On The Look of Apocalypse…

We had an amazing Comic-Con this year. One of the movies I was the most excited to see and hear about was X-Men: Apocalypse. My excitement for this movie knows no end, for I am a huge fan of both the character Apocalypse and the director Bryan Singer. Ever since the days of Singer’s Usual Suspects and the arrival of X-Factor #5 and 6, I have been eagerly anticipating this movie.

Now, as soon as I viewed the leaked Apocalypse footage, my immediate reaction was “Who is this purple guy?” Even the dialogue left me wanting because I’m so accustomed to the voice of Apocalypse in the 90s X-Men animated series. I even thought to myself, and to others, asking if he looked a little bit like Ivan Ooze from the Power Rangers movie. Ooze, by the way, was a very underrated villain in an overrated movie.

After some time of reflection, and knowing full well that Fox Studios owes me absolutely nothing, my reaction has turned from shock to boiling excitement. When listening to Oscar Issac’s delivery of Apocalypse’s lines in the teaser, I found myself getting very giddy with anticipation. The lines themselves are flawless and very appropriate for the X-Men’s most threatening and scary villain. He even references himself as being various gods from mythology!

Yes, he’s purple, like the Grimace, but remember… nothing can kill the Grimace! I started thinking about the reasons why Singer and company would go in this direction. After some thoughtful analyzing, I remembered just how many of the cinematic X-Men are blue. Beast, Nightcrawler and Mystique, for example. Thus, I understand why they chose a different color, one that’s even closely associated with some of his Horsemen in the film, Magneto and Psylocke.

So, as usual, I am taking a wait and see approach. The key to making Apocalypse work on film is not what he looks like, but rather, how he acts. Issac’s performance is what I am waiting to see, and judging from this quick teaser recorded on a cell phone, I see no cause for concern. In my opinion, Bryan Singer has given us the only good films in this franchise, and he completely has my trust. Let us not forget how upset everyone was after the original reveal of the X-Men’s costumes and Magneto, and I would dare to say, that very few of us would appreciate the first X-Men film more if Hugh Jackman was wearing yellow and Ian McKellan in purple.

Judge not, lest ye allow thyself to miss out on a great movie due to thine own closed-mindedness.

-Rockin’ Robbie Billups