With X-Men: Days of Future Past arriving in theaters in less than two months, everyone’s interest is piqued in regards to the mutant time travelling epic. But in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, director Bryan Singer has dropped a few hints on the next chapter in the X-Men franchise, X-Men: Apocalypse, due out on May 27th, 2016. Singer is developing Apocalypse with producer Simon Kinberg and his X2 writing team of Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty, and plans are for the movie to feature some serious destructo-porn, according to producer Kinberg;  “From a visual standpoint it actually may be a bigger movie than Days of Future Past because there’ll be disaster movie imagery, like the title would imply.†According to Singer, “Apocalypse deals with ancient mutancy. What would humans have thought mutants were? What would mutants think humans were? You’re dealing with gods and things like that. And what if one survived and what if that found its way into our world?â€
For those of you out there hoping for an adaptation of the mid-nineties epic comic book crossover Age of Apocalypse, it looks like while some elements of that story will be used, this won’t be set in an entirely different reality from the one we’re used to, as in the comic. According to Singer, “[The movie] won’t necessarily create an alternate universe, but there may be some swapping things that I’m playing with,†As for which mutants will come back, Singer confirmed the First Class crew of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult and Jennifer Lawrence will be back, and that he wants to introduce younger versions of X-Men from the original series, specifically Nightcrawler and Gambit. “I’m excited because I want to start introducing familiar characters at different ages and also explore the ‘80s.”
So just how does Nightcrawler, a character who doesn’t join the X-Men till the modern era (in X2, to be specific), join the team at a much younger age? Well, potential SPOILERS ahead, but here’s some free Nerdist theory and speculation on how this will all play out: Bryan Singer was admittedly inspired by the J.J. Abrams 2009 reboot of Star Trek when coming up with the story for X-Men: First Class (which he produced but didn’t direct). Singer said the premise for Abrams’ Star Trek, how two rivals like Kirk and Spock could become best friends, was the direct inspiration for the story in First Class, only with the story reversed, now being a story of how Xavier and Magneto went from friends to rivals.  Could Star Trek ’09’s plot device of time-traveling Spock and future Romulans interfering in the past and creating a new timeline be the inspiration for wiping the slate clean in terms of the X-Men movie timeline? This would be a smart way to reintroduce fan favorites like Cyclops and Jean Grey as younger characters, and also leaving their fates wide open… in other words, they won’t have to go out like chumps like they did in Brett Ratner’s X-Men: The Last Stand.
Personally, I’m hoping for some totally awesome eighties-ness in Apocalypse; I wanna see Storm with her mohawk, Jean Grey in some ripped lace and rubber bracelets, and Scott Summers in a Members Only jacket. Also, Singer should find a way to sneak in Pete Shelley’s New Wave hit “Homosapien”, which contains they lyrics “Homo-superior/in my interior.” We all know that homo-superior is Marvel’s official classification for mutants after all. It fits.
I’ll take that theory one step further – I think Logan’s consciousness will get stuck in the past in Days of Future Past to pave the way for Jackman to come back as Wolverine in Apocalypse. But I do think Eric’s right in that the timeline will definitely be messed up in order for us to get a new Cyclops and Marvel Girl. Loved Marsden and Janssen in those roles, but it’s time to move on.
@Diaz–then, as I said in the original comment, my apologies.
I personally think its use would be too cute by half, but that’s just me. But hell…if it made Pete Shelley a few quid, then by all means, go for it.
Would have better to introduce the Brood first. I think the appeal of an all action X-men movie fighting Aliens (far more ruthless then the Avengers’s alien adversaries), would better serve as a bridge to more cerebral plots. Let’s face it, what we really want is to see the Xmen fight as a team.
@annagranfors- I’m a gay male who grew up in the ’80s. I’m well aware of what Pete Shelley meant by that line. I just thought it would be cute to use, since it’s an 80’s song and it uses the words “homosuperior”. Regardless of what he really meant with that line, in the context of the X-Men universe it takes on another meaning.
…erm…not sure whether you’re aware of the ironic intent of Shelley’s line. (You may well be, but it doesn’t seem so.)
Many US Buzzcocks fans didn’t know that Pete was gay (though I don’t know how they could miss it). “Homosapien” was his post-Buzzcocks way of letting the audience know in no uncertain terms that he was gay. And the quoted line in specific takes on a very different meaning in that context, especially as regards his “interior”. He was singing about being, as they say, “bottomed”. The “superior” would be the “top”.
Like I said, perhaps I’m just missing any irony you intended, in which case, apologies.
Mohawk-Storm. That’s all I want from life 😀 And return of Nightcrawler- that’s awesome! My favourite mutant returns!
David Bowie’s “Oh, You Pretty Thing” makes way for the homo-superior, as well 😉