Fox’s X-Men franchise is partly responsible for kickstarting the new age of modern superhero movies, thanks in large part to terrific entries like X2: X-Men United and X-Men: First Class. Beginning in 2000, the superhero franchise ran for exactly twenty years before finally coming to an end with 2020’s The New Mutants. Now, comic book fans anxiously anticipate the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s upcoming X-Men reboot, which is already in the early stages of pre-production, with Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier at the helm.
As significant as it is to the history of modern superhero movies, Fox’s X-Men franchise unfortunately has just as many bad entries as it does good ones. Every era of the X-Men movies has at least one massive stinker that earned near-universal critical and audience disapproval. This can make selecting the worst entry of the franchise rather difficult. However, every superhero fan knows deep down that one ill-fated entry toward the end of the franchise’s run is the very worst X-Men has to offer.
Dark Phoenix Is the Worst X-Men Movie of All Time
Oh, Dark Phoenix. There really isn’t any other way to describe the film than as the worst X-Men movie of all time. The film attempts to adapt the iconic “Dark Phoenix Saga” from the comics, but manages to fail in every metric. Its plot follows Jean Grey as she struggles to contain her powers after bonding with an alien life force during a mission to outer space. After accidentally killing Mystique, Jean goes on the run as her former allies and enemies alike hunt her down. While this sounds like a compelling enough plot, rest assured that Dark Phoenix disappoints every step of the way. The film encapsulates everything wrong with the later X-Men movies, from sidelining major characters like Quicksilver to an underwhelming final sequence.
There is no shortage of criticisms that one could make of Dark Phoenix. Perhaps chief among these is that, despite Jean Grey functioning as both the main protagonist and main antagonist of the film, viewers are left feeling like they never really got to know the powerful mutant. Sophie Turner’s Jean only appears in one film before Dark Phoenix, and even then, is shuffled to the background of a large ensemble cast. As a result, the audience isn’t particularly invested in her struggle to control the Phoenix Force or in the other X-Men’s debate about what to do with her. If the main character arc of Dark Phoenix is underwhelming, then everything else only serves as filler–and bad filler at that. Outside of Jean Grey’s arc, fans are treated to some of the worst that the X-Men films have to offer, including new lows for Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique, like demanding that Charles Xavier change the name of the X-Men to X-Women. The film generally seems uninterested in other mutants and their powers, including Storm, a hero known for controlling the weather, who somehow finds herself caught in a rainstorm in the film. These are just some of the many stupid oversights made in this shoddily made movie.
Even more puzzling than its uninteresting plot and nonsensical moments is that Dark Phoenix completely ignores the timeline from the rest of Fox’s X-Men movies. The stupidest oversight is that the film opens with Jean Grey bonding with the Phoenix Force–despite having used these powers in the previous film. X-Men: Apocalypse ends with Jean unleashing her power as the Phoenix to defeat Apocalypse, but, of course, the writers of Dark Phoenix can’t be expected to have watched the previous film in the franchise. Also confounding is the X-Men franchise’s insistence upon jumping a decade with each new film. Dark Phoenix is set in the ’90s, a decade after the events of Apocalypse, which would be fine and good if it didn’t mess up every single character. Younger characters like Jean Grey, Cyclops, and Storm are still about the right age for their storylines to occur, but the decade-hopping means that they go years without any meaningful growth or character arcs. Older characters, on the other hand, are way too old. Professor X and Magneto, for example, are technically in their 60s by the events of Dark Phoenix, despite their respective actors both being in their early 40s. Dark Phoenix also takes place less than a decade before the events of the original X-Men movie, giving Charles and Erik only a few years to age up into their Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan versions. To cap it all off, the decade-hopping adds nothing to the story, only complicating the already convoluted X-Men timeline.
The Real Reason Dark Phoenix Was So Disappointing
While one could argue that X-Men Origins: Wolverine or X-Men: Apocalypse are equal candidates for the worst X-Men movie of all time, Dark Phoenix has one more flaw that sets it apart from all of its predecessors. The 2019 film marks the second time that 20th Century Fox tried and failed to adapt one of the most iconic X-Men storylines of all time. X-Men: The Last Stand already ruined the “Dark Phoenix” storyline from the comics by shoving it aside in favor of other arcs like the mutant cure and a battle with Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Rather than learning from the mistakes of the past, Fox repeats everything wrong with The Last Stand–in more ways than one. From a narrative perspective, Dark Phoenix does exactly the same thing as The Last Stand. Rather than putting the Dark Phoenix storyline front and center, the film instead chooses to cram it between other narratives once again, including an invasion of shapeshifting aliens and the President’s crackdown on mutantkind. Like The Last Stand, Dark Phoenix also leaves out major parts of “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” including the Hellfire Club and the Shi’ar Empire, despite some of these plot points being set up in previous movies.
Perhaps the most offensive thing to X-Men fans is that the very same person who wrote X-Men: The Last Stand was hired to make Fox’s second attempt at “The Dark Phoenix Saga.” After writing The Last Stand, Simon Kinberg was hired to both write and direct Dark Phoenix, to predictable results. This isn’t a knock on Kinberg, who has contributed his fair share of terrific content in other franchises (including a large portion of Star Wars: Rebels). However, it seems like a no-brainer that hiring the same person who missed the mark on “Dark Phoenix” the first time would do likewise when given more responsibilities the second time. Had Fox really wanted to redeem itself, the studio would have at least hired someone new to take a shot at the storyline.
The Dark Phoenix Storyline Deserves a Better Adaptation in the MCU
As unsuccessful as live-action adaptations have been in the past, there is still room for the MCU to adapt the “Dark Phoenix” storyline from the comics. The extended arc is one of the most important storylines from the X-Men comics, encapsulating decades of history, character relationships, and setup in one powerfully written narrative. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is iconic enough to warrant a third (and hopefully final) live-action adaptation–but it must be done right this time. To do so, Marvel Studios must hold back on its own adaptation, taking the time to properly set up the storyline over the years across multiple films and series. Audiences must come to know Jean Grey well over time, making it all the more impactful when she loses control and unleashes the full fury of the Phoenix Force. Only then will the other X-Men’s plight become compelling, as they struggle with what to do with their erstwhile friend.
Hopefully, the third time is the charm when it comes to “Dark Phoenix Saga” adaptations. So far, this particular storyline has made for some of the worst X-Men movies of all time, including Dark Phoenix. On the bright side, the MCU could only do better with its own adaptation.
Dark Phoenix is available to stream on Disney+.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix
- Release Date
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June 5, 2019
- Runtime
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114 minutes
- Director
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Simon Kinberg
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James McAvoy
Charles Xavier / Professor X
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Sophie Turner
Jean Grey / Dark Phoenix
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Nicholas Hoult
Hank McCoy / Beast
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Tye Sheridan
Scott Summers / Cyclops
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