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Main X-Men Film Series guesses here.


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     Confirmed pre-release theories 
Wolverine's part, if any, will be extremely minor.
This ain't your story, bub. He'll probably get a cameo like in First Class.
  • Presumably Confirmed. In mid-July 2015, FOX released the cast list on its official website, and Hugh Jackman's name is not included, so if Logan does appear, his screen time will be minimal. According to this article, Wolverine will be in the movie, but his appearance will be something akin to an extended cameo.
  • Confirmed. Wolverine cameos when the X-Men are captured by Stryker and Jean releases him from his holding Weapon X cell to get rid of the guards. Wolverine is very animalistic this time. He is feral and kills everyone in the base during a berserker rage apart from the X-Men and Stryker, who escapes. He shares a tender moment with Jean as she enters his mind and finds the only memories of his past he has to give him peace and bring his human side back. He then leaves the base and runs into the wilderness and is not seen again during the rest of the film.

Cyclops will be restored to a more comic book-like version.
The films have badly mistreated Cyclops, and this movie looks like his chance to actually be Cyclops, and not Logan's Rival Love Interest.
  • Confirmed, sort of. His bond with Jean is played up, their shared difficulty controlling their powers giving them something to bond over, and there's plenty of Ship Tease. However, Scott is - at least at first - played as a bit more of a bad boy than his rules conscious canon self.

The movie will really be about Cyclops, Jean, and Storm's journey.
X-Men Days of Future Past showed a lot of trailers centered around Wolverine teaching Charles, but the movie was really about Charles, Raven, and Erik and how their relationships were the backbone of the movie. This movie it will tease that focus will be Xavier, Magneto, and Mystique, but really be about Cyclops, Jean, and Storm's story and how they became the X-Men.
  • CONFIRMED! The movie is mostly about how Jean, Scott and Nightcrawler let go of their fears and master their powers. The end of the film has a new team of X-Men formed consisting of Scott, Jean, Nightcrawler, Storm, Quicksilver and Beast with Mystique as their leader.

Young Storm will have a stylish mohawk.
This being The '80s and all, it's not too far-fetched.
  • Confirmed in the SDCC exclusive teaser trailer.

Nightcrawler will appear.
Bryan Singer apparently really likes the character and wants to do a younger version. Perhaps maybe just a cameo with young Kurt performing in a circus.
The movie will see a return of colorful costume similar to First Class.
Singer has hinted we may get more faithful costumes in this movie, and in Deadpool (2016) (Which takes place decades after Apocalypse), Negasonic Teenage Warhead is shown wearing a fairly faithful-looking yellow X-Men uniform.
  • Confirmed. The X-Men get new colorful costumes at the end of the film.

Charles and Erik will reconcile by the end of the movie.
Professor X will apparently develop into a more aggressive character in comparison to Patrick Stewart's portrayal, so perhaps the inverse will occur with Magneto.note  The only thing that that keeps these old friends apart is their opposing ideologies, so if they both reach a middle ground of sorts, why wouldn't Erik stay by Charles' side?

Professor X and Magneto were friends when they visited a young Jean Grey near the beginning of X-Men: The Last Stand, and Bryan Singer claims that the Alternate Timeline will still lead (in a very vague sense) to the first film. It's likely that he wants the characters to be together again for a time, only to have them experience a "second divorce" at a later date (either in The '90s or at the Turn of the Millennium), which would make their Friendly Enemy dynamic in the movies that are set in the 21st century that much more tragic because it has an on-again, off-again quality. This behind-the-scenes snapshot may suggest that Charles and Erik have made amends after they've dealt with Apocalypse.

  • Confirmed. They part on good terms at the end of the film.

Movie!Apocalypse will have been a historical figure, or several.
Obvious guess: he'll be revealed to be Khufu, and what we saw in the teaser was the Great Pyramid of Giza.
  • Partly confirmed. He has revealed himself to be several gods in mythologies and religions, referencing Ra (The Egyptian Sun God), Krishna (a Hindu deity who, among other things, has blue skin), and Yahweh (the God of Christianity and Judaism) as names he has been known as over the centuries.

