A new X-Men: Dark Phoenix image appears to show James McAvoy’s Professor Charles Xavier, Kodi Smit-McPhee’s Nightcrawler, Tye Sheridan’s Cyclops, and Alexandra Shipp’s Storm coming together for a funeral scene. All four of the characters are dressed in black and are carrying black umbrellas.
Take a look:
It’s unclear who they are mourning. It could be a number of characters. The most obvious might be Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey. In the comics Jean Grey takes her own life with a Kree weapon after she loses control of the Phoenix entity residing within her.
However, it is unlikely that Fox would want to kill off Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey so quickly. Another possible character that dies could be Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique. Mystique took center stage in X-Men: Days of Future Past as well as X-Men: Apocalypse. She ends up preventing the dystopian future where mutants are ruthlessly hunted by the Manhunters in Days of Future Past and then leads the team to take on Apocalypse in X-Men: Apocalypse. Her death would definitely be a reason to gather to mourn.
It’s also possible they could be mourning the death of Magneto. A recent photo from the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix film shows Magneto beaten and defeated. It’s unclear if he’s dead. If he is the X-Men may be mourning the death of Erik Lehnsherr.
Maybe the character most notably missing from the photo aside from Mystique is Nicholas Hoult’s Beast. Beast has been a stalwart for Charles Xavier. He joined him immediately during X-Men: First Class and stayed with him during his troubled times in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Beast also helped the team take on Apocalypse. It’s possible he might have met his end in the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix film. It’s quite possible Beast dies while the team is sent on a space rescue mission.
Newly released plot details reveal that Professor Xavier sends the X-Men on increasingly dangerous missions. The latest involves a space rescue. However, it goes awry when the team is struck by a solar flare and awakens the Phoenix inside Jean Grey. It’s more than likely Beast will be piloting the X-Men’s spacecraft and he could die in the ensuing solar flare.
Who do you think the X-Men are mourning? Do you think all of them will make it out alive?