MS. MARVEL Star Iman Vellani Explains Why X-MEN: THE LAST STAND Failed: "It's So Reductive of That Entire Storyline"
Iman Vellani has some serious issues with how Fox handled the Dark Phoenix Saga in X-Men: The Last Stand, and the Ms. Marvel star thinks the movie was pretty much doomed from the start.
Her biggest complaint? The filmmakers tried to cram one of Marvel Comics' greatest X-Men stories into a single movie while also juggling an entirely separate storyline.
During an appearance on the Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday Official Podcast, which revisited Fox's X-Men films ahead of Avengers: Doomsday, Vellani explained where she thinks the 2006 sequel went wrong. As a longtime Marvel fan, she had plenty to say about the film's treatment of Jean Grey, Cyclops, and the iconic Phoenix Saga.
One of her biggest frustrations was the decision to kill off James Marsden's Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, so early in the movie. In the comics, Scott plays a major role in Jean Grey's tragic transformation, and removing him from the story stripped away an important emotional connection.
"He's integral to Jean's story in the Dark Phoenix Saga. To get rid of him in the first 10 minutes completely eliminates any emotional resonance this movie could have had," Vellani said.
That's a fair criticism considering how much the relationship between Scott and Jean matters to the original comic book storyline. But Vellani's problems with The Last Stand go well beyond Cyclops' unceremonious exit. She believes the entire Phoenix Saga deserved a much bigger story than what audiences got.
In Marvel Comics, Jean Grey's connection to the Phoenix Force leads to a massive cosmic tragedy, with her growing powers eventually threatening the universe itself. It's an ambitious story filled with personal conflict, devastating consequences, and some of the most memorable moments in X-Men history.
Rather than giving that material room to develop, The Last Stand squeezed Jean's transformation into a movie that was also adapting the mutant cure storyline.
"It's so reductive of that entire storyline," Vellani said. "If they wanted to do the Phoenix Saga properly, it should have been three or four movies, even, and really milk it.
“There's so much that happens – it's so thrilling, cosmic, and expansive. To stuff it into one movie with 'The Cure' storyline, oh my god. This movie failed the minute they made Jean's story also secondary."
I totally agree with her., The Dark Phoenix Saga has enough material to carry multiple films, and trying to tell that story alongside the mutant cure plot left Jean Grey's journey competing for attention in a movie that should have been centered on her.
Anyone familiar with Vellani's Letterboxd account already knows she isn't particularly impressed with some of Fox's early X-Men movies. She gave X-Men: The Last Stand a 2.5 rating, which is also what she gave X2: X-Men United. The original X-Men from 2000 fared a little better with a 3.5.
Of course, Fox eventually took another shot at adapting the storyline with 2019's Dark Phoenix, but that movie also struggled to capture what made the comics so compelling.
With the X-Men becoming increasingly important to the MCU and Avengers: Doomsday bringing Marvel's mutant characters back into the conversation, it'll be interesting to see how Marvel Studios eventually approaches Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force.
Vellani clearly wants to see an adaptation that gives the story the time and attention it deserves. Considering how much material the comics offer, a multi-film approach could be the way to go.
What do you think? Was X-Men: The Last Stand doomed by trying to tell too many stories at once, and should Marvel Studios give the Dark Phoenix Saga another shot?