Bryan Singer revealed the Children of the Atom face the world’s first mutant in X-Men Apocalypse in 2016.
Apocalypse first appeared in X-Factor (the original five X-Men.) Comic book legend Walt Simonson (Thor, Star Slammers) played an integral role in shaping what would become one of the greatest X-Men villains. You can see his version of En Sabah Nur (Apocalypse’s real name) on the cover of X-Factor #25.
Simonson points out his role in the bad guy’s evolution and his take on his transition from page to screen:
“Well, let me clear something up immediately: I did not create Apocalypse. I see lots of stuff on the web that suggests that, but it only suggests it because people have read other stuff on the web. They haven’t gone back and looked at the comics. If you go back and look, you will discover that Louise [Simonson] created Apocalypse in conjunction with Jackson Guice.
Now, I will say that Jackson only drew him in like three panels, where he appears at the end of the comic and then takes an elevator down and disappears from sight. But Jackson drew him first. I was the first guy to put him in stories and Louise was the writer. I gave him a steroid injection to beef him up and bring him up to super-villain proportions, if you will. But I did not design the character. People think I did, because back when Marvel was dividing up creator credits on characters, Jackson himself thought I created Apocalypse! He had forgotten that he drew him in a few panels. So I’m not surprised people think I created Apocalypse, and I certainly was the first guy to draw him in stories. But he really wasn’t my creation,” he tells Comic Book Resources.
Two of Simonson’s creations were in Thor: The Dark World. He tells CBR his reaction to Singer’s plan for the next X-movie:
“I’m certainly curious to see him turn up in the film, but it wasn’t really my design. It was Jackson’s. It was a great design, I loved it. I loved Apocalypse as a character, I loved what Louise did with him. I hope they’re able to keep some of that sensibility in the movie. But movies are their own thing. We’ll see how it turns out.”
I don’t think we knew until the announcement came out that they were doing it. I think it’s pretty cool. At this point, both Louise and me have created characters that have been turned into movies. In my case, minor characters like Malekith and Kurse from “Thor: The Dark World.” Louise’s had some stuff in movies, too.
For every movie, my real interest in it is simply that I would like the filmmakers to get it right. By right, I don’t mean it has to be exactly like the comic. No, nothing can be exactly like the comic. I don’t go to the movies to see the book done exactly up on the screen, I go to see a good movie. Sometimes that means differences from the book. I don’t care about that stuff. I just want the movie to be good. That’s true with “X-Men: Apocalypse,” too. It’d be nice if it was a good movie. That’d be pretty cool.
No word on which version of Apocalypse will appear in the X-Men sequel. En Sabah Nur was reborn in a young boy named Evan code-named Genesis and he’s a student of the Jean Grey School in Wolverine and the X-Men. One of the Simonsons’ most notable acts in their X-Factor run was the transformation of Angel to Archangel. Warren Worthington lost his fortune and his mutant wings. Apocalypse rebuilt him with wings of techno-organic blades and made him one of his Four Horsemen. Warren was Death.
Star Slammers #1 by Simonson arrives in March from IDW Publishing.
Here’s a link to check out the Simonsons run of X-Factor and his run on Thor.
By Editor