First was Batman v Superman, then came Captain America: Civil War and now X-Men: Apocalypse? This year can’t get any better already. Read on to find out more about the character Apocalypse – if you don’t read the comic – before you catch the movie! No spoilers, promise.

Since the dawn of civilisation, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.

Here are 3 things you need to know about the mutant Apocalypse before heading down to the cinemas this week.

#1 Apocalypse was born 5,000 years ago in Aqaba (a coastal city in Jordan) abandoned by his biological parents. He was rescued by a group of scavengers known as The Sandstormers and he lives by their credo of “survival of the fittest.”

#2 The Four Horsemen that Apocalypse recruits in this film are Storm (Famine), Magneto (War), Archangel (Death), and Psylocke (Pestilence). Out of the four, Archangel is the only member of this group that is a Horseman in the comics.

Image Credits: Standard

#3 Both Tom Hardy and Idris Elba were considered for the part of Apocalypse. We can totally picture the both of them as Apocalypse!

X-Men: Apocalypse will be hitting the screens 19 May!