X-Men: Apocalypse is two months away from hitting theaters, and now that two trailers have been released, 20th Century Fox stepping up their promotions for the latest mutant adventure. Soon enough, we’ll see these characters plastered on products at grocery stores and popping up in advertisements. (Remember when Quicksilver ate that Carl’s Jr bacon sandwich?). However, this is also the 21st century, a time when many people are looking at their devices, be it a smartphone or tablet, constantly. So to get their attention, X-Men: Apocalypse is rolling a new app offering exclusive content.
Using technology from the mobile startup Victorious, the X-Men: Apocalypse app is intended to be a “community” for the hardcore X-Men fans to get exclusive content every Friday at noon PST, chat with other like-minded individuals, and find out about community events and giveaways. If any of the above isn’t piquing your interest, the app is also providing extra incentive to join. According to The Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century Fox is also hosting a contest via the app where fans can post videos explain what their mutant ability would be. The 100 fans with the most in-app followers would win special giveaways, and the top five folks would get to attend an early screening of X-Men: Apocalypse, along with other prizes.
While this isn’t the first time that superhero-related properties have enticed fans via apps or social media, for the X-Men community, this will surely be a nice bonus while waiting for X-Men: Apocalypse. Oh sure, you can gush over the X-Men fandom in various areas online, but this app is a good way to interact with fans who are just as passionate as you. It will also be interesting to see whether the app continues to publish new content regularly following the X-Men: Apocalypse released. Even though the future of the primary X-Men series is unclear, that cinematic universe will continue to grow will entries like Deadpool 2, Wolverine 3, Gambit, New Mutants, etc. Having that app provide goodies during the intervals would help ease the wait.
As for X-Men: Apocalypse, the movie is the final installment of the “First Class” trilogy, and follows the superhero team in 1983, right when Charles Xavier seems to have found his groove training and mentoring young mutants. Unfortunately for him, Apocalypse has awoken from his millennia-long slumber and after recruiting Magneto, Storm, Psylocke and Angel as his Four Horsemen, will set out to destroy the world and remake it in Apocalypse’s image. This image: a world where only the strong survive. It will be up to the X-Men, both the “First Class” veterans and the young students at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, to stop Apocalypse’s plan, but not everyone will make it out alive.
X-Men: Apocalypse, the sixth of the main X-Men movies, arrives on May 27.
