X2: X-MEN UNITED Was Originally Going To Involve Jean Grey's Full Transformation into Phoenix
I was a big fan of X2: X-Men United! That was a great film in the X-Men film franchise, but it almost turned out to be a very different film. Director Bryan Singer originally planned on incorporating Jean Grey's Dark Phoenix story arc and she would have made her full-fledged transformation into Phoenix.
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, screenwriter Zak Penn explains that he thought it was too soon to take on that storyline so he talked Singer out of it.
"On X2, part of how I ended up getting the job on it was that originally that was going to be the Phoenix story. I just said ... 'You've built up this real universe and you should establish it more before you go into Phoenix.' "It was too soon to go into the Phoenix story and it was too soon to get cosmic. I would say that's probably the biggest contribution I made... pushing it in that direction."
Phoenix was teased at the end of the film after Jean sacrificed herself to save her friends. While I agree that it may have been too soon for Dark Phoenix, the story arc was unfortunately left for Brett Ratner to adapt in X-Men: The Last Stand, and we all know how that turned out. Penn went on to say:
"There are a bunch of scenes I wrote that are still in there. I don't remember what movie I left to do while they were making X-Men 2, but that was kind of the story of my life. I would come in and do something and then leave."
Hopefully, this upcoming film X-Men: Dark Phoenix turns out a lot better than The Last Stand! The release of the film was recently delayed so that they can do some reshoots. Now we won't get to see the film until 2019.
The film is set in 1992, "roughly a decade after Apocalypse and finds the X-Men dealing with being heroes. An unfortunate side effect is how that fuels Charles Xavier's ego. He starts sending the team on more dangerous missions, including one to space that ends with Grey going to some very dark places."
Do you think it would have been ok for Singer to tackle Dark Phoenix in X2?