X-Men: Apocalypse Trailer Detailed Analysis

This morning saw the release of the X-Men: Apocalypse trailer online, giving us our first look at the new film in action.

We saw footage of the new cast of young mutants, the reunited cast from X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past, and, of course, Apocalypse and his Horsemen.

Read through our breakdown of the trailer to see which moments we found most interesting, and what our big takeaways were.

Check out when X-Men: Apocalypse and other movies are coming out in ComicBook.com’s Movie Release Schedule.

Jean’s Prophecy

It’s interesting that Jean is the one doing the soothsaying in the trailer. The fact that she’s able to sense what is coming, while Professor X dismisses it as a dream (although we don’t know if he’s actually just doing this for her benefit) suggests that her raw power actually exceeds Xavier’s. In the first X-Men, Jean told Wolverine her telepathic abilities couldn’t rival the Professor’s, but X-Men: The Last Stand certainly indicated she had a lot of hidden potential. Continuity with these movies tends to be…fluid.

I don’t want to veer too far into crazy town, but could the fact that we see a woman’s silhouette, possibly Jean’s, entering the Cerebro chamber at the start of her vision be indicative of something? Possible the Phoenix?

Caliban

Here we get our first look at Caliban, the pale fellow behind the table. In the comics, Caliban joins up with Apocalypse and uses his tracking abilities to help his master find mutants, though he doesn’t become a full Horseman until later on. In the film, Caliban is an information broker, so he seems to be fulfilling the same purpose, in that he’s leading Apocalypse where he wants to go.

Personality wise, he seems entirely different than his comic book counterpart. Caliban was at first a naive and innocent Morlock, and then bestial and savage once transformed by Apocalypse.Both are a far cry from the well put together figure in this trailer.

Apocalypse As the First Mutant and Religious Head

Apocalypse does have a cult of followers in the comics, called Clan Akkaba. They even have their own hidden city.

The idea that he may be the first person born with an X-gene is also from the comics, though its not something that’s been proved definitively.

At this point, it’s unclear if Moira remembers anything about her adventures with the X-Men in X-Men: First Class, since she was mind-wiped at the end of the movie. Even if she doesn’t remember him personally, Xavier is still likely the leading mind when it comes to mutation and mutants.

Mutant Roll Call Part 1

Meet some of the film’s ensemble cast. Jennifer Lawrence returns as Mystique, and Nicholas Hoult is back as Beast, who is looking a bit rough around the edges. Judging by the background setting, and the fact that he seems to be dressed for combat, I think he’s either on mission in this scene, or in the “mutant fight club” where we’re first supposed to meet Warren Worthington.

There’s also Kodi-Smit Mcphee, taking over the role of Nightcrawler from X2‘s Alan Cumming. He looks exactly like you’d expect a young movie Nightcrawler to look, tattoos and all.

Finally, there’s Lana Condor as Jubilee. Jubilee has made cameos in the movies before, but this will be the first time she’s part of the core cast.

In the comics, Mystique is Nightcrawler’s mother, something that was never addressed in X2. It seems unlikely that they’ll bring into continuity now.

The Four Horsemen

Why would an all-powerful mutant from ancient Egypt have such a weird fixation on biblical revelation? Turns out he doesn’t. Biblical revelation has a weird fixation on him.

Apocalypse clearly plans to take the place of Xavier as leader of the mutant cause. To do so, he will collect his Four Horsemen – Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and Archangel (Ben Hardy).

Storm has never been a Horseman in the comics. Magneto hasn’t either, although he was used as a Horseman in X-Men: Evolution. Psylocke was briefly a Horseman during “The Dark Angel Saga” in Uncanny X-Force. Warren Worthington as the Archangel of death is easily the most iconic Horseman from the comics, and was a major reveal during Apocalypse’s first appearance.

As mentioned in the trailer, these Horsemen have their powers enhanced and sometimes undergo a physical transformation.

He Can Control All Of Us

I’m a little unclear on who the “He” is in Xavier’s warning. First guess is, obviously, Apocalypse, though mind control isn’t part of his usual power set. No reason they couldn’t add that into the film though.

The other possibility is that he’s referring to Magneto, perhaps now being able to control the iron in human bloodstreams after getting a buff from Apocalypse.

It definitely seems like Apocalypse is taking the fight to Xavier’s front door.

Beast and Mystique

After being on her own since Days of Future Past, Mystique returns to the X-Men to help fight Apocalypse, and the romance arc between Mystique and Beast gets its third act.

Also worth noting that Quicksilver seems to have joined up with the X-Men properly at this point in the film.

Quicksilver captured?

I’m not sure what this chamber is, but Quicksilver seems to be trapped there, with a few others. Perhaps it’s some kind of power dampener, explaining why Quicksilver hasn’t escaped? Or maybe he’s just unconcious.

Optic Blasts

Here’s Tye Sheridan as young Cyclops, explaining to mystique that he cannot control his powers. Iin his comic book origin, Scott Summers was forced to parachute out of a crashing plane, with his brother in his arms, in order to escape death. He hit his head on the way down, and the impact caused damage that make him unable to regulate his optic blasts. It seems fitting that “mutant and proud” Mystique is the one who tells him to cut loose.

Mass Manipulation

Apocalypse is able to manipulate his phsyical makeup on a molecular level. Essentially that means he is aware of each individual atom in his body, and can alter them to his liking. This means he can shapeshift to turn his arms and legs into weapons, or – as Xavier is unfortunately learning the hard way in the trailer – to increase his overall mass and size. This is some classic Apocalypse stuff here.

Mutant Roll Call Part 2

Quicksilver (Evan Peters) runs through the Xavier School. Archangel appears, showing off his projectile knife feather wings. Storm appears, in a bolt of lightning. Magneto does his thing.

Apocalypse in Cerebro

This certainly looks like Apocalypse using the power of Cerebro to reach out to mutants across the globe. Perhaps this is what he was going to the mansion for, and what Xavier meant about him controlling everyone. Xavier certainly seems to be touching Apocalypse’s mind in the next scene.

Professor X

The post-logo tag is James McAvoy as young Xavier looking very much like Patrick Stewart’s original Xavier. It’s…kind of a weird choice for the tag, but it is nice to see the character come full circle.