The last Fox’s X-Men movie is going to be Dark Phoenix and recently its trailer has become an internet sensation. It is directed by Simon Kinberg and the producers include Bryan Singer and Hutch Parker. The movie is adapting one of the most iconic comic-book storylines written by Chris Claremont and John Byrne.
The plot revolves around Jean Grey’s whose mind has been taken over by an overwhelming dark force that turned her so powerful that she became a threat for humanity itself. The X-Men clan now have to neutralize her before she destroys the world as we know it. The details are still being kept under wraps but one thing is emerging i.e Prof. X is actually the real villain of the entire X-Men franchise. Sounds weird….Right? But it’s so true.
Prof. Charles Xavier may have the noblest of intentions but his methodology for achieving his ends are questionable at best and diabolical at worse. He started the school for mutants to help them learn more about their powers and control them at the same time. But he ain’t altruistic by any means, in fact, he has used children to further his agenda.
In the ‘Dark Phoenix’ trailer, he brainwashed young Jean Grey and wiped off her memories where she was responsible for her family’s death, he claims he did it to protect her. This is’nt the first time he tinkered with Jean’s mind, in X-Men: The Last Stand, he installed telepathic mental blocks in her mind to contain the darkness he senses in her. But due to that, Phoenix force is emerging with much greater force and intensity.
According to comic-book writer Claremont, the idea behind the ‘Dark Phoenix’ plot is to create a powerful female cosmic character which could be integrated in the larger mutant universe. He said at the time:
“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 biggest challenge in front of ‘Dark Phoenix’ is to undo the mistakes made by X-Men: Apocalypse. Here’s what Simon Kinberg said:
“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.”
The entire gang of X-Men characters are coming back including Mystique, Prof. Xavier, Magneto, Beast, Quicksilver, Psylocke etc. The younger versions of Jean Grey and Cyclops will also be featured in the movie. According to a new report, Kinberg has plans to show an entire range of dark powers that Jean acquires once she merges with the “Phoenix force”.
Here’s the official description:
“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 Kindberg 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.”
Further, EW’s special issue on ‘Dark Phoenix’ confirmed the iconic location ‘Genosha’ i.e Magneto’s base of operations. It’s possible that Magnet first becomes an ally of Dark Phoenix and then realize his deadly mistake. It said:
“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.”
The brief plot synopsis reads:
“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”.
