First Dark Phoenix Trailer Hints at a Massive Shift in the X-Men Franchise

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In the final days before its absorbed by Disney and potentially folded into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the X-Men film franchise will take one more stand with Dark Phoenix—the second cinematic adaptation of the comics most famous story line, about powerful, good-hearted Jean Grey breaking bad and causing great pain and terrible destruction. (The same story was used as a side plot in 2006s famously ill-received X-Men: The Last Stand.) Putting many of its chips on Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner, the films first trailer hints at X-Men writer and producer-turned-director Simon Kinbergs plan to make sure that this time, the supernova of Jeans powers blows us all away.

When superhero franchises like X-Men constantly reboot and reconfigure reality, its hard to hold on to any emotional stakes in storytelling. The time-traveling Days of Future Past from 2014 proved especially disorienting, both erasing story lines from previous films and connecting the younger generation of X-Men—including James McAvoys Professor X and Michael Fassbenders Magneto—to the older one, led by Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen playing those same roles. These tricky timelines and rebooted continuities are par for the course in the comic-book world, but can be alienating for the casual filmgoer. When 2016s X-Men: Apocalypse—which tried to launch an even younger class of mutants, featuring Turners Jean Grey and Tye Sheridans Cyclops—was widely considered a disappointment, there was talk of starting the entire series over from scratch. After all, its core four stars—McAvoy, Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult (Beast), and Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique)—had all played out their contracts.

But Kinberg, who co-wrote the unpopular Last Stand, lobbied for one more chance to get Jean Greys walk on the wild side right. He has cited 2017s Oscar-nominated Logan as a major inspiration, not just for the grounded look of Dark Phoenix—a massive improvement on the ugly, cartoonish style of Apocalypse—but also for the new films emotional heft. Even McAvoy, who has appeared in three previous films as Charles Xavier, is calling this one “the most emotional X-Men weve done, and the most pathos-driven.”

So, how will Dark Phoenix deliver that emotional punch when the widespread destruction of Apocalypse, in which Magneto wiped out major cities and slaughtered over 100 million people, barely made a dent in moviegoers? Its an answer as old as storytelling itself: make it personal.

In the trailer, we see several shots of the cast wearing black, formal attire, and one very ominous overhead shot of a freshly dug grave. Missing from much of the trailer, and these shots in particular, is Lawrences Mystique—who, in this continuity, was raised as almost a sister to McAvoys Professor X. Of all the X-Men actors talked into renewing their contracts for Dark Phoenix, Lawrence might have proven the most difficult to persuade. She has been quite frank in the past about how much she dislikes being painted blue for the role. Did she, Harrison Ford–like, agree to come back only if they killed off her character once and for all? Will her death be either directly or indirectly Jeans fault?

No matter what machinations happened behind the screen, the permanent death of both a major franchise character and unquestionably the films biggest star would lend inevitable weight to whats been called the fight for Jean Greys soul. These X-Men movies usually boil down to a standoff between the good guys and the bad, with the makeup of those teams constantly shifting. Usually, the virtuous Professor X is on one side, and everyones favorite antihero Magneto is on the other. But the real wild card in this trailer is Hoults Beast, who, seemingly grieving over his onetime love Mystique, may wind up turning on Charles.

But a major death alone isnt enough to make a Dark Phoenix story work. In the Famke Janssen-starring 2006 version of the story, Patrick Stewarts Professor X got the major death meant to give the tale some heft. When the franchise then undid that death in later films, it vaporized all meaning behind Jeans betrayal. The reason Logan resonated the way it did was because that film indicated that both Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart were finally leaving the franchise, once and for all. Probably.

So much of Dark Phoenixs success will still hinge on Turners performance—which could be where the film runs into trouble. In 2011, director Matthew Vaughn populated his X-Men class with acting heavy-hitters Fassbender, McAvoy, Lawrence, and Hoult, who were largely unknown at the time. But Turner has said she was hired for a film role (likely this one) over a “better” actress specifically because of her rabid Game of Thrones fandom and broad social-media reach. Surely devoted Sansa Stark fans will show up to watch Turner unleash her powers, but its not a role she seemed to comfortably inhabit in Apocalypse.

Then again, that was a few years ago—and thankfully, Turner will not be alone in crafting her performance. Dark Phoenix has also drafted Jessica Chastain into a villainous role as someone looking to take advantage of Jeans burgeoning evil and tremendous power. Will her gravitas be enough to anchor Turner, or will the character of Jean Grey be once again let down in what should be her most powerful moment? Well find out when Dark Phoenix hits theaters on February 14.

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