X-Men: Dark Phoenix is going to be the swan song of Fox as far as mutant characters are concerned, as their rights will be transferred to Disney. It is directed by Simon Kinberg and the produced by Bryan Singer, Hutch Parker etc. The movie is adapting one of the most iconic comic-book storylines written by Chris Claremont and John Byrne.
The plot of the movie revolves around Jean Grey’s mind that has been taken over by an overwhelming dark force which made her so powerful that she has become a threat to humanity itself. The X-Men now have to prevent her from destroying the world as she is losing control. Recently, its trailer has become an online sensation.
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 with 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.”
According to fan theory, Dark Phoenix is the culmination of the entire X-Men franchise which spans 12 movies (if Wolverine and Deadpool are counted). It aims to accomplish what ‘The Last Stand’ failed to achieve i.e a gripping end-game. The reshoots are happening to make suitable adjustments to the plot so that it brings closure to unresolved mysteries, character arcs, plot points etc. The trailer has “The End” by The Doors as the theme song that indicates it’s going to be an apocalyptic movie.
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 clan of X-Men characters is coming back including Mystique, Prof. Xavier, Magneto, Beast, Quicksilver, Psylocke etc. The younger versions of Jean Grey and Cyclops will also appear in the movie. According to a new report, director Simon Kinberg wants to show an entire range of powers that Jean acquires once she merges with the dark “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’ where Magneto has his base of operations. Here’s an excerpt:
“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”.
