'Dark Phoenix' Trailer 2: Jean Grey Looks Even More Fearsome Than Thanos
What a strange world we live in where a full-fledged film version of Chris Claremont’s epic X-Men storyline, “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” isn’t lighting the geek world on fire. But in what may likely be the final film in the 20-year X-Men film franchise, Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey is unleashing her mighty wrath against her fellow mutants in the new trailer for Dark Phoenix.
If Marvel needs a new big bad after the Avengers defeat Thanos in Endgame, Jean Gray is starting to look like a pretty good option for the MCU once Disney buys Fox.
In the meantime, these heroes will finally look like real X-Men. Check out those Frank Quitely/Grant Morrison-inspired outfits!
On Thursday, 20th Century Fox released the trailer for Dark Phoenix, the apparent final chapter in the core X-Men film series hitting theaters on June 7. (The New Mutants, a spin-off directed by Josh Boone scheduled for August 2, is in limbo.) Picking up after 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix sees Jean Grey (Turner) fall victim to a dark energy that endows her with unbelievable power. And of course, the rest of the X-Men have to help her, including Beast (Nicholas Holt), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) before she obliterates not just the world, but all of reality.
With the imminent finalization of Disney’s acquisition of Fox, adapting “Dark Phoenix Saga” is hell of a way for this franchise to go.
You can watch the trailer at the top of this page.
Oh look. It's the X-Men, I think!
This has been pointed out before, but the new slim uniforms worn by the X-Men in Dark Phoenix are heavily reminiscent of the modern designs seen in New X-Men, the comic book series written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Frank Quitely. Those costumes, designed in response to the popularity of the 2000 film X-Men, were made to look cool, sleek, and modern, while still maintaining color. While the X-Men films utterly failed to give us a yellow Wolverine, at least these costumes look vaguely X-Men, as opposed to hiding everyone in black leather and armor.
The film is based off Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s revered X-Men storyline, often referred to as the “Dark Phoenix Saga” published in Uncanny X-Men. However, there seems to be big changes from the comics to the movie. Instead of a number of alien Shi’ar who seek to destroy the Phoenix Force, it’s one alien, played by Jessica Chastain, who seems to “mentor” Jean Grey.
Released in two major stretches that spanned between 1976 to 1977 and 1980, the comic book storyline centered on the telepathic Jean Grey becoming one with the Phoenix Force, a sentient cosmic entity given raw form. As a child, Jean Grey was chosen by the Phoenix, who felt a kinship with her and laid dormant within her until a dire situation up in space required the Phoenix Force to finally awaken and save Jean Grey.
Over a short period of time, Jean Grey gave in to the darker aspects of her power, becoming the feared entity “Dark Phoenix,” which had the power to devour whole planets and billions of beings across the galaxy. It was only through the difficult intervention of Professor Xavier that Jean Grey could regain control, but before the Shi’ar — an alien race that previously dealt with the Phoenix Force — Jean Grey killed herself, to the horror of Cyclops.
Unfortunately, this being a Fox movie, there are no Disney-owned elements to the Marvel Universe in the movie. Besides the absence of the Skrull or Kree (aliens you’ll see in Captain Marvel), there are obviously no Avengers, who also appeared for a brief time in the storyline. However, the Avengers would play a much bigger role in Avengers vs. X-Men, a 2012 epic crossover centered on the return of the Dark Phoenix.
But at least the X-Men are finally wearing costumes with more than one color. It’s just too bad we’re probably never going to see them again after this.
Dark Phoenix will be released in theaters on June 7.
