By James Hancock December 11th, 2015
I first encountered the character of Apocalypse at the age of 11 in the pages of ‘X-Factor’ when he transformed Angel, one of the most iconic mutants of the Marvel Universe who had recently had his wings amputated, into Death, or as he later came to be known – Archangel. Apocalypse was easily one of the most fascinating villains of that period. He never tweaked his mustache or plotted little schemes like a traditional bad guy. His goal was more grand in scope, namely to use natural selection to force mutants to reach their full potential no matter how much destruction he caused in the process. So when it was announced that Oscar Isaac would be playing this epic villain in Bryan Singer’s next film, X-Men: Apocalypse, I was intrigued to put it mildly. In spite of some early anxiety I felt when I saw Isaac in costume in behind-the-scenes pics, this trailer has totally erased those fears. Personally I thought X-Men: Days of Future Past was one of the best superhero movies ever made and the fact that we’re now seeing Storm, Jean Grey and Cyclops reintroduced into the X-Men franchise has me doing cartwheels. Jennifer Lawrence and Michael Fassbender look to be back in fine form as well as Mystique and Magneto. I’ve never really liked Jubilee but maybe she’ll be a character that meets an untimely demise in the war to come. Fingers crossed this is the first X-Men movie to prove that Wolverine is not the only essential component to this fascinating franchise that goes all the back to the early 1960s with writer Stan Lee. Of all the comics I read as a kid, this ongoing saga completely dominated my childhood throughout the 1980s when Chris Claremont was at the helm. Nothing would make me happier than a solid movie. Technically this is a Fox film and not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but as always, make mine Marvel.
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My first encounter with Apocalypse, ‘X-Factor #24-26 (1988) by Louise and Walter Simonson
