It is the sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, and Lucas Till.

X-Men: Apocalypse premiered in London on May 9, 2016, and was released in the United States on May 27, 2016, in RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, 4DX and Dolby Cinema formats by 20th Century Fox.

During the worldwide disturbances caused by En Sabah Nur, Lehnsherr uses his powers to save a coworker during an earthquake, alerting the Milicja Obywatelska.

As tensions rise, Nina heartbrokenly demonstrates her animal communication mutant powers, and the police accidentally kill her and her mother in the ensuing confusion.

Colonel William Stryker's forces, believing Xavier to be responsible, capture McCoy, Raven, Peter, and MacTaggert, and take them for interrogation.

Xavier sends a telepathic distress call to Jean and the others, who travel to Cairo to battle En Sabah Nur and his Four Horsemen.

Lehnsherr and Ororo turn on En Sabah Nur and, with Scott's help, keep him occupied physically while Xavier fights him telepathically in the astral plane.

Using confiscated Sentinels,[5] McCoy and Raven train the new X-Men recruits: Scott, Jean, Ororo, Kurt, and Peter.

[27][28] Monique Ganderton, Warren Scherer, Rochelle Okoye, and Fraser Aitcheson play Apocalypse's prior lieutenants, Death, Pestilence, Famine, and War respectively.

[32] Journalist Jessica Savitch and actors Leslie Parrish and Michael Forest (appearing in footage with dialogue from the 1967 Star Trek episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?")

[34] In the same month, Simon Kinberg, Dan Harris, and Michael Dougherty were revealed by Singer to be attached to work on the film's story.

[35] According to Singer, the film would focus on the origin of the mutants and feature the younger versions of Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm.

He described Summers as "not yet the squeaky-clean leader", Storm as a "troubled character who is going down the wrong path in life", and Grey as "complex, interesting and not fully mature.

[49] In January 2015, Singer announced that Alexandra Shipp, Sophie Turner and Tye Sheridan would portray young Storm, Jean and Cyclops, respectively.

[64] Aerial footage of snow-capped mountains as Stryker traveled in his helicopter to the secret base was provided by SmartDrones of St. Albert, Alberta, Canada.

[71] In July 2015, Singer, Lee, Hugh Jackman, and cast members McAvoy, Fassbender, Lawrence, Isaac, Hoult, Munn, Peters, Smit-McPhee, Turner, Sheridan, Shipp, Condor, Till, and Hardy gave a presentation at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con, together with the release of the film's first teaser poster, featuring En Sabah Nur and a wreckage of the X-Mansion.

The deal included retail displays and special packaging markings, TV and cinema commercials, and social media posts featuring M&M's characters mixed with elements of the X-Men.

[80] On January 4, 2016, Kia Motors released the first promo video of the car, featuring Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal.

[84] The fictional listing included a video tour of the mansion and stories of the home from the perspective of characters such as Charles Xavier and Scott Summers.

[87][88][89] In May 2016, Fox released a faux TV commercial for the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters with Lana Condor as Jubilee.

[90][91][92][93] Billboards in Los Angeles and New York City promoting the film garnered controversy for showing an image of Apocalypse choking Mystique, with critics saying the ad advocates violence against women.

[112] In its second weekend the film grossed $22.3 million (a drop of 66.1%), finishing second at the box office behind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Overloaded action and a clichéd villain take the focus away from otherwise strong performers and resonant themes, making X-Men: Apocalypse a middling chapter of the venerable superhero franchise.

"[118] Birth.Movies.Death stated the film was a fiasco and a low point for the franchise, criticizing its action scenes, CGI, Oscar Isaac's Apocalypse, its lack of story, and waste of various X-Men characters.

"[120] Mike Ryan of Uproxx disparaged the film's story as redundant and stale, arguing "I get it: Life is hard for mutants.

"[121] Helen O'Hara of Empire criticized the storytelling and performances of the main cast, stating that the film "was a failed callback to various past glories.

"[122] On the other hand, Mick LaSalle from the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film a positive review, calling it "a thinking person's action movie" and complimenting its high stakes.

[123] Richard Roeper called the film "a visual feast" and lauded its cast, saying "Even the hardcore geeks who like to get their Comic-Con on, might be feeling a little superhero fatigue right about now.

In an interview with The New York Times, he later remarked when asked that he doesn't "disown the film", though he wished they would have taken care of the character of Apocalypse a little better.

[136] He separately said the post-credits scene mentioning the Essex Corporation was related to Logan (2017), and that it could have ties to Gambit as well as the following X-Men film.