X-Men Apocalypse

[Underseer]

Honestly, I never much cared for the character of Apocalypse in the comic books, nor did I care for the stories involving En Sabah Nur (Apocalypse). The problem for me is that the racism metaphor gets all muddled and the resulting stories don't have anything worthwhile to say about racism. Besides, there's something kind of silly about Apocalypse as a villain. He's a bit too over the top.

The early buzz I've seen from geek movie reviewers is positive (mainstream critics have been less kind). I expect I'll enjoy the movie, although I doubt I'll enjoy it as much as CA: Civil War. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

 

[Underseer]

The one and only thing I find interesting about Apocalypse as a character:

The X-Men and Magneto routinely argue about ideology and how best to end anti-mutant prejudice and prevent genocide. The X-Men argue that if Magneto is ever successful in subjugating all of humanity, then the tables will merely turn; mutants will become the oppressors and humans will become the oppressed, thus nothing would actually be solved by Magneto's tactics. Magneto counters these arguments by saying that mutants would never become the oppressors because mutants are inherently morally superior to humans (as bad as this argument is, it reflects arguments in the real world).

As far as I'm concerned, En Sabah Nur exists to make a liar out of Magneto so that we can watch him spew bad rationalizations in defense of his argument rather than admit that the most evil person embroiled in the humans vs mutant battle is a fellow mutant.

 

[prideandfall]

The one and only thing I find interesting about Apocalypse as a character:

The X-Men and Magneto routinely argue about ideology and how best to end anti-mutant prejudice and prevent genocide. The X-Men argue that if Magneto is ever successful in subjugating all of humanity, then the tables will merely turn; mutants will become the oppressors and humans will become the oppressed, thus nothing would actually be solved by Magneto's tactics. Magneto counters these arguments by saying that mutants would never become the oppressors because mutants are inherently morally superior to humans (as bad as this argument is, it reflects arguments in the real world).

As far as I'm concerned, En Sabah Nur exists to make a liar out of Magneto so that we can watch him spew bad rationalizations in defense of his argument rather than admit that the most evil person embroiled in the humans vs mutant battle is a fellow mutant.

except that Apocalypse really isn't evil, any more than Magneto is evil - they're both 'bad' guys in terms of a narrative antagonist/protagonist perspective, but neither of them are exactly evil.

Apocalypse is basically a Chick Tract idea of what a Darwinist with superpowers would be, all the silly dramatic religious iconography included, except that he doesn't actually play out that way in his characterization. it's a crazy little turduckin of inconsistent writing.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Saw the preview in Civil War and my brain was screaming X3. The worry from the preview is that there is too much and they won't hold it together well. The reviews I've quickly glanced at seem to say it isn't as bad as X3, but it has some notable flaws. One other problem is this whole school thing again. The kiddies are taking on a god-ish like enemy. Can't they just move a little bit forward to when we have the X-Men (unless that was the original story that is). My presumed rating for this is 2.5 of 4. But with Singer around, it could hold up to a 3.

 

[Underseer]

The one and only thing I find interesting about Apocalypse as a character:

The X-Men and Magneto routinely argue about ideology and how best to end anti-mutant prejudice and prevent genocide. The X-Men argue that if Magneto is ever successful in subjugating all of humanity, then the tables will merely turn; mutants will become the oppressors and humans will become the oppressed, thus nothing would actually be solved by Magneto's tactics. Magneto counters these arguments by saying that mutants would never become the oppressors because mutants are inherently morally superior to humans (as bad as this argument is, it reflects arguments in the real world).

As far as I'm concerned, En Sabah Nur exists to make a liar out of Magneto so that we can watch him spew bad rationalizations in defense of his argument rather than admit that the most evil person embroiled in the humans vs mutant battle is a fellow mutant.

except that Apocalypse really isn't evil, any more than Magneto is evil - they're both 'bad' guys in terms of a narrative antagonist/protagonist perspective, but neither of them are exactly evil.

Apocalypse is basically a Chick Tract idea of what a Darwinist with superpowers would be, all the silly dramatic religious iconography included, except that he doesn't actually play out that way in his characterization. it's a crazy little turduckin of inconsistent writing.

I don't like the Apocalypse character, but I don't think it's a representation of Darwinism. Social Darwinism, maybe, but then eugenics predates the theory of evolution by millennia.