‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’ Drops New Trailer Featuring Sophie Turner As Jean Grey
The second trailer for the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix has dropped, and it promises a thrilling, emotional ride through Jean Grey’s rise as the Dark Phoenix. This latest installment of The X-Men movie series is reportedly taking its cues directly from the fan favorite comic book arc known as “The Dark Phoenix Saga.” This is something that many fans had hoped for during the original X-Men trilogy of films.
As Forbes reported, X-Men: Dark Phoenix does appear to have a lot in common with the 2006 movie X-Men: The Last Stand. Of course, that partial telling of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” has the lowest IMDb score of the first three films, which indicates that fans weren’t entirely satisfied by it. Now, instead of giving viewers a mere sample of Dark Phoenix, movie theaters will showcase a much more thorough take on the subject starting on June 7.
The new trailer for X-Men: Dark Phoenix does something that is highly unusual in that it reveals the shocking death of a major character. It also shows that, despite the film’s goal of being a faithful adaptation to the Dark Phoenix saga, filmmakers weren’t afraid to add their own touches. According to Entertainment Weekly, this was something that director Simon Kinberg felt very strongly about.
“The thought process behind that was to primarily show that this is a movie that is unlike other X-Men movies. It’s a movie where shocking things happen, where intense, dramatic things happen. People don’t just fall off buildings and dust themselves off.”
The Darkest!!! Most Powerful Force of all!!! The Force within a WOMAN!!! This one goes to @sophiet?#DarkPhoenix #XMenDarkPhoenix #xmen pic.twitter.com/qPHJM8TDKb
— Emisho (@Emishonowayi) February 28, 2019
Fan’s reaction on social media has been varied so far.
I find it fascinating that screenwriters are hellbent on making Dark Phoenix and writing it as Carrie when the original story is basically Faust.
— Dan Olson (@FoldableHuman) February 28, 2019
F'CK!!!!!!! this scene looks sooo crazyyyyyyyyyyy ???!!! #DarkPhoenix pic.twitter.com/I37heONgva
— The Kombat Diaries (@MutantDiary) February 28, 2019
SPOILER: If you don’t want to know which character dies in the trailer, please skip two paragraphs.
For everyone who is still with us, Mystique is killed when she touches Jean Grey in an attempt to calm her down. In other words, if this particular cast of X-Men characters continues in future movies, Jennifer Lawrence will no longer be part of the team.
And for those who are unfamiliar with the comic book run and X-Men: The Last Stand, the basic synopsis of X-Men: Dark Phoenix revolves around Jean Grey being altered by exposure to radiation while in space. This unlocks the true potential of her powers, but it also leaves her emotionally unstable. Sophie Turner, best known as Sansa Stark from Game of Thrones, appears to give a compelling performance as Jean Grey/Phoenix as she struggles to come to terms with her deadly abilities.
As Jean Grey grapples to control herself, her teammates must decide what’s more important: the life of their friend or every other form of life on the planet. As one person joked on YouTube, “Wow, looks like Sansa joined the dark side.”
Die-hard X-Men comic book fans probably remember that the storyline used for the movies is derived from The Dark Phoenix arc in the comics, particularly when it comes to the issue “Fate of the Phoenix,” X-Men, Volume #137. The rich and tragic storyline was penned by X-Men author Chris Claremont and conceptualized by comic artists John Byrne and Dave Cockrum, both of whom breathed life into some of the most beautiful comic art of that era.
Fans familiar with the arc will very likely be the most critical regarding the reimaginings of the saga since a true adaptation seems like it has yet to be made. For instance, an unimpressed Matt Singer unloaded his disappointment on what he’s seen so far on Twitter below. To be fair, though, Dark Phoenix is the eater of worlds in the comics — those are some tough shoes to fill in movieland.
As best as I can tell, #DarkPhoenix is a movie about Jean Grey killing the characters played by actors who don’t want to make X-Men movies anymore. https://t.co/EGIKY5qqdS
— Matt Singer (@mattsinger) February 28, 2019
Relatedly, it’s hard to imagine fans such as Matt Singer not cringing every time moviemakers take creative license with Marvel characters. For instance, X-Men character Colossus stays stuck in his metallic form in both Deadpool movies, and fans of the X-Men comic know that throughout most of his life, Colossus, or Piotr Rasputin, stayed in human form most of the time. He only changed into his armored form when he needed to.
However, after a severe injury, the wounds healed. Unfortunately, he was trapped in his armored form most of the time, and that’s where a little tweaking came in. That aspect fit in neatly with Deadpool’s (Ryan Reynolds) theory that they didn’t spend enough money to get more X-Men or that maybe even that the powers-that-be didn’t want to invest in additional CGI effects that showed Colossus’ transformation from flesh to metal.
For now, that brings us back to X-Men: Dark Phoenix. What will the X-Men ultimately decide? Find out on June 7 when Jean Grey goes dark in X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
