While it remains to be seen if Dark Phoenix ends up being the last of the main X-Men movies, it certainly is embracing more of its comic book roots. Dark Phoenix is aiming to be a more faithful adaptation of The Dark Phoenix Saga, the X-Men themselves are wearing costumes similar to the ones from Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men and now it's been confirmed that the movie will feature Genosha, which in the comics has long been a safe haven for mutants. Magneto is leading this commune in Dark Phoenix, and Jean Grey will travel there in search of guidance. Director Simon Kinberg explained:
What you're seeing is the beginnings of Genosha. That's where Erik is when we meet him. It's like Magneto's Israel -- a land built for mutants, a homeland where they can be safe and self-sufficient. Jean finds him there because what's happening to her is making her do destructive things, and she doesn't know why. The only person she's known who has done destructive and lethal things in the past but came back from it is Magneto. She feels he alone can give her answers because he's lived both sides. He's lost control and killed and hurt people, some of whom he even loved, and yet he's also found a measure of peace and that's what she's searching for.
When we last left off with Magneto, a.k.a. Erik Lensherr, at the end of X-Men: Apocalypse, he had turned against Apocalypse and helped the X-Men save the day, but he decided not to stick around the X-Mansion with Professor X, Mystique and Beast to train the new generation of superheroes. Dark Phoenix picks up nine years later, and during that interim period he's formed Genosha as a place where mutants looking to escape persecution from humans can live their lives in peace. It's a far cry from the Magneto who carried out acts of terrorism in his fight for mutant superiority, but then again, Dark Phoenix is set in a new timeline, so Erik's gone down a different life path than the one Ian McKellen's version did.
Like its comic book counterpart, Dark Phoenix's Genosha is an island, but this community is just getting started and is a far cry from the nation depicted on the printed page. If by some chance the main X-Men series continues, it would be interesting to see Genosha grow and become more self-sustainable, but then again, who knows how long we'll spend there in Dark Phoenix. As Simon Kinberg noted when speaking with Empire about the Dark Phoenix trailer, Jean Grey goes there to seek Magneto's help since he's had quite the violent past. But once Jean loses control and becomes the Phoenix, it looks like Magneto will leave Genosha and form his own group to stop her using more drastic measures than what Professor X and some of the other X-Men are willing to use.
Dark Phoenix will be released in theaters on February 14, 2019, so keep checking back with CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. You can also look through our X-Men movies guide to see what other mutant-centric projects are in development.
