As Thursday preview screenings for DARK PHOENIX prepare to send 20th Century Fox's 19-year X-Men franchise out with a bang, the studio that brought us the adventures of Marvel's beloved mutants has unveiled an X-Men Celebration video. Featuring key players of director Simon Kinberg's DARK PHOENIX, such as Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), James McAvoy (Prof. Charles Xavier), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Evan Peters (Quicksilver), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler), the video highlights the struggle, heartbreak, and epic journey of the mutant group throughout their time on the big screen.
"All the X-Men movies introduce that team as a family, and in Dark Phoenix, we are ripping that family apart," says James McAvoy in the video, as his way of compartmentalizing the events that have lead to the series' fiery conclusion.
Here is Fox's official synopsis for DARK PHOENIX:
This is the story of one of the X-Men's most beloved characters, Jean Grey, as she evolves into the iconic DARK PHOENIX. During a life-threatening rescue mission in space, Jean is hit by a cosmic force that transforms her into one of the most powerful mutants of all. Wrestling with this increasingly unstable power as well as her own personal demons, Jean spirals out of control, tearing the X-Men family apart and threatening to destroy the very fabric of our planet. The film is the most intense and emotional X-Men movie ever made. It is the culmination of 20 years of X-Men movies, as the family of mutants that we've come to know and love must face their most devastating enemy yet — one of their own.
What's to become of the X-Men now that the Fox/Disney merger has been completed is anyone's guess at this stage of the game. Will the House of Mouse reboot the franchise for standalone films or will Marvel's merry band of mutants be introduced into the MCU proper right out of the gate? Could X-Men properties like Next Gen, X-Force, and Uncanny X-Men be bound for Disney+? Will Deadpool eventually be more than an X-Men trainee going forward? I think it's going to take a few years to find out, but I'm positive that somewhere, behind closed doors, a team of writers are plotting the X-Men's future for a big reveal down the road.
In the meantime, DARK PHOENIX arrives in theaters Thursday evening, and will continue to burn until the last box office dollar flickers and smolders into nothing more than smoke.
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