Original Air Date: May 2016
Credits: Bryan Singer (Director), Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris (Writers), Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, Lauren Schuler Donner, Hutch Parker (Producers), Stan Lee, Todd Hallowell, Josh McLaglen (Executive Producers), John Ottman (Composer), James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Evan Peters, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alexandra Shipp, Olivia Munn, Ben Hardy, Lucas Till, Lana Condor, Josh Helman, Hugh Jackman [uncredited], Tómas Lemarquis, Carolina Bartczak, Manuel Sinor (Main Actors)
Brief Description:
En Sabah Nur, possibly the first ever mutant, uses highly advanced technology to transfer his mind into a new host body whenever his current one becomes too old. This has allowed him to acquire the powers of multiple consecutive hosts, including teleportation, telepathy, telekinesis, regeneration and the ability to enhance other mutants’ powers and transform them into his personal guards, or Horsemen. In 3600 B.C., he has used these gifts to conquer a large part of ancient Egypt. However, some of his subjects betray him and attempt to destroy the tyrant along with his mind transference technology. His Horsemen sacrifice themselves to protect their master, but the battle leaves him lying dormant underneath the ruins of a collapsed pyramid. In 1983, a cult of En Sabah Nur worshippers manages to awaken the ancient warlord and he is appalled to find that ordinary humans have gained power through false gods, like wealth and modern weaponry. He intends to destroy the world they have built and create a new one, in which only the strongest will survive. To accomplish this, he assembles a new team of Horsemen, including the teenaged Ororo Munroe (Storm), the aggressive metal-winged Angel, the psychic ninja Psylocke and the embittered Magneto, who has recently lost his wife and daughter in a tragic accident as a result of non-mutant humans’ fear and distrust of him. Using his own and Magneto’s powers, En Sabah Nur then begins to unleash a veritable apocalypse, destroying man-made structures around the planet from his central location in Cairo and reshaping them into his new world, remorselessly killing any people who are in the way. At his school for the gifted, Professor Charles Xavier has been alerted to this dangerous new threat to humanity by his telepathic student Jean Grey’s nightmares, as well as by Hank McCoy’s lab equipment, Xavier’s former flame Moira MacTaggert of the CIA and his stepsister Raven (Mystique), who is looking for Magneto. Charles attempts to contact his old friend through the telepathy-amplifying device Cerebro, but accidentally exposes his mind to En Sabah Nur, who forces him to use Cerebro to make military personnel around the world fire their nuclear arsenals into the sky, obliterating the weapons and evening the playing field for the ancient mutant to take over. He then kidnaps Charles and begins to transfer his own consciousness into the Professor’s body, in order to psychically control everyone on the planet and ensure that he is never betrayed again. During the kidnapping, Xavier’s mansion is destroyed, causing the death of the Professor’s former student Alex Summers, but everyone else in the building is rescued by the mutant speedster Peter Maximoff, who is secretly Magneto’s son and has come looking for his father. Before they can attempt to save Charles, however, Moira, Mystique, Hank McCoy and Peter Maximoff are all captured by the US military’s Colonel William Stryker, who wants to extract information from them about the recent destruction of the planet’s nuclear arsenals. This leaves the Professor’s most powerful and resourceful students, Scott Summers, Jean Grey and Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) with no choice but to follow their imprisoned friends and try to free them. They receive some unexpected help from the feral James Howlett aka Logan, who has been experimented on by Stryker and now has metal claws and no memories of his past. After Logan bloodily dispatches many of Stryker’s soldiers, forcing the Colonel himself to flee, Jean manages to calm the feral mutant by returning to him the few memories she is able to salvage from what remains of his mind. He then runs off and Jean, Scott, Kurt, Mystique, Peter, Hank and, Moira all travel to Cairo to challenge En Sabah Nur before he can take over Professor Xavier’s body and powers. A battle with the Horsemen ensues, during which Storm and Magneto are both persuaded to betray the ancient mutant and help to stop him. Even against so many foes however, En Sabah Nur seems too strong to be defeated, until the Professor convinces Jean Grey to unleash her full powers, which tips the balance in favor of the heroes. The ancient warlord is destroyed, and the world once again becomes wary of mutants, just as they had begun to be more accepted by society. To deal with this new reality, Xavier allows Hank and Mystique to form a new team of X-Men, including Scott, Jean, Kurt and Peter Maximoff, and to train them to fight against mutantkind’s enemies in the Danger Room of the mansion, newly rebuilt by Jean and Magneto. The Professor tries to convince his old friend to stay on as well, but Magneto prefers to seek a new future elsewhere, and the two part amicably for the first time in many years.
Full Synopsis:
Egypt in 3600 B.C. is home to an extremely powerful mutant named En Sabah Nur, who is worshipped as a divine king by his thousands of subjects. He survives by changing host bodies whenever his present host becomes too old, which is also how he has acquired a number of mutant powers. As his current body is now very aged, he intends to use a technologically advanced pyramid fueled by sunlight to take over the body of a younger mutant with healing powers, which will presumably allow him to live forever.
In the middle of the transference, however, a group of conspirators betrays him and attempts to destroy the pyramid with En Sabah Nur inside. His personal guards, four powerful mutants, defend him, but are unable to prevent the pyramid from collapsing and all end up getting killed. With her dying breath the last surviving one of them, a woman with psychic powers, protects her master from the falling stones by sealing him in a telekinetic shield. As she dies and the shield dissolves, the stones have already set into place, leaving a comatose En Sabah Nur buried unscathed underneath them.
In 1983 USA, a teacher is talking to her class about a historic incident ten years earlier, when Erik Lenhsherr attacked the president of the United States on the White House lawn, but was apparently stopped by the heroic Mystique. One of the students, Scott Summers, is experiencing severe eye strain and asks to be excused, followed by a bully who has a bone to pick with him. As the bully attempts to break into the bathroom stall where Summers hides, Scott’s mutant powers activate, and he blasts away both the stall door and the bully with powerful force beams from his eyes which then also tear a hole in the ceiling.
Raven Darkhölme aka Mystique infiltrates an underground cage fighting ring in Berlin where mutants are forced to battle each other for people’s entertainment under threat of death. The combative Angel, possessing large, feathered wings with sharp tips, viciously dispatches the enormous Blob before his next opponent is trapped in the ring with him: the timid teenager Nightcrawler, who comes from the Munich circus and looks like a blue-skinned demon. Left with no choice but to defend himself, Nightcrawler teleports along with Angel, pushing him into the electric fence of the cage, which leaves Angel’s wings badly burned. Before the situation can escalate further, Mystique rescues Nightcrawler and escapes with him. He recognizes her and calls her a hero, but she denies being one.
