I FEEL A great swirl of pity for the poor soul who comes to my school looking for trouble.” So says Professor Xavier (James McAvoy), sounding a bit like a highfalutin’ Mr. T in the latest trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse. The sequel to 2014’s time-traveling X-Men: Days of Future Past is set in 1983, and focuses on an ancient mutant named Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), who forcefully reawakens after thousands of years, hoping to once again lead his super-powered people. To that end, he enlists the Four Horsemen, a coterie of ne’er-do-wells that includes franchise regulars Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Storm (Alexandra Shipp), as well as newb mutants Psylocke (Olivia Munn) and Angel (Ben Hardy). “Together, we will cleanse the earth,” Apocalypse growls, and judging by the scenes of worldwide chaos in the trailer—set to Clairity’s cover of Coldplay’s “Don’t Panic”—the Horseman’s idea of “cleaning up” involves lots of decimated buildings and collapsing bridges.
The only thing that can stop Apocalypse is, of course, Xavier’s team of outcast mutants, who’ll need to fight to secure their future (and, it should be noted, the future of mankind). They’re led here by both the good professor and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), and staffed by such fresh-faced members as Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), and Quicksilver (Evan Peters). “You’re not students anymore,” Mystique tells the youngin’s in her why-we-fight speech. “You’re X-Men.” But will even they be able to stop an apoplectic Apocalypse from sending Earth back to the bad old days? We’ll find out when X-Men: Apocalypseopens May 27.
