Since the surprise announcement that X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST would be followed up by X-MEN: APOCALYPSE in just 2 short years, many have wondered if the next film would be a direct sequel to this year's jam-packed superhero extravaganza. Director Bryan Singer returning along with the screenwriters to X2 certainly leaned in that direction, but Singer recently set the record straight about the movie.

In an interview with Empire, Singer explained that X-MEN: APOCALYPSE would actually function as a sequel to X-MEN: FIRST CLASS. He also said that none of the characters from the original X-MEN trilogy would appear in the 2016 film.

This fits with comments we had heard that X-MEN: APOCALYPSE would have to do with the origins of mutant-kind. Singer shared this.

"What would people thousands of years ago, without the benefit of science, think mutants were? And more importantly, what would mutants thousands of years ago think they were? Gods? Titans? Angels? Demons?" Singer asked. "If such mutants did exist thousands of years ago, what became of them? Did one survive?"

In regards to the rumored post-credits sequence featuring Magneto and Apocalypse, Singer shared this.

"That's not the case," Singer said. " People were concerned we were making Apocalypse an alien. It's odd. I don't know where that came from."

When X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST first started revealing the huge cast of returning characters, many cried foul that it was foregoing what was built in Matthew Vaughn's FIRST CLASS, but this news instills me with a ton of confidence in Singer. Not only are we getting a proper wrap-up to the original X-MEN movies (ahem, THE LAST STAND), but it will develop the FIRST CLASS CHARACTERS further, making X-MEN: APOCALYPSE even more intriguing.

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST opens May 23, 2014 and X-MEN: APOCALYPSE is set for Summer 2016.