Dark Phoenix ended an era for the X-Men franchise, and unfortunately, it didn't end on a high
note.
From rotten reviews to disappointing box office receipts, this superhero sequel is far from
super, and the writing was on the wall long before it arrived in theaters.
Here's a spoiler-filled look at why Dark Phoenix bombed.
In late January 2019, Dark Phoenix's test screenings bombed dramatically.
20th Century Fox knew they had to fix it.
But in spite of extensive reshoots, including major changes to the climax because of perceived
similarities to the ending of another superhero film, critics still savaged Dark Phoenix,
which earned a Rotten Tomatoes score so low, it's on par with disasters like 2015's Fantastic
Four, 2004's Catwoman, and the Titanic, not the movie, the actual ship.
Brian Tallerico at RogerEbert.com summed things up, simply calling the film
"...a joyless, lifeless, boring affair."
That's not good.
Even if critical response had been better, Dark Phoenix faced an uphill battle at the
theater thanks to strong competition from hit films John Wick: Chapter 3, Disney's live
action remake of Aladdin, and The Secret Life of Pets 2.
And with box office juggernaut Avengers: Endgame still in theaters, even superhero fans had
other options.
Dark Phoenix could have avoided these problems if it had debuted in February as originally
planned, but according to reports, Fox moved it to make room for another bomb, at least
domestically, Alita: Battle Angel.
Way to double down, guys.
You could argue that the fate of Dark Phoenix was sealed way back in December 2017 when
it was announced that Disney was planning to acquire 20th Century Fox.
Because that kind of made Dark Phoenix a lame duck.
"Gross."
No, not that lame duck.
But even Howard benefits from being part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
These days, superhero fans love shared universes.
The idea of bringing the X-Men into the MCU is exciting.
But it also made Dark Phoenix seem kind of pointless, as fans really just want to see
what the new Marvel version of the team is going to look like, especially since, other
than Logan, the quality of the MCU films has been so much higher than most of Fox's X-Men
offerings.
The X-Men series has had more ups and downs than a roller coaster.
After hitting rock bottom with 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, the franchise rebounded in
a big way with the 2011 prequel X-Men: First Class and its follow-up, 2014's ambitious
time travel epic X-Men: Days of Future Past.
But things went sour very fast in 2016 with X-Men: Apocalypse.
Disappointing fans and critics alike, the film was poorly received and failed to break
even at the domestic box office, earning most of its money overseas.
As a result, Dark Phoenix started in a hole to begin with, as it had to convince viewers
to return to a franchise that had already disappointed them, and it clearly failed to
do so.
One of the most disappointing aspects of Dark Phoenix is the relative absence of Quicksilver.
A fan favorite who stole scenes in both Days of Future Past and Apocalypse, Quicksilver
is sidelined early on in Dark Phoenix and gets almost no screen time.
There's not even a resolution to the long-running subplot that he is secretly the son of Magneto.
And then there's the absence of Wolverine.
On the one hand, Hugh Jackman made it clear that he's done playing Logan, so there's basically
no chance he would have been in the film.
"Eventually, you're going to hang up the claws, and it's going to make a lot of people very
sad."
"Huh?"
On the other hand, well…Dark Phoenix really needed him.
The only real argument otherwise is the fact that even Jackman couldn't save things the
last time they made a movie from this story.
Speaking of that...
Dark Phoenix loosely adapts the classic Marvel storyline "The Dark Phoenix Saga."Sound familiar?
"It's Phoenix.
Phoenix Dark.
Dirk.
Phoenix."
Well, if it seems familiar it might be because the same story was also adapted in 2006's
X-Men: The Last Stand.
Yes, despite more than 55 years worth of stories to choose from, Fox for some reason decided
to adapt the same story twice, even though The Last Stand was widely disliked by fans
and critics alike.
Why repeat the same mistake?
It's just weird.
With X-Men premiering in 2000 and Dark Phoenix acting as the series finale, the X-Men franchise
is ending as it's just about to turn 20 years old.
It's arguably ending later than it should have.
The box office landscape has changed a lot since X-Men was first released, and franchise
fatigue has set in.
Marvel has the benefit of multiple franchises; you don't get tired of the Avengers, because
in between those films you get the Guardians of the Galaxy, or Black Panther, to mix things
up.
But at Fox, it's all X-Men all the time.
If anything, spinoff hits like Logan and Deadpool proved just how tired the X-Men formula has
become, as both of those movies succeeded by intentionally doing something different
and playing off of expectations.
Dark Phoenix, on the other hand, is exactly what you thought, and feared, it was.
It's a sad way for the franchise to end, but it's also a happy occasion for fans to see
the characters move over to the MCU.
It's long past due for Marvel's mutants to come home and realize their full potential.
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