Erik Lenhsherr is secretly living in Poland under an assumed name as a common factory worker. He has started a family and sings his daughter Nina to sleep with a song that was passed down to his parents from previous generations. When Nina asks Erik what happened to his parents, he replies that they were taken from him when he was a boy, but that they live on through him and his daughter. He assures the little girl that he himself will never be taken from her.
Scott’s brother Alex Summers drives him to the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, to be trained in the safe use of his powers. Once there, the blindfolded Scott accidentally bumps into his peer Jean Grey, which leads to a brief argument between them. Alex meanwhile is greeted by his former teammate Hank McCoy, currently in his regular human appearance and not his more exotic, blue-furred form. Hank introduces himself to Scott as one of the teachers.
Professor Charles Xavier, who is now clean-shaven but has let his hair grow out, is teaching “The Once and Future King” by T.H. White to a class that includes the teenaged Jubilee. He dismisses the class when Hank approaches with the two brothers. Charles welcomes Scott to his school for the gifted. When the boy complains that his power doesn’t feel much like a gift, the Professor replies sympathetically: “It never does, at first.” He then promises to help Scott become able to play a stable and productive part in the world and takes the young man out into the grounds in order to take a look at his powers.
Jean Grey is shooting arrows at a target across the lake with her telekinesis when Xavier arrives and suggests that Scott try to hit the target with his eye beams. The boy takes off his blindfold and, losing control, promptly obliterates the target, also cutting the large tree behind it right in half. Jean looks impressed for the first time, while Xavier recalls how the tree was planted by his grandfather and he himself swung from its branches as a child. It may in fact have been his favorite tree. “Does that mean I’m expelled?” Scott asks. “Oh, on the contrary” the professor reassures him, “you’re enrolled.”
In Cairo, Egypt, CIA agent Moira MacTaggert is investigating a cult of En Sabah Nur worshippers just as they manage to awaken the ancient mutant with a mystic ritual.
An accident occurs in the Polish factory where Erik is employed. Lenhsherr secretly uses his powers to save a fellow worker from being crushed by a falling pillar, but at least one other man witnesses him doing it.
Back at Xavier’s, Jean Grey is having a nightmare and keeping other students awake with her telepathy, while her telekinesis is causing damage to the room she sleeps in. Charles approaches her and manages to calm her down, but not before seeing part of her dream: vast destruction, people dying horribly, and En Sabah Nur in the middle of it all.
As Jean awakens, she claims to have seen the end of the world and worries about her sanity and powers as she feels “a dark fire” growing inside her. The professor assures her that she will eventually gain control, but that she needs to be patient. Jean says he doesn’t know what it’s like to be afraid of being trapped in one’s own mind, but he replies that he does. Not so long ago, he was plagued by the voices of others, unable to keep out of his telepathic mind all their suffering, their pain, their secrets… Xavier assures Jean that she will get better and will then have nothing to be afraid of.
However, Charles later notes to Hank that her nightmare was indeed different from the usual ones, which Hank believes could be explained by an energy surge that he detected earlier in his laboratory, although its epicenter was all the way in Cairo. The Professor decides to investigate using Cerebro and comes across the mind of his former flame Moira MacTaggert, who is returning to Langley to file her report. Charles decides to visit her there and see if she knows anything about the tremor Hank’s instruments registered.
In Poland, Erik intends to go into hiding with his family, having long ago told his wife who he is and now insisting that there is no other way for them but to flee. However, the couple discovers that their little girl has already been taken by a group of local police officers armed with bows (and without their badges, not willing to risk carrying any metal). The men intend to take “Heinrik” in before they will release his daughter. Erik reminds them that he is their fellow citizen and worker, and that he has even visited with some of them. In turn, they ask him directly if he is the murderer Magneto, and Erik feels compelled to turn himself in.
As they let Nina go to re-join her mother, she sees them taking her father away and panics at the thought of losing him. The girl unleashes her mutant powers, summoning a flock of birds which attack the officers. Magneto tries to explain that she is merely scared and can’t control her abilities, but in his distraction one of the men accidentally fires an arrow which strikes through both the mother and the child. Erik runs to them, but they are already dead, and he is overcome by grief. As soon as he notices Nina still wearing her metal locket however, he promptly uses it to slice through the men’s necks, beheading them in seconds. Magneto then yells at the sky desperately: “Is this what you want from me?! Is this what I am?”
Covered by a robe, En Sabah Nur explores 1980s Cairo, with its odd combination of traditional markets and modern cars and radios. He watches as a teenaged girl uses her mutant powers to cause a small dust storm in order to steal some food. The men she robbed give chase and corner her, but En Sabah Nur interrupts them. They don’t recognize his language and proceed to threaten him, but with his powers he easily decapitates them and embeds their leader into the nearest stone wall, petrifying him.
Professor Xavier, having once erased Moira MacTaggert’s memories of their earlier adventures, has not checked on her in years. Telepathically freezing the people that could stop him along the way, he makes his way into her office, accompanied by Alex Summers. Moira is impressed to meet him (for the first time, as she believes), having followed his publications. Charles sees from the photographs in her office that she has a small son, and learns that Moira is currently divorced, her work having taken precedence in her life. He then asks about the incident in Cairo, prompting her to question how he knows about that and how he even managed to enter the building. Xavier unflinchingly replies that he has top security clearance.
Showing Charles and Alex the files she has assembled, agent MacTaggert tells the story of the strange Egyptian cult she has been following. The cultists believe that mutants originated long before the modern age, and that an all-powerful being named En Sabah Nur was the first one. She has collected historic references to such a person, who appears along with his four Horsemen in various records, according to which his presence always leads to destruction. Xavier realizes that this Apocalyptic figure may well be the bringer of the “end of the world” from Jean’s nightmare vision.
The Egyptian mutant girl, Ororo Munroe, takes En Sabah Nur into a building where she lives hidden away with some fellow orphans. She tries to get her rescuer to explain who he is, telling him about herself and how she wants to be like her hero Mystique someday. The ancient mutant then uses his powers to absorb information through her satellite television, learning modern-day languages like English and finding out about the present state of the world. He is appalled that “the weak” have attained power through false gods like wealth and nuclear weapons, and vows to cleanse the world once more. To Ororo, he pretends to be a savior, but she advises him against “going around killing people” as there are laws and systems in place forbidding that. En Sabah Nur asks her why she limits herself, and then uses his powers to increase her own, also turning her hair from black to white.