We will see the Phoenix, but she will be different than in X-Men: The Last Stand.
Since Jean Grey is alive in 2023 of the Alternate Timeline, that must mean Xavier has learned his lesson about being overprotective towards Raven, and he doesn't place psychic blocks in Jean's mind. The Phoenix therefore won't be Jean's Superpowered Evil Side/Split Personality, and her challenge (presumably with Charles' help) is to try to find a way to manage and control the full potential of her power. Although it's highly unlikely that she'll master all of her abilities as a teen, the damage the Phoenix can cause to Apocalypse would be very useful, especially if Onslaught doesn't come to fruition. A magazine article has stated that Jean is fearful of her telepathy, but when Apocalypse begins his rampage, at one point she will have no choice but to access her Phoenix power to have a chance in hell of defeating him.
  • Confirmed. At the film's climax, the X-Men can't defeat Apocalypse while Charles is losing his mental battle with him. He appeals for Jean's help and tells her to let go of her fears about not being able to control her powers. Jean unleashes the full power of the Phoenix on Apocalypse and kills him. After this she appears in full control of her powers.

Havok dies, or at least is seriously injured.
In the teaser trailer, Alex is absent in the shot of the X-Men traveling in the X-Jet, so something bad must have happened to him.
  • Confirmed. He tries to attack Apocalypse and the Horsemen when they kidnap Charles but misses and hits the Blackbird's engine, causing it to blow up and destroy the mansion. Quicksilver is able to save everyone but Alex as he was the closest to the blast and was killed instantly with no time to save him.

Apocalypse kidnaps Charles because he intends to perform a Grand Theft Me
Apocalypse has been confirmed as being able to Body Surf. He kidnaps Charles even though he appears to already have his Four Horseman at this point (since Erik looks to be the one doing the actual kidnapping). Taking over Charles's body would give him access to all the of Xavier family wealth and resources, as well as a school full of trusting students all ready to be shaped and manipulated right how he wants them.This could lead to a Heel Realisation for Erik, whose view of the promised "better world" no doubt involved him and his old friend side by side, and Apocalypse using Charles as a People Puppet ruins that dream. The ritual to transfer Apocalypse's consciousness could even be the reason Charles is shown as bald in some trailers, as a form of Locked into Strangeness similar to Rogue in the first X-Men film.
  • Confirmed! The third act is the X-Men trying to stop Apocalypse taking over Charles's body. The transference is why Charles loses his hair.
Jubilee gave Nightcrawler his Thriller jacket.
She's The Fashionista, and he's the Adorkable blue elf who just escaped from behind the Iron Curtain. You do the math. They might be a Beta Couple or Platonic Life-Partners as her unique sense of fashion leads her to seem him as Freaky Is Cool.

Archangel decides to join Apocalypse due to his fight with Nightcrawler at the fight club.
In the second trailer, they are shown to be fighting. If Nightcrawler wins, it could cause Archangel to accept Apocalypse as his leader, with Apocalypse claiming he could make Archangel stronger/faster/more able to beat Nightcrawler when they meet again. Nightcrawler might be responsible for Angel's traditional loss of his wings, he might not be in full control of his powers yet and could accidentally tear them off in a Teleporter Accident.
  • Partly confirmed. Nightcrawler accidentally badly wounds Angel's wings during their fight leaving him unable to fly properly. Apocalypse uses his power to give Angel new wings.
Although Quicksilver tries to find his father, he nevertheless develops a greater affinity for Xavier and/or Beast, which is why he becomes a full member of the X-Men (and not just a temporary ally).
Ms. Maximoff reveals to her son Peter that his father is Magneto, but because the latter is a fugitive and is in hiding, Peter has no way of contacting him, so he goes to Xavier's school and seeks Charles' and/or Hank's help in this matter. While there, he gets along well with at least one of them (or both), and this leaves enough of an impression on him that even after he meets Erik, Peter feels much more comfortable being with the X-Men than whatever his father is involved with.
  • Confirmed...sort of. He only joins the X-Men during the events of this film but it plays out like the above.
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Apocalypse will take Shadow King's role in Storm's backstory.
And that's why she will join his Horsemen.
  • Confirmed; this version of Apocalypse is very much a Composite Character with The Shadow King in general.

     Jossed pre-release theories 
This movie will clarify which films still transpired in some way in the revised timeline
Word of God says that the ending of the film will in some way lead in to X1, so it's safe to say that events of that film do occur within this timeline in some form.
  • Jossed. Magneto is once more on the loose, but on better terms with Charles and his reputation is restored after helping to defeat Apocalypse. Mystique is firmly on Charles' side and training the young X-men recruits.

