X-Men: Apocalypse has arrived, which means it’s time for yet another discussion on the biggest questions, surprises, Easter eggs, and WTF moments that went down in the latest film to feature Professor Xavier’s band of merry mutants. We’re talking full spoilers here, so click away from this page if you haven’t seen the film yet.
O.K., still with us? Then let’s use our collective mutant power of deduction and speculation to figure out what’s going on in Apocalypse.
As we said, full spoilers for X-Men: Apocalypse follow…
Look, this is perhaps the most glaring disconnect between Days of Future Past and Apocalypse. You will recall that at the end of that previous film, Mystique -- while posing as William Stryker -- fished an unconscious Wolverine out of the Potomac River. X-Men history tells us that Stryker, of course, would eventually become the guy behind Weapon X, the government research program that would in time give Logan his adamantium skeleton and claws. But when Wolvie shows up for his cameo in Apocalypse at Alkali Lake (Weapon X headquarters), he’s already undergone his Weapon X transformation… under the orders of the real Stryker, it seems. And there’s nary a mention of Mystique’s having saved Logan from the river 10 years earlier.
This, frankly, feels like lazy scripting. The flashing yellow eyes of Mystique in Stryker’s form at the end of DOFP was an intriguing cliffhanger -- what was Raven going to do with Logan?! -- but it seems that the filmmakers realized they didn’t really know where to go with that story thread in the new film, and so they just dropped it. Still, they do have an explanation for it all. Sort of.
“One of the things we talk about in Days of Future Past -- there’s a scene where Hank/Beast talks about the immutability of time,” writer-producer Simon Kinberg told Cinema Blend. “Basically, you can change the way the future goes, but it finds its way back. So while we don’t show how, it found its way back to Wolverine being part of Weapon X and under the thumb of Stryker, that’s the idea.”
Hm, O.K.
Apocalypse is finally defeated in this film when Jean Grey unleashes the full potential of her powers -- a show of force that manifests itself with the familiar Phoenix Force firebird glow surrounding her. So is Jean now the Phoenix?
It depends on how you look at it. In the comic book version of the X-Men, the Phoenix Force was actually a cosmic entity that joined with Jean Grey (more or less), granting her vast power before corrupting her and causing the former hero to become Dark Phoenix… and blow up an entire star system. The Dark Phoenix story was infamously mishandled in X-Men: The Last Stand, where the cosmic aspect of it all was removed, resulting in a much more earth-bound story. There, Jean always had this vast power within herself, but Professor Xavier had set up psychic circuit breakers to keep it in check (which resulted in a second “Phoenix” personality for the X-Man). But her “death” at the end of X2 tripped those circuits.
Now, there’s no reason to believe that the young Jean played by Sophie Turner in Apocalypse has any kind of connection to the spacefaring Phoenix Force, which would mean she’s just got that same vast power potential depicted in The Last Stand (which for some reason manifests itself as a fiery bird). Of course, with rumors and chatter indicating that the X-Men movies might go to outer space in the next installment, a proper expansion of the Phoenix storyline would make perfect sense…
Probably not. Apocalypse ends with the elder statesmen of the X-Men -- Mystique, Beast and Professor X -- heading up a new team featuring the younger versions of our beloved mutants Cyclops, Jean, et al. Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique is essentially serving as the leader of the group here, sort of the drill sergeant that the kids look up to. It’s an interesting twist to this new X-timeline (which diverted from the original timeline after DOFP), as Mystique was always a (pretty evil) bad guy in the first three X-Men movies. But now the films have something of a blank slate to build upon as a new future is charted for the characters, and the rehabilitation of Lawrence’s character has been a key part of that. So Mystique as the leader of the team? Why not?
Well, probably because Jennifer Lawrence won’t want to do any more X-Men movies after this. Reports have long indicated that she was contracted for three films (as were her First Class co-stars James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender), and Apocalypse sees the fulfilment of that contract. Lawrence is no fan of the full-body blue makeup that Mystique requires (at times), but more to the point, she’s perhaps the biggest female movie star in the world these days. X-Men needs her way more than she needs X-Men. Sure, she could wind up signing on for more films. But no matter how often she rolls out the “I’d love to do more” line, I wouldn’t count my mutants before they hatch.
While we don’t know for sure who this mystery man is, we do know who he works for -- the X-Men villain Mister Sinister! This pasty-faced baddie’s real name is Nathaniel Essex, and he’s a very powerful figure whose origin is actually connected to Apocalypse’s… in the comics, anyway.
First appearing in Uncanny X-Men #221, Mister Sinister is a geneticist who has a nasty talent for cloning. In a long-running X-Men storyline, it eventually turned out that he had cloned Jean Grey (when she was believed dead -- the first time!) in order to arrange for the clone (named Madelyne Pryor) to marry and have a child with Cyclops… all so that Sinister could utilize the powerful child for his own nefarious purposes.
And here’s where things get interesting. That child, through a series of very comic-booky, timey-wimey circumstances, would turn out to be Cable, the mutant from the future who is reportedly going to make his live-action debut in Deadpool 2. You can learn more about Cable in the video below:
And while this post-credits scene could tie into the Deadpool sequel, Sinister and his cloning habits might also play into a variety of other upcoming X-Men films. We’ve heard rumors that the female Wolverine clone X-23 will appear in X-Force, and Sinister also has a history with Gambit, who’s also getting his own movie. Or maybe he’ll just be the bad guy in the next X-Men movie. Time will tell, but for more on Apocalypse’s end credits scene, Mister Sinister, and his connection to Apocalypse, watch our explanation video right here:
Let’s put it this way: Probably more than Superman did in Man of Steel.
There’s a definite disconnect at the end of X-Men: Apocalypse when Magneto and Xavier say their goodbyes and Magneto heads off to start a new life (again). Sure, Erik underwent yet another horrible trauma when he lost his family in this film (again), but that simply cannot excuse the slaughter that he unleashes on the world while in the service of Apocalypse. And doesn’t Charles’ just letting his friend leave make him an accessory to the crimes Erik committed? Same goes for Storm, when you think about it. If mankind had gotten over fearing and hating mutants in Days of Future Past, they certainly have more than enough reason to start up again after this film. And Magneto should be public enemy number one.
What questions are you looking for answers to about X-Men: Apocalypse? Let’s discuss in the comments!
Talk to Senior Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottCollura.
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