8 Reasons Wolverine Is The Most Disappointing Part Of X-Men: Apocalypse

The Wolverine sequence doesn't just bring back Hugh Jackman's eight-movie-strong mutant, but also an antagonist who's been in four movies at this point (that's more than Angel and the same amount as Beast, two of the X-Men's founding members in print).

A much more menacing character than in the comics, William Stryker is the mastermind behind Weapon X and all-round mutant hater. Jumping off from Brian Cox's calmly menacing turn in X-2, Josh Helman's take in Days Of Future Past did a great job of showing his underlying scheming and promised great things for the future. However, to make him fit in X-Men: Apocalypse, a lot of that strong groundwork is messed up.

From his introduction something's off - for no reason the ruthless Colonel only takes a few, random (but thankfully story essential) mutants, instead of taking all of Xavier's school - and when he gets the chosen captives imprisoned it only gets more confusing; despite bringing the X-Men to Alkali Lake when the Weapon X project is still active, there's a confusion of purpose, with allusions to a plot similar to the one he enacted over two decades later in X-Men 2. He's dumb, moustache twirling and bending a knee to the plot at all turns.

After things go to hell, Stryker jets off in his helicopter (why not use that high-tech jet?), suggesting more appearances down the line, which opens up a solid reprise, but does risk turning the character into a recurring TV show baddie.