We will see a younger Senator Kelly.
Although he won't be a senator yet in The '80s. The devastation caused by Apocalypse and the Horsemen will convince him for the need to start working on a Mutant Registration Act...
  • Jossed.

Cyclops will die AGAIN in the film.
The actors wanted to play him are relative unknowns, unlike those wanted to play Jean and Storm, which may imply that he will be pushed aside again. The character also dies in the comic version of Age of Apocalypse and it wouldn't really be surprising if that was the one thing the directors keep from canon. The next film could be Search for Cyclops. Whatever happens, he cannot be permanently killed in this film, since an older version appears at the end of Days of Future Past.
  • Jossed. Scott survives the film.

There will be a sub-plot of Cyclops recovering from abuse.
Scott will play a much bigger role, and as in his comic canon story he will be forced by the events of the film to develop from a scared, lonely kid with no self-worth to a skilled, tactical genius leader with no self-worth. His first appearance in the film will be the Jack Winters story and the entire sub-plot will lead to the next film being based around Mr Sinister.
  • Jossed. Though Sinister is heavily implied by the Stinger to be the Big Bad of the next film, with Wolverine's blood samples being collected from the Weapon X facility by a man with a suitcase from 'Essex Corp'.

The main plot of the film will be the Legacy Virus.
In this continuity, the Legacy Virus is created by Apocalypse, with the intent of weeding out the "weak" mutants so that he can gather the "strong" as his personal army. This would be appropriate, given the film is set in the 80s and the Legacy virus was originally used as an allegory for AIDS.
  • Jossed

Apocalypse's Horsemen will be Wolverine, Magneto, Mystique, and Gambit.
  • Jossed except for Magneto. The others are Angel, Psylocke, and Storm.

Mystique will be killed.
Jennifer Lawrence has gone on record saying that this is the last time she'll play the character (possibly because she's not comfortable getting naked on set after her nudes were leaked), so it makes sense.
  • Jossed. She lives.

Apocalypse won't die in this movie.
He's the other Big Bad of the X-Men franchise, it just wouldn't be right to kill him off in his debut. He'll seemingly "die", but The Stinger will have him placed in a regeneration chamber by his surviving followers so that he'll be available for future movies. Which incidentally will be totally comics-accurate.
  • Jossed. Apocalypse is killed by Jean, Scott, Storm and Magneto. There are no hints he survived but he appears impressed by Jean's power.

Onslaught (or a similar non-evil entity) will appear in the climax.
James McAvoy reveals at around the 3min 45sec mark of this interview that Professor X will be more violent by the end of Apocalypse than the character we knew from the original timeline. McAvoy then mentions that he "beats the [swear word] out of [Oscar Isaac] as Apocalypse." The merging of Professor X's and Magneto's minds and powers may be the only way Apocalypse can be defeated, and a remnant of Erik's psyche could remain within Charles, which changes the latter's personality slightly (i.e. Xavier becomes less pacifistic).
  • Jossed.

Mr. Sinister will appear as Apocalypse's Dragon, or even Dragon-in-Chief.
His name was shown in X2 while Mystique was in the computer searching for Magneto; and his only other appearance was in the non-canon video game X2: Wolverine's Revenge. So this movie would be a good a place as any for him to finally make an appearance. He may also be a Dragon with an Agenda, if his own goal involves Cyclops and Jean Grey.
  • Partly confirmed and mostly jossed. Sinister himself doesn't appear, but he's referenced in the stinger as a set up for a future film.

Apocalypse is not actually an immortal mutant supervillain.
He's an actor hired to play one by the real villain of the film, Steven Lang.
  • Jossed.

The events of X-Men: Days of Future Past created at least three alternate timelines.
The first timeline covers the original trilogy, The Wolverine and the "Sentinel future". Upon completing his mission, Wolverine is sent into the second timeline, which we'll call the "good future". This movie will take place in the third timeline, which is the only one that involves Apocalypse.
  • Jossed. It's still the second timeline.