Raven takes Nightcrawler aka Kurt Wagner to an underground mutant community and pays a shady character named Caliban for false papers and transportation for Kurt to use. Having saved his life, she doesn’t care what he chooses to do with it from now on. The leery Caliban, who calls her a mercenary and claims to like her (rather than just the money she brings him), offers her some free information. The psychics working for Caliban have learned that Erik Lenhsherr has resurfaced, leaving a number of dead bodies in his wake. Determined to find out more, Raven turns to Nightcrawler and asks about the range of his power. He replies that he can teleport anywhere within his line of sight, as well as anywhere he has already been.
At the X-mansion, Hank McCoy gives Scott a pair of ruby-quartz glasses that allow him to open his eyes without unleashing his optic beams. One of the first things the boy sees is Jean Grey, studying by a tree, and feels an immediate attraction to her. As the two start a conversation, several students walk by nervously. Scott yells out to reassure them that he now has control of his powers, but Jean quickly explains that it is her they are afraid of, as he isn’t the only one with dangerous abilities.
Raven arrives at the mansion with Nightcrawler, surprising Hank. She comments on how both she and Hank are now concealing their blue forms. By way of introducing himself, Kurt cheerfully announces that at least he’s still blue.
Caliban’s underground business is infiltrated late one night by Ororo, whom he recognizes, and En Sabah Nur, whom he does not. They are looking for powerful mutants to recruit but, when he learns that they have no money, Caliban refuses to help them. He draws a gun, which Apocalypse promptly disintegrates. Psylocke, one of Caliban’s psychic assistants, intervenes and threatens the two intruders with her ninja sword and her psychic blade. Impressed, Apocalypse uses his abilities to show her how powerful she could become as one of his Horsemen. Psylocke then agrees to help him find the kind of mutants he’s looking for.
Kurt is talking to Jubilee at the school and mentions how eager he is to learn about American culture. Scott interrupts them, noting that the only American thing about Xavier’s mansion is that it used to be British. Scott suggests they sneak out of the school for a visit to the nearest mall, especially after learning that Nightcrawler has never been to one.
In Berlin, Angel is spending the night at an abandoned warehouse, drinking heavily to violent metal music. Apocalypse, Ororo and Psylocke arrive via teleportation, only to find out that Angel’s wings are damaged and therefore his fighting days are over. However, Apocalypse disagrees with this assessment and reaches out to Angel. The young mutant is transformed as metal erupts from his shoulder blades and encases his wings, also giving him the ability to fire sharp metal “feathers” from them. The process is excruciating for the young mutant but, after it is over, Angel appears very pleased with his new powers.
Hank McCoy shows Raven the X-Jet that he is putting together under the mansion, also mentioning that the room has a retractable roof underneath the school’s basketball court for the jet to launch through. “Hank, you’re building a war plane in here,” Raven points out in amazement, and he explains that after what happened in Washington he decided that mutantkind will need a new team of X-Men. Raven guesses that Charles doesn’t approve, as he wants “students, not soldiers” and Hank agrees that the Professor believes the best of people and relies on hope. Hank himself does hope for the best but thinks that they should still prepare for the worst, and he suggests that Raven should stay and help him convince Charles. Raven interrupts, asking about Erik, which makes Hank jealous. She believes that Erik is in some sort of serious trouble, to which Hank bitterly quips, “Isn’t he always?”
Magneto returns to the factory he used to work in and confronts his fellow workers. He knows some of them went to the police about what they thought they witnessed him doing and suggests that he should demonstrate his powers if they are so keen on exposing them. The men try to calm him down, but the bereft husband and father will not listen. More sorrowful than angry, Magneto tells them to think about the person they love most: wife, sister… his voice quivers as he pronounces the word “daughter.” Now that person will know what it is like to lose their loved one forever.
However, before Erik can kill the workers, En Sabah Nur and his three current Horsemen teleport into the building. With an expletive, Magneto asks the newcomer who he is, and warns him against trying to stop the impending slaughter. Unphased, Apocalypse effortlessly kills the men by making them sink into the ground, and then offers Magneto a new life.
En Sabah Nur teleports Erik Lenhsherr to Auschwitz, where the concentration camp survivor’s parents were murdered and his powers first manifested. “You shouldn’t have brought me here” Lenhsherr mutters, overcome by painful memories. “Why?” Apocalypse asks. This horrifying place is a part of Erik which he cannot deny. Instead, he must find new strength in it. Magneto again asks the armored mutant about his identity, and Apocalypse mentions several names of ancient deities by which he has been known. “I have been called many names over many lifetimes. I am born of death. I was there to spark and fan the flame of man’s awakening, to spin the wheel of civilization. And when the forest would grow rank and needed clearing for new growth, I was there to set it ablaze.”
Lenhsherr asks the ancient mutant where he was when Erik’s parents were slaughtered. “Asleep, trapped in darkness. I was not there for you, my son, but I am here now. You don’t know your own strength, but I do. Reach down, feel the metal in the ground. Reach as deep as you can. You’ll find you have the power to move the very earth itself.” Under En Sabah Nur’s guidance, Magneto reaches down towards the ground and begins to disassemble all the structures in the surrounding area, reshaping them into new ones, as Apocalypse shouts in his metallic voice: “Everything they’ve built will fall! And from the ashes of their world… we’ll build a better one!” Remembering all the loved ones he has lost, Erik also yells out in fury as he unleashes his new power.
A CNN journalist is giving a televised report on how Lenhsherr resurfaced in a small town in Central Poland. Police and armed forces are mobilizing to find Magneto “before he can strike again.” Young Peter Maximoff is watching the report with concern but, as soon as he hears his mother calling him, he uses his superspeed to switch off the television and start playing a video game. Peter’s mother enters the basement where her son lives in order to check in on him, and he claims to just be playing Pacman.
“You sure you weren’t watching this?” She turns the TV back on, where the news anchors are still discussing the ten years of peace between mutants and humans since Magneto’s last disappearance. “You’re going after him, aren’t you.” Peter answers that she wanted him to get out of the house more anyway. She responds that she can’t stop her son, nobody can. “But trust me, this won’t end well. Nothing does, with him.” Peter claims that he is not afraid of Magneto, but his mother tells him he should be. As she leaves, Peter looks down at an old card which the young man has kept for the last ten years, with Professor Xavier’s name and the address of his school.
Charles and Alex return to the X-mansion with Moira, who is surprised that the place seems so familiar to her. Scott, Jean, Jubilee and Kurt are not there at the moment, having just watched “Empire Strikes Back” at the mall, where they are discussing which “Star Wars” movie was the best and agree that the third one in any series always turns out worst. However, Xavier is surprised to find Raven present at the school, and awkwardly “introduces” Moira to her and Hank. While agent MacTaggert is taken by Alex and Hank on a tour of the mansion, Raven asks Charles why Moira didn’t recognize her, as she has already seen Mystique in her currently preferred blonde human form. The Professor explains that he took the CIA agents’ memories after Raven left him on the beach in Cuba, not-so-subtly hinting at his adopted sister’s earlier abandonment of him. “Lucky girl” Mystique replies with similar thinly veiled bitterness.
