According to a trusted American film critic and entertainment news journalist, who is also the founder and editor-in-chief of
Showbiz 411, not only has Roger Friedman laid eyes on a casting-call sheet labeled
X-Men: Akkaba, but he's identified the age-range for three important characters and name-dropped their given names, or that of the actors, rather. While his report was only 4 paragraphs, as he says in the article, he's not well-versed in the lore and needed help explaining his intel on a subject he knows very little about. Check out what he said about the casting process:
“X Men: Akkaba” also seems like it will be looking for a new, younger demographic as they search for three 18 year old actors to play 16. Their names are Ava, Dylan, and Sabrina."
"18-yo actors to play 16" is the confusing bit, the syntax error noted, he just gave us three names of actors, that might be an indication of who the studio will cast, or has already cast for three important roles. Here is where the speculation starts: Could 'Sabrina' be referring to Los Angeles actress Sabrina Aman, or Sabrina Mayfield of
The Vampire Diaries fame taking on the role of
Storm AKA Ororo Munroe? 'Dylan' could possibly refer to actor Dylan Sprayberry of
Teen Wolf and
Man of Steel fame gearing up for the role of a young
Scott Summers AKA Cyclops. Unfortunately that's where the theory ends, as there are no prominent teen actresses named Ava, and Ava Gardner is no longer living. Rule-of-turn would see that third role as
Jean Grey AKA Marvel Girl, the three of them forming a trio, sans Wolverine, that would mirror the original lineup of
X-Men (2000). I know it might be easier to brush the whole thing off as speculation, but this is coming from a trusted source, and check out his rapsheet with leaking information pertaining to 20th Century Fox:
Roger Friedman started writing for Showbiz411 after 10 years with Fox News. He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.
In April 2009, Friedman was fired by Foxnews.com after he reviewed the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine based on viewing a bootlegged copy of the movie online. (Friedman later told Gawker.com that he had not downloaded the film, but had streamed it after finding a link to it online.) Friedman's column was perceived as an endorsement of film piracy and illegal file sharing, particularly by the film's distributor, 20th Century Fox, which, like Foxnews.com, is a unit of News Corporation. Ironically, Friedman's review of Wolverine was very favorable, including comments such as "I am, in fact, amazed about how great Wolverine turned out. It exceeds expectations at every turn." -Wikipedia
Hey, at least he didn't give money to see that film. Origins was actually an enjoyable action movie at the time, only fun for someone who knows nothing about Gambit or Deadpool. Roger Friedman knows he's written an incomplete report, and now he's asking for detailed elaborations from someone who knows the intellectual property by heart, so here is a biography of Apocalypse taken from various Marvel databases and sorted into paragraphs.
"
Look, I will tell you now I know nothing about the intricacies of X Men. So kindly – and I do mean kindly– please send in explanations. I’ll be happy to post them if they’re thoughtful and well expressed."
EN SABAH NUR: The immortal being now called Apocalypse was born 5000 years ago during the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt in the Akkaba settlement, and is the first living being to possess the mutant X-gene. Even as an infant he inspired fear, born with gray skin and blue lines running across his face, the child was cast out by his own people and left to die in the harsh desert sun. But out of the Saharan dust came
The Sandstormers, a roving band of feared nomadic raiders, to slaughter the population of Akkaba; their ruthless leader,
Baal of the Crimson Sands found the infant crying in rage and saw the will to survive. Most of his raiders, too, thought the infant should die, though Baal somehow recognized the potential power, naming it En Sabah Nur, literally translates to "
The First One" in anticipation of others like him, and raised him as his own son.
However, the phrase actually translates into something more akin to "Good Morning". The reason is that the term is grammatically incorrect, as it should be "Sabah an-Nur", assuming that was what the Marvel writers were shooting for. It can also mean "The Seven Lights"; with "Sabah" literally meaning "seven" and "Nur" meaning "light" in Arabic. This is interesting for Islam depicts the eternal afterlife as having seven heavens, and could be a direct reference to his god-like powers. Since Apocalypse was born thousands of years before modern Arabic existed, this must either be a translation of his true name, or it is a name in Proto-Semitic that simply coincidentally resembles Arabic words. 'En Sabah Nur' can also mean "birth of light", "Awakened Light", and (in literal sense) "Dawn".
As En Sabah grew, he surpassed the other tribesmen in intelligence and strength, everyone except Baal hated and feared En for his inhuman appearance and superhuman abilities. His Sandstormers lived by the Darwinist credo of '
survival of the fittest' believing that only those who are strong enough to survive hardship and direct conflict are worthy of life. So on the day of his tribal rite of passage into manhood, the ten year-old En Sabah Nur killed three armed warriors on chariots using only his bare hands. The warlord
Ramesses II sent an army to destroy the Sandstormers and found the young Apocalypse defending the mortally wounded Baal, effortlessly tearing through hordes of his men. Master and protege sought refuge in a sacred cave containing murals dedicated to an advanced alien race, with some remnants of their technology left behind, but this was actually some of what remained from a time-traveller's one-way ticket.
First One enters the Pharoah's city disguised as a slave and draws the romantic attention of Ramesses' sister, Nephri. Upon seeing the mutant's true appearance, the clay on his face had been washed away, Nephri rejects him; but Nur did not understand her fear, only hardened his heart against it. He turned to the principles that Baal and the tribe lived by, that only the fittest, the toughest, most ruthless and pitiless, tested by hardship, would and should, survive. En Sabah's awesome powers fully emerged as he claimed his destiny as one of the gods of Egyptian myth, by killing the Pharoah and assuming the throne as a tribal conqueror. From then on Apocalypse plotted the conquest of the planet through bringing about wars and conflict, in which the strong would defeat and destroy the weak.
Apocalypse has some history of having fought the race of godlike immortals known as Eternals, primarily the members Ikaris and Sersi, having been referred to as their "Ancient Nemesis". In the 12th century, Apocalypse would re-encounter the Eternal Sersi, when he came across the crusader Bennet du Paris and awakens his latent mutant powers, transforming him into Exodus. In Victorian London, 1859, Apocalypse encounters Nathaniel Essex, a British scientist, and through him, learns the scientific term for beings like himself – mutant. Coercing Essex and members of the Hellfire Club into working for him, Apocalypse plots the first steps in his quest for global conflict on an unprecedented scale. He uses his advanced technology to transform Nathaniel into Mister Sinister, and commands him to create a plague to ravage and transmute the population of the world.
X-Men: Apocalypse
Script Treatment
ACT ONE Sequence 1-15
PROLOGUE: ...coil with smoke. The Nile is streaked with... is burning. Under the shadow of the... sprawling battle as thousands of... -- a group of very real... as THE FOUR HORSEMEN. ...with a variety of... powers, but the... aided by other -- an
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