Director Bryan Singer had said he was interested in directing and producing X-Men: Apocalypse, but now it’s been confirmed by Fox that he will return to direct the film.
20th Century Fox has set a release date for May 27, 2016 for the X-Men: Apocalypse. It will be a direct sequel to Days of Future Past which hit theaters recently to great reviews and pulled in $700 million worldwide.
Speaking to THR in a recent interview, Fox president of production Emma Watts confirmed director Bryan Singer’s involvement.
Watts said, “Right now we are totally at the outlining phase, but nothing would make me happier than if it all worked out. It’s always been the intention for him to do it.” So it seems Fox isn’t shying away from the director, despite his recent battle with past lawsuits.
After Singer completely avoided X-Men: Days of Future Past’s press tour, Singer has begun stepping into the spotlight again. He recently tweeted that he and writer Simon Kinberg were taking a break from working on X-Men: Apocalypse’s script so that they could watch the World Cup.
Related: X-Men: Days of Future Past after-credits scene explained
The director recently said, “[Apocalypse] will also 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.”
The title of the film is no doubt taken from the villain Apocalypse, who in the X-Men world is regarded as one of the series’ most dangerous villains.
Like the X-Men, Apocalypse is a mutant, but unlike the X-Men, his specific mutations give him an almost God-like amount of power.
He can alter the molecules in his body to become anything – and we mean anything. In the past, he’s used his powers to change his form (like Mystique), but also change the needs of his body to match whatever environment he’s in.
He can also regenerate from injury, change his body to be invisible, flexible, incredibly small, or anything else he might need. He also has the ability to give himself any superpower, which as far as we’re concerned is just cheating.
Being a 5,000 year old being has given him plenty of time to quietly evolve underground. In the comics, time-travelling mutant Cable awoke him by changing the events of the past. Since Days of Future Past will be all about time travel, we expect that the team will accidentally awaken Apocalypse.
In the after-credits scene in X-Men: Days of Future Past we saw a young Apocalypse, with many followers chanting his name. It’s unlikely that we’ll see the same actor in the role in the new film, but it was fun to get a look at the mutant as he built Egypt’s great pyramids.