Here’s your first look at Michael Fassbender in the Assassin’s Creed movie

By Rick Marshall August 27, 2015

assassins creed movie marketing michael fassbender crop — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The live-action movie based on the Assassin’s Creed game franchise has been in the works for so long now that many had wondered whether it would ever find its way to theaters. Now 20th Century Fox and New Regency have offered visual proof that the film is not only happening, but that star (and producer) Michael Fassbender is getting comfortable in his role as a member of a mysterious guild of assassins.

The first image from Assassin’s Creed debuted on Yahoo Movies (see below) and features Fassbender suited up as Aguilar, a member of the secret organization, in 15th century Spain.

Fassbender plays a dual role in the upcoming film, portraying both a modern-era character named Callum Lynch and his character’s ancestor, Aguilar. The film’s official synopsis reads as follows:

Through a revolutionary technology that unlocks his genetic memories, Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender) experiences the adventures of his ancestor, Aguilar, in 15th century Spain. Callum discovers he is descended from a mysterious secret society, the Assassins, and amasses incredible knowledge and skills to take on the oppressive and powerful Templar organization in the present day.

The characters played by Fassbender in the film are original creations for the movie, which is based on the mythology of the game franchise but not directly lifted from any installment’s storyline.

Encompassing nine major titles and a long list of spinoff and tie-in releases, the Assassin’s Creed franchise has sold more than 73 million copies as of April 2014.

Along with Fassbender, the film co-stars Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard (The Dark Knight Rises, La Vie en Rose), Michael Kenneth Williams (12 Years a Slave), and Ariane Labed (Before Midnight). Fassbender’s director on the upcoming big-screen adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Justin Kurzel, is also directing the Assassin’s Creed movie. Filming is expected to begin soon in Malta, London, and Spain.

Assassin’s Creed is scheduled to hit theaters worldwide December 21, 2016.

michael fassbender assassins creed — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…

Gaming

iPhone 15 Pro can natively run the latest Resident Evil and Assassin’s Creed games

Leon and Ashley in the Resident Evil 4 remake.

In a major stride forward for mobile gaming, Apple announced during today's event that console games like Assassin's Creed Mirage, Resident Evil 4's remake, and Resident Evil Village are coming to the iPhone 15 Pro. These aren't watered-down mobile spinoffs or cloud-streamed games either; they're running natively with the help of the A17 Pro chip.

During the gaming segment of Tuesday's Apple event, the power of the iPhone 15 Pro's A17 Pro chip was highlighted. The 3-nanometer chip has 19 billion transistors, a six-core CPU, a 16-core Neural Engine that can handle 35 trillion operations per second, and a six-core GPU that supports things like mesh shading and hardware-accelerated ray tracing in video games. Several game developers were featured following its introduction to explain and show off just how powerful the A17 Pro Chip is. While this segment started with games already native to mobile, like The Division Resurgence, Honkai: Star Rail, and Genshin Impact, it didn't take long for some games made for systems like PS5 and Xbox Series X to appear.
Capcom's Tsuyoshi Kanda showed up and revealed that natively running versions of Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4 are coming to the iPhone 15 Pro before the end of the year. Later, Apple confirmed that Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Mirage, which launches next month on PC and consoles, will also get a native iPhone 15 Pro port in early 2024, while Death Stranding is slated for a 2023 iPhone 15 Pro launch.
Historically, console-quality games like these have been impossible to get running on a mobile phone without the use of cloud gaming. Confirming that these three AAA games can all run natively on iPhone 15 Pro is certainly an impactful way for Apple to show just how powerful the A17 Pro chip is.

Gaming

Assassin’s Creed Mirage takes the series back to 2007 in all the right ways

The main character of Assassin's Creed: Mirage perches on a ledge and looks out over the city of Baghdad.

Ubisoft bills Assassin’s Creed Mirage, its upcoming stealth adventure launching this October, as a return to the franchise’s roots. Go back to the original Assassin’s Creed in 2007 and you’ll find something that looks entirely different from the massive open-world of Valhalla. It was a more focused experience with an emphasis on methodic and stealthy gameplay, all taking place in Jerusalem.

Each subsequent entry would expand that existing formula while switching settings and time periods: 13th-century Italy, the American Revolutionary War, and the Golden Age of Piracy. However, 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origin transitioned the series to a much larger open-world structure in Egypt, a trend that would balloon further with 2018’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and 2020’s massive Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

Gaming

Assassin’s Creed Mirage: release date, trailers, gameplay, and more

Assassin's Creed Mirage Basim

It's time to ready your hidden blades once again, assassins, because a brand new entry in the Assassin's Creed series is upon us. All the leaks and rumors have turned out to be true, and the next installment in the franchise has been officially revealed as Assassin's Creed Mirage. This franchise has undergone some major changes in recent entries, and the next game seems poised to shake things up yet again.

First officially revealed during a Ubisoft Forward in September 2022, Assassin's Creed Mirage will be the next mainline game in the series after 2020's Assassin's Creed Valhalla. While each game typically only has smaller, less prominent ties to one another (at least after the series moved on from the Desmond arc), this game bucks the trend in that regard. From plot to gameplay changes and more, here's everything we know about Assassin's Creed Mirage, an upcoming PlayStation 5 game we have our eye on.
Release date