After the success of last summer's X-Men: Days of Future Past, director Bryan Singer needed an even bigger storyline for his follow-up film. The X-Men had already faced time-travel and a dark alternate future, not to mention the mutant-hunting sentinels created by Dr. Bolivar Trask. Many of the iconic X-Men stories had been adapted in the franchise's previous entries, but there was one classic villain that still hadn't been brought to the screen -- En Sabah Nur, also known as Apocalypse.
X-Men: Apocalypse will mark the end of the X-Men trilogy that began with First Class, opening up the franchise for a rebooted X-Universe. Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) will be the greatest single threat the X-Men have faced to date, with the titular villain being called a supernatural deity. As the movie draws closer, fans are ready to learn more about the film's plot and how the villain factors into the universe that was reestablished in Days of Future Past.
The official X-Men: Apocalypse synopsis has finally been revealed. It sets the stage for a massive conflict between the impossibly powerful villain and the heroes. Check out the full plot summary, below:
Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshiped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel's X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.
The synopsis was revealed after 20th Century Fox and Mars Chocolate North American announced a promotional partnership tied to the release of X-Men Apocalypse. You can see the related X-Men themed M&M promotional image, below:
While it doesn't offer a lot of new information about the film, the description does reaffirm Apocalypse's motivations. The mutants in the franchise are treated as outsiders, "hated and feared" by the average person. Apocalypse believes in survival of the fittest, that mutants should be the ruling class of planet Earth. Thus, when he awakens in the modern day and observes that mutants are hiding among humanity, he seeks to correct this imbalance of power. His viewpoint aligns with Magneto, so it's no surprise the two end up working together to conquer mankind.
Most interesting is the fact that Mystique will be working with the X-Men in some capacity. At the end of Days of Future Past, she no long had any allegiance to either Professor X or Magneto. It's possible that after pulling Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) out of the Potomac, she left to gather allies of her own and launch a version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Apocalypse is a big enough threat to warrant a union of the two teams, allowing for battles on an epic scale in the film.
NEXT: 9 Facts To Know About X-Men's Apocalypse
Deadpool opens in theaters February 12, 2016; X-Men: Apocalypse on May 27, 2016; Gambit on October 7, 2016; Wolverine 3 on March 3, 2017; Fantastic Four 2 on June 9, 2017; and some as-yet unspecified X-Men film on July 13, 2018. The New Mutants is also in development.
Source: 20th Century Fox/Mars Chocolate North Amrica