Apocalypse, the formidable first mutant and primary antagonist for the upcoming second season of X-Men '97, presents unique challenges for live-action adaptation, according to Larry Houston, showrunner for X-Men: The Animated Series and executive producer on X-Men '97. Houston explained that the character's overwhelming power and immense scale, easily depicted in animation, are difficult to translate effectively to film.
"When we did Apocalypse in 1992, we wanted to establish that this guy is so powerful and so unbeatable that the only way you defeat him is to out-think him," Houston told Polygon. "Because he had too many superpowers back then." Apocalypse, born En Sabah Nur in Ancient Egypt, possesses the ability to control his body at an atomic level, allowing him to shapeshift, regenerate, grow to enormous sizes, and wield super strength. His arsenal is further augmented by advanced technology, fueling his genocidal ambition to reshape the world.
The character's scale was a key element for the original animated series. "He's so great in animation because you can give the scale," said Eric Lewald, another original showrunner and executive producer on X-Men '97. "We always wanted to make him seem so much larger than life, so much different from all the other Mutants that were running around in the show."
This scale proved problematic for live-action adaptations. "It's a challenge in live-action because you have a lot of scenes with like a 5-foot-10-inch guy, you know, but it's easy in animation to draw someone 100 feet tall," Lewald noted. The visual spectacle and the sheer physical presence of Apocalypse are more readily achievable through animation than through live-action portrayals, where conveying such immense size and power can become a significant hurdle.
Beyond his physical attributes, Apocalypse's immortality makes him an ideal antagonist for X-Men '97 season two, particularly with its narrative focus on time-shifting. "He's such a great character for season 2 with all the time-shifting," Lewald stated. "Everybody else is mortal. Everybody else lives to a hundred and dies, but it makes sense that Apocalypse is everywhere, and that made him the perfect adversary for a show that starts out with the X-Men in three different time periods."
Houston expressed excitement about revisiting Apocalypse, leveraging the expanded lore that has developed over the 26 years since the original series aired. "There's been 26 years of backstory that didn't exist when I did my show," Houston said. "So now the new team has been able to take that and cultivate it, and it's going to be on the screen. All of that backstory, if you know comic books, it will all be there."
X-Men '97 season 2 is slated to premiere on Disney Plus on July 1.