X-Men’s Dark Phoenix Saga Could Get a New Feature Film Adaptation
According to director Bryan Singer and producer Simon Kinberg, we might actually get to see a new big screen adaptation of X-Men’s Dark Phoenix Saga storyline. We already saw this story arc attempted in X-Men: The Last Stand, but it didn’t do the story any justice. I’m sure fans would love to see the storyline get a proper film adaptation.
The Dark Phoenix Saga is one of the most popular and best X-Men comic book stories, so I don’t think anyone would object to seeing Singer take a crack at it. The story follows Jean Grey, who becomes possessed by a fiery cosmic bird that makes her one of the most powerful beings in the universe. As you might imagine, that’s an intense thing for her to deal with so she struggles to control that power and that leads her down the path of evil, eventually becoming the Dark Phoenix.
Sophie Turner is taking on the role of Jean Grey in X-Men: Apocalypse, and she is one of the film's main characters. The movie is set in 1983, and it could very well help pave the way for a Dark Phoenix film because these most recent films have altered the future. This means that the events that took place in the original X-Men trilogy aren’t completely solid. They can retell the story in a different way. While talking to IGN, Kinberg said:
“I think everything that hasn't been told from First Class and Days of Future Past is up for grabs going forward, so it would absolutely be a story we could tell in a different way.”
He went on to explain that they will explore the powers of Jean in Apocalypse saying, “We definitely explore how powerful [Jean Grey] is in this movie, and that can be something that is empowering and something that is dangerous.”
It would make complete sense to follow through with this story arc for Jean. Singer admitted that he would “possibly” want to do “the full Phoenix story.” If he did, he would re-explore it, and it seems like they’ve already set the character on the path. He says that “the idea of that brewing within her” is something he wants to play with, and that we “may find a piece of that in this movie.”
I don’t think Fox is going to stop making X-Men movies anytime soon, so this is very much a possibility somewhere down the road, especially if Singer and Kinberg are keen on developing it. I would love to see it happen with Turner in the role, so I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed.