Man, we have had a lot of X-Men films. So many, in fact, that it’s becoming very difficult to remember who appeared in what film, in what timeline, and in what story arc. One of the more confusing and interesting arcs is that of Jean Grey, played by Famke Janssen in the first three films that ended with The Last Stand.
Grey is now portrayed by Sophie Turner, who takes on the mantle in the new series. While X-Men: Apocalypse only spent a small fraction of its runtime on investigating the arc of Grey’s character as she grapples with her powers, there’s a good chance that future films will hasten to turn her into the Dark Phoenix.
At least, that’s what has been implied by both Turner and writer Simon Kinberg in a recent interview with EW:
“The seeds of Phoenix definitely are planted in there,” says Turner. “She can’t control her powers unless she either fully stops them or lets them all loose, and that’s kind of Phoenix. I think in future movies to come we’ll definitely see a bit more of that.”
Kinberg, meanwhile, seems very eager to take on writing about the Dark Phoenix, saying that he would “love to take another stab” at the story, which he felt didn’t happen in the last round with Janssen in the part.
Bryan Singer, though, told Collider that he’s not sure how he would deal with the Phoenix story this time around.
COLLIDER: I’ve got to ask you about Jean Grey. In X2 you teased sort of building up to the Phoenix story but we never got to see you execute your version of that story, so now that Jean Grey is back on the board either in this movie or in the future do you have any desire to play out a Phoenix story of your own?
SINGER: The full Phoenix story, I have no idea. I would have to re-explore that. If it’s already been explored, to re-explore and retell it. Plus the Phoenix story in the comic book has the Shi’ar Empire and the moon.
COLLIDER: Right and there’s the Celestials and space.
SINGER: With that you never know, but as far as the idea of that brewing within her, without giving anything away I would say absolutely that interests me and you may find a piece of that in this film.
Of course, it’s more than likely that the series will need to turn Grey into the Phoenix and the Dark Phoenix eventually, but one hopes that Kinberg and Singer won’t jump the gun on this one. After all, Janssen at least had time to develop Grey’s character before undergoing the transformation, even if The Last Stand wasted a lot of her potential. What with the plethora of characters and character arcs running around in the recent X-Men films, some time really should be spent on developing those arcs before diving into new ones.