The events of X-Men: Days of Future Past created Apocalypse.
The repeated timeline alterations somehow allowed Apocalypse into existence.
  • If there were any mutants in the past that had prophetic vision or were capable of Dreaming of Things to Come, then altering the future would alter their visions of the future and thus change how the past played out on a smaller scale (which could account for the age discrepancies of some of the cast, people were born earlier/later because of that ripple effect). It's possible that backwards rippling led to the unearthing of Apocalypse.
  • Jossed.

One way or another, the stinger will involve Deadpool.
His movie was too successful to not cash in on the popularity. Ryan Reynolds never turns down an opportunity to put on the suit.
  • Jossed. The stinger instead sets up Mr Sinister.

Angel in this film is actually Warren Worthington II, the father of Warren Worthington III
This would explain the Continuity Snarl caused by Angel being in his early twenties at most in X3 and being in his late teens in this film, set over twenty years earlier.Warren Worthington II always had a dormant X-gene. In the original timeline, the gene stayed dormant. In the mid-1980s, he and his wife had a child, Warren Worthington III who, by the mid-1990s, started to manifest his mutant abilities. Warren II was determined to cure his son and so worked to develop the mutant cure, while Warren III embraced his mutant identity and became the Angel we saw in X3.In the alternate timeline, the drastically changed circumstances following the events of 1973 (specifically the open acceptance of mutants in society) led to Warren II's mutant gene expressing itself and so, at some point in the late 70s or early 80s, he manifested mutant powers (the same powers his son would manifest in the original timeline), becoming the Angel we see in this movie.
  • There's nothing to confirm or deny this theory in the film.

Mystique is Nightcrawler's mother.
Although this potential familial connection was ignored in X2: X-Men United, perhaps Mystique had suffered from mild brain damage due to Trask's medical experiments on her in the original timeline, which then caused her to forget that she had a son (and that Charles was her foster brother, for that matter). Due to her unwavering commitments to the Brotherhood, Mystique may have believed that she couldn't be both a good mother and a good soldier, so she gave up Nightcrawler and left him in East Berlin (presumably she had a mission in that city, and she ended up giving birth there).note  After Raven rescues Kurt from the cage match, she brings him to Xavier's school not just because it's a safe place for mutants, but also because she feels the need to make up for her Parental Abandonment. Her attitude could be, "If I can't be the parent that my child needs, then at least his 'uncle' can keep an eye on him."

Charles presumably can't have children of his own after his spinal cord injury, so it would mean a lot to him that he can dote on the son of his foster sister. Imagine Nightcrawler calling Charles "Uncle"; Awwww. It would further reinforce the theme of family within the X-Men, so if the writers are smart, they would exploit this.

  • It's canon (at least in the comics) that Kurt was born blue, fanged, and tailed. She may have abandoned him (or given him over to the circus so he'd be safe) because he couldn't hid like she could. That and raising a child would have interfered with her mutant liberation work. In the latest trailer Nightcrawler looks at Mystique in shock and says "You're her," so there's some more evidence. By Mystique's reaction, it probably is true.
  • Nothing in the movie suggests this. Nightcrawler's "You're her" reaction to Mystique is due to her becoming a hero and legend to the mutant population after Days Of Future Past

After Storm joins the X-Men, Nightcrawler at one point will tell her that she's beautiful.
It would be a nice Call-Back to X2: X-Men United, where there was a Ship Tease between the two characters.
  • Jossed.

Apocalypse will survive.
Instead of being outright killed, he'll merely be deprived of a body and returned to the tomb where he was trapped at the beginning of the film. The X-Men films have averted the Superhero Movie Villains Die trope in the past, Deadpool 2 is including Cable, whose backstory includes Apocalypse in a key role, and this incarnation of Apocalypse has been confirmed to have the ability to Body Surf.
  • Apocalypse dies, but he could return in the future.

    Post-release theories about this film 

Psylocke was working for British intelligence
There is, to be clear, no evidence for this in the film itself; this guess in based on the assumption that she shares at least some of her comic-book incarnation's backstory, and is therefore a British woman named Elizabeth Braddock.

If this is the case, why would she be hanging with the mutant underground in East Berlin? It seems unlikely that anyone from west of the Iron Curtain would end up there by accident, so she must have gone to Berlin deliberately. In the 80s it wasn't a popular holiday spot, but it was international spy central. Obviously if any intelligence agencies became aware that there was an underground organization smuggling mutants across international borders, they would want to infiltrate it.

