With the exception of characters like Beast, Mystique, Azazel and Nightcrawler, the mutants in the X-Men franchise have all represented a normal looking, even beautiful side of humanity. If you didn’t know that Charles Xavier or Wolverine were mutants, you wouldn’t be able to tell based solely on their appearance (and even Mystique and Beast have the option to completely mask their blue, true selves). Pretty soon we’ll be getting a glimpse of the other side of mutant kind though, as Bryan Singer has revealed that Caliban – and in turn, the Morlocks – will be a part of X-Men: Apocalypse.
The director took to Instagram today and released the following behind-the-scenes image to announce Caliban’s arrival:
For those who don’t know, the Morlocks are individuals whose mutations have dramatically altered their appearance and made them look more deformed than the Gambits and Magnetos of the world. As a result, they’ve been driven underground and usually reside in the sewers of New York City, where they’ve developed a hard resentment toward those who are able to walk freely amongst “normal” society.
Caliban is one such mutant, as he’s a hulking, monstrous albino with the power to sense and track other mutants (making him a bit of a living, breathing Cerebro). In the comics, he became one of Apocalypse’s four horsemen, Pestilence. We know that Ben Hardy is playing Angel, who becomes Archangel and the horseman who represents Death. That means that two slots – War and Famine – are still available, meaning more additions to the cast could be on the way, or one of the already-established characters makes a turn to the dark side.
It’s also important to note that Caliban is not the only Morlock coming to the X-Men franchise, as Gina Carano will play another, Angel Dust, in Deadpool next year. That could mean that the dysfunctional, sewer-dwelling faction of the mutant population could finally get a bit more spotlight as the series moves forward.
We still don’t know who is playing Caliban, but with production on X-Men: Apocalypse currently underway (and its May 27th, 2016 release now only a year away), it’s only a matter of time before Singer lets us know.