With the utter domination of superhero movies at the box office at virtually every time of the year (six of the highest-grossing films in 2018 came from the genre, from “Avengers: Infinity War” to “Incredibles 2” to “Aquaman”), it can be hard to remember that the genre truly began only about two decades ago, with the release of Bryan Singer’s “X-Men.”
READ MORE: Fox Pushes ‘X-Men Dark Phoenix’ To Summer 2019 Just Days After Its Trailer Debut
Now, after eleven films from Fox from within the “X-Men” universe, it seems like only the series’ spin-offs have any life to them. The “Deadpool” franchise has soared to enormous heights and “Logan” picked up an Oscar nod for Best Adapted Screenplay, but the mainline films, especially “X-Men: Apocalypse,” have progressively suffered in recent years. With the indefinite delays to “New Mutants” and the looming sale of 20th Century Fox to Disney, it seems more and more like the next entry in the series, “Dark Phoenix,” will be the last proper entry.
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Series producer Simon Kinberg takes over directing duties from the controversy-embroiled Singer, who has directed four entries into the series. The film adapts the popular plotline of the same name from the comics, which had previously been made into the much-reviled “X-Men: The Last Stand” by a similarly contentious Brett Ratner. “Dark Phoenix” is the first film in the series to both have properly colorful costumes for its characters and take the X-Men into space, where they have often gone in the comics.
Much of the ensemble cast from the previous films in the series return, with Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, James McAvoy as Professor X, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops, Evan Peters as Quicksilver, Alexandra Shipp as Storm, and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler. Jessica Chastain joins the cast as the primary villain, an as-of-yet unnamed alien shapeshifter.
READ MORE: ‘New Mutants’: Anya Taylor-Joy Has Very Awkward Response To “How The Movie Is Going”
“Dark Phoenix” will be released on June 7, 2019. Is this the last hurrah before Marvel reboots the entire series when Disney owns it in a few months? You can watch the trailer below and decide for yourself.
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