Although X-Men: Days of Future Past left us knowing what its sequels major storyline would be about, it still left us with a ton of questions. X-Men: Apocalypse is definitely all going to be about facing off against the big bad Apocalypse, but it will also (hopefully) answer all those questions we were left with last year.
Some of us may have seen the leaked Comic-Con trailer from this summer, and if you did, it didn’t reveal a whole lot other than which characters are on which sides, and those didn’t come to a huge surprise. But now the official synopsis for the film has been released, and we have our first bit of new information on the latest X-Men film in weeks, perhaps even months. The first three-fourths of the synopsis is exactly what we expected as it builds up what the team will be going up against, but the real interesting stuff is when those final two or three lines roll through and we learn who exactly will be leading this X-Men team into battle come next summer. Check it out below:
Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshiped 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.
Ever since SDCC, we’ve know that Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) enlists Magneto as one of his Four Horsman, alongside Olivia Munn’s Psylocke, Alexandra Shipp’s Storm and Ben Hardy’s (Arch)Angel. That’s the biggest part of the story we’ve known to this point, to this point being the key phrase. As I’m sure you’ve already caught from reading the synopsis, it makes it clear that Jennifer Lawrence’s Raven (not Mystique) will be leading the X-Men, with it suggesting that Professor X will be taking a back seat to her lead. This is by far the biggest piece of story information we’ve gotten in some time for Bryan Singer’s film, and although I’ve heard some fans get pretty upset by the call, I actually dig it…
“They’re just trying to cash in on Jennifer Lawrence’s star power.” That’s the biggest thing I’ve heard from the ending of Days of Future Past and definitely from this new synopsis. And that very well may be true, but why wouldn’t they? She not only brings in the green, but she elevates each film she’s in, especially when she’s in it a lot. So personally, I understand if that’s the case.
But that’s not my biggest argument. I’m not comparing these films to Star Wars at all, because they aren’t, but this most recent X-Men franchise has taken a very Star Wars -y approach to it. Just as the original trilogy followed the evolution of Luke, Leia and Han, this X-Men trilogy has mainly followed the evolution of Professor X, Mystique/Raven and Magneto. It’s their trilogy, and no matter how many or which characters come and go in the three films, it will always be their story. So can you hate on Fox and Bryan Singer for putting Jennifer Lawrence front and center again, go right ahead, but it’s by far the best play because it not only makes sense, but it will wrap up everything that was start in X-Men: First Class. Not only that, but this could all be happening because of the now new timeline that Days of Future Past altered, did you ever think about that?
X-Men: Apocalypse hits May 27th, 2016. Directed by Bryan Singer starring Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters, Oscar Isaac, Rose Byrne, Olivia Munn, Lucas Till, Alexandra Shipp, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Lana Condor, and Ben Hardy.