Since, in the comics, Psylocke spent some time working for STRIKE (all mentions of which must be followed by "the British version of SHIELD"; since both organizations have been taken by the MCU, they obviously won't be present here), she seems a likely candidate for a job with SIS.This also explains why she ran away after the battle; with Apocalypse's influence gone, she realized that her first priority should be to report back to her chiefs.

Nightcrawler didn't tattoo himself.
It was done to him. His demonic appearance freaked out the small religious community and cut the symbols into his skin to seal the demon and "purify" him.

Storm in this film is an opportunistic psychopath
Storm's behavior over the course of X-Men Apocalypse goes like this: She meets Apocalypse; she sees Apocalypse is powerful and abandons her friends to help him recruit other mutants; she watches without complaint while Apocalypse kills hundreds of thousands of people (Cairo at the time had a population in the millions); she attacks the X-Men with apparently lethal force; she gives up fighting the X-Men the moment they look like winning; she joins the X-Men.

The logical explanation for her behavior is that she was mind controlled, but if that's the case why did she abandon Apocalypse so abruptly? Nothing happened to break the mind control except perhaps the death of Archangel, and why would his death affect her more than the brutal annihilation of all her friends (shown to be living in Cairo in her early scenes)? Plus, a major plot point is that Apocalypse can't really trust anybody because he doesn't have psychic powers; he would presumably be less worried if he could actually mind control people.

The only explanation that fits all the facts is that Storm — and the rest of the Horsemen — were not controlled but had thrown in their lot with Apocalypse because it seemed to be in their best interests. They cared nothing for human life or human suffering, only for their own power. Storm abandoned Apocalypse not because she objected to him killing every person she knew on the planet, but because she met a more powerful group of potential allies. She joined the X-Men not because she's in any way a good person, but because they're now the biggest bully in the playground.

X-Men film universe operates on Comic-Book Time
It's the only way for timelines to make sense at this point. In the last scene of Days of Future Past, which takes place exactly 40 years after this movie, Jean, Scott and Ororo (who are all teenagers here) look nothing like people on their late 50s. Also, if Charles and Eric can look as young as they do in Apocalypse, then the same can apply for Scott, Jean and Ororo. Perhaps mutants really do age at a slower rate in this universe.

Apocalypse woke up in the original timeline, but things were different
In the original timeline, Mystique was captured by the government for a time, leading to the creation of the Sentinel Program, and Magneto was likely still in prison in the early 80's and would not be around to start a family. Because of this, Magneto couldn't be his Horseman and Mystique's action would not inspire Storm, potentially negating another Horseman as she would not be a radical in her views of mutant liberation. This is why Nightcrawler didn't join the X-Men until years later as Mystique wasn't around to free him. Since Mystique took Nightcralwer to the Morlocks, that was what led Apocalypse to the same area to eventually recruit Psylocke. Because Apocalypse would not be drawn to Psylocke, she remained with the Morlocks, as seen in X-Men: The Last Stand. Additionally, Scott Summers did not join the X-Men until a few years later, as seen in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Charles and Erik would apparently recruit Jean Grey some time after that. That means, the X-Men likely consisted of Havoc, Beast, and Xavier. As Xavier would not be looking for Magneto, there would be no way for Apocalypse to sense his power beforehand. Apocalypse likely came to the school as that would be the largest and most apparent collection of mutants at the time in order to create Horsemen from the students there. Charles likely attacked Apocalypse outright once he realized what eh was up against, and since he hadn't previously learned of his power through Cerebro, was unable to defend against him right away, resulting in Apocalypse's death. This is why Charles is still bald in the original timeline and why Magneto never developed the ability to create forcefields and the like.
  • Actually, in the original timeline, Cyclops joined the X-Men four years earlier than he did in Apocalypse, since the Three Mile Island accident takes place 1979.

Alternatively, Apocalypse was not awakened in the original timeline.
In Apocalypse, his awakening was caused by the worshipers in the cave. Moira says that people started forming secret societies as a result of mutants becoming public knowledge in 1973. In the first X-Men movie, it seems like mutants have just recently become public knowledge in the 2000s. And even if there were secret societies as a result of that, the worshipers seen in Apocalypse might have been older and not so motivated to go to the cave.
  • Actually, it's suggested that his awakening was caused by the sunlight coming in from the opening Moira left with the carpet hitting the top of the pyramid. The main point still stands as no societies means Moira wouldn't have been sent and let the sunlight come in.

