In the Dark Phoenix Trailer, Sansa Stark Is Here to Mess You Up
Dark Phoenix wants you to take it very seriously. Just look at its title! It doesn't even have the word "X-Men" in it, you know, much like other serious movies about superheroes without the superhero name in the title, like The Dark Knight, Man of Steel, or The Raid. The X-Men's return after roughly three years away from theaters looks to be a moody, somber thing, and a second attempt at telling perhaps the most famous and beloved story in X-Men comics: The Dark Phoenix saga, after X-Men: The Last Stand gave it the old college try back in 2006 and somehow didn't knock it out of the park, despite having Kelsey Grammar in furry blue prosthetics.
But here I am, assuming that you know stuff about X-Men, and that's quite rude. The Dark Phoenix Saga is a classic story for a pretty good reason: it's got everything. Grand, operatic tragedy, romance, calamity, space stuff, aliens, and men's rights activists. It's the story of the X-Man Jean Grey bonding with the nigh-omnipotent Phoenix Force and being manipulated into succumbing to said Force's appetite for destruction, eventually turning bad, and forcing her teammates to fight her. And while Dark Phoenix doesn't look like it's a straight adaptation of that story, it does look pretty damn cool.
Behold, the X-Men, in wonderfully tacky new uniforms. Behold, Jennifer Lawrence, who famously hates her blue Mystique makeup and probably has a body double wearing it for her by now. Behold, Michael Fassbender, emo woodsman Magneto, telling James McAvoy's Charles Xavier "nobody cares."
Despite showing off lots of footage, Dark Phoenix is actually being coy about a lot of things. There's plot stuff: the official synopsis states that "aliens" are interested in the Phoenix's powers, but you wouldn't guess that from seeing the trailer. It's not being billed as such, but it may very well be the final film of the X-Men prequel trilogy, bidding farewell to the remaining First Class cast members that are still around. And, depending on how the Disney purchase of Fox shakes out, it may be the final X-Men film of its kind. Maybe that's why the first trailer for Dark Phoenix seems so much like a funeral dirge: because it is.
