8 Reasons X-Men: Apocalypse Doesn't Deserve The Hate

3. The Stakes Are Surprisingly High

One of the inevitable questions an X-Men novice like myself had when the hype machine for Apocalypse really started kicking into gear, was simply, ‘how can we possibly invest in this film’?

Just a couple of months ago we were treated to the wonderful Deadpool, which presented to us the X-Men Universe as it is today – and Apocalypse was noticeably absent. It was thus clear even for clueless viewers like me, whatever threat that Apocalypse presented was short lived.

The film does a remarkably good job of working around this issue by actually making Apocalypse something of a secondary character to the ongoing development of the X-Men characters in this particular incarnation.

Apocalypse is less an all-encompassing threat, as he is a narrative device used to create division and subsequent unity between the mutants. This was probably predictable for aficionados. But for a dummy like me, it was quite surprising and made the stakes more immersive, and significant.

Additionally, the writers actually pull the trigger on a meaningful death in the film, and the death is used as a major motivation for a key character. The character isn’t brought back from the dead, and his loss increases the stakes for another character that desperately needed a better connection to the film.

Given that Marvel and DC struggle to embrace this narrative device, it is nice to see it executed well in another cinematic universe.