Having just walked out of X-men: Days of Future Past for a second time, there's a pretty decent amount of destruction in it. At least towards the end, anyway. Nothing on the level of what Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) throws out in his films on a regular basis, but apparently that will be coming with 2016's X-men: Apocalypse, at least according to writer Simon Kinberg.
While talking with IGN, Kinberg revealed his approach to tackling a character like Apocalypse, arguably the X-men's most dangerous foe. Recognized as the very first mutant (for a time that honor went to Namor), Apocalypse aka En Sabah Nur was born in Egypt thousands of years ago and lives by the theory "survival of the fittest". Kinberg says his plan is to try and make Apocalypse a genuine character rather than just a harbinger of doom...
Kinberg: "The thing that we've spent the most time talking about is not just the visual execution of the character, which is its own challenge. [But] creating a character that's the most powerful I think of any mutant villain that we've seen in the 'X-Men' movies so far. More powerful than Magneto...But we've also been talking about how to give him a real emotional and philosophical underpinning. So he's not just somebody who's out there destroying the world because he can. What he's doing is – in his mind – justified and validated by a real compelling, coherent philosophy. He tries to convert people – maybe some of our most familiar characters – to come to his cause."
And in terms of how they hope to show that power, Kinberg says the films of Roland Emmerich are the model....
Kinberg: "The kind of scope and scale we’re talking about is like disaster movie, extinction level event. Sort of Roland Emmerich-style moviemaking, which you’ve never seen in an X-Men movie, or any superhero movie, which I think is exciting."
Apocalypse very rarely travels alone, as usually accompanied by his lieutenants the Four Horsemen: Death, Famine, War, Pestilence. In the comics, Apocalypse has converted numerous X-men into Horsemen, including Wolverine, Angel, and Sunfire. At one point even the Hulk was a Horseman. So are we to infer from Kinberg's statement that Apocalypse will try the same thing in the movie? Seems likely.
And before you ask, that poster is fan made courtesy of Deviant Art.
