Monday, April 13, 2015

Breaking News: Olivia Munn Joins ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ Cast as Psylocke

Olivia Munn has joined the cast of “X-Men: Apocalypse,” signing on as Betsy Braddock, a.k.a. Psylocke.

Director Bryan Singer posted the news on Instagram on Monday.

The X-Men comics once proclaimed itself as "All-New, All-Different," and that seems to be going for the movies as well.

Munn recently completed a role in Aaron Sorkin's Newsroom series for HBO, and also appeared opposite Johnny Depp in Mortdecai. The role of Psylocke in X-Men: Apocalypse won't be Munn's first role in a comics-to-film project, as she played a minor role in Iron Man 2.

Singer has already begun principal photography for X-Men: Apocalypse in Montreal, Canada, and screenwriter Simon Kinberg states the movie will take place in the year 1983.

X-Men: Apocalypse is scheduled for releae May 27, 2016.

19 comments:

Kikoken said...

Amazing casting! V happy. just watched these which confirmed my joy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhhD9Dz5Adc

Kikoken said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUNYoy6x5Rk

FSaker said...

To be honest, I have no idea who this woman is, if she's a good actress or not, if she can speak with a convincing British accent or not... but wow, she's gorgeous! And with these facial features, she could be convincing either as pre-Acts of Vengeance Betsy or post-Acts of Vengeance Betsy.

Now, Psylocke needs to be a relevant character in this film (that is, more than five minutes on screen and more than two lines), and either as an X-Man or an X-Man ally (I have no idea why previous films and cartoons would show her as a thief or a terrorist or Emma Frost's psychic punching bag).

Nevertheless, this actress's casting is a first step in the right direction. Hooray!

Unknown said...

FSaker,
Agreed on all points!

Mikey ray said...

I damn near passed out when I found this out Olivia munn was amazing in g4 now I wonder if she will play British psylock or Asian psylock

ComicBookGeek said...

She can be both!!! She is racially ambiguous enough to play both!

Atomic Ton said...

Suck It, Wonder Woman
(title of her book)

Brunch on Sundays said...

I think there's a good chance they will take advantage of the fact that she speaks Japanese fluently, so it's likely that she is current Betsy.

Unknown said...

I hadn't heard of her before this but I think she's fantastic. I've been watching some of her Newsroom clips and she's definitely got that sort of cool, steely attitude required.

Based on the spread of mutants and other revelations I think it's most likely she'll be one of the Horsemen along with Archangel. The X-men already have two psychic characters and I think making her a villain fits with the whole body modification / turned into an assassin story.

pound my cakes! said...

It don't matter what nationality she plays as long as they get her hair colour right.

Brunch on Sundays said...

I hope they emphasize that she's totally posh. A lot of what gives her her edge is that she puts a posh twist on everything. Ninja fight? Posh. Drinks tea? Posh. Walks from one end of the room to the other? Totally posh.

Unknown said...

Brunch,

Not necessarily so. Recall after the wretched Kwannon retcon that Psylocke did not read/speak Japanese while Revanche did, which also lent to everyone in the X-Men being like, "WTF??"

Brunch on Sundays said...

Hey Rahsaan,

That odd retcon has little bearing on whether or not they will decide to utilize her bilingualism as a resource. Yucky retcon. :P

If they were going to just do British Betsy (which would be an odd decision, in my opinion, considering that she's way more recognizable in her current incarnation), it would seem odd that they would appear to have gone out of their way to cast someone with Asian features and can speak Japanese. Those are huge pluses for current incarnation Bets.

I did love Bets back then too! But current incarnation Bets has a greater appeal and edge to her, in my opinion.

Unknown said...

Brunch,

I get your rationale. Or what they may do is go with the altered version that was a white woman altered to look Asiatic, but still retaining some semblance of her former face... Hence Wolvie recognizing her upon breaking her Lady Mandarin helmet. I guess we'll have to wait and see though. Munn doesn't look totally Asian or totally white to me.

I do wonder though if she was deliberately cast to be older than teens, Slim, 'Ro and Jean. Or if she will be from the future. Also, I pray she speaks with an authentic-sounding, British accent.

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

As much as I like British/Caucasian Psylocke, I think that Psylocke should be and remain Asian as it works out better. I think most of us did not really appreciate Psylocke until the Lady Mandarin saga (i.e. when Jim Lee started to draw her) or her superb incarnation in Capcom's Marvel Super Heroes. It's at that time that her strong personality really started to emerge.

I have always felt as if her personality and appearance were never truly solidified, while Psylocke was in her original body (probably because she had that armor that hid every parts of her...face, body, character...she reminded me a bit of Destiny as the capped consultant)...But, then she became Asian, which really reflected the "tiger within."

I think that switching her back to her old Caucasian body will just be a waste of time/and a trivial storyline...(Hint: Matt Fraction..although he did give her back her telepathy). She's been an Asian for more than 20 years now, and I think she should stay that way...

Unknown said...

Vince Lex and company,

This is an interesting conversation. What do you think about G. Wllow's comments in the story above regarding storytelling diligence and tokenism?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brunch on Sundays said...

I agree with Wilson's tokenism comment... to a degree. I think she's spotted some issues with the way it had been handled, and it bothers her, and I understand that. But I think it would be insulting to change her back, actually. It would almost serve to erase the ethnicity that has become a part of her character. She's already had the chance to go back to her old body a couple of times now, and she's made the decision to move on. That was symbolic. It means something about who she's become.

I also hope she has a perfect British accent in the movie!

I do think they chose someone older on purpose - the casting of young actors for the students is deliberate. It wouldn't make sense for the casting of an older Betsy to be accidental or haphazard. What if at first she is someone working with Moira at the gov't? Or what if she's sort of a tutor to Jean?

I am guessing that there will be a battle between telepaths in this movie.

I really think this movie would have been perfect for Dazzler to be introduced, being the 80s and all. I'm not sure that that will happen if they have Jubilee, but they can still do it. Come on, guys!