James McAvoy's voiceover in 'X-Men: Apocalypse' contains a few references to his role as Leto Atreides II in the 'Children of Dune' miniseries. <br /> <br />The sand dunes of Ancient Egypt are reminiscent of the deserts of Arrakis. <br /> <br />"...born with extraordinary abilities, and yet still, they are children, stumbling in the dark, searching for guidance." Leto in the mini-series is a 17-year-old (9 years old in the novel, which coincidentally is the age that Xavier's psychic powers first manifested in the movie-verse) who is conflicted about his destiny as the Kwisatz Haderach son and heir of Muad'Dib. <br /> <br />"A gift can often be a curse." Leto is cursed with the gift of prescience. <br /> <br />"Give them the power of prophecy, and they may live in fear of the future." Leto is tormented by the knowledge that humanity is doomed unless he makes a terrible choice. <br /> <br />"Give them the greatest gift of all, powers beyond imagination, and they may think they are meant to rule the world." By the end of the story, Leto gains god-like powers and metamorphoses into a grotesque God Emperor, and the next novel shows that he becomes a brutal tyrant for 3500 years. <br /> <br />The only outlier is "Give someone wings, and they may fly too close to the sun," which is a shout-out to the Greek myth of Icarus and Daedalus.
