The release of this summer’s Dark Phoenix will mark the end of an era for the Fox X-Men franchise that has been ongoing since 2000, when Director Bryan Singer brought these characters to life on film.
Arguably, the X-Men films, along with Sam Rami’s original Spider-Man films (which kicked off in 2002), showed that comic book movies could be serious and be taken as serious pieces of cinematic work. The Marvel Cinematic Universe or DC Extended Universe of films would not exist if not for the groundwork laid by Fox’s original X-Men film in 2000. It showed you could take these larger than life characters and ground them in realism for a wider audience, and it is to be commended for accomplishing that nearly impossible feat.
Since then, the franchise has spawned 10 films (including two spin-offs films with Deadpool and Deadpool 2) that has stretched across nearly two decades.
It’s expected for Disney’s recent acquisition of Fox to be completed later this year, meaning that the X-Men will become a property of Disney and, by extension, property of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This means, Dark Phoenix will most likely be the final X-Men film in the franchise as we know it. And that’s a depressing thought given how much the series has done for the superhero genre.
However, Dark Phoenix has been plagued by production issues since it’s announcement, the most notable being the release date. Originally slated the be released in November 2018, the film was pushed back to February 14, 2019 (a perfect Valentine’s Day movie for the lovers out there) to make room for a PG-13 release of Deadpool 2. This new release date was confirmed by the first trailer that was released, with February 14 release date stated at the end of the trailer.
But the very next day following the trailer’s release, Fox announced the film had once again been pushed back, this time to June 7, 2019, to make room for Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel. Not to mentioned, the film undergoing significant reshoots and it was unlikely the effects for Dark Phoenix would be completed in time for a February 14 release date. It’s not known why extensive reshoots took place, but is is speculated that Fox wanted change the third act to give the film a more satisfying ending and the X-Men franchise a proper send off.
Fan reaction to the first trailer was not great, mostly because it made Dark Phoenix to just look like another take on X-Men: The Last Stand, which featured the Dark Phoenix Saga as one of its many plot elements. However, fans in 2006 complained that The Last Stand did not do the story justice as it was shuffled to the side behind the mutant cure and Magneto’s new brotherhood storylines. Not to mentioned, Fox took significant liberties in changing the origin story for the Phoenix storyline, must to the dismay of the comic fanbase.
Rather than having Phoenix be a cosmic entity that takes over Jean Grey’s body after she sacrifices her life, The Last Stand instead makes the Phoenix entity a suppressed part of Jean Grey herself, by having Professor Xavier set up “roadblocks” to keep the entity from taking over her body. However, when Jean is effectively killed saving her friends in X2, the entity protects her and saves her, but gains control over the body. The Last Stand is widely regarded as one of the worst, if not the worst, entry in the X-Men franchise (though I would argue X-Men Origins: Wolverine has that title until the end of time).
While Director Simon Kinberg has stated the Dark Phoenix film would feature a more accurate representation of the Dark Phoenix Saga from the comics (enter aliens and strange cosmic entities from space), the trailer seemed to show otherwise, repeating many of the same beats featured in The Last Stand, except one shot that appeared to take place on a space shuttle. We see Jean at her family home, Jean fighting with her teammates, Jean seeking refuge with Magneto. All of these are repeated beats from The Last Stand. It seems like fans are just getting a rehashed story of one Fox has already tried, and essentially failed, to tell.
It does make some sense that Fox and Kinberg would want to retell these story. The Dark Phoenix Saga is arguably one of the most famous comic storylines ever written, and with the reset the franchise was given with 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, it’s feasible in the continuity to do the story again.
- Sophie Turner as Jean Grey / Dark Phoenix from 2019’s Dark Phoenix (Photo Courtesy of Fox Studios & Disney Studios)
The main issue lies in the fact that we do not know these characters, or are at least unfamiliar with the new actors portraying them. Sophie Turner just made her debut as Jean Grey in the previous film, 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, which barely scratched the surface of her relationship with Cyclops. The problem is Dark Phoenix appears to be relying too heavily on what fans remember from the other series in order carry the emotional weight of the situation. There’s nothing wrong with how these characters are portrayed by the actors. In fact, I particularly love Tye Sheridan as Cyclops and Evan Peters as Quicksilver. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender have done incredible work as Professor Xavier and Magneto, respectively. The bottom line is, I don’t care about Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey because I barely know her.
In The Last Stand, when Jean was taken over by the Dark Phoenix, you could feel that emotional weight because Famke Janssen had played the character for two films prior. The original trilogy built up her relationships with Cyclops, Wolverine and Professor Xavier, so that we felt the weight of that situation, even if it was executed less than perfectly. At the climax of the film, when Wolverine kills Jean, we as an audience felt that impact because we had seen these characters evolve and felt the weight of the situation. It was heartbreaking to see Wolverine kill the love of his life, even though it was the right thing to do.
Dark Phoenix has not earned the right to that emotional weight.
But, to lighten the mood a little, the second trailer for Dark Phoenix definitely looked more enjoyable. While still rehashing some of the points from the first trailer, it gave us some new looks at how this film might differ from The Last Stand, including a major spoiler essentially giving away the death of Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique. Though not surprising given how vocal Lawrence has been about her dislike of the make-up for the character, it’s a little odd to have given away such a major character death in a trailer, especially when this is Lawrence’s fourth time portraying her.
Only time will tell how Dark Phoenix will be received by audiences. But regardless, it is the end of an era that is worthy of our time and attention. One can only hope it will improve on the mistakes in The Last Stand and give us a memorable send-off to a franchise before it hops on over to the House of Mouse.
Directed: Simon Kinberg
Starring: Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender & Tye Sheridan
Release Date: June 7, 2019
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