Dread incarnate, hopelessness personified, terror realized...the bane of my five year old existence! Yes, I am talking about Apocalypse. If you guys have been following these blogs, particularly an earlier one I wrote titled "We Are Blood", you'll know that Apocalypse played a huge role in my understanding of adversity and overcoming obstacles. As ridiculous as that might sound, it is 100% true! And that's why I am extremely excited to see a live action version of this character in a time where super hero movies, like the X-Men, have exceeded our expectations and continue to push the envelope in terms of making our childhood dreams come true; and I expect no less from X-Men: Apocalypse, which premiers today.
So, as we gear up for the newest entry in this super powered saga featuring Charles Xavier and his gifted students, lets take a look at who our heroes are facing in what will hopefully be their toughest test yet. Here are five things you should know about Apocalyse before watchig the movie.
5. Apocalypse Might be The First Mutant
Apocalypse, AKA En Sabah Nur was born thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt. Though the title of first mutant might be a point of contention for some, it is safe to assume that En Sabah Nur is one of the first mutants, if not the first Homo Superior in the world. While many mutants start to display their differences during puberty, Apocalypse was born with grey skin and blue lips, which led his family to abandon him and presumably left for dead. That is until he was rescued and raised by a Sandstormer named Baal. It was Baal who gave Apocalypse his name that translates to "The Morning Light"--Marvel later re-translated it to mean "The First One."
4. Apocalypse's Powers Are Crazy
In the comics, not all of Apocalypse's powers come from his mutation. As we mentioned in our latest podcast, Apocalypse has also augmented himself with Celestial technology. Again, for those not familiar with the Celestial's in the comics, if you guys have seen the movie Guardians of the Galaxy, you saw a Celestial's head floating in space called Knowhere. With these augmentations Apocalypse has the ability to take control of his body on a molecular level. This means, he has the ability to grow, shrink, become intangible, and basically transform his body into any form he wants. He can also absorb and project energy. He has telekenitc, telepathic and technopathic powers. We've already seen some of these powers on display in some of the latest trailers. Lets hope we get to see the full extent of his powers in the movie. Lets also hope that his powers are handled in a special way to provide something memorable as we know Brian Singer and Co. are capable of. Because, we all remember what Singer did with Quicksilver's powers, and he just runs fast.
3. Apocalypse's Greatest Power is his Intellect
As one would assume, after living for thousands of years, you'd probably learn a thing or two. Apocalypse, in all his ancient glory has a great mind and I think the writers in charge of bringing one of the X-Men's greatest foes to life do a great job in displaying his boundless knowledge through his dialogue. Aside from his formidable and the seemingly unstoppable nature of his physical powers, I think the most intimidating aspect of this character are his words. Spouting things such as: "I am APOCALYPSE! Look upon the future, AND TREMBLE! All who oppose me... shall be crushed!", "Increase the power! I want to hear the cries of a future being born!" or "Watch me and tremble... for I bring the purity of oblivion!" And my personal favorite: "I am the rocks of the eternal shore. Crash against me and be broken!" These are so epic and carry so much weight in the form of foreboding dread and I think it perfectly illustrates the type of villain Apocalypse is. He is not to be trifled with.
2. Apocalypse Always Has Four Followers: The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse
Every time Apocalypse sets out to purify the world of the evil of mutants and humans, he always calls upon four followers; and either by manipulation or by force/fear, he makes them serve him on his path of destruction. Much like what we've seen in the trailers, Apocalypse doesn't limit his recruting efforts to just villains. Throughout the years, he's also picked up some pretty well known heroes as well. In the movie, Storm and Archangel have been swayed by Apocalypse to do his bidding. Though typically, in the comics, cartoons, and movies, those two characters are heroes and not villains. Amongst other heroes, he's also managed to enlist characters such as: Gambit, Wolverine, and even the Hulk!
1. Apocalypse is the key to the X-Men's Cinematic Future
There have been some rumors swirling around regarding the post credit scene in X-Men: Apocalypse, which have to do with a one genetics obsessed human mutate, Nathaniel Essex. Those not familiar with that name, might be familiar with another: Mister Sinister! Its been rumored that Nathaniel Essex, not yet Sinister, will make an appearance in the post credits scene of this movie. Now, we also know that Cable will most likely be appearing in the untitled Deadpool sequel. What do these two have in common? Well, Mr. Sinister wanted to create a being powerful enough to destroy Apocalypse and basically got what he asked for in Cable, who is Cyclops and Jean Grey's clone, Madelyne Pryor's son. Unfortunately, as we've learned above, Apocalypse is too smart to let someone devise a plan to destroy him behind his back and learning that this being would in fact pose a threat to him, he proceeded to infect baby Cable with a techno-organic virus. Hence, the metal arm and glowing eye.This leads Cable to be raised in a future where a cure can be found for this virus. But, he sees it as his life goal to destroy Apocalypse. So, are we seeing the seeds of the future X-Men adventures? What does this mean in regards to Apocalypse's fate by the end of this movie? Its time to find out! GO WATCH THE MOVIE ALREADY!
BTW...All hail El Gran Jaguar! Gonna watch this just for Oscarito aka Oscar Isaac.
-JVN
#ForeverFive