Superhero franchises these days need a brain trust. Zack Snyder’s Batman-Superman saga added Argo screenwriter Chris Terrio to the mix alongside David Goyer (and the Nolans, who likely still have some influence). Sony recently added a full slate of writers to its expanding Spider-Man universe, tapping creative minds like Drew Goddard – and Kurtzman and Orci – to the spinoffs and sequels in the developing universe. And now Bryan Singer is teasing the contributions of some major players to the X-Men series, via Twitter (which the director adores).
Are you following Singer on Twitter? If you care a lick about his X-Men movies, his social media feed is a must. He routinely posts behind-the-scenes images, Vine videos and information on Twitter, and he hit it again last night.
Simon Kinberg is a given. Fox recently hired him to oversea multiple superhero franchises, from the mutant mega-movies to the Fantastic Four reboot. So you get why Singer would have him in the room. The other names are familiar to X-Men enthusiasts. Dan Harris and Mike Dougherthy co-wrote Singer’s X2: X-Men United, and he’s apparently leaning on them once again as he maps out X-Men: Apocalypse, due to reach theaters in 2016.
"It’s snowing in Egypt" likely refers to the origins of the villainous character, Apocalypse, who was raised by Baal of the Sandstormers and renamed En Sabah Nur in the source-material comics. Does this mean Singer and his team is digging deep into the comics as they plan to reveal a new, major villain for the X-Men? Probably, and that’s a very good sign for Apocalypse and the future of the Fox franchise as it moves forward.
Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, though. Long before we even get our first look at Apocalypse and the work Singer is doing with this team, we’ll plunge into Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, which will bridge the time gap between the older X-Men characters and the "kids" of the First Class world. The sequel invades theaters in May, and it seems to have rejuvenated Singer’s passion for the X-world, where he plans to stay for the next few years.
