If you look close enough, you can literally see Oscar Isaac's star rising by the second. The Inside Llewyn Davis and A Most Violent Year actor is not only set to play a major role in the upcoming Star Wars sequel The Force Awakens, but he's now lined up another major gig as villain in the next X-Men movie, titled X-Men: Apocalypse, due out on May 27, 2016.

Inspired by the popular Age of Apocalypse comic storyline, Isaac will play Apocalypse, or En Sabah Nur, whose roots date all the way back to Ancient Egypt, hence that postcredits introduction in X-Men: Days of Future Past. This guy is pretty powerful, is said to be one of the first-ever mutants (if not the first, depending on how they introduce him), and may even be invincible... which should cause problems for our returning mutants, who he'll no doubt have a beef with. Here's a screenshot from his introduction in Days of Future Past.

Director Bryan Singer has said of the film: "Apocalypse deals with ancient mutancy. What would humans have thought mutants were? What would mutants think humans were? You’re dealing with gods and things like that. And what if one survived and what if that found its way into our world?”

Early word has familiar mutants like Jean Gray and Cyclops returning to the franchise, though they're being recast. We also expect all of the First Class cast to return, with a romance brewing between Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), while the film is set to take place predominantly in the 1980s.

Seeing Isaac cast means they're going for a less physically intimidating look, which is great for Isaac, who's already proven he's got fantastic range as an actor. What do you think of the casting?