Trying to leave the past to rest, Charles welcomes Raven home, but she remains aloof: “This isn’t my home.” “It was once…” “No, it was your home. I just lived here. I barely even recognize it anymore.” Still not distraught, Xavier reveals his plans for the place: he means to turn it into a university for mutants and humans alike, living and working together, growing together. Mystique says she believed that was possible once, but humans continue to hate and fear mutants, they just conceal it under superficial politeness. Charles guesses that is the reason Raven isn’t in her natural blue form. “I can’t be the face of a world that doesn’t exist” she spits out, not looking at him. The Professor tries to convince her that things are better, but she insists that it only looks that way to him in Westchester. Out there, mutants are still running and hiding. “Just because there isn’t a war, doesn’t mean there’s peace!” That is what Xavier should be teaching his students. He should teach them to fight, or they might as well live in the mansion for the rest of their lives. Charles accuses her of still sounding just like Erik, and she reveals that he is the reason she has returned to the school. Erik’s wife and child were recently killed, along with several policemen, and Raven wants to find him.
Charles enters Cerebro with Alex, Hank, Moira and Raven. He asks Moira to keep the facility a secret, while Hank mentions to Raven that he based the new model’s bluish color on… he trails off. “It doesn’t matter,” he mutters. The room fills with the white lights which represent all human minds on the planet, and then the red lights which represent all of the mutants. Stunned, Moira blurts out that the CIA would kill to possess this technology, to which Xavier responds that he knows they would.
Erik Lenhsherr stands in his new costume alongside the other Horsemen of Apocalypse in a dimly lit warehouse. While En Sabah Nur is telekinetically crafting a similar costume for his Angel of Death, as well as some intimidating face tattoos for him resembling the ancient mutant’s own oddly shaped features, Erik suddenly feels Professor X in his mind. Through Cerebro, Charles feels his pain and his loss, and tells him how sorry he is. Magneto replies that if Xavier thinks he can feel the same pain by being in Erik’s head, then he is looking in the wrong place. The Professor agrees that what happened to his old friend’s family was terribly wrong. “But come back to us, I can help you.” He asks Erik what his wife and daughter would have wanted, but Magneto growls back that they would have wanted to live. “I tried your way, Charles. I tried to be like them. Live like them. But it always ends the same way. They took everything away from me… Now… We’ll take everything from them.”
Suddenly Xavier realizes that Magneto isn’t alone, while at the same moment En Sabah Nur senses the telepath’s presence and is fascinated. Asked by his Horseman of Death what he sees, the ancient mutant replies: “The answer!” Apocalypse infiltrates the Professor’s mind, whispering “Thank you for letting me in” and then uses his own abilities to take over Cerebro. As Hank implores Charles to sever the connection, Xavier/Apocalypse exclaims that he has never felt power like this before. En Sabah Nur uses Cerebro to connect to all the minds on the planet and looks over the military arsenals of modern nations. “No more stones… No more spears… No more slings… No more swords! No more weapons! No more systems! No more… No more superpowers.”
Simultaneously, all the soldiers in control of nuclear warheads start launching them upwards. “So much faith in their… tools, and their… machines.” Hank tries to take off the Professor’s helmet but is hit by an electric jolt. He then begins ripping the wires out of Cerebro’s control panel, but the machinery remains relentlessly active. “You can fire your arrows from the tower of Babel” Apocalypse shouts, “but you can never… strike… GOD!”
As the world’s nukes are all fired into space, throwing military leaders into a confused panic, Xavier finally comes to his senses and orders Alex to destroy all of Cerebro. “Wreak havoc” Charles tells him, and the mutant once known as Havok unleashes his solar-fueled energy beams from his chest and hands. Cerebro is finally damaged enough to allow those present to take the helmet off the Professor and wheel him out of the room.
Before they can ascertain that Xavier is okay, a purple-glowing teleportation bubble announces the arrival of Apocalypse and his four Horsemen. Raven is shocked to see Erik among them but, without saying a word, the grimly determined Lenhsherr magnetically draws Charles over by his wheelchair. Alex runs towards the intruders, but Apocalypse is already teleporting them away with the captured Professor. While the departing ancient mutant tells Havok that “all will be revealed,” Hank shouts for Alex to stop, but is too late. Havok lets off a blast of energy that misses the villains as they teleport away, and instead hits the power core of Hank’s jet, causing a massive explosion.
Peter Maximoff reaches Xavier’s mansion several seconds before it is completely obliterated, just as Scott, Jean, Kurt and Jubilee are returning from the mall in one of the Professor’s cars. The few remaining seconds, however, prove to be enough time for the superfast mutant to enter the school, assess what is happening and then swiftly evacuate every single occupant of the building, including a pet dog and some goldfish. On the way, he pauses only briefly to perform some of his humorous antics, such as making a kissy-face at Moira and finishing a student’s soft drink right after rescuing her.
The school and its contents are destroyed, but the children and staff are left unscathed on the mansion’s grounds, recovering from the sudden shock. Peter explains to Hank that he was looking for the Professor but Hank, coming to his senses, replies that Charles has been taken away. A startled Mystique has inadvertently shifted to her default red-headed, scaly, blue-skinned from, drawing the attention of the students. Hank tells her that the children look up to her and that right now, they need her. “That’s not what they need,” Raven insists, changing back to her more normal-looking blonde appearance.
Scott Summers jumps out of the now parked car and rushes into the crowd, frantically asking where his brother Alex is. “Pretty sure I got everybody” Peter tells him, but Hank explains that Alex was closest to the blast… which means, as a distraught Scott realizes while looking at the mansion’s debris, that his brother was obliterated before Peter could even find him. Jean silently comforts Scott as he collapses to his knees and weeps. He has little time to grieve, however, before he is interrupted by a military helicopter which lands on the destroyed school’s grounds, while a recorded message repeatedly sounds: “Please remain calm. Medical assistance is on the way.”
A relieved Moira introduces herself as a CIA agent to the emerging soldiers but, an instant later, Raven realizes that something is wrong. She recognizes the commander of the men as William Stryker, whom she knows to have been involved in deadly experiments on mutants years ago. Before she can warn anyone, the military outfit uses high-tech devices to render everyone from the school unconscious, except for Scott, Jean and Kurt, who have managed to take cover behind some of the mansion’s remains. Stryker orders his men to leave the kids, but to take in Moira, Hank, Peter and Mystique. A soldier does a final search for anyone still conscious, but Jean telepathically conceals the presence of herself and her two friends.
