In an exclusive interview at WonderCon, Cyclops actor Tye Sheridan gave some insight into how the forthcoming Dark Phoenix movie will break up the X-Men. The film is the 12th installment in the X-Men movie franchise after Logan in 2017 and Deadpool 2 last year, and it's set for release on June 7. Helmed by first-time director Simon Kinberg, who’s worked on previous X-Men films, including X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past in writing and producing capacities, Dark Phoenix will pick up after the events of 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse and focus on Jean Grey’s transformation into her titular alter ego.
With Dark Phoenix promising a follow-up to plots hinted at during the end of X-Men: Apocalypse and Kinberg promising that the film will be a faithful adaptation of Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s Dark Phoenix comic book saga, X-Men fans have plenty of reason to be excited. On the other hand, fans have noticed a lot of similarities between Dark Phoenix and the least-loved X-Men film, The Last Stand, on which Kinberg served as screenwriter, and which most fans didn't think did an impressive job of adapting the Dark Phoenix saga in 2006.
However fans currently feel about Dark Phoenix, interview with Sheridan confirms that the movie will have a massive impact on the X-Men family, which is surely something to get at least a bit excited about. It's already been revealed in the second Dark Phoenix trailer released last month that a major X-Men character dies, so it’s no big surprise that the events of the film are going to shake the mutant heroes to the core. However, Sheridan - whose character Cyclops is the love interest of Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) - has shed some light on just how the group will be affected. He said:
“...[W]hat happens with Jean Grey in the movie, it kind of splits the X-Men up into two groups. There's one group who feels like they can still save Jean and she's not lost; that the same Jean Grey that they've always known is still there. And then some of them think that she's way too dangerous. And so it kind of causes this conflict that starts to take form in the middle of the movie. And I just think it lends itself to allowing the movie to have much more tension between those characters. And I think that's something that we've seen in X-Men movies, but I think this movie is probably much more grounded and real and raw because of that.”
With many speculating that Dark Phoenix could be the last X-Men movie before the franchise is rebooted in the MCU, Sheridan’s statements certainly suggest the X-Men are in store for the kind of dramatic journey that would make for a fitting end to the series. His comments come alongside other exciting Screen Rant exclusives from WonderCon too, like Kinberg stating Dark Phoenix will be “like a Hitchcockian psychological thriller” and new footage of a fight scene between the X-Men and the Mutant Brotherhood.
Sheridan’s statement combined with Kinberg’s Hitchcockian vibe suggest that Dark Phoenix will take a much darker turn than previous X-Men films. The movie’s focus on Jean Grey comes at a good time too with female-focused superhero movies like Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel in hot demand. Whether that will be enough to calm fan fears that Dark Phoenix will be a retread of X-Men: The Last Stand remains to be seen.