Director Bryan Singer will reportedly be concluding the “First Class” storyline in the upcoming “X-Men: Apocalypse.” He will be bringing in Storm, Jean Grey, and Cyclops into a new timeline created after the events that transpired in the previous blockbuster, “X-Men: Days of Future Past.”
Screen Rant now reports that a new actor might join the mix for a key “mysterious” role. Ben Hardy of “EastEnders” will reportedly be joining the likes of Sophie Turner, Alexandra Ship, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Tye Sheridan as newbies to this franchise. All together, they will be joining Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, and James McAvoy.
Although further details about his role remain unclear, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, Screen Rant says that he has a similar look with Ben Foster, the actor who originally played Angel in 2006’s “X-Men: The Last Stand.” Hence, Hardy might have been called in to take on the role of Angel.
Angel was one of the early members of the X-Men in the comics, fighting the bad guys alongside Beast, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, and Nightcrawler – all of whom will be featured in “X-Men: Apocalypse.” Although the timelines of “The Last Stand” and “Apocalypse” might not completely add up, Fox has a knack of playing loose with the franchise’s continuity rules.
It certainly appears that the production team for “X-Men: Apocalypse” is hell-bent on getting Hardy on board, especially as a previous Screen Rant report confirmed that Hardy was also in the running for a young Cyclops role for a while.
Cinema Blend says that Hardy might also be playing Longshot, who is not a very significant character in the X-Men world. However, his ability to manipulate probability fields is a very unusual one. He can bring good luck to himself, but may cause bad luck on others in the process.
According to Eric Eisenberg of Cinema Blend, Hardy’s role will be among the important ones in the X-Men universe, as reported by The International Business Times. His statements sparked rumors that the British actor might have been selected as the Russian mutant, Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin, who is more popularly known as Colossus.
Daniel Cudmore already confirmed through his official Twitter page that he will not be returning to reprise his role as Colossus. He portrayed the role in three different “X-Men” films, namely, “X2: X-Men United,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” Since “X-Men: Apocalypse” has an 80s setting, Hardy might be stepping in as a much younger version of the mutant.
“X-Men: Apocalypse” will be officially released to theaters on May 27, 2016.
