Reborn from the ashes! The next film in the X-Men franchise will be revisiting one of the most popular arcs in the mythology while reigniting the series. Here is X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX…
The good news this week came when Disney Studios finally announced it had won its long-running bid to absorb 20th Century Fox which would reunite the Marvel Comics properties that have long been a box office boon for the studio. This will bring the various X-Men film franchises including Deadpool (starring Ryan Reynolds) and Fantastic Four back into the fold and into the realm of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which after the reacquisition of Spider-Man from Sony helped to bring the web-slinger into the Avengers: Infinity War.
When director Bryan Singer introduced the mighty mutants onto the big screen X-Men released in 2000 was practically unchallenged in the blockbuster arena and quickly helped to ramp up the interest in the superhero genre as a viable effort. The film also made overnight stars of its cast including Hugh Jackman who would immediately spin-off his portrayal of Wolverine into a separate franchise that recently concluded with the critically acclaimed Logan. Since 2000 there have been 2 additional sequel films and three “prequel” films expanding on the mythology.
The X-Men franchise has proven a money-maker for FOX and expanded the franchise narrative beyond the theatrical realm to television with the hit FX series Legion and the family drama The Gifted which are also suggested to take place within the “X-Men” cinematic experience. Although the last big-screen venture 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse did not draw in audiences as eagerly as its predecessors (though the films returned Singer to the director’s seat), FOX immediately recommended that a follow-up be green-lit.
Reborn
The next installment in the film series will be X-Men: Dark Phoenix and is promising to realize one of the comic book’s more enduring and popular storylines that is centered on Jean Grey (played by Game Of Thrones star Sophie Turner) and her ascent to near-omnipotence! The film will reunite the “reboot” cast which includes Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender and will also co-star Jessica Chastain. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” written for the comics by Chris Claremont and John Byrne and published in 1980 was a best-seller for Marvel.
In the last feature, Turner’s Jean Grey exhibited an astonishing new level of power when the heroes faced the long-lived tyrannical Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) and his four horsemen. The “Dark Phoenix” story was also touched upon as a supplemental narrative of 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand. Directed by Brett Ratner it proved the most unpopular of the first series of films, and an unlikely conclusion to the trilogy. Most of the events from that film appeared to have been retcon at the conclusion of 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Here is the trailer to X-Men: Dark Phoenix:
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