X-Men: Apocalypse - 9 Major Characters Who Could Die
With En Sabah Nur in the picture, all bets are off.
In 2016, Bryan Singer will unleash X-Men: Apocalypse upon the world. The movie's written, cast and currently well into shooting, but damned if anybody knows just what's going to happen in the X-film with the highest stakes yet.
One question, as the franchise enters a transition period in which audiences witness what Bryan Singer calls the "true birth of the X-Men", is who is going to live and who is going to die. Up to now, the series has neglected to kill off to many of its mutant characters, but with actors' contracts ending and the monstrous Apocalypse as the new antagonist, it's not just a chance for Singer and co. to up the scale, it's a chance to get clearing house.
There are certain characters appearing in X-Men: Apocalypse who likely aren't set to make an exit (Nicholas Hoult, for one, has expressed a desire to stick around a while as Beast), while there are others for whom death is an impossibility. For example, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine - likely to appear in Apocalypse, though in a smaller role than in Days Of Future Past - still has a standalone movie to come in 2017.
However, for the majority of the cast of characters - that includes the new and the old - it's fair game. Here are nine major characters who could die in X-Men: Apocalypse.
9. Magneto
When Michael Fassbender entered the X-Men franchise in 2011, he was an up-and-coming actor with considerable acclaim behind him - indeed, it was something of a coup for producers that they managed to bring in someone so beloved by critics and 'serious' film fans when nothing in his career up to that point had suggested he was a blockbuster guy.
Now, in 2015, Fassbender is one of the most sought-after actors on the planet, and his CV still suggests that - X-Men aside - he's more interested in independent movies and projects by auteurs than superhero movies. Between Macbeth and Steve Jobs, Fassbender is almost guaranteed a Best Actor Oscar nom in 2016 - at which point he'll be more in-demand than ever.
With Fassbender's X-Men contract set to run out on Apocalypse, and the in-universe timeline changed, there's a distinct possibility Fassbender could exit the franchise in X-Men: Apocalypse, taking Magneto along with him. It's been implied the focus will shift over to James McAvoy's Xavier and his new batch of recruits anyway - could Magneto be a casualty of that shift?