Hollywood’s superhero season started early this year with the surprisingly massive success of Deadpool last month. But, don’t worry, there are still a lot more spandex-clad heroes coming soon to a theater near you.
In late-May, 20th Century Fox (FOX) releases the latest installment of its X-Men series, X-Men: Apocalypse, and on Thursday the company posted a new trailer for the film online. The movie is Fox’s sixth release adapted from Marvel comics (not counting spinoffs such as Deadpool and 2013’s The Wolverine). It stars Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, and Oscar Isaac.
Starting with 2000’s X-Men, the franchise has pulled in nearly $1 billion at the domestic box office, with the first five movies averaging almost $200 million each, according to Box Office Mojo.
Watch the trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse here:
A number of characters from Marvel’s X-Men comics have already found major success on the big screen this year. Released in February, Deadpool is the biggest movie of 2016 so far with $330 million in domestic box office gross and a worldwide haul of more than $700 million. The film’s titular character is spun off from the X-Men series, and the movie also features appearances from two members of that mutant squad (Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead) along with several cheeky references to the franchise.
Deadpool has taken a unique path to blockbuster status, and its R-rating could influence future superhero movies to take more risks with portraying extreme violence and adult subject matter. X-Men: Apocalypse is one of several upcoming tentpole films with the potential to knock Deadpool from atop 2016’s box office rankings. Warner Bros. (TWX) releases Batman v. Superman next week, and Walt Disney (DIS) has Captain America: Civil War on tap, also in May.
