Fox is apparently eager to give its X-Men Cinematic Universe a shot in the arm, with reports saying that they’re targeting Angelina Jolie for an as yet unknown role in X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
At the moment, the franchise is in a bit of a weird place. Apocalypse was an out and out mess, opening to terrible reviews and an audience mystified at how a studio would shoot a script so self-evidently sucky. But then came Logan, with fans going wild for its dusty, bloody, revisionist take on the superhero genre. Toss in the excellent Legion (admittedly only tangentially related to the film franchise), the upcoming family drama The Gifted and 2018’s YA targeting New Mutants – not to mention Deadpool 2 – and you’re in the strange position of having the main saga entry in the X-Men franchise being by far the least interesting looking release.
As far as Jolie’s involvement goes, it was first brought up on Meet The Movie Press, in which Jeff Sneider mentioned her in connection with Dark Phoenix. Currently, she’s being considered for Bride of Frankenstein in Universal’s Dark Universe (but given the critical excoriation of The Mummy, plans for that might be on hold for now) and is apparently eager to get involved in an ongoing franchise.
Were she to be cast in Fox’s blockbuster, it’s possible she’d be playing the Empress of the Shi’ar. This intergalactic Imperium is a vast collective of alien species who become key players in the comic’s iconic “Dark Phoenix Saga,” which the upcoming film is loosely adapting. The character is renowned as Professor Xavier’s most serious relationship, and given that she’s in command of a galactic space fleet, Moira MacTaggert had better watch her back.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is a ways off yet, currently scheduled for release on November 2nd, 2018, but we’ll be bringing you more on the movie and Jolie’s involvement in it as soon as we get any further updates.
