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Initial release: May 27, 2016 (USA)
Director: Bryan Singer
Film series: X-Men
Producers: Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner
Story by: Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris

X-Men: Apocalypse is an upcoming American superhero film based on the X-Men characters that appear in Marvel Comics. It is intended to be the sequel to 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past and the ninth installment in the X-Men film series. Directed by Bryan Singer, with a screenplay by Simon Kinberg from a story conceived by Singer, Kinberg, Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris, the film features an ensemble cast starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn and Lucas Till. In X-Men: Apocalypse, ancient mutant Apocalypse awakens and plans to take over the world. The film was announced by Singer in December 2013 with Kinberg, Dougherty, and Harris attached to develop the story. Casting began in October 2014 while principal photography commenced in April 2015 in Montreal, Canada, and ended in August of the same year. X-Men: Apocalypse is scheduled for release on May 27, 2016, in North America in 3D and 2D.[1]

Cast[edit]

 
Cast of X-Men: Apocalypseat the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International. Top to bottom (scrollable): McAvoy, Fassbender, Lawrence, Isaac, Hoult, Munn, Peters, Smit-McPhee, Turner, Sheridan, Shipp, Condor, Till, and Hardy.
James McAvoy as Charles Xavier / Professor X:[3]
A mutant pacifist and the world's most powerful telepath. He is the founder of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.[4] McAvoy shaved his head for the role.[5]
Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto:[6]
A mutant with the ability to control magnetic fields and manipulate metal who becomes one of Apocalypse's horsemen.[7][8]According to Fassbender, Lehnsherr has fallen in love with a woman in Poland and is trying to live a normal life there.[9][10]
Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkhölme / Mystique:[3]
A mutant with shapeshifting abilities. According to Singer, Raven is on her own, helping rescue mutants who are oppressed or enslaved, including Nightcrawler. Lawrence said "she hears about what happened to Erik and she wants to seek him out and help him."[9]
Oscar Isaac as En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse:[11]
The world's most powerful mutant, born in ancient times with a variety of superhuman abilities, who further augmented himself after merging with Celestial technology. Isaac described Apocalypse as the "creative-slash-destructive force of [the] Earth." He added, "When things start to go awry, or when things seem like they're not moving towards evolution, [Apocalypse] destroys those civilizations."[9]
Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy / Beast:[3]
A mutant with blue fur, prehensile feet and superhuman strength, agility and reflexes.[12] Hank acts as a teacher in Xavier's school and he builds inventions for troubled students. He also built the X-Jet.[13]
Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert:[14]
A CIA agent who first met and fell in love with Xavier in X-Men: First Class, where he wiped portions of her memories of him and the X-Men at the end. Simon Kinberg said they are "essentially, strangers" to MacTaggert when they meet in this film.[14]
Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers / Cyclops[15][16]
A mutant who can project energy beams from his eyes and wears a visor or sunglasses to control them,[9] and the brother of Havok.[17]Sheridan describes Cyclops as "angry and a bit lost." He added, "He's now learning about being a mutant and trying to handle his powers."[18]Havok brings Cyclops to Xavier's school so that the professor could help him with his powers.[17]
Sophie Turner as Jean Grey:[15]
A mutant who is scared of her telepathic and telekinetic power and one of Charles Xavier's most prized students.[19] Turner states that she was cast in the film because of the "dark side" of her character Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones. She compares Jean to Sansa and described being an outcast in the human world, who struggles with her power and gift, the same way Sansa felt, who wanted to live a normal life.[20]Turner learned archery in preparation for the role.[21]
Olivia Munn as Elizabeth Braddock / Psylocke:[22]
A mutant with telepathic and telekinetic abilities who becomes one of Apocalypse's horsemen.[23] When using her telepathic powers, a butterfly-shaped energy aura would appear around her face.[7] Munn described Psylocke as "very lethal, very powerful and very strong."[24]She practiced swordfighting in preparation for the role.[25] According to Singer, Psylocke is working behind the Iron Curtain for the mutant-broker Caliban.[26]
Lucas Till as Alex Summers / Havok
A mutant who has the ability to absorb energy and release it with destructive force,[16][27] and the brother of Cyclops.[17] Havok has “cleaned up his life” and now lives in Omaha, working as an executive at Berkshire Hathaway before he returns to Xavier's school to help his brother.[17]
Alexandra Shipp as Ororo Munroe / Storm:[15]
An Egyptian mutant orphan who can control weather who finds a father figure in Apocalypse and becomes one of his horsemen.[7][28] Shipp shaved her head partially, and sported a Mohawk for the role.[29][30] According to Singer, Apocalypse finds teenage Storm living on the streets in Cairo, Egypt.[26]
Evan Peters as Peter Maximoff / Quicksilver:[31]
A mutant who can move at superhuman speeds,[32] and the son of Magneto.[33] Describing the relationship between Quicksilver and Magneto, Peters stated, "I have learned that he's my father at this point and I am trying to … I don’t know what I can say. I'm trying to … Yeah. It's like an adoptive child or any kind of child who has a strange father trying to … He knows who he is now so he is trying to find him. He's been searching for him. It's been 10 years and he hasn't found him and then something happens."[10]
Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler[34]
A German[19] teleporting mutant and one of Charles Xavier's new students.[35] Singer said that Nightcrawler is rescued by Raven and is a source of comic relief.[36]
Ben Hardy as Warren Worthington III / Angel / Archangel:[37]
A mutant with feather and metallic wings and the last to be recruited Apocalypse's horsemen, based on a famous X-factor storyline in the comicbook event Fall of the Mutants.[7][26][38][39] Hardy practiced indoor skydiving in preparation for his role.[40] According to Singer, Angel is duking it out in a fight club in Berlin, Germany, when Apocalypse finds him.
Lana Condor as Jubilation Lee / Jubilee:[41]
A fashionable mutant student at Charles' school who can generate pyrotechnic energy plasmoids[42] from her hands.[19] According to Condor, her power is more "fire-plasmoid, electricity type” contrary to the fireworks powers of Jubilee in the comics.[43]
Josh Helman as William Stryker:[44]
A military officer who hates mutants.[45] 10 years since Days of Future Past, Stryker has been developing his own plan for how he wants to proceed with the “mutant problem.”[13]
X-Men co-creator Stan Lee will make a cameo appearance.[46]

