Mythology Gag / X-Men: Apocalypse

• Time travel causes mutants to be publicly exposed earlier, prompting Apocalypse to try to take over the world. This is the foundation of the plot of the most famous Apocalypse story, Age of Apocalypse.
• Apocalypse's Large Ham moment sounds eerily similar to a quote that he said as he gathered his Horsemen in the '90s cartoon:

  Apocalypse: The old world passes away. Together, we shall forge a new one, in fire and blood. [...] From the ashes of this world, I shall build a better one!

• Scott and Jean's Meet Cute scene (and their psychic rapport) is taken directly from their first meeting in the comics.
• The battle between Cyclops and Storm amongst the rubble alludes to their duel for the X-Men's leadership◊ in the Danger Room simulating a ruins site.
• Xavier's Battle in the Center of the Mind with Apocalypse is a nod to Prof. X's psychic war with the Shadow King.
• Angel's wings were injured after the fight with Nightcrawler. In the comics, a mutant was also responsible in grievously wounding Angel's wings, which eventually led him to be augmented with metal wings by Apocalypse.
• The lighting in the warehouse where Apocalypse gives Angel his new metal wings gives Angel's skin the same pale blue as comic Archangel's.
• Apocalypse almost manages to transfer his consciousness to Xavier. In the comics, he had possessed Cyclops.
• This is not the first time Magneto and Storm were Horsemen of Apocalypse.
• Alex Summers is an executive at Berkshire Hathaway, a company located in Omaha, Nebraska. In the comics, Havok was placed in an orphanage in the same city.
• Storm's mohawk was first introduced in the comics in 1983 by Paul Smith, and this film is set in 1983.
• Magneto was never married or had a daughter named Nina (the Adaptation Name Change for Anya) in the original timeline, but he does in the Alternate Timeline, which is a nod to the comics.
• Peter Maximoff is established to be Erik's son in this film, and just like in the original source material, Magneto wasn't aware that he had fathered Quicksilver for many years.
• Moira has a son and was married like her comic book counterpart.
• At a music store, Scott shows Jean an album called "Sounds of Light and Fury◊" which was recorded by Dazzler◊. A mutant from the comics who hasn't appeared in the movie-verse.
• The blue uniform Cyclops gets later in the film resembles his classic Jim Lee costume from the '90s, complete with the Y-shaped chest belt.
• Scott and Kurt's friendship is similar to their X-Men: Evolution incarnation.
• Kurt's Thriller jacket is a fun way of alluding to his original costume.
• The bracers on Nightcrawler's costume are white like the gloves of his classic costume, but share a similar design to the armored bracers he wore in the Age of Apocalypse series.
• Wolverine/Weapon X breaking out of containment and massacring a large group of soldiers as the commanding officers watch helplessly over security cameras is taken from a similar arc in the "Marvel Comic Presents" series. The mechanical apparatus strapped to him is even modeled directly on the comic version◊.
• In the original trilogy, Xavier went out of his way to suppress Jean's Phoenix powers. In this movie, he encourages her to unleash them.
• In the first X-Men movie, a scene was planned showing teenage Cyclops' powers manifesting in the school bathroom. It was never shot, but it appears in this film. The scene was used in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and a variation occurs in this timeline.
• In the final scene, Mystique is delivering the Danger Room briefing in her costume from the comics. Some costume for the young X-Men in that scene also partially take a cue from their comics counterparts.
• Apocalypse being incinerated by a Phoenix-empowered Jean is taken from the Apocalypse story arc of Ultimate X Men and the way it happens to him is similar to how Jean destroyed Scott and Xavier and nearly killed Logan in X-Men: The Last Stand.
• Mystique, being the one who got the most Adaptational Heroism ever since X-Men: First Class, keeps insisting that she's not a hero is a reference to how her comics counterpart is most definitely not a hero.
• Apocalypse declaring "No more superpowers." upon destroying the world's nukes; a similar phrase was uttered in House of M and Avengers vs. X-Men.

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