There has been some controversy surrounding the look of the titular villain in Bryan Singer's X-Men: Apocalypse. In addition there being some initial debate regarding whether the character should be crafted in live-action or motion capture, the look that was revealed a couple of months ago shocked fans by looking surprisingly cartoon-y. Still, however, Simon Kinberg stands by the look, saying that it is the franchise's attempt to do something a bit more "cosmic."
As a producer on Ridley Scott's The Martian, Kinberg was up at the Toronto International Film Festival this past week, and it was while speaking with MTV that the writer/producer revealed X-Men: Apocalypse's approach to the central villain. Discussing the look of the character - who is being played by Oscar Isaac - the filmmaker revealed that X-Men: Days of Future Past was a strong influence from a sci-fi perspective, saying,
I feel like we have been, the ’X-Men’ franchise, has been growing a little bit more into science fiction. I think Days of Future Past with time travel and the Sentinels took us into a slightly broader, more science fiction world than the films had occupied in the past. We felt like the movies were ready for something that was slightly more, let’s say, cosmic.
As such, when it came to designing Apocalypse, Simon Kinberg said that they wanted to avoid just making him "just a guy in a helmet," and make him look true to the way he appears in Marvel Comics. This is a somewhat odd statement when you consider that the guy you see above doesn't really look a whole lot like the guy you see below (particularly when it comes to his face and height):
I have to admit that I don't really love the look of Apocalypse that has been presented to this point, but there are currently two things that are keeping me on-board with the interpretation. 1) Oscar Isaac is really a phenomenal actor, and it's hard not to have faith in the guy really bringing it as the First Mutant. 2) Let's not forget that one of Apocalypse's many powers is molecular manipulation - meaning that this probably won't be the only look that the character winds up sporting in the feature.
Hopefully it won't be long before we get to see Apocalypse in action, as rumors have suggested that the first trailer may be arriving in early October. Stay tuned!