The reason that Jean Grey looks younger in the flashback in The Last Stand than she does in Apocalypse.
The flashback at the beginning of The Last Stand depicts Jean Grey as a pre-teen. Since that film takes place 2006 according to the viral marketing for Days of Future Past, the "20 years ago" caption would place that in 1986. However, Apocalypse takes place 1983, and Jean seems like she could be around 18 years old. Perhaps, in the flashback, she was in her early twenties but used her telepathic powers to make herself appear younger to Xavier and Magneto. This could be her just showing off her powers. Or it could be her trying to keep men from hitting on her since she's, well, let's face it, an attractive young woman!

Star Wars movies get Christmas release dates in the new timeline.
Days of Future Past takes place January 1973, and news coverage in Apocalypse mentions the 10th anniversary of Magneto's actions in DC. So it should be about January 1983. However, in real life, Return of the Jedi came out May 25, 1983. Yet the characters in this film are able to see it. For some reason, the changes in the timeline must have resulted in Star Wars movies being released earlier. The first film could have made it to its originally scheduled Christmas 1976 release date, with Empire and Jedi being released Christmas 1979 and Christmas 1982 respectively.

Erik at least highly suspects that Peter is his son.
He just doesn't press the issue because Peter hasn't confirmed it and he understands that the kid might not want to admit that he's related to the guy who almost killed a president and then almost destroyed the world.

Mystique is Kurt's mother, but she thought he died.
In Days of Future Past, she was willing to do what was basically a suicide mission, and do it for her fellow mutants' behalf. So it might come about that she had Kurt but due to some unknown event, she lost him and believed her son to be dead. So there was nothing holding her back in the previous film. Later, in the altered timeline, she learns of a teenage teleporter that looked like a blue demon and decides to go save him.

Jean restoring some of Logan's memories brought him to the mansion at least a few years sooner than in the original timeline.
It's possible she triggered the restoration of even more memories later on. Logan, now having rediscovered himself, tracks down the strange bunch of kids that helped him. The trail brings him to Westchester county and the rest is history.
  • Additionally, Rogue became a student at the school because Logan brought her there himself, knowing full well that new mutants like her would fit right in.
  • Possibly Jossed by Logan: Xavier tells Logan that when [they] found him he was a cage fighter, apparently referencing the events of the original film. What's unclear is whether Xavier is referring to Logan's memories of the old timeline, (which he read in Days) or if the events of the original film still happen in the new timeline in Broad Strokes.

Apocalypse did not die at the end
He managed to transfer his consciousness into the same braindead body that Charles used in The Last Stand. However, being trapped in an inoperable body, to someone who is a consummate Social Darwinist, is basically a Fate Worse than Death. Possibly he wakes up some time down the line as Proteus (just to clarify, I've always assumed the braindead body was meant to be Moira's son).

All mutants in the Fox-verse have slowed aging as part of just having an X-Gene
Explaining why everyone looks exactly like they did in 1962 in 1983. Moira has a latent X-gene (her son in the comics was a ridiculously powerful mutant), explaining why she "hasn't aged a day" between First Class and Apocalypse.

The owner of that fight club in Berlin was Mojo

Planned plot lines that didn't make it into the film
Just a number of things I'm sure were planned at some point but had to be scrapped to prevent too much runtime.
  • An extended look at En Sabah Nur's past, with Ozymandias being deposed, fleeing into the desert, finding Apocalypse's tribe, and planning to use the boy to reclaim his throne... only for Apocalypse to turn on him and make him into a living statue, thus prompting Ozy to arrange the entombment trap at the beginning of the film.
    • To that end, Apocalypse discovering alien technology, to better preface the Shi'ar in Dark Phoenix.
  • Nathaniel Essex was originally intended as the financial backer for the En-Sabah-Nur cult, and was also using the Berlin fight club and the gang of Egyptian urchins as a source of genetic material for his experiments. Holocaust would have been the cult's field leader.
  • Angel would have had his wings sawn clean off after losing his fight with Nightcrawler (possibly by gamblers who lost money on that fight, or a manager who tried to recoup his losses selling the wings to Sinister); this would have forced him to prove to Apocalypse his ability to survive in unwigned combat.

