When it was confirmed in April that Fox’s upcoming X-Men sequel will be titled X-Men: Dark Phoenix, many fans were understandably skeptical, considering how poorly elements of the seminal Marvel Comics storyline were adapted in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand. However, Pyslocke actress Olivia Munn appears to suggest franchise veteran Simon Kinberg intends to give the lengthy “Dark Phoenix Saga” room to unfold over the course of two films.
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“I don’t know what I’m supposed to say,” Munn told Collider when asked whether she’s now working on X-Men: Dark Phoenix. “I’m supposed to be vague. That’s my answer. I’m horrible at that. It’s like a two-parter, this movie. That’s more than I’ve said, in general. I don’t know why people have to be so secretive.”
The influential 1980 epic “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, chronicled the fall of X-Men founding member Jean Grey, who’s driven mad by the enormous power of the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force, leading her to destroy a planet before she ultimately sacrifices herself to save the universe. Elements of the story were adapted as a subplot in the aforementioned, critically panned X-Men: The Last Stand, which coincidentally was written by franchise producer Simon Kinberg, who’s both writing and directing Dark Phoenix.
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While the notion of Kinberg giving “The Dark Phoenix Saga” more room to breathe this time around might sound promising for fans of the source material, some had expressed concern about the director’s recent comments that he must “find a way to ground it so it’s not too intergalactic,” stressing that the X-Men films are “human … and emotional.” After all, the original storyline featured alien races like the Shi’ar and found Jean razing planets and committing galactic genocide while the X-Men tried to save her. Fox already tried to ground this storyline for The Last Stand, which saw the Dark Phoenix persona manifest in Jean as a flaw her in psyche, totally omitting the cosmic aspect.
Opening Nov. 2, 2018, X-Men: Dark Phoenix stars James McAvoy as Charles Xavier, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Alexandra Ship as Storm, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler.