Yippee ki-yay, movie lovers, it's Jan here.
According to X-Men Apocalypse writer Simon Kinberg the first cut of the movie was around
two hours forty minutes long, which means there's also a bunch of scenes and concepts
that didn't make the final cut, including an extended mall sequence and all of that
is what I'm going to talk about in this video.
Of course, there will be spoilers ahead, so if you want to avoid any spoilers, click here
for my spoiler-free review or come back after you've seen the movie.
And as promised, I'm giving another pack of cool X-Men Apocalypse merch on this video.
To enter the giveaway you just need to subscribe and leave a comment about the deleted scenes
or what you'd like to see in an extended cut of the movie.
First up is an extended scene at the shopping mall which Simon Kinberg has described as
an 80s montage, set to music and with some interesting easter eggs.
The movie's production team located an unused period mall in Montreal and got permission
to renovate it, fitting it out with retail outlets and brands you'd expect to see in
a typical 80s American mall.
A video arcade in the mall was refurbished with vintage machines and rebranded as Space
Port, which was the name of the video arcade where director Bryan Singer played as a kid.
The mall scene culminates in Cyclops, Jean Grey, Jubilee and Nightcrawler coming out
of a movie theatre after watching Return of the Jedi.
That final part is included in the theatrical release but the rest was cut as, according
to the filmmakers, it slowed down the movie too much.
Sophie Turner teased another part of the mall sequence when she posted a picture of herself
as Jean Grey shopping at the mall with Cyclops.
It's a very cool easter egg to the comic book mutant Dazzler who first appeared in the X-Men
comics in 1980 and who has the power to transform sound waves into light beams and energy.
The album "Dazzler: Sounds of Light and Fury" that Scott Summers is holding actually appears
on the cover of issue 29 of the comic book Dazzler.
And there's another amusing moment in the record store when Scott picks up an album
featuring Boy George and asks Jean, has "anyone ever told you, you look like this?!"
Although Jubilee's role was cut down in the final film, they did shoot an important scene
at the shopping mall where she got to use her powers.
In the comics, Jubilee has the power to produce explosive balls of energy-plasma or fireworks.
By the way, the shopping mall itself is an easter egg to how Jubilee discovered her powers
in the comics after running away from a mall security guard, and it's also where she met
other X-Men members including Storm, Rogue, Psylocke and Dazzler.
It's rumoured that the deleted scene is similar to the comics, with Jubilee using her powers
and then having to escape from the mall's security using her gymnastic abilities.
Nightcrawler also had some amusing scenes at the mall, including a moment when he starts
breakdancing with a group of kids.
And in another funny scene, the four mutants are drinking cold drinks when Nightcrawler
becomes scared as he gets an ice-cream headache.
But when Scott tells him not to worry, it's a just brain freeze, Nightcrawler gets even
more frightened as he thinks his brain is about to freeze over!
Also hidden in the mall sequence is an homage to the 1980s movie Moscow on the Hudson starring
Robin Williams.
As the young mutants walk around, Nightcrawler who is new to America, is amazed that ordinary
people don't fear them as mutants.
Nightcrawler thinks "the mall is [a] paradise" and it parallels how Robin Williams' Russian
character feels when he arrives in America in Moscow on the Hudson.
In the film, Williams plays a Soviet musician in the circus who defects during a visit to
Bloomingdale's in New York, which is doubly interesting as Nightcrawler also performed
in the circus before he met the X-Men.
Prior to Scott's mall trip, he was at the X-Mansion with his brother Alex, aka Havok.
And just before Alex left with Charles to visit Moira at the CIA, the on-screen brothers
filmed a farewell scene.
This would have been the last moment that Cyclops shared with his brother Havok as it
was while Cyclops was returning from the mall that Havok died during the X-Mansion explosion.
Bryan Singer's mentioned that Michael Fassbender filmed a beautiful scene outdoors which brought
tears to the filmmakers' eyes.
From what Singer has said, it sounds like the scene was of Magneto with his Polish family.
According to Singer, although the scene was incredible, it just didn't fit in the overall
story.
In the movie, Apocalypse has four Horsemen: Storm, Angel, Psylocke and Magneto, but in
an earlier version of the script, Apocalypse only had Storm, Angel and Magneto as his three
Horsemen and there were no plans at all to include Psylocke in the movie.
The initial script had Charles being kidnapped by Apocalypse with the intention of counting
him as the fourth Horseman.
But Kinberg and Singer realised that this wouldn't really work, so they looked through
the comic book history of the various Horsemen and "thought [that Psylocke] was the most
intriguing."
The filmmakers had actually just met with Olivia Munn to talk about a part in Deadpool,
and it was when they came across some fan art of her as Psylocke that they thought she
would be perfect for the role.
Olivia Munn's role in the movie changed again even after she was cast.
Initially, it was announced that she'd be playing Betsy Braddock, who in her comic book
origin story grows up in the UK.
Olivia Munn is a huge fan of Psylocke and the character's comic book history, however
the filmmakers decided that the movie would not explore Betsy's life before she became
Psylocke for example, her time as a pilot or a model, and she wouldn't have a British
accent either.
Wolverine's cameo could have turned out quite differently and there were many versions that
were considered, including not having him in the film at all!
Another option the filmmakers looked at was having Wolverine appear in the middle of the
movie, at which point he would have taken on a team leader role to the young X-Men.
However, this route was rejected as it interfered with Raven's story-arc and other variations
didn't seem to work either.
The final cameo during which we see Wolverine go full-on beserker mode at the Alkali Lake
Weapon X facility turned out well, even if the filmmakers haven't yet addressed the plot
hole of how he ended up there after Mystique, disguised as Stryker, pulled him out of the
river at the end of Days of Future Past.
So guys, what do you think about the deleted scenes?
And would you have like to see any of them in the theatrical cut of the movie?
As always, I'd love to hear what you've got to say in the comments below.
Don't forget to comment and subscribe for your chance to win this awesome X-Men Apocalypse
merchandise!
And you can click on the Gleam link in the video description below for bonus ways to
enter the giveaway.
If you enjoyed this video, you might like to check out my full easter egg guide to X-Men
Apocalypse and also my full post-credits breakdown of what the Mr Sinister tease means for Wolverine
3 and other X-Men movies.
Click any of the links here to check those out.
Thanks for watching and see you next time!
Yippee ki-yay movie lovers!