Believed to be the first mutant to ever exist, Apocalypse is certainly a new kind of baddie for the X-Men universe. His powers are great and innumerable, and his mysterious reputation only helps make him seem all powerful. When Charles Xavier first learns about Apocalypse in X-Men: Apocalypse, he is told that Apocalypse is believed to be an ancient being, one so ancient and so powerful, some think he might have inspired the Bible. Now, whether Apocalypse is a God or a Devil is debatable. Needless to say, though, Apocalypse has been around for years, millennia even, which begs the question: is Apocalypse immortal? The answer, as you can imagine, is almost as mythical as the mutant himself. Spoilers ahead!
When we first meet X-Men: Apocalypse 's baddie Apocalypse in Ancient Egypt, he isn't the intimidating villain seen in the trailers. Apocalypse is old and weathered, appearing almost weak despite his intimidating, blue stature and intricate armor. He looks as if he could die at any moment. But, while his physical body might be dying, his consciousness is not. Apocalypse isn't immortal in the traditional sense — his body can die, but his mind has the ability to live on. In other words, his body is mortal, but his mind is immortal.
In the film, Apocalypse is able to transfer his consciousness and mutant powers into the bodies of other mutants. This transferring must be done in a special pyramid in Egypt, hence the Ancient Egypt setting, and the ritual requires both parties to enter a state of unconsciousness. It's this transfer that allows Apocalypse to absorb other mutant powers. "What he does is he accumulates powers by moving from body to body," Apocalypse director Bryan Singer revealed at Comic-Con, according to CinemaBlend. "Apocalypse himself is not a physical form. He's an energy." The physical properties of Apocalypse's "energy" are never fully explained. So while he might be able to live past a physical form, he seems to require some sort of body to survive.
That said, at the beginning of the film, Apocalypse transfers his consciousness into the body of a mutant with the power of regeneration. Like Wolverine, this mutant is self-healing and, for lack of a better term, immortal. So, by the time the villain re-emerges in the 1980s, when the movie takes place, he is pretty un-killable.
If it sounds like Apocalypse is a mutant that can never be defeated, that's because he can't be. At least, not by mutant powers we've seen before. "He can be anything, he can do anything," actor Oscar Isaac said in an interview with CinemaBlend when describing Apocalypse's powers. With powers like that, it's clearly going to take a whole new brand of X-Men to take Apocalypse down for good.
Images: 20th Century Fox; Giphy (2)
