Fassbender reveals why Magneto serves Apocalypse in X-Men: Apocalypse

Michael Fassbender will soon be reprising his role as (young) Magneto in the new X-Men film out later this year, but rather than taking on the role of the big bad, as he has in the past, this movie will see him serving a new master in the form of Apocalypse. Kind of weird behaviour for someone who's a leader more than a follower...

That's exactly what Screen Rant thought when they spoke to the actor on the set of X-Men: Apocalypse, and Fassbender was quick to explain: "Well I think he’s serving his family, you know. He does what he does so he can provide shelter and security for his family. In a way you’re right, he’s serving a new master, and I think from before we know obviously that he loses his parents in a concentration camp, but there was always that story of Magda that I thought was pretty interesting. That sort of confounds his mistrust in human beings, so that was a sort of big influence on this story, where we find him."

Fassbender also went on to say that Magneto knows when he's outmatched and that's certainly the case with Apocalypse: "He hasn’t seen a power like anything like Apocalypse, and the more the better in terms of... if you look back to when he was trying to form his own armies, he realises he can’t do it alone. That was the thing about Days of Future Past, he was kind of a singular, going out there on his own. But this is more about we need numbers to do damage." It sounds like Magneto and Apocalypse are going to be a formidable team! Well, Simon Kinberg did promise "an extinction-level threat to the world".

Directed by Bryan Singer and starring Oscar Isaac, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Sophie Turner, and Olivia Munn, X-Men: Apocalypse opens on May 19 in the UK, and May 26 in the US.

Images: Fox

Lauren O'Callaghan

Lauren O'Callaghan is the former Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar+. You'd typically find Lauren writing features and reviews about the latest and greatest in pop culture and entertainment, and assisting the teams at Total Film and SFX to bring their excellent content onto GamesRadar+. Lauren is now the digital marketing manager at the National Trust.