Scott insists that they must help their captured allies and asks Kurt if he can teleport into the helicopter. “You want to get in there?! What if the soldiers see us?” Kurt blurts out in his thick, German accent. “Don’t worry,” Jean tells him, “they won’t see us, trust me.” As the helicopter takes off, the three mutants teleport aboard, only to end up in an isolated cage, quickly realizing that their powers are neutralized and that they cannot teleport back out. The soldiers remain unaware of their presence, but Jean is not able to reach anyone’s mind to get help. Kurt begins praying, while Scott mourns his dead brother. “It should have been me” he says. “He was the one who was gonna do something with his life.”
Jean tells him that Alex felt differently; he felt that Scott was the one who would do something special and make a difference in the world, maybe even change it. “How do you know what he felt?” Scott asks her, to which a tormented Jean morosely responds, “I know what everybody feels.” She and Scott hold hands, comforting each other for their respective tragedies, while Kurt concludes his prayer. The helicopter is now flying over the Canadian Rocky Mountains, on its way to Stryker’s military complex at Alkali Lake.
The world is still reeling from the abrupt elimination of every nation’s entire nuclear weapons arsenal. News commentators all over the globe confirm the event, with US journalists reporting that there has been no official message from the White House yet. Charles Xavier wakes up on a rock-covered height somewhere in Egypt, surrounded by Apocalypse and his Horsemen. En Sabah Nur reveals to Xavier that he can shield his followers’ minds from the Professor’s powers. It is one of the many gifts that he has acquired over the millennia: to see inside the mind, to control it.
Realizing that Apocalypse is about to engage in vast killing and destruction, Charles asks Erik if he really intends to take part in it. Magneto responds that Xavier’s way doesn’t work, and En Sabah Nur claims to have shown Lenhsherr a new way, a new world. The Professor counters that Apocalypse has only tapped into Erik’s rage and pain, while Charles still remembers the good he saw in his friend when they first met. Magneto tells Xavier that, whatever the latter once saw in him, he has buried it along with his family.
In a high-tech containment cell within Stryker’s base, Moira, Peter, Hank and Raven regain consciousness. Peter panics at the sight of Beast, who has returned to his bulkier, blue-furred form, and asks if the same will happen to all of them. Hank moodily reassures him, saying that the formula for controlling his mutation was back at the school when it was destroyed. Looking down on his prisoners through a window from the floor above, William Stryker, now a colonel, reintroduces himself to Mystique and warns them against touching the walls of their cell.
Moira haughtily informs Stryker that she is a senior officer at the CIA and that he cannot hold her there. He calmly replies that he knows who she is and can indeed hold her. A psychic event has just obliterated every nuke in the world, and she was found at the source of the event, the home of the world’s most powerful psychic. Stryker now wants her to tell him where Charles Xavier is. Moira and Raven try to explain that there’s someone much more powerful and dangerous than the Professor out there, and they offer to work with Stryker if he lets them out. But Stryker refuses to believe them, claiming to know Mystique’s true nature no matter what face she is wearing.
Apocalypse demands that Charles Xavier deliver a telepathic message to every living mind: that he, En Sabah Nur, is about to wreak devastation upon the Earth. The Professor responds that even if he wanted to do that, he couldn’t reach so many minds without Cerebro. Apocalypse frowns impatiently. “You don’t need a machine to amplify your powers… You have me.”
In the cell at Alkali Lake, Peter asks Raven if she knows Magneto. “I used to… I’m not so sure anymore.” Peter would like to know what the man was like, if he was really “the bad guy” that people say he is. Mystique isn’t sure how to answer, so instead she asks why he is interested in Magneto; did he see him on television or something? Yeah, Peter confirms, and also… “he’s my father.” Raven is stunned, and the speedster explains that Erik had a relationship with Peter’s mother but left her while she was pregnant. Peter has met Magneto once, ten years ago, but didn’t know at the time. Today he went looking for him at the school, but arrived just too late. For someone who moves so fast, he seems to always miss the opportunity to talk to his father. Touched, Mystique says she hopes he succeeds this time.
Scott, Jean and Kurt are wandering through Stryker’s base, masking their presence through Jean’s telepathy and trying to find their friends. Suddenly, Xavier’s telepathic message reaches them, as it does every other person on the planet, each in their own language: this world has fallen but is about to be cleansed. Apocalypse dictates this to Charles, who relays the ancient mutant’s words to all of humanity. En Sabah Nur’s concluding words are “Those with the greatest power, this Earth will be yours.” This time, however, the Professor alters the message: “Those with the greatest power… Protect those without. That’s my message to the world.” Erik looks at his old friend with a conflicted look on his face, while Apocalypse appears calm in his disappointment.
As the Earth’s governments and militaries are scrambling to understand the communication that has just been transmitted to them, Hank wonders how Charles could broadcast it without Cerebro. Jean Grey, however, has heard something that everyone else did not: a second message, sent only to her by Xavier alongside the first one. He has revealed to her that the villains who have captured him are in Cairo. As she begins to relate this to Kurt and Scott, the soldiers finally notice the three teenagers’ presence, forcing Nightcrawler to teleport them to a different part of the building in order to hide. They stumble upon some laboratory equipment alongside a holding cell with what appears at first to be a wild animal but turns out, when Jean scans its mind, to be a man. He has been experimented on and his human consciousness has been damaged. As soldiers run into the room looking for the three mutants, the teens take a chance and release the captive in order to distract their pursuers.
James Howlett aka Logan, wearing almost no clothes but with some machinery still strapped to his body, emerges and unsheathes his metal-laced claws. The base’s personnel begin to panic as an announcement rings out that “Weapon X” is loose. In a very brief space of time, the feral mutant makes his way through the base, viciously slaughtering every soldier in his way. Looking upon the carnage, Scott asks Jean if she is still sure the former captive is not an animal. Despite their misgivings, however, the massacre does give the three teenagers the distraction they need, as their enemies are thrown into chaos and colonel Stryker surreptitiously escapes the base.
Scott, Jean and Kurt run into Weapon X just as he is about to leave into the snowy wilderness through a heavy vaulted door, and he turns his gaze onto them, prompting Scott to reach for his glasses in order to fight back with his optic beams. Jean stops her friend, deciding instead to use her powers to communicate with the savage man and calm him down. He withdraws his claws as she physically approaches him and reaches into his mind, searching for any memories from his past that she can restore. This further calms Logan, who slowly detaches Stryker’s machinery from his body and finally runs out through the vaulted door. “Hope that’s the last we’ll see of that guy,” Scott mutters.
