Like it or not, the current iteration of the
X-Men franchise will end with
Dark Phoenix.
After starting in 2000, the series was given a
Star Trek style reboot in 2011, but the current series is supposed to be catching up to what we saw in theaters almost two decades ago. Now, that will never happen because the recently completed Disney/Fox merger means the characters will soon be rebooted for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Well, if Simon Kinberg is to be believed,
Dark Phoenix was always meant to be the end!
"From the beginning of conceiving what we were going to do with this film and writing it, which was three plus years ago, so long before there was a Disney merger, I felt like this was the natural culmination for this cycle of X-Men movies. Because it is seeing this family that you've come to love and know for how ever many films, and if you count the originals almost 20 years now, you see that family tested in a whole new way. You see that family start to fall apart in a real way for the first time, ultimately come back together.
"That felt like the culmination of a storyline or a cycle of these films. And for me, and for most of the fans ... Dark Phoenix is the ultimate and most iconic storyline in the X-Men universe. And so I didn't know how we would top Dark Phoenix within this cycle. This felt like we had to earn our way back to Dark Phoenix. And I feel like we did hopefully, and beyond that felt like we'd want to sort of create an ending and the possibility of a new beginning. And that's what we do on this film."
This goes directly against comments made by Kinberg last year, and it sounds like he's hoping Marvel Studios will pick up where he left off with these heroes...while keeping him on board the franchise! There's simply no way that's going to happen, and some fans remain convinced that Dark Phoenix will never get a theatrical release to avoid the reboot being hurt in any way.
We'll keep you guys updated, but be sure to let us know your thoughts down below.
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