Report: X-Men Dark Phoenix Footage Questions The Name of the X-Men at New York Comic Con
Jorge Arenas
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At New York Comic Con, a new report indicates Fox’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix revealed new footage including the idea of changing the iconic X-Men team name to X-Women.
A new report from ComicBook reveals that Fox’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix screened footage of the film at New York Comic Con.
The footage appears to be the opening sequence of the film. It confirms much of the rumors involving Charles Xavier sending the X-Men into space on a rescue mission to save a number of astronauts who appear to have gotten mixed up with the Phoenix Force.
However, as the clip came to a close Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique is debriefing with Charles Xavier about the rescue mission. The two appear to get in a disagreement about the level of risk Xavier is putting the X-Men in.
But Xavier tells her, “It’s all just a means to an end. We’re one bad day away from them seeing us as the enemies again.” Raven allegedly doesn’t buy it and makes some comments regarding how the X-Men are conforming. But Xavier doesn’t relent stating, “it’s a small price to pay.”
As the conversation comes to a close, Mystique quips, “And by the way, the women are always saving the men around here. You might want to consider changing the name to X-Women!”
Now let’s provide some context of the ensuing rescue mission before taking a deep dive into this quip.
Space The Final Frontier
The scene starts with one of NASA’s space shuttles launching into space. It doesn’t take long before it encounters problems. The President of the United States calls Professor X on a private phone that’s designated “X” to request help from the X-Men.
Xavier accepts the mission and sends Nightcrawler, Beast, Quicksilver, Cyclops, Storm, and Jean Grey on the mission. They are led by Mystique.
However, Beast informs Professor X, the X-jet is not equipped for space travel. Jean is also reluctant about the mission, but is convinced by Mystique to suit up.
Professor X begins to monitor the situation from Cerebro where he’s able to find out what happened to the NASA ship.
X-Men In Action
Once the X-Men reach the stranded NASA ship they encounger a golden, glowing entity in the atmosphere. However, they are focused on rescuing the astronauts and their ship, which is doing donuts in orbit.
Cyclops blasts the ship in order to stop it from spinning. This allows Nightcrawler to teleport inside with Quicksilver. Quicksilver gathers up all of the astronauts while Storm works to seal the cracks in the shuttle that have been forming.
After saving the astronauts, they inform the X-Men that their commander is still on board. Nightcrawler transports Jean Grey and Quicksilver back to the shuttle. Jean uses her psychic powers to keep the shuttle together. Quicksilver creates a space suit for Nightcrawler, who then begins searching for the commander. He finds the commander and is able to get him and Quicksilver back to the X-Jet.
The Phoenix Force
Jean Grey isn’t able to make it back, but instead is consumed by golden flames. However, Charles is still able to track her through Cerebro and he is able to see that Jean absorbs a destructive force that was about to consume her friends. After absorbing this force, Jean is at the epicenter of a massive explosion that leaves her floating through space. As she floats, you can see the cosmic force enter her body.
Nightcrawler then rescues Jean and teleports her back onto the ship where you see a gold glow in her eyes fade as she comes to.
The X-Men then head back to Earth where they are praised as heroes. That’s when Raven and Charles Xavier have their discussion.
X-Women
Now that you have that context, Mystique’s comments make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Yes, Jean was able to absorb the Phoenix Force and save her friends, but Quicksilver, Cyclops, and Nightcrawler all performed key roles in saving the astronauts.
And if you want to look back even further into the X-Men franchise, Mystique is the whole reason why Days of Future Past occurred. They had to go back and change time because she decided to murder Bolivar Trask which turned humanity against mutants and saw them hunted like animals by Sentinels. Did Mystique eventually change her mind? Yes, but it was because of persuasion done by Xavier, Wolverine, and Beast.
In Days of Future Past, it takes an entire team to take down Apocalypse. Does Jean Grey land the final blow? Yes, but Xavier, Magneto, Storm, and Cyclops all contribute to the final fight.
There doesn’t seem to be any reason to change the name.
What do you think of all of this? Does a bit more information about X-Men: Dark Phoenix help make you more confident about how the Dark Phoenix Saga will play out on screen? Or are you still on the fence? Do you think Mystique’s comments indicate a larger theme in the film?
X-Men: Dark Phoenix makes its way to theaters on June 7, 2019.
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