It's already Taylor Swift's world that we're living in, so would it really be much of a leap to welcome the singer into a ginormous film franchise like X-Men? It wouldn't, which is why a tip that the singer would be putting on her mutant shoes for the upcoming third film in the current trilogy, X-Men: Apocalypse gained so much traction. The idea that the team would really be welcoming the music industry darling and style icon into their next battle might seem odd, but stranger things have happened. But I hate to break it to the Swifties: that rumor is just a rumor. Taylor Swift is not in X-Men: Apocalypse , although looking back at the sequence of events that supported that theory, it's easy to see how it took root.
It all started back in July 2015 with a provocative Twitter picture. Simon Kinberg has served as a producer on First Class, Last Stand, and Apocalypse. He posted an group picture of himself, Swift, and Apocalypse stars James McAvoy (Charles Xavier/Professor X) and Sophie Turner (Jean Grey) with a caption cribbed from Swift's single "Shake It Off": "Haters gonna hate." This sent Swift's fans flocking to his replies asking if her presence meant that the artist was involved in the film as well as begging that she would be cast, if she'd hadn't been yet.
In September, MTV News got to the bottom of that mystery group shot when they spoke with Kinberg at the Toronto Film Festival. The producer answered that there was "nothing" to the rumors of Swift's casting, though he acknowledged the source of the faux-info chain. So why publicize the X-Men's Taylor Swift hang? Easy: because they're huge fans, just like most of the rest of the world. “It was just a photo backstage at the concert, and that was the only time we ever saw her," Kinberg clarified. "That’s where that particular rumor came from.”
But even word from the creative team couldn't dash the wildest dreams of Swift's fanbase. Sophie Turner resurrected their hopes when she shared an Instagram of an Apocalypse production still that seemed to include a deliberate hint. In the photo, Turner as Jean and Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers are browsing through a record store. Summers holds up an album by Dazzler, who just happens to be a part-time disco queen and part-time mutant crusader in the X-Men comics. "#FlashbackFriday to that time Cyclops and I went shopping at the mall and found our favorite singer’s album (pre-1989, of course)," Turner's caption reads. Catch that obvious reference to Swift's award-winning album? Of course you did. That year basically belongs to Swift now.
Turner's post may have just been a reference to the cast's known adoration of the singer, or an effort to have a little fun with the online rumor mill. To the disappointment of many, it's not proof that Swift is taking up with a new squad — one with mutant powers. Though Swift showed in her "Bad Blood" video that she's definitely got what it takes to an action star, you shouldn't expect to find her saving the world in X-Men: Apocalypse.
