20th Century Fox’s “X-Men” saga is coming to an end after two decades. The studio now resides under the ownership of Disney, and the characters go back to their Marvel home. It’s unclear when we’ll see the X-Men on the big screen again.
But to cap this franchise, we’ve got “Dark Phoenix,” which adapts the classic comics storyline of Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) getting zapped by an alien force and turning into an evil version of herself. She turns against her X-Men friends, all the while relishing the extreme new powers she wields.
“It feels good,” she says.
The new trailer shows a snippet of the scene in which Jean is taken over by the alien force. It also gives us more insight into Jessica Chastain’s character, who seems to be a manifestation of the Phoenix Force.
If James McAvoy’s time as Professor X in the “X-Men” universe comes to an end, he knows what iconic role he’d like to tackle next.
During a live Q&A on Instagram (captured by Fandom), McAvoy was asked which character he’d like to play in Warner Bros.’ DC Universe.
“The Riddler, maybe,” he said, referring to the infamous Batman villain. ” Always liked him when I was growing up.”
“I’ve always thought DC does really good bad guys.”
McAvoy has been Charles Xavier for nearly a decade in the Fox franchise, but playing the Riddler is definitely more of a possibility now that the future of the “X-Men” franchise is up in the air, following Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s film studio.
The next (and maybe last) movie in the franchise is this summer’s “Dark Phoenix.”
As for The Riddler, he hasn’t been seen on the big screen since Jim Carrey inhabited the role in 1995’s “Batman Forever.” However, director Matt Reeves is working on “The Batman” for Warner Bros. and has said it’ll feature a “rogues gallery” of villains.
The X-Men have survived an Apocalypse, but they face the greatest threat yet in in the form of “Dark Phoenix.”
The trailer for the latest entry in the “X-Men” series shows the sheer havoc caused by Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) after she is imbued with a cosmic force that leads her to tap into her dark side. She loses control and wreaks havoc, leading to the death of a major character (more on that later). The X-Men must find a way to save Jean before she can destroy everything.
That major character who dies is Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). And no, the trailer isn’t using any trickery. Director Simon Kinberg confirmed the death in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“This is a movie that is unlike other X-Men movies,” he said. “It’s a movie where shocking things happen, where intense, dramatic things happen.”
Mystique’s death is definitely a big happening and, as Kinberg notes, will affect every other character, notably Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender).
But while writing out a star like Lawrence seems like a shocking move, the future of the current “X-Men” franchise is up in the air. With Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox, the characters will fall under the control over Marvel. It’s entirely possible that this iteration of the “X-Men” is at an end.
A new trailer for upcoming “X-Men” spinoff “Dark Phoenix” is set to debut later this week, and filmmakers have unveiled a new poster for the flick to mark the occasion.
This latest one-sheet is actually remarkably similar to the international poster for Comic Con Brazil, which featured a cool riff on classic comics covers. Though the new one isn’t illustrated in a pen and ink style, it does also depict Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) front and center, surrounded on either side by the two powerful men vying for control of her newfound abilities: Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender).
20th Century Fox
Of course, this poster works just as well on its own, even without the comic reference, since it makes it clear that Jean’s inner struggle as she embraces her Dark Phoenix identity will be the film’s main focus. All of the characters who stand on either side of that divide lurk ominously in the background. (Though oddly, not Jessica Chastain‘s ice blonde shapeshifting villain.)
In a tweet revealing the poster, the official “X-Men” films Twitter account also teased that a new trailer would be dropping on Wednesday night. Keep your eyes peeled for that tomorrow.
The “X-Men” franchise will continue to be in good hands.
After 20th Century Fox merges into Disney, the comic book franchise will stand alongside its Marvel siblings, which means it’s likely Marvel studio boss Kevin Feige will take over its direction. And producer Lauren Shuler Donner, who has worked on every “X-Men” film thinks that’s a good thing.
“Kevin (Feige) and I started the first movie, he worked for me, he has a great story sense when it comes to weaving each world together, I trust him and I trust where he will take it,” Shuler-Donner told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour.
Shuler-Donner touched on a few “X-Men”-related topics, including the prospect of casting a new Wolverine to replace Hugh Jackman.
“YI don’t know what Kevin’s thinking honestly. I don’t even think Kevin knows. I think Kevin’s still dealing with this wealth of characters and trying to make sense of them,” she said.