Quicksilver's power isn't super speed, it's time manipulation and super speed

Somebody worked out that in order to pull all the stunts Quicksilver did in the film he would have to be travelling tens of thousands of times the speed of sound. If your willing to believe that, what about time control? It seems likely to me he can run quite quickly, but time manipulation is what takes it into the realms of 'super' speed. That and saying you have super speed is significantly less scary than you can control time. If you look at the scene where he saves (almost) everybody in the x-mansion he alters how quickly various other things are moving without touching them, you couldn't do that with just going really fast.

The "Angel" in this movie isn't Warren Worthington the III, just another mutant with the same powers, Warren is still alive

He should be like 10 years old in the eighties based on his appearance in The Last Stand (and yes, The Last Stand is basically Canon Discontinuity now, but still). And why is the son of a very rich man an arena brawler in Germany? He's only ever called Angel, never Warren, so the door is still open for Warren to still be alive.

     Post-release theories regarding future films 

Scott's parents seen in the film are foster parents
Scott's birth parents seemingly died when he was young (or rather, were kidnapped by the Shi'Ar and forced into slavery), thus explaining his anti-social behavior early in the film. Because, if they're going to be going into the space opera aspects of the X-Men as they apparently are, it'd make sense not to waste the opportunity to introduce Scott's dad Corsair and the Starjammers, given how similar they are to the (very well received) Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

The Source of Apocalypse's Technology
With reports that the next core X-Men film will be venturing into space, a connection will be made between the technology Apocalypse used and one of the space-faring races Fox holds the rights to (Shi'ar, Badoon, etc.). One of these species will assume the role in the X-Men Cinematic Universe that the Celestials filled in the books as the ones who engineered the appearance of mutants on Earth.

The next movie will take place in or around 1993
First Class took place in 1962, Days of Future Past in 1973, and Apocalypse in 1983, so if the next movie takes place in the 20th century, it may follow the pattern of each new X-Men film taking place at least 10 years after the previous one.

Predictions for the future
  • Jubilee will eventually convince the professor to let her join the group and bring along her signature fashion sense.
  • Angel will turn out to be alive and join the group as well.
    • Alternatively, *that* Angel is really dead but wasn't Warren Worthington III, who is alive and will join the X-Men.
  • Quicksilver will eventually leave the team (He'll also be revealed to have a sister), and Psylocke will eventually change her ways.
  • Of course, Wolverine will show up sooner or later.
  • Mystique will also undergo a Face-Heel Turn and form her own Brotherhood at some point.
  • The events of the third movie won't happen because Angel's father, under the belief that he's dead, won't work on a "cure".
  • Robert Kelly will still become a Senator who hates mutants.
  • Professor X will use his memories of the old timeline to help with the events from the two first films.
  • The X-Men will visit the Savage Land and find some dinosaurs!
  • Moira Mac Taggert's son, David, will have mutant powers and Professor X will train him.
Feel free to add some more ideas.

The explosion did not kill Alex/Havok
While seemingly killed when the prototype Blackbird's engine explodes, Alex's powers in the comic are stated to include immunity "to the adverse effects of most forms of radiation and heat".

How did he survive tons of rock and earth burying him alive?

Perhaps he was thrust into a different timeline/Was teleported away by S.W.O.R.D. (Or the Starjammers?) before Quicksilver arrived/Or any other convenient last minute save comics so love to throw into stories during an action scene that should result in death.

  • He was thrust into the Mutant X timeline, like in the comics.

Hatred against mutants is going to get way, way worse in the next film
In this movie, a single ambitious mutant wipes away a city of millions (people presumably included) pretty much just because. That's terrible enough, but it pales in comparison to do the damage done by Magneto, who wreaked death and devastation on a truly global scale. Everywhere was affected by his powers. Not only are chances decent that his death toll exceeds Apocalypse's, but the spread out nature of the damage he causes means that a massive portion of the global population is going to have had a loved one killed or injured because a single mutant had an emotional breakdown. Even those that didn't will see the traces of his destruction for years to come. And the punishment for that mutant? Nothing. After an event like that, feeling safe while mutants exist is going to be a very hard sell.

