X-Men: Apocalypse is not the end of the X-franchise.
Producer Simon Kinberg said the series will jump 10 years into the ’90’s in the next sequel but will the mutants leap into outer space?
X-Men First Class was in the Cold War ’60’s, Days of Future Past reset the timeline with a story set in the 1970’s and future, Apocalypse rises in the ’80’s.
Director Bryan Singer hints at what’s possible with the X-Men movies including deep space travel for Xavier’s students.
If the X-Men head into outer space could it mean a film inspired by the greatest X-Men comics tale of all and introduce recurring alien rivals for the mutant heroes?
“That was something Simon [Kinberg] and I discussed a long time ago, all the way back to when I first pitched the studio on First Class — that they do each movie in 10-year increments,” Singer explains when asked about the ‘90s setting. “It’s a nice way for the audience to kind of keep track of the timeline, and it’s fun to play in these different eras. So that’s a good starting point.” Singer told Fandango.
“But we’ve also introduced the tenants of time travel, which already exists in the comic book. Also I imagine – and this is the first time I’ve actually answered the question this way – but another thing that’s been introduced in the comics is a big alien, interstellar tenant within the X-Men universe that hasn’t been explored. And to me, that might be kind of fun because I’m a huge Star Wars and Star Trek fan, and exploring the X-Men universe and being able to utilize that would be exciting, visually. ”
If Thanos and the Kree are the big alien threats of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe then get ready for an invasion of the Shi’ar in Fox’s X-Men franchise.
The Shi’ar Empire have a long history with the mutants in comics. The Shi’ar are birdlike humanoid in appearance but rule over vast empire of multiple alien races.
Lilandra shared a psychic connection across the galaxy with Professor Xavier. The alien heiress asked Xavier to save the universe from her mad brother who wanted to unleash powerful cosmic force. The X-Men’s first big space epic led to the Jean/Phoenix connection and Xavier’s longtime on-again, off-again romance with Lilandra who became Empress.
The Dark Phoenix Saga is the greatest X-Men saga from comics. Jean Grey as Dark Phoenix goes on a cosmic rampage, eats a star, destroys a planet with billions of lives then an alien battleship. The Shi’ar Empire puts Jean on trial. The X-Men must fight the Shi’ar Imperial Guard (a collection of the greatest alien warriors) for the life of Jean.
Scott Summers father (he believed died with his mother) turned out to be a space pirate known as Corsair who led a team of rogues known as the Starjammers. A Shi’ar spy attacked the Summers while in the family plane. Scott and Alex fell to Earth, his mother was killed by evil Shi’ar but not before giving birth to a third son who would grow up to be Gabriel Summers aka Vulcan and get his revenge in The Rise And Fall of the Shi’ar Empire. Vulcan teamed up with Lilandra’s sister Deathbird (seen above) to seize the throne.
Sophie Turner and Tye Sheridan are joining the franchise as a younger Jean and Scott in the new film. With both of their characters having a tragic connection to the Shi’ar Empire, this could make uncanny story potential for a sequel set in space.
X-Men: Apocalypse opens May 27th.
By Editor