their version of Apocalypse with blue skin and a costume made for a villain, no attempt was made to correct his height.
But most of all, Apocalypse needs to be a villain that is a real threat to the X-Men. He needs to be so imposing and so terrifying that the heroes of the story could actually lose everything. X-Men: Apocalypse made the Four Horsemen a mild annoyance and was quickly solved. This is a mutant who could conceivably take over the world. This should be everyone’s worst nightmare.
It took Thanos 10 years to finally become the world-killing monster that threatened everything the Avengers held dear. Apocalypse, at the very least, deserves more than one second-tier movie.
Published: Aug 15, 2023 11:46 am