The Biggest Easter Eggs In The X-Men: Apocalypse Trailer
The trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse is chock full of comic book nerd goodness. Obviously the latest installment in 20th Century Fox's X-Men franchise is going to be stuffed to the gills with easter eggs, and a good deal of them can be seen in the movie's trailer.
Let's dive into some of the cool stuff we can spot, shall we?
Nightcrawler Crawls Back
The teleporting blue mutant known as Nightcrawler has only managed to make one appearance in the X-Men franchise up to this point, starring in 2003's X2: X-Men United. Despite his awesome portrayal in that flick, he's been MIA since then. But now he's back, and he's rocking those crazy facial scars that he had in his first appearance. Later we see him hanging out in uniform with Cyclops and Jean Grey, meaning that he's being fully recruited into the X-Men in this movie.
Oh, Hey Jubilee
We only catch one glimpse of everyone's favorite 1990s mutant, Jubilee, but she's got the glasses, the yellow jacket, and—presumably—those adorable fireworks powers or whatever. It's not clear what role she might play in this new movie since she only appears once, but the fact that Jubilee's face is front-and-center so early in the trailer seems to indicate that she'll be relatively important. Though, without Wolverine in this newest movie, who'll she hang out with at the mall?
Angel (or will it be Archangel?)
One of the most important aspects of Apocalypse's story and influence on the X-Men comic books is when the villain turns a bunch of mutants into his "Four Horsemen," a detail that gets a heavy mention in this trailer. And the most dramatic transformation is Apocalypse's corruption of founding X-Man, Angel. The hero gets turned into Archangel, his skin turns blue, and his feathery wings are replaced with metal ones, complete with flying knives as weapons. It's a pretty toy-friendly action feature, but it'll also probably look pretty cool on-screen as well. Will this new version of Angel turn blue, too? How much screen time will he get before he's put under Apocalypse's thrall?
Psylocke Unlocked
Like the aforementioned Jubilee, the new mutant Psylocke gets only one easily-identifiable appearance in this trailer, despite the fact that we know she has a big part to play. Actress Olivia Munn showed up in Entertainment Weekly's photo spread for the movie in her Psylocke duds, and we get a flash of her face while we hear about the Four Horsemen. And like Angel, Psylocke has also spent time in the comics as one of Apocalypse's Four henchmutants. It'll be interesting to see what else makes its way from the source material into this new adaptation.
Now For The Mutant You've Never Heard Of: Caliban
Though he's pretty deep cut in terms of characters from the many decades of X-Men comic books, Caliban is pretty important in the story of Apocalypse, and he appears—albeit briefly—in this trailer as well. He's the bald dude sitting at the desk at about the 32-second mark. As fans may know, Caliban can sense other mutants near him, and he absorbs fear energy to get stronger. There's likely to be plenty of fear to go around in this movie, too.
Mohawk Storm Means The 1980s Is Strong In This One
The days of Halle Berry as the weather-controlling mutant Storm are over. Now she's being played by Alexandra Shipp. There are a few hints that the movie takes place during the 1980s, like the old computer that appears in Moira MacTaggert's CIA office. But the best hint of all is the fact that this new version of Storm (who also seems to be one of Apocalypse's Horsemen) has an awesome white Mohawk. That's the character's look from the '80s in the comics, so extra points to director Bryan Singer for sticking with that to bring the period to life.
No Visor, No Problem
Yet another sign that everything old is new again: we've got a new version of Cyclops, played now by actor Tye Sheridan. And not only is this version of the character new in terms of our experience, but he's just plain new, as in he's just starting his career as a mutant action hero. He lacks the high tech visor that the more battle-tested Cyclops has always worn in the comics and movies, sticking just with the laser-eye-beam-blocking glasses that he wears as a civilian. Should be interesting to see this new Cyclops progress into the team leader we know and (kind of) love.
Apocalypse Injections
So this movie's version of Apocalypse clearly has lots of visual elements in common with his comic book counterpart, including the weird tubes that run from his head to his neck. But even more interesting is a scene in the trailer where we see Apocalypse grow huge, with his hand pressed down on Professor X. Size-changing and shape-shifting is one of the character's powers (in addition to being immortal), so it's very cool to see that this ability may be preserved in this flick as well.
Hairless But Not Harmless
At the very end of the trailer, we see Professor X roll up dramatically, dressed in a fancy suit, and devoid of any kind of follicles on his shiny little head. Finally, the transformation from young Professor to old has truly begun. Soon enough James McAvoy will be wearing prosthetics to look more like Patrick Stewart, and the circle will be complete.