In Bryan Singer's X-Men: Apocalypse, actor Ben Hardy will be playing the second big screen version of the mutant known as Angel. And while the young British actor probably won't be magically sprouting wings from his back any time soon, that's not stopping him from learning how to fly:
The next chapter in the X-Men series of films is on the horizon, and Ben Hardy seems to be doing what he can to prepare for his big blockbuster role. It probably would have been far too dangerous for him to experience flying by doing a bit of skydiving (the studio certainly wouldn't be happy about it), so he's instead getting ready by jumping into a wind tunnel.
While it's expected that X-Men: Apocalypse will largely focus on the cast of characters we've gotten to know since X-Men: First Class - a.k.a. James McAvoy (as Professor X), Michael Fassbender (as Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (as Mystique) and Nicholas Hoult (as Beast) - it does seem like Ben Hardy is going to have a very special role to play in the film. For starters, Bryan Singer is clearly excited about using the character, as evidenced by concept art that has been posted online:
Beyond that, though, there is also a very important connection between the Angel character and X-Men: Apocalypse's titular villain (who will be played by the amazing Oscar Isaac). In the comics, the god-like antagonist once famously recruited Angel as one of his Four Horsemen - who serve as Apocalypse's personal guard. After being corrupted by the ancient mutant, Angel's beautiful feathered wings are replaced by metal ones, eventually leading him to change his name to Archangel. This transformation has already been teased for the film.
Filming on X-Men: Apocalypse is expected to last throughout the summer, with the finished result actually set to arrive in theaters less than a year from now (specifically on May 27, 2016. The movie has an absolutely packed cast that not only includes all of the stars mentioned earlier, but also Evan Peters (as Quicksilver), Rose Byrne (as Moira MacTaggert), Tye Sheridan (as Cyclops), Alexandra Shipp (as Storm), Sophie Turner (as Jean-Grey), Kodi Smit-McPhee (as Nightcrawler), and Lana Condor (as Jubilee).
Bryan Singer's love of social media means that we should be seeing and hearing a lot from the production in the coming weeks. As a result, you should definitely stay tuned in the coming weeks for some cool reveals and announcements.
