It turns out there was a major death revealed in the trailer for ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’ as the cast may be saying goodbye as Marvel prepares to take over Disney…
If you’ve seen the new trailer for ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’, it turns out that one of the pivotal moments actually revealed the death of a major character.
According to director Simon Kinberg, the spot in the trailer when Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique confronts Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) in an attempt to calm her down as she’s struggling with the powerful cosmic force living inside of her, she lashes out in a moment of rage.
It seems that blast from Jean was so power that she actually kills her friend Mystique but why reveal that huge death in the trailer?
“Well, the thought process behind that was to primarily show that this is a movie that is unlike other X-Men movies,” Kinberg explained when speaking to EW. “It’s a movie where shocking things happen, where intense, dramatic things happen. People don’t just fall off buildings and dust themselves off and walk away. There’s a reality to this movie and a consequence to this movie.
“Even more than that, it was to show that Jean/Dark Phoenix is genuinely a threat to everyone, including the X-Men.”
Kinberg teased that there will be other ‘major’ casualties in this movie, which is based on the famous comic book storyline that took place in ‘Uncanny X-Men’ in two separate story arcs between 1976 and 1980. The comic story mirrors much of the movie as Jean Grey is imbibed with a cosmic force known as the ‘Phoenix’ that gives her unbelievable, god like powers but she struggles to maintain her control over them as time goes on.
It appears the film will hand Jean those same powers and as she sinks deeper and deeper into madness, the X-Men are forced to confront their darkest fears about stopping her once and for all.
The apocalyptic nature of this film isn’t by accident.
Disney purchased FOX last year with the deal expected to close as early as March and at that point Marvel Studios would regain control of the entire X-Men body of characters, which means they could be incorporated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe under the direction of Kevin Feige.
Now most believe that means the X-Men will be completely rebooted with new actors cast in the roles and fresh origin stories rolled out to introduce them before folding them into the larger Marvel film universe.
Kinberg says he still has no idea what’s going to happen to the current cast of characters where stars like James McAvoy play Professor Xavier and Michael Fassbender portrays Mageto.
“I truly don’t know,” Kinberg said about the future of the X-Men stars. “I haven’t had formal talks with Disney. I know [Marvel Studios President] Kevin Feige very well. But we haven’t had formal talks because until the merger is official, they’re not allowed to have those kinds of conversations with the folks at Fox or myself. What’s interesting is obviously I started this movie long before Disney purchased Fox, and I approached the movie knowing that it was the fourth movie with our First Class cast and that the Phoenix story for me is the ultimate X-Men story.
“I approached the movie like it was the culmination in some ways — not that there couldn’t be other movies, but I did approach the movie as if, like, if you spent 20 years of living with this family, this is the movie you see the family truly tested, fall apart, and hopefully come back together. There was something about that sense of closure for the family, that sense of test, that sense of loss. It felt like not this is the end necessarily, but this is it for them.”
If this is the end for this particular cast of characters playing the X-Men, Kinberg hopes he gave them a proper ending with ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’, which lands in theaters on June 7.
“It is the climax of this franchise. When we did the hair and makeup tests for this movie, I had the Doors song “The End” playing just to set the mood for the actors and the crew,” Kinberg reveals “It was this feeling of this is the climax of a lot of stories and a long relationship that we’ve all built up. It felt like it was time at least to give them some huge explosive story that demanded a different kind of resilience from them.
“I really felt on this one I couldn’t imagine where else to go with these characters after what they’ve gone through in this movie.”
Disney will likely take ownership of FOX in the very near future, which means Feige will then begin orchestrating his plans for characters like the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, which will come under his control for the first time since he’s been the head of Marvel Studios.
Only time will tell if this current ‘X-Men’ cast has already filmed their last scenes as these characters.
