We know now that Apocalypse is coming in 2016, but officially, that’s all we know. There’s no word yet on what the actual story will be, but what we do know is that Fox is starting to pull out all the stops in an effort to catch up to the success that Marvel Studios has found with the MCU. So, if Apocalypse is in the game plan and Fox is pulling out all the stops, it stands to reason that they’re going for the big money this time around - the granddaddy of all Apocalypse stories, The Age of Apocalypse.
For those who might be unfamiliar with The Age of Apocalypse, (Spoiler alert if you haven’t read it) it was one of the X-Men’s biggest crossovers. It was an alternate reality story that came about when Professor X’s son, Legion, traveled back in time (a concept Fox is already playing with) to kill Magneto, only to accidentally kill Xavier instead. The result was a future rewritten where one of the X-Men’s most powerful villains, Apocalypse, rules the world and Magneto vows to fulfill Xavier’s dream of peaceful co-existence between humans and mutants and becomes the one who creates the X-Men. (X-Men in Xavier’s honor.)
If you were reading any X-Men titles back in the 90’s, you know how big this event was. It was unprecedented. Every X-Men title from Uncanny to Generation X were completely overhauled to comply with the new reality. Some villains became heroes, some heroes became villains. New relationships were formed, others never existed at all. New and obscure characters were put in the spotlight, fan favorites were killed off. The entire X-Men universe was turned upside down. It was crazy, and if Fox really wants to get to that same game changing level of filmmaking that Marvel Studios has risen to, and not just play follow the leader, they’re going to have to be a little bit crazy too. No guts, no glory.
So the question remains, is this the direction the X-Men franchise is heading in? No way to know for sure, but there are clues.
The first clue that hints at The Age of Apocalypse is the inclusion of the character Blink (played by actress Fan Bingbing) in the upcoming Days of Future Past. Blink was a lesser known character in Marvel’s main continuity and was killed off shortly after her debut. (She’s been brought back since) In the Age of Apocalypse however, she was a popular member of Magneto’s X-Men.
Another character inclusion in Days of Future Past that might be an AOA clue is the time traveling mutant Bishop. Bishop was major player in the AOA storyline. I won’t go into detail in case you haven’t read it, but trust me, he’s an extremely important character to the story.
The last clue I can think of that supports my theory that AOA is on the horizon is the upcoming X-Force film. The original team lead by the time traveling mutant Cable (notice a recurring theme here?) has a long history of conflict with Apocalypse in both the present and the future, while the recent X-Force incarnation lead by Wolverine, had a major story arc that dealt with the team actually going over to the Age of Apocalypse reality and confronting alternate versions of themselves and the people they know… or at least thought they knew.
Whether Fox goes the Age of Apocalypse route or has something else in mind for X-Men: Apocalypse remains to be seen, but either way it’ll probably be epic. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for AOA though. It’s still one of my favorite X-Men stories and it would absolutely blow my mind to see it brought to life on the big screen.
Go big or go home Fox!