This weekend, we finally got to see the third installment to the new X-Men series, X-Men: Apocalypse. With the roaring success of Deadpool, and the mounting hype for the upcoming R-rated Wolverine movie, also set to be Hugh Jackman’s final hoorah as the titular anti-hero, mutant mania is at a fever pitch. This movie gave us the long awaited debut of one of the X-Men’s most revered villains, En Sabah Nur, aka Apocalypse, the ancient Egyptian believed to be the world’s first mutant seeking to enslave the human race and establish his own rule.
While ‘Apocalypse’ was entertaining and fun in its own right, there was a great deal of far more subtle treats for the hardcore fans of the comics to enjoy, as long as you were able to spot them. These are some of the references and easter eggs you might have missed.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
1) Age of Apocalypse
The title itself was a change most people probably didn’t notice. The actual title of the storyline in the comics was ‘Age of Apocalypse’. The filmmakers decided to simplify the title in order to distance the project from the trend in “Age of…” entitled movies like Avengers: Age of Ultron or Transformers: Age of Extinction.
2) Blob
During the cage fighting scene, before Angel squares off against Nightcrawler, we see him finishing off a rotund combatant referred to only as “the fat man”. As his body is being carted away, we see a familiar black leotard with a yellow stripe across the belly, the costume of the famed Brotherhood of Mutants alumni, Fred Dukes aka Blob.
3) Archangel
Fans were probably wondering why Angel’s skin didn’t turn blue after Apocalypse upgraded his powers, turning him into Archangel, as he is in the comics. With the already overwhelmingly azure cast, which includes Beast, Nightcrawler, Mystique, AND Apocalypse, filmmakers decided to compromise on Archangel, especially since they knew they’d be wasting the beloved veteran X-Man’s potential in what should have been his opportunity to shine.
4) X-Men 3
As Jean, Scott, Jubilee, and Kurt are leaving the movie theater having just seen Return of the Jedi, they discuss the merits of ‘Jedi’ in comparison to The Empire Strikes Back. At one point, in reference to trilogies, Jean says, “Everyone knows the third one is always the worst.” This wasn’t just a passing opinion on the movie, it was a subtle jab at the third installment to the original X-Men series, the Brett Ratner directed X-Men: The Last Stand, which is considered the worst film in the series.
The third movie also happens to be the only one of those three Bryan Singer had no hand in, so his acknowledgement of the blemish the movie left on the franchise is particularly hysterical.
5) Caliban
One of the more obscure mutants featured in the movie was Caliban, seen as an underground merchant and smuggler in Egypt. Caliban has been affiliated with teams on both sides of the field and is known for his ability to locate and track any mutant and their powers. He is most commonly associated with the underground society known as the Morlocks, but has himself also been one of the Horsemen of Apocalypse. None of this was really touched upon in the movie, so most people may not have recognized him as anyone important, but perhaps we might see him in another X-Men project as a more crucial component.
6) Apocalypse
One of the concerns fans had when the first batch of photos and trailers were releasing was the depiction of Apocalypse in his first live-action interpretation. The most glaring of these was the size they’d be showing him to be. Normally, Apocalypse is a massive, towering mutant with “intimidating” written all over him. Now, he appears to be no taller than Oscar Isaac himself. In order to acknowledge the compromise in the design, Apocalypse was eventually presented as the gigantic overlord we all recognize during the final battle with Professor X in the telepathic mindscape.
7) Post-Credits Scene: Mr. Sinister
The post-credits scene was, admittedly, obscure on most counts. We never really see much in the way of characters or plot devices, but the entire scene centered on the one pivotal moment at the end where we see a mysterious man place a vial of what appears to be Wolverine’s blood from within the Weapon X facility into a briefcase labeled “Essex Corp.”
Essex Corp. is a direct reference to Nathaniel Essex, aka Mr. Sinister, a classic X-Men villain with ties to Apocalypse himself. Sinister has a backstory revolving around genetic engineering and harnessing the power of mutants, so it’s possible his involvement may not be in the next X-Men movie, but in the upcoming Wolverine sequel.
