With the major X-Men villain Apocalypse taking over for the next movie, could this be a set-up for the bad guy to be the "big bad" that will be a force in the franchise for the coming films, much like Thanos in the Marvel universe?

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In the comics, Apocalypse was born 5,000 years ago in Akkaba. He is born with the mutant X-gene, possibly the first living being on Earth to possess the gene, and a side-effect of this gives him gray skin and blue lips. Because of this, his people abandon him as an infant. He is rescued by Baal of the Sandstormers who sees the child's potential power and will to survive.

Baal names him En Sabah Nur or "The First One." The Sandstormers live by the credo of survival of the fittest, believing that only those who are strong enough to survive hardship and direct conflict are worthy of life.

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As the millennia pass, Apocalypse travels around the world, convincing civilizations that he is a god (inspiring different myths as a result) and manipulating them into fighting wars. He justifies that this encourages "growth, judgment, and destruction."

After many years of suspended animation, Apocalypse awakens nearly a century earlier than planned due to the arrival of the time-traveling mutant Cable, who traveled to this point in time hoping to prevent the ancient mutant awakening. Apocalypse decides the world is ready for further examination and testing.

Apocalypse is an all-powerful being and it could be that the X-Men defeat him in the next movie, but he is not all defeated. He could be set-up to have small moments of returning and having others set things in motion before fully coming back for another large scale movie.

X-Men: Apocalypse is set to come out in theaters on May 27, 2016.

Tags: X-Men Apocalypse Movies