‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ Trailer Confirms the Return of Wolverine
There’s been a lot of talk about the battle for superhero supremacy between Batman vs. Superman and Captain America: Civil War. Almost a footnote in that race is X-Men: Apocalypse, but if the mutants needed a little help, they got it today in this new trailer, which brings back your favorite adamantium-clawed Canadian.
Yes, after lots of rumors, Wolverine will be making an appearance in X-Men: Apocalypse. Though we don’t see Hugh Jackman himself, we do see Wolverine’s claws getting ready to do battle with a bunch of bad guys. Exactly how large his role is remains to be seen, but Jackman was reportedly brought in during the reshoots to add a little punch (pun intended) to the film’s finale. The question is whether Fox should’ve revealed Wolverine’s appearance in the trailer, or had that been a fun surprise for fans that went to see the movie. It might’ve been fun to not know Wolverine was coming, but Fox is clearly trying to leverage Wolverine’s appearance in the film to make even more money at the box office.
Elsewhere in the trailer, it seems clear that Mystique is now your de facto leader of the X-Men, despite what years of reading comics would have you believe. Professor X only has two lines of dialogue in the entire trailer, while Jennifer Lawrence’s character has an entire speech and leads the team into action. When you have maybe the most famous actress in Hollywood in your superhero movie, you might as well rewrite her role to be even bigger than it was ever imagined. Even in this synopsis, Raven is noted as leading the team of young X-Men:
Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.
While X-Men: Apocalypse hasn’t quite reached the buzzy high of Captain America: Civil War, this is definitely the best of the recent trailer for the film. There’s still a lot of pointless destruction and Apocalypse still looks goofy, but at least we’re getting to see some of the film’s action beats. Previous trailers felt like they hadn’t completed most of these scenes yet and now that the special effects are done, they can finally show them off.
X-Men: Apocalypse opens in theaters on May 27, 2016.