Welcome everyone! I apologize for the long wait, but here we are. My fourth and final film that wraps up phase 1 of my MCU X-Men series.
Thank you all for being patient and also thank you to the ones that have been asking me when I'll be able to get this one out. It means so much to me that you guys enjoy these this much.
For first time readers, below are links to my first 3 articles setting up this world. You may want to check them out as this one will not make much sense without those.
X-Men In The MCU: A Possible World In An Infinite Multiverse Of Worlds
X-Men In The MCU - Part 2: "Sinister Implications" - The First Trilogy
X-Men In The MCU - Part 3: The MCU's Merry Mutants
So, without wasting any more time, lets dive in!
Where We Are Now
It has been a little over a year since the events of our last film. A human/mutant race war looms on the horizon, that will be started by the mysterious person named "Apocalypse". The "Mutant Massacre" that took place at Xavier's school has left a lasting scar on the mansion and the mutants within. These scars are both psychological and in many cases physical. In the case of Colossus, he is still dealing with the trauma of taking a life after being forced to break the neck of the Marauder Blockbuster. Other students in the mansion lost their lives, or were physically injured. But for Warren Worthington III, his wounds are both psychological and physical. The loss of his wings has not only caused him great pain but has put a mental strain on him as well. He had always thought of his wings as a perfect, beautiful reflection of himself. And now they are horribly deformed, broken, and useless.
On a more hopeful side of things, Jean Grey has given birth to her and Scott's son, Nathan Christopher Summers. He is the one bright spot in a very dark time for our heroes. He is still a baby and too young to walk or talk, but everyone can tell there is something...."special" about him. He is far more observant than most babies and seems to be taking in everything around him at all times, almost as if he is constantly sizing up his environment. Because of this, Cyclops can't help but think about what Sinister told him about the strength of his family's X-Gene, and that if combined with the right DNA, an extremely powerful mutant could be created. Possibly the strongest to ever live...
The Fittest
I've mentioned a few times that this is our Infinity War level film, so it will be starting with a bang. For anyone that has read Blood of Apocalypse, this scene, and many parts of the movie will play out similarly, along with other classic moments from the comics mixed in. While the idea of Blood of Apocalypse wasn't the greatest, there is a lot of great imagery in it and the overall story plays out well, aside from the whole Apocalypse's blood thing, which I will be leaving out. Overall it does a great job of capturing exactly who and what Apocalypse is all about, along with classic moments like turning an X-Man into a servant.
So, after catching us up on the characters mentioned earlier, we are interrupted by some of the students running into the mansion screaming for the X-Men to go outside. In the sky is a giant Sphinx, slowly lowering to the ground. This is our first look at Apocalypse as he is standing on the head of the Sphinx. He explains that everything Sinister carried out was to test mutantkind to see if they are ready for a war to determine who is more fit to rule the world, humans or mutants. The actions of the X-Men and being able to defeat Sinister, the Sentinels, as well as their defeat of Magneto and his Acolytes (an event that Apocalypse hadn't planned for but helped prove the worthiness of mutants to stand up to humanity) proved to Apocalypse that mutants are ready for this war, and he offers them a place at his side as well as a boost to their powers.
Naturally the X-Men decline. All but one. Angel steps forward, his shattered wings and psychological state have made him feel like he has little choice in order to feel whole again.
Our opening scene ends with the X-Men trying to attack Apocalypse and the Sphinx. But it is too late. Apocalypse tells them they have disappointed him and that they will see him again soon, as the Sphinx teleports away. The X-Men are at their breaking point now. Just when they think things couldn't get worse, the war they have been fearing since defeating Sinister is about to come to pass. And to make matters even worse, one of their original members has joined the enemy.
Dark Transformations
On Apocalypse's Sphinx we see Warren strapped to a table with highly advanced machinery hanging over him. There are 3 other people strapped to similar tables in the room. Apocalypse tells them that at this point there is no backing out and that they need to accept what is being given to them or else the process will be unbearably painful. I want this scene to be brutal and for the audience to recognize that whether the subjects were fully accepting of the transformation process or not, it is still beyond any level of pain they have ever been in.
Once the process is over we are introduced to the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse: Famine, Pestilence, War, and Death. Archangel is exactly like he was in his original appearance as Death. Big metal wings, classic Archangel costume and a skull mask covering his face. I want the other Horsemen to resemble their power-set. Pestilence would be very sickly looking with pale skin. Famine is also sickly looking, but she's also very skinny and frail, like someone who has been starved. War is big and muscular and looks ready to take on anyone.
This scene would end with the Horsemen flying out of the Sphinx and heading to Xavier's mansion.
Declaration of War
Meanwhile the X-Men are left feeling helpless at home. They have no way of knowing where Apocalypse has gone. Cerebro hasn't even been able to track him. All they can do is wait for Apocalypse to make another move. While watching the World Leader's Summit on tv, Apocalypse suddenly teleports into the middle of the summit. He kills all of the guards easily and makes demands of the world leaders, telling them that the time to determine who rightfully runs the world has come. He tells them he is going to start a war between mutants and humans, but the war will be fair. Because humanity outnumbers mutants by a very large margin, he says they must cull 50% of humans on the planet, and they have one year to do this while he gathers his army of mutants. If humankind refuses, he will use his superior technology to wipe out humankind country by country, and there will be nothing humanity can do to stop him. He tells them they should be lucky that he believes in the fittest race controlling Earth, because he could wipe them all out easily if he wanted.