The three teens then free their friends, with Scott blasting through the door of their cell and Jean informing them that she knows where the Professor is. “Well, you’ve been busy,” Raven remarks when she sees the soldiers’ corpses strewn on the floor of the base. “We had… a little help,” Scott explains. The six young mutants and Moira then find a high-powered jet which Beast believes he can operate. They also come across some flight suits they can wear, prompting Raven to tell Hank: “You’ve got your war plane; let’s go to war.”
En Sabah Nur puts his plan into action, dissolving entire buildings throughout Cairo and taking control of the materials they were made from. He then forges a new helmet from some of those materials as a gift for Magneto. He Erik to take control of the metal throughout the Earth, in order to destroy what humankind has built and usher in a new world for the survivors, for the strongest. Charles asks if he himself is intended to play a role in this madness, and Apocalypse tells him that he will have the most important role of all.
On board Stryker’s plane, Moira and the mutant refugees are heading towards Cairo. A nervous Jean asks Raven if she was scared that day in DC when she became known as a hero. “No,” Mystique replies, still reluctant to give away any further details. “But I was scared on my first mission,” she finally says. “I was on a plane like this with my friends. About your age. We called ourselves the X-Men.” She tells Scott that his brother was there, codenamed Havok. He was quite a handful but proved to be very brave.
Kurt asks what happened to the other X-Men, and Beast, who is flying the plane, casts down his eyes grimly. “Hank and I are the only ones left,” Raven manages to say. “I couldn’t save the rest of them. I told you I’m not a hero.” Jean replies that she’s a hero to them; seeing Mystique on television that day changed her life. “Mine too,” Kurt joins in. “Mine too,” Peter begins to say while chewing on a piece of gum, before admitting that he actually still lives in his mom’s basement and everything else is pretty much the same as well. “I’m a total loser,” he concludes, making his friends laugh and lightening their mood a little.
Magneto levitates above the ground and creates a magnetic shield for himself as he takes control of sunken wreckage, cargo ships and various other metal objects throughout the planet. In the Pentagon, a scientist explains to the US military commanders that they are seeing a magnetic phenomenon on a much larger scale than the recent one in Auschwitz. The ground and the ocean floor are full of metallic elements. If this goes on, anything built since the bronze age will be wiped away, causing a tremendous death toll worldwide.
Meanwhile, En Sabah Nur is shackling Xavier to a stone slab inside an ancient pyramid. The Professor is still defiant, telling the ancient warlord that he is just another false god, and that anyone who follows Apocalypse after all of this will eventually betray him once again. The Egyptian mutant responds that Charles is wrong, because it is he who can provide the gift that En Sabah Nur has always needed most: “to be everywhere… to be everyone.” Apocalypse intends to transfer his consciousness into the Professor and gain the power to control every mind in the world. This is what Jean realizes as the X-Men’s plane approaches the pyramid and Raven takes command of the team. She tells Jean, Scott and Nightcrawler to teleport inside and get Charles to the plane, while she takes care of Erik. Hank asks her how she can get through Magneto’s force shield, and Peter volunteers to help. After all, his father is the one he came there for.
As bridges and buildings throughout the planet collapse and dissolve into their basic materials, which Magneto then redirects into the founding structures of Apocalypse’s future world, the X-Men are about to challenge the ancient mutant. Scott warns Mystique that not all of them can fully control their powers, and she promptly replies: “Then don’t. You need to embrace them. We all do,” she adds, changing into her default blue form. Peter then grabs her and climbs up over various pieces of debris towards Erik in his magnetic shield.
En Sabah Nur orders his Horsemen to protect him until the transference is complete, then lies down on a slab next to Xavier’s. His Angel of Death flies out of the pyramid and attacks the X-Men, quickly followed by Ororo with her weather powers and Psylocke with her physical sword and psychic blade. The Horsemen try to split the heroes up, distracting them from their attempts to infiltrate the pyramid and rescue the Professor. As Kurt becomes confused by the maze inside the structure, he is ambushed by his old enemy, Angel. Beast, meanwhile, takes on Psylocke, while Peter fails to penetrate Erik’s magnetic field. Trying a different approach, Mystique calls out to her former ally. She knows Erik thinks he’s lost everything but tells him that he hasn’t. He still has her, Charles, and… she looks at Peter, who is still reluctant to reveal himself to Magneto as his son. “You have more family than you know,” Raven concludes vaguely. She implores Erik to save his remaining family instead of destroying their world.
The mutants continue their battle as Apocalypse begins to take over Xavier’s body, rendering the Professor’s head bald and taking over his mind. Kurt finally manages to knock out the Angel of Death and then quickly locates Charles, teleporting him onto the plane before the transference is complete. Nightcrawler then retrieves his teammates and Hank starts the plane in order to make good their escape. As they take off, however, Angel regains consciousness and flies Psylocke onto the plane, where she begins to drill her way inside.
Jean tells everyone to grab hold of Kurt, ignoring his protests that he’s never teleported with this many people. She tells Nightcrawler to get them all out of there, just as Psylocke and the Angel of Death enter through the plane’s damaged ceiling. Jean slows the two Horsemen down with her telekinesis while Kurt struggles to teleport with all the other X-Men holding on to him. Finally, the young heroes manage to teleport into a nearby building that is still standing, but the strain knocks Nightcrawler out. Meanwhile, the plane crashes with Angel still on board, while Psylocke manages to jump off just in time.
As Magneto and Raven watch the plane’s destruction, apparently with their friend Charles inside it, Mystique tells Erik that she is going to fight for what she still has left. “Are you?” Magneto’s thoughts are flooded with memories of his earlier friendship with Xavier, who claimed to see so much good in him. Erik finally makes up his mind.
Looking upon his Angel of Death crushed among the remains of the plane, En Sabah Nur proclaims him “useless.” Ororo watches this heartless display, no longer sure of her allegiance. Apocalypse then taps into his still active telepathic connection to Charles, trying to find the Professor and complete his plan. He is interrupted by Peter Maximoff, who assaults him at superhuman speed and manages to land several punches before the ancient mutant knows what is happening. En Sabah Nur then regains the upper hand, trapping one of Peter’s feet in the ground, thus immobilizing him, and proceeds to break the young man’s arm and one of his legs. As Psylocke approaches and draws her sword, Apocalypse orders her to “end him.”
