What Is Apocalypse's Mutant Power? The Comics Vs. The Movies, Explained

X-Men ‘97 (2024) Season 2 is coming, and with it is the promise that the classic villain, Apocalypse, will be there, too, from the past, present, and future. For many, though, their first exposure to him was in the film X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), which got a lot wrong.

Apocalypse’s power was never in question in the movies or comics, but they are showcased very differently. Here’s an explanation of how his powers work in both iterations and how X-Men ‘97 Season 2 will adapt them.

’X-Men: Apocalypse’ Changed The Titular Villain's Powers

X-Men: Apocalypse was the first time that the iconic villain ever appeared on the big screen. Portrayed by Oscar Isaac, the film was an unfortunate victim of a classic comic book movie trope: getting the villain only slightly correct. His ties to Ancient Egypt were evident, but there was a notion that he had to pass along his consciousness to another body to be immortal, making it seem like that was his mutant power in the films. This also allowed him to gain their powers as well, hence why he could heal early in the film.

This version of Apocalypse essentially had the cop out power of “everything,” meaning that he could manipulate power as a telekinetic, force evolution on other mutants, turning Angel into Archangel, and teleport, to name a few. In reality, he never got a deep explanation for his abilities, and it hurt him from being a fully realized villain and a perfect adaptation of the comics.

Apocalypse’s Comic Book Powers Are Incredibly Vast

In Marvel Comics, Apocalypse’s power was still vast but also deeply explored and explained in ways that made his threat all the more palpable. Though he dealt with a techno-organic virus and was powered up by Celestial tech, Apocalypse’s main ability has always been modifying the structure of his body on an atomic level.

This has allowed him to turn his hands into weapons and also grow in size, which has aided him on more than one occasion. But with these abilities, he also allowed himself to evolve and grow with more and more abilities, including but not limited to energy projection and enhanced strength and stamina.

’X-Men ‘97’ Season 2 Honors The Comics

It’s no shock that X-Men ‘97 Season 2 will also see Apocalypse embracing not just his comic roots but also his past appearances in X-Men: The Animated Series (1992). To have Apocalypse reemerge and be more like the films would be a recipe for disaster as well.

Recounting his origin and a distant future, as Season 1 teased, means that we will get more information than ever on the powerful villain, and he’s long overdue for a proper origin story. X-Men ‘97 Season 2 has a lot to live up to for fans, but by leaning on Apocalypse and his powers and roots from the comics, the series is off to a great start.