X-Men: Age of Apocalypse

**X-Men: Age of Apocalypse** is a 2015 superhero film set in the Marvel Media Franchise, the thirtieth film in the universe. It is also a sequel to *X-Men*, *X-Men: New Mutants*, and *X-Men: Dark Phoenix*. The film stars Karl Urban, Ian Somerhalder, Ellie Kemper, Jada Pinkett Smith, Anson Mount, Sam Claflin, Brie Larson, Rebecca Romijn, Jessica Chastain, Jeremy Irons, and Richard Jenkins and was released worldwide on October 2, 2015. The film ran 141 minutes and grossed $1.405 billion on a $280 million budget.

## Plot

1 year after Jean Grey died, the X-Men consists of Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Beast, Mystique, Rogue, Shadowcat, Gambit, Scarlet Witch, Nightcrawler, and Pyro, while Professor X leads them through his guidance. Cyclops still mourns Jean and blames Logan for her death, due to him being the one that gave them the idea resulting in her death. Professor X discovers a disturbance in the Mutant population in Egypt, so he sends the X-Men after the new threat. However, they arrive in Cairo to discover everything is frozen in time. An ancient Mutant with a heavy armor appears and destroys the entire city block. He incapacitates all of the X-Men and mind controls Storm and Mystique into joining him. The remaining X-Men return to Winchester, where they report everything that happened to Professor X. The team research the ancient Mutant and discover he was worshipped over a millennia ago as Apocalypse, or En Sabah Nur. He is recognized by the world as the first Mutant.

Professor X discovers he always has Four Horsemen with him, War, Death, Pestilence, and Famine. He took Storm as his Famine and Mystique as his Pestilence. They begin the search for his War and Death. In Germany, Magneto has returned home, where he lives with his niece, Lorna Dane, the daughter of his sister. Lorna discovers she has magnetic abilities like her uncle. Magneto and Lorna are attacked by Apocalypse, Storm, and Mystique. Apocalypse tries to recruit Magneto and Lorna gets in the way, resulting in her death. Magneto's defenses are left down and he is mind-controlled by Apocalypse into helping him. Cyclops and Wolverine fight about Jean, resulting in the former leaving the mansion. Magneto is revealed as War and is able to control Earth's magnetic fields, while Storm can fly and mix elements, and Mystique can shapeshift into objects and flocks of creatures in addition to humans.

Cyclops makes his way to Albany, where he discovers a flying, flaming, phoenix in the sky. He realizes Jean is alive and follows the creature to a field where Jean appears and reunites with him. Cyclops asks how she is alive, when suddenly she is taken over by something and she flies away after hurting Cyclops. Jean arrives in Cairo where Apocalypse reveals she is now Death, and can now not be hurt by any substance, fly, and put up force fields. Apocalypse, now with his Horsemen complete, begins his takeover of Cairo. Magneto causes the citizens to fight over getting out of the city, Jean kills thousands, while Storm and Mystique spread disease through the city. Apocalypse destroys several buildings, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cairo Tower, to build his temple, where he awaits the arrival of the X-Men.

In Winchester, Cyclops returns with the news of Jean. Professor X and the X-Men watch the news to discover Jean has written something in the sky with fire, "X-MEN, CAIRO". Wolverine realizes Apocalypse wants them there. Scarlet Witch tells them that Apocalypse will kill them all if they come. Professor X doesn't care and sends them anyway. However, Scarlet Witch decides to break out her brother, Quicksilver, to help, which Wolverine doesn't like. The X-Men and Quicksilver finally make it to Cairo where Apocalypse attacks them. Cyclops finds Jean and tries to snap her out of it. After she refuses to listen, Cyclops jumps in the way of her fire and is severely burned. Jean realizes what she has done and flies down and helps him, back to normal. Apocalypse is angry and tries to tell Jean that he is the reason she is alive. Wolverine finds Storm and stabs her in the leg, getting her back to normal. Beast finds Mystique and kisses her, bringing her back to normal. Finally, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver find Magneto and finally call him "dad" for the first time, breaking Apocalypse's mind control.

