![\"nativitystory-oscarisaac2-a\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/227\/2015\/05\/nativitystory-oscarisaac2-a.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nOscar Isaac\u2019s star has been on the rise in recent years.<\/p>\n
In addition to lead roles in acclaimed films such as Ex Machina<\/i>, Inside Llewyn Davis<\/i> and A Most Violent Year<\/i>, he will soon have a key role in the next Star Wars<\/a><\/i> movie.<\/p>\n After that, he will play the titular villain in X-Men: Apocalypse<\/a><\/i>, the eighth film in the long-running X-Men<\/i> series (but only the third film that is still part of the series\u2019 continuity, thanks to all the time-bending in the last film).1<\/sup><\/p>\n Isaac, speaking to Matthew Sardo on the Monkeys Fighting Robots<\/a> podcast, recently dropped some hints about his X-Men<\/i> villain that piqued my interest:<\/p>\n [I\u2019ve been] reading the script a lot and trying to come at it from a \u2014 for me \u2014 an interesting angle, definitely focusing on the fact that he is the embodiment of the second coming of the judgments of God and that energy going in. We\u2019re playing with that. What we are trying to do is make his philosophy, and what his mission is, one that\u2019s both simple but also holds water, that really makes sense throughout the whole movie. And I think Simon Kinberg and Bryan Singer, we\u2019ve been able to come up with something very cool.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i> says this may indicate some changes to the character:<\/p>\n Isaac will play Apocalypse, a character whose comic book incarnation was the first human ever to display the X-gene that makes mutants. Born in Ancient Egypt, he has been revealed to be immortal and has used alien technology to create followers, that he refers to as horsemen (as in the Biblical Horsemen of the Apocalypse), to do his bidding. Despite that terminology, however, the comic book incarnation of the character hasn\u2019t traditionally been closely tied to a religious reading, nor represented the judgment of God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Friends of mine who know more about the X-Men<\/i> comics than I do tell me that this analysis seems correct \u2014 that Apocalypse isn\u2019t particularly religious in the comics, and Isaac\u2019s take on the character could be a more \u201cbiblical\u201d version of the villain.<\/p>\n This amuses me, as one of Isaac\u2019s first movies was an actual bona fide<\/i> Bible movie, i.e. The Nativity Story<\/a><\/i>, in which Isaac played Joseph the husband of Mary \u2014 and did very well in the role, to boot. You can read my interview with him about that here<\/a>.<\/p>\n If the new X-Men<\/i> film does<\/i> explore religious themes, then it\u2019s worth noting that one of its other characters will be Nightcrawler, the Christian who looks like a demon and has the ability to teleport anywhere instantly. So it could be interesting to see if the new film plays Nightcrawler\u2019s beliefs off of Apocalypse\u2019s agenda in any way.2<\/sup><\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth, a younger version of Apocalypse was briefly glimpsed, along with his four horseman, in a post-credits scene<\/a> set thousands of years ago at the end of X-Men: Days of Future Past<\/a><\/i>, though he was played there by Brendan Pedder:<\/p>\n You can listen to the Monkeys Fighting Robots podcast here:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n