Bryan Singer is confirmed to direct X-Men: Apocalypse! Plus, a spoiler tease of the story!

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Last week, director Bryan Singer tweeted the title and date of the next X-Men film, although was cryptic in whether or note he'd actually be directing it. Now, Vulture is reporting that Singer is indeed helming the follow-up, which will be a direct sequel to next summer's X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. They also say that "…Apocalypse will be a direct sequel set up in Days of Future Past's closing moments, the new film is intended to focus strictly on the younger McAvoy-Fassbender cast. The movie suggests that though First Class was the franchise's lowest earner when it bowed in 2011, Fox has enough confidence that the star-packed Days of Future Past will give the new cast enough momentum to stand on its own."

Now, that's an interesting bit. Perhaps the merging of casts for DOFP was more of a one-off than an actual merging of the timelines if that's the case. Even more interesting is the SPOILER-FILLED set up for X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, which is said to be part of the end credits sequence in X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. Scroll below if you want to know, but if you want to stay fresh this is the time for you to click away.

"…the credits bumper jumps back to the past with a young Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) in a ramshackle house in the desert eating dinner, clearly on the run from all the authorities who want to bring him down. While using a well outside to get some water, the young Magneto sees something fall from the night sky and crash to Earth nearby. Upon inspecting the impact zone, he encounters what is described as an "alien form" who is "towering, terrifying, with a twisted metal face and dark pits for eyes." It's Apocalypse and he says, "I have crossed rivers of time to find you." Magneto asks, "Who are you?"

The alien responds, "I am your future." Suddenly Apocalypse merges with Magneto, who screams and blasts an insane amount of energy and shockwaves around him. This energy explosion levels everything around him, with a blast radius that goes for miles. As Magneto looks at what he's done, he has a realization of the power he now holds and a villainous grin begins to form before the film cuts to black."

Interesting, indeed. There's no telling whether or not this will be the actual set-up, but if it is then we're in for a wild ride and some fanboys will be riled up to all hell. It's doubtful that will keep them away from seeing either of the next two X-films, though. However, with X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST being the second most expensive film in Fox's history it certainly needs to perform well.

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST is set to hit theaters on May 23, 2014 and X-MEN: APOCALYPSE is set for summer 2016.