When the X-Men return to the big-screen in May of 2016 they will face a new (and also super-old) nemesis: Apocalypse, an ancient Egyptian mutant hellbent on world domination. Onscreen, Apocalypse will be portrayed by Oscar Isaac, the rising star of ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ and ‘A Most Violent Year,’ and, later in 2015, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’ where he plays Poe Dameron. In the comics, Apocalypse typically looks sort of like you see him above, with elaborate blue armor, slate-colored face, and inhuman blue lips. This look, it’s pretty clear to me, would not translate to film (at least not in a way that wouldn’t evoke instantaneous laughter from viewers).

So Apocalypse will likely look very different in ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ than he does in the pages of ‘Uncanny X-Men.’ But how different? Speaking to Yahoo! Movies, Isaac discussed what he expected to see from his super-villain costume:

“It’ll be a mix [of practical and digital]. I haven’t had a script so I haven’t had a chance to look through the script and see what the exact requirements are, but I think it’ll be a mixture of physical, aided with some robotic technology.”

I do not envy the costume designers responsible for turning this and this and this into something legitimately cool and intimidating and believable as an outfit that an actual human being might willingly put on their body. Apocalypse should be the X-Men’s worst nightmare, but in a lot of these pictures he looks more like Tim Gunn’s worst fashion nightmare. Plus, Oscar Isaac is a fabulous actor; you don’t want to bury him beneath too much makeup, whether it’s real or digital. On the other hand you don’t want to go too far in the opposite direction; try for a totally “real” look, or you’ll wind up with Colin Farrell’s Bullseye from ‘Daredevil.’ And no one wants that.

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