The X-Men, Jean, Quicksilver, and Magneto find Apocalypse and try to stop him from destroying the world. However, Apocalypse kidnaps Wolverine and takes him to his temple. Apocalypse uses his increased strength to turn the temple backward in time, to the 11th century, a year before Apocalypse was "killed". Apocalypse reveals that every century the body he is in withers away and he must find a new host. Apocalypse has been in this body for a millennia and prepares to transfer his consciousness into Logan. In present day Cairo, everyone looks to Scarlet Witch, the most powerful Mutant there. Wanda tells them she cannot time travel, but Quicksilver realizes he might be able to puncture the speed of light and Wanda can use the energy to travel through the time-space continuum. The plan works and Wanda, Pietro, Jean, Scott, and Mystique find themselves in Cairo, 1056 and they attack Apocalypse. He is distracted long enough for Logan to escape and he attacks Apocalypse. Jean and Wanda decide to use their powers together to stop Apocalypse. It works and he is weakened. Scott fires his plasma eyes at Apocalypse, in addition to Logan stabbing him. The overwhelming power kills Apocalypse, which sends shockwaves throughout time, one kills Pietro in 1056.

In Cairo, 2015, Cairo reverts to normal, though the destruction and dead bodies remain, including Rogue, Kurt, and John. Wanda returns with Logan, Scott, Jean, and Mystique. Wanda cleans up the mess and returns everyone to the mansion. Magneto is devestated by the loss of Pietro and becomes closer to Wanda, by joining the X-Men. A funeral is set up for Rogue, Kurt, John, and Pietro. Remy contemplates leaving the team after Rogue's loss, leading Kitty to convince him to stay. Professor X sets up a new training sequence, including a Sentinel. The X-Men (Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean/Phoenix, Storm, Beast, Mystique, Shadowcat, Gambit, Scarlet Witch, and Magneto) prepare for battle together. In a mid-credits scene, in 1982, Bolivar Trask builds the world's first Sentinel. In a post-credits scene, in 2027, Kitty is told by Logan and Professor X that she needs to try her new ability if she wants to save the world.

## Cast

* Karl Urban as Logan/Wolverine
* Ellie Kemper as Jean Grey/Phoenix
* Ian Somerhalder as Scott Summers/Cyclops
* Jada Pinkett Smith as Ororo Munroe/Storm
* Anson Mount as Hank McCoy/Beast
* Rebecca Romijn as Raven Darkholme/Mystique
* Brie Larson as Rogue
* Shailene Woodley as Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat
* Henry Cavill as Remy LeBeau/Gambit
* Keira Knightley as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
* Toby Kebbell as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler
* Billy Magnussen as John Allerdyce/Pyro
* Adam Driver as Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver
* Jeremy Irons as Erik Lensherr/Magneto
* Richard Jenkins as Charles Xavier/Professor X
* Zachary Levi as Apocalypse

## Production

In March 2012, Bryan Singer confirmed that Marvel was planning a new trilogy of *X-Men* films, with the same cast. In July, "*X-Men 4*" was officially announced with all of the cast from *X-Men: Dark Phoenix*  returning, for a release date of October 2, 2015. In October 2012, after the release of *Dark Phoenix*, it was confirmed that Sam Claflin, Ben Foster, Jessica Chastain, and Topher Grace would not be returning from *Dark Phoenix*. *X-Men 4* was announced to focus on a new threat that has risen after Jean was killed, and that the film would take place a year after the events of *Dark Phoenix*, placing the film in 2014. The film's title, *Age of Apocalypse*, was announced in June 2013, confirming the film would adapt the storyline of the same name in the film. It was revealed in August that only one new cast member would be added to the film, Apocalypse. By November, Zachary Levi had been cast as Apocalypse. In January 2014, Singer revealed he would not be returning as director. In March, Simon Kinberg revealed he would direct the film based on his script. Filming began in September 2014 and concluded on February 4.

## Reception

### **Box office**

*X-Men: Age of Apocalypse* grossed $459 million in the United States and Canada and $946.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $1.405 billion.

### **Critical reception**

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 75% approval rating with an average rating of 6.7/10 based on 323 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Exuberant and eye-popping, *X-Men: Age of Apocalypse*serves as an overstuffed but mostly satisfying third sequel, reuniting its predecessors' unwieldy cast with a worthy new foe." On Metacritic, the film achieved an average score of 66 out of 100, based on 49 critics, signifying "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film an "A" grade on an A+ to F scale.