X-Men: Apocalypse editor finally explains what really went wrong

Let's be honest, if you've got feelings about the X-Men films, you're not alone—most people do, usually accompanied by a sigh or emotional outburst. Now, believe it or not, it's coming up to ten years since "X-Men: Apocalypse" arrived with all the thunderous expectation and then rather spectacularly fizzled out. After the success of "Days of Future Past", 20th Century Fox was convinced the next round needed everything louder, younger, and flashier. We got new versions of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm and Nightcrawler, a blue-skinned Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse, the works. What we didn't get, it turns out, was an actual coherent ending—or, if you believe those who were there, any proper script for what's meant to be the film's big finish.

The Hype Before the Fall

On paper, "Apocalypse" should have killed it at the box office. Previous film made serious bank; this one had all the marketing muscle, familiar faces (McAvoy, Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence), plus a fresh crop of teen mutants. But the reality? Not quite what the studio was hoping for. "Apocalypse" pulled in about $544 million worldwide, which sounds decent, except its predecessor did nearly $750 million. Critics weren't keen either: a 47% Rotten Tomatoes score, landing below even the reviled "X-Men: The Last Stand"—yes, that one with the inexplicably bad plot choices from 2006 that fans still moan about.

Trouble Behind the Scenes

If you want an actual inside look at what went wrong, editor John Ottman—who's not just the editor but also the composer for the X-Men films, and frankly someone who seems unable to tell a polite white lie at this point—spilled everything on the "Half the Picture" podcast. In his own blunt words:

"It's all such a blur, but it was a total, total, total nightmare."

Ottman had already spent years in the X-Men trenches and, if anyone knew the warning signs of trouble, it was him. He claims the first problem was complacency—crew turning up assuming everything would 'just work out' because it did last time, conveniently ignoring all the behind-the-scenes firefighting that goes into making anything remotely watchable. Ottman flagged issues with the script—specifically, that there wasn't actually a third act to shoot. As he puts it, they started filming with what was essentially a beat sheet, not a script, for the finale:

"So then we go into production, and we have a film with no third act. It was a beat sheet. It was like 'so-and-so attacks so-and-so and they die. This person somehow escapes, and then this person dies, and then they win.'"

This sort of thing may sound familiar if you've tracked stories from certain other major superhero studios (not naming names, but you know who you are), but according to Ottman, what he saw coming did in fact "explode" in his face. His solution? Patchwork filmmaking at its finest:

"Huddling with the pre-vis team and the second unit director, just coming up with s--- in the last second for that final confrontation battle regarding who dies, who goes where. It ended up coming together and repurposing scenes. Thank God for voice-over to hear people's thoughts. You can just fill in s--- and come up with different things."

Heavy Lifting and Heavier Luggage

Looking back, Ottman defends the movie to a point—he doesn't hate it, but reckons it was "weighed down" by the obligation to introduce too many new characters all at once. Basically, the film staggered under its own ambition, but there wasn't much choice in the matter; Fox wanted to reboot key X-Men figures, box office or no box office.

The Cast, The Chaos…and the Director Who Went Missing

• James McAvoy as Professor X
• Michael Fassbender as Magneto
• Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique
• Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse
• Sophie Turner as Jean Grey
• Tye Sheridan as Cyclops
• Alexandra Shipp as Storm
• Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler
• Olivia Munn as Psylocke
• Nicholas Hoult as Beast

But there's more. "Apocalypse" wasn't just messy in the editing room. Director Bryan Singer, who'd helmed previous X-films, reportedly vanished from set for ten days in the middle of production, leaving screenwriter Simon Kinberg to scramble as makeshift director. Singer claimed it was for his health—duelling rumours involve a thyroid issue and Singer's track record for, shall we say, unreliability and problematic behaviour on set. Cast were clearly not thrilled: Oscar Isaac diplomatically called it "challenging", while Olivia Munn, who played Psylocke, openly grumbled about Singer and Kinberg's lack of interest in actual X-Men lore, which you might think is important on, you know, an X-Men film.

A Second Chance for Apocalypse (Kind Of)

With "Apocalypse" marking a decade of regret (and memes), it seems the title villain and team are getting literal do-overs. Apocalypse will be the big bad in "X-Men '97" Season 2, landing on Disney+ from July 1st. Not just that—expect the mutants to play a heavy part in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday as well. Here's hoping the curse of X-films released in years ending in six—that's right, "The Last Stand" in 2006 and "Apocalypse" in 2016—might finally be broken.