It’s been a huge week for superhero news, what with Warner Bros. announcing that Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious 6) being cast in the role of Wonder Woman in Batman vs. Superman, and the first trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hitting the web today courtesy of Sony. Well, it’s now 20th Century Fox’s turn, with Bryan Singer looking to steal some of Spidey’s thunder by revealing on Twitter that he’s set to follow next year’s X-Men: Days of Future Past with X-Men: Apocalypse in 2016.
Presumably, the film will follow the classic 1995/96 comic book storyline Age of Apocalypse, where time travel (yes, again) creates an alternate timeline where the X-Men battle to save the world from Apocalypse, an immortal 5000-year-old mutant. At this point, it’s unknown whether the film will revolve around the X-Men: First Class cast or Singer’s original team of X-Men, although if it is going to adopt an alternate timeline, then it opens the door for characters such as Cyclops and Jean Grey to make their return to the franchise.
Fox is certainly capitalising on its X-Men universe; as well as Days of Future Past and Apocalypse, the studio also has X-Force in the works under Kick-Ass 2 director Jeff Wadlow, while James Mangold is developing a sequel to The Wolverine with Hugh Jackman, and the long-gestating Deadpool solo movie continues to gather dust under Tim Miller. Meanwhile, the studio also has another Marvel movie set for 2015, with Josh Trank (Chronicle) helming The Fantastic Four reboot.
According to Exhibitor Relations, X-Men: Apocalypse is set for release on May 27th, 2016.
Originally published December 5, 2013. Updated December 13, 2019.
