The finale of X-Men: Apocalypse planted the seeds for the adaptation of the Dark Phoenix Saga as the most logical continuation of the main X-Men franchise. So it was certainly no surprise when X-Men: Dark Phoenix was announced. Given the focus of the X-Men movies released so far, the news that the shared universe will finally expand beyond Earth was a surprise.
When online rumors began to fly, we got an official confirmation that the film would feature the Shi'ar Empire. We also learned that Jessica Chastain would play the film’s main antagonist, Empress Lilandra. So things are looking good, or at least much better than the previous adaptation of the beloved X-Men: The Last Stand story line from 2006.
But according to the most recent reports, X-Men: Dark Phoenix won't be as expansive as we previously thought. Simon Kinberg, who’s making his directorial debut with this film, has said that his aim is as follows:
… find a way to ground it so it's not too intergalactic (via X-Men Films).
This seems a bit weird, and it’s really not what we wanted to hear. But we should have expected it after hearing about the returning main cast members, including Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique and Michael Fassbender as Magneto.
Filming for Dark Phoenix is currently underway, so we expect to hear more about the film’s plot and how faithful the movie will be to the source material over the next few months.
To be released on November 2, 2018, X-Men: Dark Phoenix will be that year’s third and final X-Men Shared Universe movie, following X-Men: New Mutants and the highly anticipated Deadpool 2.