However, instead of Peter, Psylocke swings her sword at her master, making a gash in his throat. She is revealed to be Mystique in disguise when the ancient mutant grabs her by the neck, his own throat quickly regenerating. “The great hero” he mutters sarcastically, much to Ororo’s horror. “You are feeble, just like the others.” Seeing Raven in mortal danger, Xavier is willing to give himself up, but Moira reminds him that, if he is captured, everyone in the world will become vulnerable to En Sabah Nur. As Apocalypse calls on Charles to rescue his “weakling” the Professor is unsure of what to do, until he realizes that he is indeed still connected to the ancient mutant’s mind. “Thank you for letting me in,” he sarcastically repeats his foe’s own words, before entering his mind.
Inside En Sabah Nur’s consciousness, Xavier’s psychic form assaults the villain’s. “You want what I’ve got? You want to feel what I feel?!” the Professor asks, before unleashing all the voices he hears from other people’s minds onto Apocalypse, overwhelming him. “Welcome to my world.” In the physical realm, the ancient mutant loses hold of Raven, while in his mindscape Charles recreates the X-mansion and begins punching the villain around. “You’re in my house now.”
Suddenly however, En Sabah Nur blocks the Professor’s latest strike, and answers back: “You’ll need a bigger house.” Apocalypse’s psychic form grows larger than Xavier’s and overpowers him, thus regaining control of his own body and directing it towards the Professor’s physical hiding place. Before the villain can get to Charles, however, two metal pillars land in his way, forming a large “X.” It is Magneto, who has decided to fight on the side of his old friend. “You betray me?!” the ancient mutant asks him angrily, but Erik has a ready answer: “No. I betrayed them” referring to the young mutants, including the immobilized Peter.
Magneto appears certain now whom he stands with, as he summons various pieces of metal shrapnel and fires them at Apocalypse. The Egyptian warlord resists the assault, obliterating the projectiles before they can reach him. Scott and Hank join in, with Scott shooting optic blasts at En Sabah Nur. Still unable to best his opponent telepathically, Xavier reaches out to Jean, asking for her help. As Apocalypse knocks out Hank and traps Scott inside a wall, Moira realizes that the mutants resisting En Sabah Nur cannot stop him.
“It’s over, Charles. You’re finished.” Apocalypse says to his foe. “You’re mine now.” “You’ll never win,” an overpowered Xavier replies. “And why is that?” the ancient mutant asks, still physically approaching the Professor in order to finally capture him. “Because you are alone,” Charles tells him. “And I… am… not.” Just then, Jean Grey steps out of the building she and Xavier have been hiding in, telekinetically walking on thin air as she comes closer to En Sabah Nur. Xavier encourages her to unleash her full power without fear, prompting Jean to psychically strike Apocalypse, while an orange phoenix-shaped energy signature surrounds her. Simultaneously, Hank regains consciousness and frees Scott, who continues blasting at En Sabah Nur, while Magneto is piercing the villain’s body with large pieces of metal.
Apocalypse decides on a retreat and starts to teleport away, but just then Ororo finally turns on him, summoning lightning to strike the ancient warlord. As En Sabah Nur’s armor falls apart and he realizes that he is dying, he mutters, “All is revealed,” before his body finally dissolves under the combined assault of his foes.
The X-Men reassemble around the unconscious Professor Xavier, while a morose Psylocke secretly walks away from the battlefield. Moira and Hank worry that they’ve lost Charles, but Jean can still feel him. She touches the Professor’s cheek and he comes to, thanking her. Moira asks Xavier if he knows where he is, and he responds by returning to her the memories of their earlier acquaintance and relationship, apologizing that he took those memories from her in the first place. Kurt suddenly also regains consciousness, asking about the events he has missed.
News reports throughout the world announce the miraculous survival of humankind after this global assault, also noting the newly ambivalent attitude towards mutants at a time when they had just begun to become accepted. At the Xavier estate, Erik Lenhsherr and Jean Grey, both levitating above the ground, are using their combined powers to rebuild the Professor’s mansion. Ororo, now part of the student body, asks Peter (his arm and leg in casts) if he intends to tell Magneto that he is his son. The speedster replies that he might someday, but for now he intends to stick around the school.
Later, on the mansion’s underground level, Xavier (now bald and again in his wheelchair) and Erik Lenhsherr (in a grey suit) are having a conversation. The Professor notes that the world is already rebuilding its destroyed arsenals, and Erik tells him that it’s human nature. Charles replies that he still has hope. “Oh, yes. Hope,” Lenhsherr repeats, unconvinced. “I was right about Raven,” Xavier tells him. “I was even right about you.” “And what about the rest of the world? Doesn’t it ever wake you up in the middle of the night, the feeling that one day they’ll come for you, and your children?” “It does indeed” the Professor admits. “What do you do when you wake up to that?” “I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to my school looking for trouble.”
The corners of Erik’s lips twinge into a slight smile, indicating his respect. Xavier asks him if he can convince him to stay. Tapping the Professor on the shoulder before taking his leave, Magneto replies that Charles is psychic and can convince him to do anything. “Goodbye old friend,” Xavier says, smiling. “Good luck… Professor,” Erik says in response, disappearing into the elevator.
Behind Charles is a training room in which Mystique, under Hank’s supervision, is coaching Jean, Scott, Ororo, Nightcrawler and Peter Maximoff. She tells the young mutants that, whatever they learned in school, whatever their parents told them, none of that matters. They are no longer students. They are X-Men. She then nods to Hank, who operates the Danger Room’s technology to open a door from which several Sentinel robots emerge. The young X-Men appear nervous, but ready to train in fighting the foes of mutantkind. While the Danger Room door is closing, Professor Xavier looks on in grim approval as the training session begins.
Back in Stryker’s Alkali Lake facility, a paramilitary team steps over the bodies of soldiers while retrieving records and blood samples, including some of Weapon X. The suitcase in which these samples are being stored has a label that reads “Essex Corp.”
Characters:
3600 BC:
En Sabah Nur
Famine, Pestilence, War, Death (all Horsemen)
Egyptian subjects
Conspirators
1983:
Professor Charles Xavier
Alexander Summers / Havok
Hank McCoy / Beast, Raven Darkholme / Mystique, Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler, Peter Maximoff (all X-Men)
Jubilee and other students at Xavier's School for Gifter Youngsters
En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse
Angel / Angel of Death, Ororo Munroe / Storm, Psylocke, Erik Lenhsherr / Heinrik Gurzsky / Magneto (all Horsemen)
Moira MacTaggert
CIA personnel
Colonel William Stryker
James Howlett / Logan / Wolverine / Weapon X
Soldiers
Magda Gurzsky
Nina Gurzsky
Milosz and other Polish factory workers
Polish police officers
Mrs. Maximoff
Caliban
Psychics and other mutants employed by Caliban
General Hastings (Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff)
Secretary Weisberg (US Secretary of Defense)
US military personell
Scott Summers' parents
Teacher and students at Scott Summers' former school
The Blob
Cage fight announcer
Cage fight audience and guards
Russian military submarine personell
Egyptian cultists
Egyptian street vendors and other citizens of Cairo
Orphans
In post-credit scene:
Mysterious men working for Essex Corp.
