From one major geek-friendly franchise to another. Oscar Isaac, who’ll appear next year in ‘Star Wars: Episode 7,’ has signed on to star as the titular villain in ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’, which will open in theaters just six months later.

Variety is reporting that Fox and director Bryan Singer had met with a number of actors for the role (including ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ star Tom Hardy), but Isaac was reportedly their “long-time favorite” for the role from the very beginning. Isaac will play Apocalypse, or En Sabah Nur, the blue-skinned “first” mutant that was seen briefly as a child during the ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ post-credits scene.

Isaac seems a little…slight…to play the massive and imposing Apocalypse and it will be curious if Fox and Singer use a variety of tools to help make the character come to life, not unlike what Marvel is doing with James Brolin and Thanos. Isaac acts the scenes out on set with mo-cap and then is animated in post-production to make him appear taller, darker and bluer.

That’s a lot of franchise work for the actor, who’s also contracted to star in ‘Star Wars: Episode 8' whenever that begins filming, but he can be seen this December in ‘A Most Violent Year’ with Jessica Chastain, flexing his dramatic muscle.

Isaac joins a remarkably impressive 'X-Men' cast that includes Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Hugh Jackman and James McAvoy.

We don't know much about the movie yet, but, while promoting ‘Days of Future Past,’ Singer said of the film:

What we’ll discover in Apocalypse is that events in ['Days of Future Past'] made that happen. … Apocalypse deals with ancient mutancy. What would humans have thought mutants were? What would mutants think humans were? You’re dealing with gods and things like that. And what if one survived and what if that found its way into our world?

‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ opens in theaters on May 27, 2016.

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