As the first major comic book movie franchise to gain a real sense of traction at the global box office, the X-Men series has seldom shied away from trying new things. Though it has honored the idea of the heroes that inspire its films for quite some time, these movies have also made some changes in their adaptation of the source material. However, that may soon change, as Storm actress Alexandra Shipp recently opened up about X-Men: Dark Phoenix and admitted that the franchise is about to go in a darker and more comic book accurate direction. Shipp addressed Dark Phoenix while promoting the release of her new horror comedy, Tragedy Girls, saying:
It's definitely a darker world. A lot more is going on at this point. I can't say too much but what I can say is that, as a fan of the X-Men franchise, I know a lot of people are going to be happy with how accurate this one is.
Alexandra Shipp's comments about an accurate version of The Dark Phoenix Saga to Syfy Wire very much feels like a way of letting fans know that director Simon Kinberg intends to fix a franchise mistake. As most of you likely remember, X-Men: The Last Stand loosely adapted the iconic storyline back in 2006, and that film has since gone on to become widely regarded as one of the worst X-Men movies in the franchise. The soft reboot brought on by recent X-Men films has given the franchise another chance to get it right. With that in mind, it sounds like a more faithful version of the storyline (one that may even include aliens) is a big step towards making that a reality.
The promise of an "accurate" X-Men movie should be enough to get any self-respecting fan of the comic book source material excited. When compared to other superhero franchises, the X-Men universe has rarely shown qualms about moving away from the comics to alter storylines. It made Wolverine the main protagonist in X-Men: Days of Future Past (instead of Kitty Pryde); it made substantial changes to the Old Man Logan story with the release of James Mangold's Logan earlier this year, and it used Jennifer Lawrence's increasing star power to turn Mystique into one of the franchise's central heroes (which is not the case in the comics). Some of these changes have worked quite well in the grand scheme of things, but the choice to bring X-Men: Dark Phoenix's story more in-line with the dark and tragic source material seems to promise a nice break from the traditional status quo of the X-Men films.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is currently lined up to debut on November 2, 2018, following the April 13, 2018 premiere of New Mutants and the June 1, 2018 premiere of Deadpool 2. If you're in the market for more information on all of the films set to debut over the next year (X-Men related or otherwise), then check out our 2017 movie premiere guide and 2018 movie premiere guide.
