Let’s lead with two very non-controversial takes: X-Men: The Last Stand is a very bad movie and the X-Men “Dark Phoenix Saga” upon which that movie is partially based is super rad. So this new Dark Phoenix movie should be, as they say down at a beloved fictional police precinct in Brooklyn, tonight.
In the comics, Dark Phoenix was created after Jean Grey (Phoenix) went to space and was exposed to some radiation from a solar flare, revealing the untapped potential of her telepathic and telekenetic powers. Returning to earth as Dark Phoenix, she wreaks havoc until escaping to a new solar system and accidentally draining the energy from another sun to fuel her power. This causes a supernova and ends up wiping out a nearby planet. After Dark Phoenix returns to earth again, lots of conflict ensues in which Charles Xavier (that’s Professor X) fights for her redemption while society calls for her destruction. Queue emotional ending with love interest Cyclops.
The comic’s story is one of the most referenced ever in popular culture, and is considered a classic, so this movie already has seen a lot of attention from fans of the books. For the rest of us, we can be excited the new class of X-Men actors are back, from Michael Fassbender’s Magneto to James McAvoy’s Xavier to Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique.
Intrigued by the trailer? It looks gnarly. We’ll know if Dark Phoenix corrects on The Last Stand‘s failures in February 2019.