Movies set in The '90s, the Turn of the Millennium, and The New '10s will follow this film
Although they may not necessarily be direct sequels to this so much as they are spin-offs.
  • Symon Kimberg has confirmed a next movie set in the 90s.

The next movie will be set in 1992 and be heavily influenced by the '90s cartoon.
Going by the mutants cast so far in this movie, it does seem very likely that Apocalypse will end with a team very similar to the line-up of the 90s animated series being formed.
  • Cyclops, Jean, Storm, Beast and Jubilee are confirmed to be part of this movie and will definitely be X-Men by the end of it.
  • Even if he doesn't appear in Apocalypse, Gambit is getting a solo film, so its very likely he will be in the next X-men movie.
  • Wolverine may or may not appear in Apocalypse (and Hugh Jackman is believed to be retiring from the role after the next Wolverine solo film), but there's no reason why the character (whether played by Jackman, or recast) can't appear in the next X-men film.

Between the seven of these (and Professor X of course) we basically have the entire cast of the animated series, except for Rogue.

The film set in the 1990s, or the one after it, will adapt the second half of The Dark Phoenix Saga.
To make up for X-Men: The Last Stand. (The Wolverine and X-Men: Days of Future Past got a lot of mileage out of doing that, so why stop now? Plus it would finally bring the Shi'ar to the big screen.)

Building on the above theory: X-Men: Dark Phoenix will have something along these lines for a plot.
In the 1990s the Starjammer lands in Westchester. Christopher Summers, aka Corsair, introduces himself as Cyclops' biological father and recruits Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Nightcrawler, and one character from the First Class lineup (Beast? Professor X? Havok?) to help him overthrow the tyrannical leader of the Shi'ar Empire (D'Ken? Deathbird? Vulcan? The source material gives the movie a lot of tyrannical Shi'ar leaders to choose from.) The X-Men head to space and fight alongside the Starjammers. Between (and during) battles, Jean Grey struggles with the fact that the Phoenix Force is attempting to overtake her personality, and she keeps this a secret from Cyclops, who she is very much in love with. Around the halfway mark the villain is defeated and non-tyrannical Shi'ar leader Lilandra becomes Empress. The X-Men are getting ready to head home when Jean goes full Phoenix and attempts to kill them. She flees to another star system to consume a star, killing the alien inhabitants of the planets that orbit that star. Lilandra is outraged and commands the X-Men to bring Jean to justice. The X-Men chase her to Earth's moon where after failing to free her from the Phoenix Force's control, they throw everything they have at her. Ultimately, Jean

Feel free to expand this theory with more possible details.

  • Mystique will suffer Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, since Jennifer Lawrence doesn't want to play her again.
  • Magneto and Quicksilver will not be involved (maybe they'll get their own team-up movie).

The film set in the 1990s will be the Grand Finale for mainline X-Men movies.
Fox seems to be retooling their X-Men property to focus on two things: R-rated cash cows (Deadpool movies, X-Force movies, Gambit movies) and New Mutants movies. The Claremont-esque character lineup of the Original and First Class trilogies will be phased out in favour of these characters. Redoing the Dark Phoenix saga could the last hurrah for the kind of movie that used to define the X-Men Film series.

The mooted X-Force movie will be a direct sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse.
It'll draw from the first few arcs of the 2010s Uncanny X-Force series, which were about a team including Psylocke, Archangel and Deadpool attempting to hunt down Apocalypse's followers before they succeed in resurrecting him. In the film version of this story, these three will be brought together by Cable instead of Wolverine. Early reports indicate that Psylocke and Archangel are going to be among Apocalypse's horsemen in this movie, which will give them a personal reason to hunt him down.

Other possible team members:

  • Colossus. Confirmed for Deadpool (2016), and he was a member of one of one incarnations of the team.
  • Domino. Simply because she's frequently found somewhere near Cable.
  • Juggernaut. They initially wanted him for X-Men: Days of Future Past, which suggests they're keen on bringing him back.
  • Nightcrawler. Again, a version of him was part of one of the recent incarnations of X-Force, and he will be established in this film.
  • Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Either continuing to accompany Colossus, or having found a much cooler mentor in Deadpool.

Charles and Moira marry, but Moira's passed away by the time Wolverine wakes up in 2023


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