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Dark Phoenix Director Says Thor: Ragnarok Inspired the Film, Apologizes for X-Men 3


Simon Kinberg may have been involved with the X-Men films for a while, but Dark Phoenix will be the first movie to have him at the helm. During a panel at NYCC, Kinberg talks about the character arc of Jean Grey in the next movie and even apologizes for how the Dark Phoenix arc was tackled in X-Men: The Last Stand.

As per Entertainment Weekly, Kinberg explained:

"I'm sorry for X-Men 3… We tried to tell the Dark Phoenix story and we didn't do it properly. So, with this Dark Phoenix story there is no ‘cure' plot, there is no other plot. It is the Dark Phoenix story, as told in comics, as told in the cartoons. Sophie is the center of the film, that's why she's the one person that's in the teaser poster. The entire movie revolves around her."

Kinberg then goes on to talk about how the movie's tone was inspired by Taika Waititi's work on Thor: Ragnarok. He continues:

"[Dark Phoenix is] a movie that goes into space and is cosmic, very much inspired actually by what [Taika Waititi] did with Thor — even though the tone is totally different — but just the ability to make a character movie that still feels grounded, and fun, but is in whole other universes. Jessica Chastain's character plays an alien, and that's all I can tell you about that. But, yeah, it's the Dark Phoenix story and if you've read that comic I think you're going to like the movie a lot."

With Fox set to merge with Disney next year, rumor has come out that Dark Phoenix will actually end the main timeline of X-Men. This comes as good news for some fans since that means there's now room to reboot the entire franchise with Marvel Studios.

Dark Phoenix, however, isn't the last Fox mutant film. Next year will still see the release of New Mutants, plus, it's still unclear what's going to happen with Ryan Reynolds and the announced X-Force movie with Drew Goddard at the helm.

Catch X-Men: Dark Phoenix when it hits theaters Feb. 14, 2019.

See Also: X-Force: Ryan Reynolds X-Men Film Might Be Fox's Next Major Project

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