Production[edit]
Development[edit]
In December 2013, Bryan Singer announced X-Men: Apocalypse on the social networking service Twitter for a May 27, 2016 release.[1] In the same month, Simon Kinberg, Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty were revealed by Singer to be attached to work on the story of the film.[47] According to Singer, the film will focus on the origin of the mutants and will feature the younger versions of Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Storm.[48][49] Singer also said that he was considering Gambit and a younger version of Nightcrawler to appear.[50]According to Kinberg, it will take place in 1983 and will complete a trilogy that began with 2011's X-Men: First Class.[51][52] In September 2014, 20th Century Fox officially announced that Singer would direct the film.[53] Singer has called this film "kind of a conclusion of six X-Men films, yet a potential rebirth of younger, newer characters" and the "true birth of the X-Men".[54]

Writing[edit]
"It will address historical mutant-cy, meaning the deep past, mutant origins and things like that. It’s something that's always intrigued me when we think about our Gods and our history and miracles and powers."
—Bryan Singer on what will be seen in X-Men: Apocalypse.[48]
Singer said that Apocalypse is the main focus of the film. Kinberg said that the younger versions of Scott Summers, Storm and Jean Grey appearing in the film are "as much a part of the film as the main cast". He described Summers as "not yet the squeaky-clean leader", Storm as a "troubled character who is going down the wrong path in life", and Grey as "complex, interesting and not fully mature."[55] Kinberg also said that the film delivers on the dramatic story and emotion of the last two films and that it acts like the culmination of the main characters portrayed by McAvoy, Fassbender, Hoult, and Lawrence.[56]

Casting[edit]
In October 2014, casting for X-Men: Apocalypse began.[57] In November, Singer confirmed that Oscar Isaac would portray Apocalypse.[11] In January 2015, Singer announced that Alexandra Shipp, Sophie Turner, and Tye Sheridan will portray young Storm, Jean, and Cyclops.[15] The same month, Kinberg confirmed that Rose Byrne would reprise her role as Moira MacTaggert in the film.[14] In February, Kodi Smit-McPhee was cast as Nightcrawler and Ben Hardy was cast in an unspecified role.[34][58] In March, Singer announced that Lana Condor was cast as Jubilation Lee.[41] In April, Singer confirmed that Hardy will portray Angel, Olivia Munn will portray Psylocke, and Lucas Till will return asHavok.[22][27][37] In May, Singer announced that the mutant Caliban will appear in the film.[59][60] In July, Hoult revealed on Conan that Josh Helman is in the film as William Stryker.[61]

Filming[edit]
Principal photography commenced on April 27, 2015 in Montreal, Canada.[62] In late August, the first-unit production for the film wrapped,[63] with second-unit production wrapping on September 4, 2015.[citation needed] Additional filming took place in January 2016.[64]

Marketing[edit]
In July 2015, Singer, Lee, actor Hugh Jackman (who plays Wolverine in the other X-Men movies) and cast-members McAvoy, Fassbender, Lawrence, Isaac, Hoult, Munn, Peters, Smit-McPhee, Turner, Sheridan, Shipp, Condor, Till and Hardy gave a presentation at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International together with the release of the film's first teaser poster featuring En Sabah Nur and a wreckage of the X-Mansion.[65] Footage from the film was screened.[66]

In October 2015, Mars Chocolate partnered with 20th Century Fox for the marketing of the film using the M&M chocolates in their promotional materials. The deal will include retail displays and special packaging markings, TV and cinema commercials, and social media posts featuring the M&M's characters mixed with elements of the X-Men. The first image of M&M candies wearing Storm and Magneto costume was released on the same day of the announcement.[67]

In December 2015, Kia Motors collaborated with 20th Century Fox to create a custom Kia Sportage to promote the film. Designed after Mystique, the car will be revealed at the2016 Australian Open. It will be Kia's second "X-Car" project after the Kia Sorento customized for the home media release of Days of Future Past and the 2015 Australian Open.[68][69][70][71] On January 4, 2016, Kia Motors released the first promo video of the car, featuring Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal.[72]

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