How Will the MCU revitalize The X-Men Franchise? The X-Men franchise has been around for a long time. It’s seen highs and lows, but the X-Men Phoenix saga is often considered one of the best story arcs in X-Men history. With the release of X-Men: Dark Phoenix, it’s interesting to look back at what was done well and what could have been done better. In this blog post, we will take a look at 11 points that were missed in the X-Men: Dark Phoenix. We will also discuss how the MCU might revitalize the X-Men franchise and whether or not there is any need to revisit legacy characters.

Without going too deep into the character’s back story; The Phoenix was introduced in The Uncanny X-Men:

#101 in October 1976. Created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum, it is by far my favorite story arc of any comic, and Jean Grey as the Phoenix is one of my all-time favorites. But with the release of X-Men: Dark Phoenix (20th Century Fox, 2019), there were some definite misses in translating this epic story to the big screen. Here are 11 of those misses.

11 points missed by Fox

-The first miss would be the chronology of the films and where the filmmakers decided to go with this story arc. The soft reboot of “X-Men: Days Of Future Past”, really set the consequent films up for failure, especially for the Dark Phoenix Saga. It’s extremely frustrating as a fan to get excuses about budget cuts, missed opportunities with directors, and movie exec’s not agreeing on what the community might like.

-The second miss would be the lack of development for Jean Grey’s character. In the comics, we see Jean Grey struggle with the dark side of the Phoenix Force and how it affects her mental state. However, in the film, we don’t get to see much of that internal struggle. Instead, we see Jean Grey who is mostly in control of the Phoenix Force and only loses control when she’s angry.

-The third is that the movie made it seem like the Phoenix Force was something new when in reality, it’s been around for billions of years. Fun fact, the Phoenix was Marvel’s first cosmic female hero. The character got too powerful and was subsequently killed off (more on that later).

-The fourth miss would be the complete disregard of the lead-up from Uncanny X-Men #101-108 to Uncanny X-Men #129 where Jean ultimately falls to the Dark Phoenix. The Saga does span from Uncanny X-Men #101-137.

-The fifth miss would be the complete disregard for the character of Emma Frost, a lot of characters and fan favorites were put to the wayside for various reasons.

-The sixth miss would be the costumes or lack thereof. In the comics, the X-men have some of the most iconic and stylish costumes in all of comics. However, in the films, we get a bunch of generic black leather suits.

-The seventh miss…where the fuck is Wolverine?

-The eighth miss is the movie doesn’t show the full extent or even explanation of the power of the Phoenix Force.

-The ninth miss is who are the D’bari? Good question. Fox said here’s a race of Aliens, sorry non-comic reader, make assumptions, google it, and you are welcome.

-The tenth miss, there was a whole damn section of cannon of her being Phoenix first that wasn’t used.

-And the 11th and final miss, and this might be a personal opinion, but I think the movie would have been better if it was darker and grittier. There was always controversy surrounding the power of the Phoenix in marvel comics, the havoc that she created, and the billions of lives she murdered, but all of that in and of itself would have made for an iconic film.

So those are 11 points that were missed in the X-Men: Dark Phoenix, but how will the MCU revitalize the X-Men?

Can the MCU revitalize the X-Men?

The answer is still up in the air since the deal between Disney and 20th Century Fox has only recently been finalized. However, there are a few things that we can speculate about.

First and foremost, it is highly likely that we will see a complete reboot of the X-Men franchise. Whether that means recasting all of the current actors or just starting from scratch is yet to be seen. I hope it’s the latter. As we’ve seen with the thousands of Batman films that have come it that it can be done and it can be done very well. I see you vampire boy.

Second, we will most likely see a more comic-accurate portrayal of the X-Men in the MCU. This means that we will finally get to see some of the more iconic storylines from the comics finally come to life on the big screen. I say this with huge hopes of course (I’ll likely be disappointed again).

And lastly, we will probably see some of the more iconic X-Men characters finally join forces with the Avengers on screen. This is something that fans have been wanting to see for years and it’s finally going to happen. My opinion and speculation of course.

So those are a few things that we can expect from MCU’s revitalization of the X-Men franchise. Are you excited about it? I know I am.

What are your thoughts on the X-Men movies? Do you think that they missed out on some key points? Let me know in the comments below! Also if you need comic supplies please check out Gemini Comic Supply for all your comic storage, shipping, and everything in between. Use DEFY8BIT at check out for 10% off. And be sure to check back for more!