Disney Plus is slowly adding all of the non-MCU Marvel films to its library over time. Having rebranded them as Marvel Legacy movies (though this has yet to really catch on with fans), so far all the Fantastic Four flicks and many of the X-Men series have arrived on the Mouse House’s streaming service. And one more of Fox’s X-franchise is making its debut on Disney Plus next month. 2019’s Dark Phoenix lands on the platform on Friday, September 3rd.
20th Century Fox previously had a deal going with HBO which meant the studio’s movies made their streaming debuts on HBO Max. This is what’s kept Dark Phoenix off D+ all this time, but now that licensed has expired, it’s able to hop over and join most of the rest of the franchise on the rival platform. Though it’s not considered one of the best entries in the saga, it’s a key installment in the series, so fans will be pleased it’s on its way to Disney.
It wasn’t originally conceived that way, but DP ended up serving as the final entry in the mainline X-Men series, not including 2020 spinoff The New Mutants. A reimagining of the Dark Phoenix saga, as previously adapted in X-Men: The Last Stand, it follows Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) as she’s overtaken by her omnipowerful alternate personality, the Phoenix. Meanwhile, a mini-civil war brews between the X-Men, as Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) attempt to kill Jean while Professor X (James McAvoy), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), and the rest try to protect her.
Dark Phoenix turned out to be a box office bomb, with its critical reception not being much better, as it was widely agreed that Simon Kinberg’s directorial debut ended the franchise with a whimper more than a bang. But it might be worth revisiting when it hits Disney Plus in a couple of weeks if you haven’t seen it since its theatrical release, as some hardcore fans did rally behind it, appreciating it stripped-back scale and darker tone.
