Back in March it was announced that 20th Century Fox had pushed back X-Men: Dark Phoenix from its original November 2nd 2018 release date to February 14th 2019, which was followed by a report that the film would be undergoing reshoots in response to feedback from a test screening.
Well, it seems that we now have some details from said test screening have made their way online via Reddit, and if true, they feature some major, major spoilers. Some of this may change with the additional photography, of course, but if you want to know as little as possible about the movie, you may want to stop reading now…
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The first thing to note is that the report suggests Dark Phoenix – or at least the cut that was screened – is “really underwhelming” and fans should lower their expectations as it “is just not good when compared to modern comic book movie films.”
Plot wise, it seems that when the movie begins the X-Men are now viewed as heroes by the public, similar to that of the Avengers, and as such they are recruited to save a group of astronauts in peril. It is during this mission that a) we get a slow-motion Quicksilver running screen as he and Nightcrawler rescue the astronauts, and b) Jean Grey is hit by cosmic waves, which ultimately results in her transformation into the Phoenix.
As she’s hit by the cosmic waves, Jean accidentally blasts the astronauts’ ship into deep space, where it crashes on an alien planet (the aliens are said to be grey shapeshifters, but never once identified as Skrulls). The aliens then declare war on Earth and arrive on our planet, with their leader then assuming the identity of a human who looks exactly like Jessica Chastain.
SEE ALSO: Tye Sheridan on how X-Men: Dark Phoenix will “shake up” the superhero genre
Jean discovers that the emergence of her powers as a child was responsible for a car crash that killed her parents – or so she thought, as her father is actually still alive. When she tracks him down she discovers that Professor X had told her that her father was dead because he no longer wanted his daughter when it became clear she was a mutant. Jean loses control, killing Mystique by accident, which doesn’t go down too well with Beast. Having been in love with Mystique, Hank then seeks out Magneto on Genosha for his help in defeating Jean.
All of this apparently builds to a CGI-heavy battle outside the United Nations. Why? Because the alien’s plan is to get the get all the world leaders in one place to discuss the future of mutantkind by using the Phoenix as a pawn. The X-Men attempt to prevent the aliens from entering the U.N. building and killing the world leaders, while Jean then flies off into space and unleashes the full Phoenix Force on an approaching alien fleet. She says her telepathic goodbyes to Cyclops, explodes, and wipes out the fleet. Credits.
What do you make of these alleged plot details? Is this what you were expecting from X-Men: Dark Phoenix? Do we have another X-Men: The Last Stand on our hands? Or worse? Let us know in the comments below…
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is set for release on February 14th 2019 and sees Simon Kinberg directing a cast that includes franchise veterans Michael Fassbender (Magneto), James McAvoy (Professor X), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler) and Evan Peters (Quicksilver) alongside new additions Jessica Chastain (Molly’s Game) and Lamar Johnson (Kings).
Via CosmicBookNews