The trailer for Marvel’s X-Men: Apocalypse has been leaked. Released at Comic-Con, it shows both familiar and brand new faces in the latest installment of the X-Men franchise.
Let’s take a look at a few new members of the crew.
Games of Thrones actress Sophie Grey will play the younger version of character Jean Gray. While the character is not new to the series, Sophie will be bringing a new portrayal to the role. In the trailer, we see Sophie’s character having visions of an impending apocalypse.
Kodi Smit-Mcphee will now play Nightcrawler, who was originally portrayed by Alan Cumming in X2: X-Men United. Kodi is a 19-year-old Australian actor, who will bring a younger perspective to the stealthy character.
Move over Halle Berry!
The latest installment of the franchise presents us with a change in timelines and elements of time travel. This means that Apocalypse is presenting viewers with a younger version of Storm. Halle will be replaced by actress Alexandra Shipp, who is known for playing the lead role in late R&B singer Aaliyahs biopic (Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B).
Actress Olivia Munn will be taking on the role of Psylocke. As one of Apocalypse’s villains, Olivia explains that her character has “no problem battling and killing.” Adding that she “loves how strong [Psylocke] is.”
Lastly, is the villain himself: Apocalypse, played by Oscar Isaac. Oscar Isaac recently starred in the Sci-Fi flick Ex Machina and will also be starring in the upcoming Star Wars sequel.
Apocalypse is set up to be a 5000 year-old Egyptian mutant, who is nearly unstoppable. The first glimpse at this new villain was shown during the end credits of Days of Future Past, which showed Apocalypse removing his hood.
So who will be returning?
Much of the X-Men cast from the previous film will be returning. This including Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters, Rose Byrne, and Lucas Till.
The plot to the film all begins after 10 years have past since Days of Futures Past. Raven (Lawrence), Charles (McAvoy) and Erik (Fassbender) are still distanced from one another.
This, however, does not last long as Apocalypse awakens and decides it is his time to threaten destruction upon the world. By recruiting young Storm, Angel, Psylocke and Eric, Apocalypse is able to assemble a team that together create a force like nothing the X-Men group have seen before.
This uprising triggers Jennifer Lawrence’s character, Raven, to reunite with Charles (McAvoy), who at the time is teaching other mutants to control their abilities in order to function normally in the world.
In attempt to top the incredibly successful, action-packed X-Men: Days of Future Past, director Bryan Singer, has set up a high-stake battle between two teams of mutants, both with incredible power.
In terms of visuals, the leaked trailer and a few released pictures show many of the new cast-mates costumes. Many of the costumes hold true to the comic book characters, such as Olivia’s character Psylocke and young storm. However, there has been quite a lot of criticism surfacing regarding the title villain, Apocalypse’s costume.
Apocalypse is shown donning an all purple, heavy suit, almost resembling that of a medieval knight, but with a bit of space age flair. Some speculate they will be adding CGI effects to add to the character’s appearance.
At this point, I would have to agree that he doesn’t look as imposing as the plot makes him out to be.
Some people are comparing him to Power Rangers’ villain Ivan Ooze and after looking Ivan up and doing a side-by-side comparison with Apocalypse, I can’t help but agree. Bear in mind, Ivan Ooze is a character from a 1995 movie. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say most likely after production and computer-generated additions, Apocalypse will have a much more threatening presence in the final film.
Although director Bryan Singer explained that they are creating bigger stakes, as visually it is hard for them to top Days of Future Past, it is tough to make the film anything more than a battle against good vs. evil.
The main draw of the movie is seeing the familiar faces of the X-Men crew and the few additions that have made waves in the media, one being Olivia Munn as Psylocke.
While I am usually a fan of Olivia, I am still on the fence about her casting in the movie. I think this is especially due to her recent interview with late-night show host Conan O’brien, at Comic-Con. Here, Olivia seemed set on spending almost her whole interview time talking about how she had a “deficit” when it came to her chest size, in comparison to the comic book portrayal of Psylocke. Only changing the topic to talk about how she had to use “lube” to fit herself into her latex costume. I felt it was unfortunate that her interview didn’t reflect the pride she said she felt playing such a strong female character.
No doubt this movie will bring in big crowds, as the hype for it is already incredible, with still a year until release. I just wonder how many more good vs. evil battles the X-Men series can roll out before the novelty wears off…