X-Men Dark Phoenix will be a pivotal moment in the X-Men Universe. Not only is it going to the last X-men movie under the Fox-Verse banner, it will also mark the end of the X-Men movies that rightfully kick-started the Superhero genre in Hollywood in the early 2000s.
The X-Men movies have been a part of everyone’s dearest childhood memories – Logan’s claws, Cyclops’ eye beam and Professor X’s wisdom have been the guiding light for many, on both sides of the screen. So when the X-Men universe will breathe its last with the release of X-Men: Dark Phoenix, it will be both heartwarming and heart-wrenching at the same time.
But what would be important to see will be if X-Men: Dark Phoenix can undo the damage done to X-Men universe by the horrible portrayal of one of the greatest comic-book villains – Apocalypse. In fact, the writer cum producer Simon Kinberg opened up and acknowledged the mistakes made and said this:
“I think we took our eye off what has always been the bedrock of the franchise which is these characters. It became about global destruction and visual effects over emotion and character.”
He added:
“It’s always dangerous if your script is evolving while you’re shooting, Certainly, in hindsight, we all feel like the genre has been evolving aesthetically and tonally and that the film didn’t. There’s a lot that I think is very good in the film but, as a whole, it was struggling to find ways to coalesce, narratively emotionally and in terms of plot. Aesthetically, it felt sort of dated relative to an evolution you were seeing play out everywhere else. We learned a lot from that.”
X-Men Dark Phoenix is based on the acclaimed The Dark Phoenix saga of Marvel Comics written by Chris Claremont. He specialized in female superheroes and the idea was to create one which could be integrated into larger Marvel cosmic universe. Here is what he said then:
“Our intent was to create an X-Men analog, if you will, to Thor – someone who was essentially the first female cosmic hero. We thought at the time we could integrate her into the book as well as Thor had been integrated into the Avengers.”
The storyline of the comic books involved one prominent X-Men member Jean Grey, losing control of her powers and becoming the host to Phoenix Force, an extra-dimensional entity that is the focal point and embodiment of all psychic energy throughout the multiverse.
Jean Grey is taken over by the Phoenix Force after a freak accident and then she becomes outright evil, destroying entire civilizations on a whim while the X-men carry out a desperate last-ditch effort to stop Jean Grey from causing further destruction. The studio is describing Jean Grey as the most somber and sinister in the entire X-Men franchise and is teasing a huge development that will change everything about the X-Men universe.
Several prominent Marvel Comics Alien races also make an appearance. With the news of the Skrulls and the Shi’ar also being featured in the movie, we are hopeful the comic book arc will be given justice.
While the storyline may be closely followed, the character sets may not. The Dark Phoenix saga included several important characters from the comics, including the X-Men. While the Mutant superhero team will appear to their fullest, to claim the other non-mutant characters will also be given the spotlight will be a big fat lie.
Several significant characters pivotal to the plotline are missing from X-Men Dark Phoenix. But the character we are talking about is not only pivotal to the movie but has also been a part of several X-Men movie projects in the past. When Disney bought Fox, it really did a number on this one.
Can you guess which character we are talking about?
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is a direct sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse. But not every cast member from the latter will be featured in the former. The movie will include several power pack performances from several strong female characters but one of them would be missing.
Rose Byrne, who played CIA agent Moira MacTaggert in X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Apocalypse will not be appearing in X-Men Dark Phoenix. During an interview, while promoting her newest movie, Peter Rabbit, Rose claims while she had a lot of fun acting in the X-Men movies, she won’t be playing Moira in their latest venture.
“Unfortunately, Moira is not showing up,” Byrne said. “I wish she was. I had such fun on X-Men: Apocalypse. I love that cast. It is a really fun, what do you call it? Superhero film… ensemble exactly. I can’t wait to see what [Jessica Chastain] does, cause I’m such a fan.”
Jean Grey, Storm, Mystique, and the mysterious ‘Smith’ played by Sophie Turner, Alexandra Shipp, Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain are all set to rock the stage with their on-screen personification of iconic female Marvel characters. But Moira won’t be appearing in the flesh in the movie. But we hope she will at least get a passive mention within the movie, considering the lasting romance between her and James McAvoy’s Professor Charles Xavier.
Why do we blame Disney for this since the movie’s casting was decided much ago? It is because it is the Disney-Fox deal that led to Rose Byrne’s departure. Rumors are already circulating that Fox wanted Rose’s character to be portrayed in the movie. They were already preparing reshoots for the same. But with the Disney-Fox merger, the Mouse House now owned Fox Studios. In order to execute all pending Fox projects so as to make way for the X-men to be integrated into the MCU, Disney ordered the Director to let go of the reshoots as they would have taken precious time. The studios feared that this would have pushed the deadline further away. Hence, Rose Byrne was made to let go.
It is now confirmed that a major X-Men character will die in the movie at the hands of Jean Grey aka Dark Phoenix as her powers will be demonstrated in all its fury. The report published regarding this had this to say:
“Our source told us that Kinberg is going to show us exactly how powerful Jean is and is willing to do it at the expense of one of the actors who has been with the franchise since the beginning. Currently, that’s the younger versions of Magneto, Professor X, Mystique and Beast from the X-Men: First Class reboot. We are told that Kinberg is holding nothing back in that, in the moment when Jean’s powers are on full display, they will become too much for her to handle. At that point, with her powers out of control, Jean will impale one of the returning mutants, leaving them dead. At least for now.”
The fallen mutant is very likely Magneto who will first befriend Jean Grey and then be devoured by the Dark Phoenix. Moreover, the first look published in EW revealed the iconic location from the comics which will play an important role in the plot. Here are the excerpts from the EW story:
“A confused Jean turns to Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender), the rogue mutant who parted ways with the X-Men at the end of Apocalypse and now lives on an island named Genosha (small rocky island that served as Magneto and the Brotherhood’s base of operations), a destination comic-book fans will recognize. He’s set up this place for mutants that don’t have a home to go to, they have to work as a community, but it’s a safe place for them and they’ll be accepted.”
X-Men Dark Phoenix has a release date of November 2, 2018. The official synopsis reads:
“In 1992, nearly a decade after the events of X-Men: Apocalypse, the X-Men are national heroes going on increasingly risky missions. When a solar flare hits them during a rescue mission in space, Jean Grey loses control of her abilities and unleashes the Phoenix.Mystique, Beast, Storm, Nightcrawler and the rest of the X-Men spring into action when a malevolent, power-hungry force threatens to overtake Jean Grey’s mind”.
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