In photographs:
Moira MacTaggert
Moira MacTaggert’s son
In television broadcasts:
Ronald Reagan
Margaret Thatcher
Pope John Paul II
Various reporters
Notes:
It is unclear where the technology used in ancient Egypt by En Sabah Nur came from, although it is possible that he created it himself with his powers, as he was seen in the post-credit scene of the previous X-Men movie to have built entire pyramids. In the comics, Apocalypse was given his futuristic equipment by the Celestials, an alien race with a ruthless ideology of survival of the fittest.
The teenaged X-Men’s conversation about the third movie always being the worst is an X-film in-joke. The third X-Men movie, X-Men: The Last Stand did very poorly compared to the previous two, and fans of the franchise generally tend to like it less. Also, X-Men: Apocalypse is the third in the prequel series, and perhaps the creators were worried that it would seem too over the top with its flashier effects and its storyline about an all-powerful ancient mutant. Ironically, the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy (which was made after the time when this film takes place) was poorly received, but its third instalment is generally seen as better than the previous two.
At this point, the creators of the X-Men movies appear to have completely given up on maintaining continuity. Already in the last few films there were some contradictions with the original trilogy, and in this one we find characters like Jubilee and Angel being born years earlier than they had been according to previous movies. At the same time however, some events in this movie do seem to account for details from earlier ones, such as future Xavier being bald, and Alex Summers not being present in the original trilogy. The best explanation seems to be the one offered in X-Men: Days of Future Past, as well as in <a href="https://collider.com/bryan-singer-x-men-apocalypse-interview">an interview</a> with director Bryan Singer: there are many alternate timelines, which can feature similar events and characters, but with various differences between them. Therefore, maybe each X-Men film takes place in a separate timeline, which would account for both the inconsistencies and the similarities.
En Sabah Nur’s lines “All will be revealed, my son” and, later on, “All is revealed” can be interpreted in several ways. It could just be Apocalypse expressing his intention to reveal the world’s most powerful mutants, and then, upon his own demise at the hands of Jean Grey, his admission that she has proven the most powerful of all. However, it could also be a nod to viewers who are wondering why Havok doesn’t appear in the original X-Men trilogy, and why Jean is still alive at the end of X-Men: Days of Future Past. After all, the villain’s lines are spoken just before the event that kills Havok, thus explaining his later absence, as well as at the moment when Jean is given Xavier’s blessing to explore her full powers in the revamped timeline, thus ensuring that she doesn’t develop a split personality and become corrupted by her Phoenix persona. It is also worth mentioning that the Greek term “Apocalypse” literally means “Revelation,” so En Sabah Nur’s character could have the purpose of revealing certain truths about humanity, whatever his own personal goals might be.
“X-Men: Apocalypse” contains multiple scenes reminiscent of earlier X-Men films, including Xavier’s power being used to target all of humanity (X2), Logan breaking out of the Weapon X facility (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Xavier being plagued by other people’s mental voices (X-Men: Days of Future Past), and especially the final conversation between Charles and Magneto, which is almost identical to the one at the end of the first X-Men movie. In this case, Erik and the Professor part as friends, not enemies, which proves the point made in Days of Future Past that while some aspects of the timestream remain the same, others can indeed be changed for the better.
In one scene, the Professor is teaching a class about T. H. White’s novel “The Once and Future King.” This novel was also referenced twice in X2, where Magneto was reading it in his cell, and an older Xavier was teaching it to a different class. The novel is relevant to the X-Men franchise’s message of hope for the future, and the quote discussed in this particular film is about the younger generation overcoming the mistakes of the previous one, which is a theme that runs throughout the X-films.
Magneto’s Polish identity and family were invented for the purposes of this movie, but they do recall some of the character’s comic book history. In Classic X-Men #12, Magneto lost his wife and young daughter in a fire, when a frightened mob prevented him from rescuing them. This led him down the path of mutant supremacism. However, at the time this film was made, the comics hadn’t touched on whether his daughter had any mutant powers, and <a href="https://screenrant.com/xmen-red-magneto-daughter-anya-not-mutant/">X-Men: Red (2nd series) #2</a> would later reveal that she did not. The powers that this movie’s Nina possesses instead appear similar to those of a character in the one-shot Archangel: Phantom Wings, which does not fit within the X-Men comics’ canonical continuity.
Moira having a son from a failed marriage is based on a storyline from X-Men (1st series) #125-128, where the son turns out to be a mutant capable of warping reality and becomes dangerously violent. The scene referencing him in this film was probably intended as a set-up for a future movie, but after the poor reviews received by X-Men: Dark Phoenix, the film series was discontinued before any such project could be realized.
In this movie, it is Hank McCoy who gives Scott Summers his first pair of ruby-quartz glasses to help him control his powers. In the comics, it was Nathaniel Essex (Mr. Sinister), who was studying and manipulating Scott throughout the boy’s childhood for his own purposes. The film’s post-credit scene includes a reference to someone names Essex, but the character ended up not appearing anywhere in Fox’s X-Men movie series.
Peter Maximoff asking Mystique if Magneto really is “the bad guy” that his reputation suggests is yet another nod back to the first X-Men trilogy. In X2, a similarly naïve Pyro asks Magneto about him being “the bad guy” only to be told that “the real bad guys” are the humans trying to wipe mutants off the face of the planet.
Apocalypse’s joke that Xavier will need “a bigger house” to psychically battle him seems to be a reference to the famous line “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” from the movie Jaws. Bryan Singer, who directed this film, has stated that Jaws is one of his favorite movies. Back in X2, the character Pyro had a lighter with a shark pattern also inspired by Jaws.
The movie’s post-credit scene was intended to be a bridge between this film and the franchise’s next instalment, Logan. However, there is no character named “Essex” in Logan, as the creators of that movie decided that the comic book personage Mr. Sinister (Nathaniel Essex) wasn’t realistic enough for the kind of movie they were making. The final film in Fox’s X-Men franchise, The New Mutants, does loosely connect these remaining threads, by featuring some footage from Logan and also referencing an unseen Mr. Essex, who seems to be behind the mutant soldier experiments in both Logan and The New Mutants.