A brand new X-Men: Apocalypse trailer was released this morning. Most surprising of all was the enormous quantity of new footage it contained, including the appearance of a new-old villain in a not insignificant way. Here’s what we’ve gleaned from our painstaking frame-by-frame analysis.
Spoilers ahead…
An idyllic shot of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters opens the trailer. I do love that every X-Men movie has decided to skip the part where Charles Xavier actually opens the school. Thrill at Charles getting certified and the mansion passing a building inspection! I am, of course, lying. Charles totally mind-whammied his way past all those requirements.
We start with Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy repeating an exchange that Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart had in the very first X-Men. “Doesn’t it ever wake you up in the middle of the night, the feeling that someday they will come for you and your children?” Magneto asks. From under the school, no less.
As Professor X answers, we have Kurt Wagner (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan) in underground tunnels of some sort — I think this may be them working to save the people trapped in this bunker from an earlier trailer. We also have Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) in her X-Men outfit — distinguished in this film by the white accents — against a tessellated tile pattern.
Just freeze-framing to point out that Kurt is dressed as Michael Jackson in “Thriller”.
“I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul that comes to my school looking for trouble.” Seems slightly odd that Magneto’s just wandering around the basement, after everything that happened in Days of Future Past. Unless he’s helping with Cerebro and fixing that whole gaffe where Charles says Magneto helped in the original movies and then he takes off before it’s built in these ones. (Yes, I know Days of Future Past destroyed most of the continuity. But it would still be nice.)
Take note of Charle’s very ’80s lilac tee. We see it a lot, which I think indicates that there isn’t a ton of Charles footage from the second half of the movie available in the trailers. Either because of spoilers or because, as is so often the case, he’s out of commission for a chunk of this film. Which would explain why Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) takes charge.
A shot of Professor X teaching, so that the upcoming disaster is more poignant.
Travelling back to Egypt and Apocalypse.
There’s a ritual taking place, and two creepy, creepy, people in that doorway.
“Some believe that the first mutant was born thousands of years ago. He was some kind of god, and he’s going to rise again,” Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) tells Charles. Note that it’s the same outfit he was wearing when he talked to Magneto. Poor hygiene or same day?
This shot of Oscar Isaac looking Oscar Isaac-y before becoming the blue and armoured Apocalypse does seem to deviate from the comics backstory of him being born blue. It looks more like a transference from the body on the other bier.
Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult) and Charles go into Cerebro, which I think might just be the start of a whole big group scene there.
“You are all my children and you’re lost because you follow blind leaders. No more false gods,” says Apocalypse while we see an old scene of him and Storm.
Apocalypse drops everyone around Magneto in what I assume to be an unusual recruiting move.
As Moira says that he always had four followers, Apocalypse hands Magneto his helmet.
And Angel and Psylocke go to work.
Based on the open sky behind them, I think they’re breaking into the Blackbird in this shot.
“Together we will cleanse the Earth for the strongest,” Apocalypse says as we see him and his Horsemen return to his homeland. Note that Angel’s wings have gone from natural white feathers to metal, hinting that this is later in the film.
One of the powers at play appears to be turning things into sand, as devastation is wreaked on what I assume to be Cairo, based on the proximity to the pyramids.
Quicksilver (Evan Peters) and Hank are with a bunch of kids in what is probably the aftermath of the attack on the school and the same aftermath where Mystique has looked pensive before.
In the underground tunnels from before, Scott and Nightcrawler are joined by Jean.
While we’ve seen these missiles launch before, the reaction of people on the street is new. “He means to destroy this world, billions of people killed,” a shaky Professor X says. We’ve heard at least part of this line before, where it seems that Cerebro is feeding him the information.
Every trailer has shown us something really awful destruction at the school. This is a really lovely shot of destruction that is really similar to this one, but the earlier trailer showed kids in danger. This one is conspicuously absent of people.
“The world needs the X-Men,” Hank says to Mystique. I point this out only because, while the line comes first in the trailer, it clearly takes place in the hanger of the Blackbird and after this scene:
Where they walk in.
Quicksilver and his scrunchie-wearing mother continue to prove the on-pointness of this movie’s ’80s costuming. “You’re going to join them, aren’t you,” she says.
“You wanted me to get out of the house more, right?”
Mystique leads Hank (in Beast form), Jean, Scott, Quicksilver and Nightcrawler into the tunnels.
We’ve also seen the first part — Charles overpowered by a suddenly-huge Apocalypse — before. But the part where Charles is slammed into a pillar at the end is new. And possibly why he’s missing from the action in the middle?
“It’s all of us against a god.” And Mystique responds, “Let’s go to war.” From here, it’s a lot of the New York battle scenes we’ve seen already.
I think this is Quicksilver running as the ground of the mansion splits beneath him in flame. But I love the person on the stairs in the background not reacting at all to the explosion.
The close up of this fight we got at the Super Bowl didn’t quite reveal that Nightcrawler and Angel appear to be cage fighting for some reason.
Psylocke fights Beast, and we’ve now seen a lot more of her in action than ever before. You know who is totally missing from this trailer? Jubilee.
William Stryker (Josh Helman) gets off a helicopter, giving a bit more insight into what happened at the school. And managing to repeat history before he does it the first time. Thanks, time travel.
Based on the red behind this blast, I think one of the Summerses (Scott, probably, since this locked room feels like it’s attached to the tunnels we keep seeing him in) is busting four people out. I think it’s the same four in the same room as this shot in the first trailer.
A plane flies into a horrible storm. A plane which isn’t the Blackbird, since we saw it earlier when Hank and Mystique talked.
A still shows that the storm is centred over some pyramids.
“You’re X-Men,” Mystique says. The white and blue accents on her uniform are an excellent nod to her classic comic book costume, even if she’s lacking a skull belt.
There’s also a hero shot of Quicksilver in Cerebro.
Angel’s metal wings are also offensive weapons against Scott, Jean, and Beast. “Everything they have built will fall,” yells Apocalypse.
Alex Summers (Lucas Till) lets loose a blast in Cerebro, while Moira, Hank and Mystique look on. That would be a horrible idea, but the pain on Charles’ face indicates that desperate measures are called for.
A bloody Charles reaches for the camera.
And it looks like Scott was off in one of the Professor’s cars while something destroyed the school. Which explains how he got away safe.
The rest of the trailer is stuff we’ve seen before. A screaming Jean Grey, more cars turning into sand, Apocalypse chokes Mystique. What’s most interesting is the implication that Stryker’s involved in some way with what happened at the school — even the tunnels and cells look a bit like the facility in X2. Which not only loads this movie up with Apocalypse, but also means a slight retread of that earlier movie. And I can’t tell if it’s a decoy or not.