New Info Revealed Regarding Magneto's Role in X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX
Thanks to EW, we have some new information on director Simon Kinberg's X-Men: Dark Pheonix. Specifically regarding Michael Fassbender's Erik Lensherrr a.k.a. Magneto's role in the story. Before we get into that, lets set it up with a rundown of what we already know. regarding the story. Last week the following story details were revealed:
Set in 1992, about 10 years after the events of last year’s X-Men: Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix opens with the X-Men, including Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and Quicksilver (Evan Peters), in a new, unexpected role: national heroes. Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) even lands on the cover of Time magazine. But his growing ego puts the team at risk.
Kinberg went on to explain the pride is starting to get the better of Xavier, and he is pushing the X-Men to more extreme missions.” One of those missions includes them going on a rescue mission in space.
After they’re dispatched to space for a rescue mission, a solar flare hits the X-Jet and the surge of energy ignites a malevolent, power-hungry new force within Jean (Game of Thrones’ Sophie Turner)— the Phoenix.
This is where Jean Grey's big crazy transformation into the Phoenix starts. It was explained by Kinberg:
"Jean absorbs those solar flares and then hurls them back out into space. That’s what triggers, awakens, creates this Phoenix force and voice inside her. What appears to the world to be another heroic victory by the X-Men in saving stranded people in space we realize is the the thing that begins the unraveling of Jean and the unraveling of secrets Charles told her."
This whole experience ends up effecting Jean in a way that sends her on a journey of self-discovery of sorts as life gets very confusing for her. This journey leads her to Magneto. Michael Fassbender explains where we find Magneto in the story, saying:
"A confused Jean turns to Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender), the rogue mutant who parted ways with the X-Men at the end of Apocalypse and now lives on an island named Genosha, a destination comic-book fans will recognize. He's set up this place for mutants that don't have a home to go to. They have to work as a community, but it's a safe place for them and they'll be accepted."
It sounds to me like the relationship between Magneto and Jean may end up being similar to the relationship Magneto had with Mystique in First Class. Will Magneto help Jean embrace these new powers that have been awakened in her, guiding her to the dark side? If this is the case, he'll find out that he's making a big mistake!
For those of you who aren't familiar with the island of Genosha, it's a fictional country in the Marvel universe. It's an island nation off the east coast of Africa. The island was once known for the enslavement of mutants and was ruled by Magneto before being destroyed and most of the mutants were wiped out by Sentinels.
There's a long history with Genosha, but we don't know how big of a role it will actually play in the story. We'll find out when the film is released on November 2nd.