“Because Hugh, just the physicality of it all, just to bulk up … This man worked so hard to bulk up, would get up at four in the morning to bulk and eat protein meals every two hours because his natural state, they used to call him Worm when he was a kid. So his natural state is a very skinny guy. Once you reach a certain age, the body just won’t go anymore. I think he was wise to say, ‘I’m at that point. I can’t do it.’ Now, that doesn’t mean he can’t come back as older Wolverine. You never know. Future Wolverine, you never know.”
Other projects still in development seem to be on hold, like the movie centered on Gambit, which “was going to be a heist movie,” she said.
As for whether it’ll ever see the light of day, “That is up to Disney. I hope so, but that’s up to them. The problem is you can’t have too many Marvel, X-Men superhero movies out there because we will cancel each other out. Each one has to be distinctive and yet you’ve got ‘The Avengers’ to follow through.
“You’ve got so many distinctive story canons to follow through and yet we want new ones, but I don’t think you can have more than four. Four is a lot because people are going to get sick of them so we have to be careful.”
Director Bryan Singer is facing new allegations of having sex with underage boys.
Singer, who was infamously fired as director of “Bohemian Rhapsody” in the middle of production, has been accused by four more men of having sex with them when they were underage.
The exposé published in The Atlantic includes more than 50 sources who spoke to journalists during a yearlong investigation.
“The accusations against Singer cover a spectrum,” The Atlantic story says. “Some of the alleged victims say they were seduced by the director while underage; others say they were raped. The victims we interviewed told us these experiences left them psychologically damaged, with substance-abuse problems, depression and PTSD.”
Two different individuals allege they had sex with Singer when they were just ages 17 and 15. Both told The Atlantic that Singer knew they were under 18, the age of consent in California.
Singer has had a successful career, directing hits like “The Usual Suspects” and four of the “X-Men” movies. However, last year, he was let go from “Bohemian Rhapsody” with just a few weeks left of filming, reportedly because he was late or absent from set frequently and also clashed with star Rami Malek.
A few days after Singer was fired, he was the target of a lawsuit accusing him of raping the then-17-year-old Cesar Sanchez-Guzman in 2003. Singer has denied the allegations.
Dexter Fletcher replaced Singer for the final part of production on “Bohemian Rhapsody,” though Singer still has the directing credit. The movie went on to become a sensation, earning more than $800 million at the box office (and still counting). It also received five Oscar nominations this week, including Best Picture.
Singer has responded to the Atlantic article, calling it a “homophobic smear piece”:
The “If Beale Street Could Talk” star made a splash with her role in the film, and she’s already eyeing other parts. Layne recently told Variety that she and her agents and managers are “actively plotting” for her to play X-Men’s Storm.
The superhero is one that Layne has long admired. She told the publication that she saw Storm as “an image of [herself], of a powerful chocolate black woman.”
“I just think that’s an amazing image to have and I really want to play Storm,” she added.
There is a problem, however: Layne’s chosen character has already been cast. Alexandra Shipp landed the role of Storm for 2016’s “X-Men: Apocalyse,” and she reprises it in the upcoming “Dark Phoenix.” Re-castings aren’t unheard of, but it’s unclear if that will happen anytime soon.
For now, Layne already has two other films coming out. She stars in Rashid Johnson’s “Native Son,” which is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 24, as well as appears in Rupert Wyatt’s “Captive State,” due out March 29.
The “Dark Phoenix” will be rising next summer when the “X-Men” character — who emerges from Jean Grey, played by Sophie Turner — gets her own spinoff. And a new international poster for the flick is giving fans a huge nod to the heroine’s comic book roots.
The one-sheet was produced for Comic Con Brazil (also known as Comic Con Experience, or CCXP) to promote the cast and crew’s upcoming panel there, and looks like it could easily have been the cover on one of the character’s first comics from the 1980s.
CCXP
In the image, Jean is front and center, flanked by both Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and she looks ready to unleash all kinds of chaos. That’s precisely what is set to happen in “Dark Phoenix,” as Jean begins to spiral out of control while trying to wield new, dangerous powers — which also make her irresistible to outside forces, who want to harness those powers to take over the universe.
That’s a decidedly “X-Men”-style storyline, and that’s why this poster is especially cool: There’s no mistaking that this is promoting a comics-inspired film. (Unlike, say, the photo at the top of this post, which looks like it could have been pulled from the press tour for Turner’s costar Jennifer Lawrence’s “Hunger Games” films.)
“Dark Phoenix” is set to spark in theaters on June 7, 2019.