As the X-Men are watching these events unfold, the Horsemen attack the mansion. This leads to a pretty even fight between the X-Men and 3 of the Horsemen. But they are only a distraction so Archangel can get into the mansion and take Nathan. The X-Men are able to beat the other 3 Horsemen and Jean uses her power to read their minds. She learns Apocalypse is hiding in Egypt and fully expects them to come to him for a final confrontation.
As the X-Men load up the Blackbird to go to Egypt, the camera would pan out to reveal that we are looking through a computer screen. Sitting in a chair is someone wearing a uniform of Magneto's Acolytes. We would recognize this as Milan, as we met him in the second movie. He is a techology expert that can "talk" to all manner of machines and computers. He has obviously figured out a way to monitor the X-Men in their mansion using their own security systems. He tells Magneto where the X-Men are headed and Magneto nods in approval.
Apocalypse Now
When the X-Men arrive in Egypt they are surprised to find Magneto and his Acolytes there. They strike a temporary truce to help each other bring down Apocalypse, because they both realize what it will mean if he is allowed to win.
I want to make it very clear that Magneto is still the straight up evil version of Magneto that we saw in the second film terrorizing the world with nuclear weapons. But in that movie he gave humanity an ultimatum. One chance to leave mutants alone, or else he would unleash nuclear missiles on strategic locations in the world. Since the world leaders haven't made any further moves against mutants, Magneto recognizes the threat Apocalypse represents. Magneto wants mutants to rule the world. But he knows that if Apocalypse starts an unnecessary war it will likely end without a winner and a war torn landscape left only for the small remaining survivors. He also knows he cannot trust Apocalypse not to simply destroy everything at a whim anyway. An Age of Apocalypse is not a world Magneto wants to see and Apocalypse is not a ruler he is willing to bow down to.
Our final battle would take place between the combined might of Magneto, his Acolytes, and the X-Men facing off against Apocalypse and Archangel. This is the Apocalypse we've all wanted to see on screen for so long. During this battle we would see him use his powers to his fullest to lay waste to everyone they are fighting. We would see him growing in size comparable to Sentinels. We would see him shape shifting his arms into various types of weapons and cannons. The whole nine yards. Anything you've seen him do in a comic is done here. He is nearly invincible and is only beaten when Jean is able to telepathicallly break the hold Apocalypse has on Warren. Warren is able to use his razor wings to fire his tranquilizer darts into the back of Apocalypse. This isn't enough to put him down, but in this weakened state the X-Men and Magneto are able to finish him off. While doing this, Warren also flies back into the Sphinx and saves Nathan.
At the last minute a severely beaten Apocalypse teleports back to his Sphinx. The X-Men and Magneto pound it with everything they have, but it too is able to teleport away, but is heavily damaged in the process.
Magneto and the X-Men part ways as Cyclops tries to convince Magneto of all the good they could do together. But Magneto refuses and says that he is no longer the man that Charles knew. He's seen too much and experienced pure evil at the hands of humans. The two are just too different now and no longer share the same dream. But the X-Men have gained his respect. He promises that they can count on him if their paths ever align again, but also warns that he will still fight them as furiously as before if they try to hinder him in the future.
Warren brings Nathan to Jean and they notice that his skin has patches of mechanical looking "skin" that seems to be expanding. Beast is able to confirm that he has been infected with some type of highly advanced techno-organic virus that will eventually take over his body and kill him. Cyclops realizes that Apocalypse did this because of the future threat Nathan might pose against him, based on Sinister's research of creating an overpowered mutant with his DNA. We're left with the cold and dark realization that even though the X-Men saved the world, they will soon face another tragic loss with the death of Nathan Summers.
Mid-Credit Scene 1
We see a beaten and bloody Apocalypse floating in what seems like complete, weightless darkness. We hear the voice of what sounds almost exactly like the Celestial Arishem from The Eternals. The voice reminds Apocalypse about the deal they made thousands of years ago. That "they" would give Apocalypse their technology to use as he sees fit. But in exchange, they would come calling for him at some point in the unknown future, and Apocalypse would need to complete a task for them of their choosing. That time has come...
Mid-Credit Scene 2
We see Jean and Scott laying in bed, but unable to sleep. Nathan lays between them as they wonder how much time they will have with their son before he is overwhelmed by the techno virus Apocalypse infected him with. A flash of light fills the room and a woman with red hair steps through what appears to be thin air. She tells them she is Rachel Grey-Summers, but in her time she is known as Mother Askani of the Clan Askani. She tells a story of her future where Apocalypse has taken over the world. She has the technology to save Nathan's life, and he has the power to stop Apocalypse once and for all and save her future. But it means Scott and Jean will never see their son again. Realizing that the only chance they have of saving their son's life is to let this stranger take him, they allow her to do so. Knowing they likely just sent their only son to live a long life of war and conflict...
Conclusion
So there we have it! I took a slightly different approach to how I wrote this one and put a lot of actual details of the movie's scenes rather than giving loose descriptions of everything. Let me know what style you like more. I've found that it depends on what I'm writing about that determines my approach, so we'll see how I handle it in the future.
But thank you again for being patient with me. I know this one is long overdue, but I hope you found it worth the wait. Please join me for our next film, "The Uncanny X-Men: Brood War".