X-Men: Dark Phoenix set-photos find Magneto & Professor X playing chess

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

More often than not, you can count on an X-MEN film to contain a scene in which Professor X (Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy) and Magneto (Ian McKellen, Michael Fassbender) engage in philosophical discussions over a game of chess, and it seems that X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX will be continuing that tradition. The upcoming film is currently in the midst of reshoots in Montreal and some new photos from the set have revealed the latest chess match between the two powerful mutants.

We haven't seen all that much from the upcoming X-MEN film yet, but we can probably expect to see the first official trailer for the film before too long. X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX will find much of the cast of the previous film returning, including James McAvoy as Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Sophie Turner as Jean Grey/Phoenix, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops, Alexandra Shipp as Storm, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler, and Evan Peters as Quicksilver. They'll be joined by Jessica Chastain who will be playing an otherworldly shapeshifter who manipulates Phoenix for her own agenda. The film will also be opening with a bang, as the X-Men are dispatched on a rescue mission which takes them into space, but when a solar flare collides with their vessel, Jean Grey (Turner) uses her power to save the team only to find that the extreme surge of energy unlocks the power of the Phoenix. Evan Peters has previously teased that X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX will be much darker than the X-MEN films we've seen before.

I think it’s the classic X-Men: First Class tone, where there’s a bit of humor thrown in there, but it’s much darker than the previous one, Apocalypse. Apocalypse was the ‘80s, so there was a lot of room for goofy stuff in there. This one is a much more serious film about the internal struggle of Phoenix and Jean, so it’s a dramatic film. There’s nothing very comedic about it, other than the few moments that are in there. I think it’s gonna be a powerful one. It’s Dark Phoenix. I think it’s gonna be darker than we’re used to. It’s gonna be a change, but it’s gonna be fun for everybody. 

X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX will hit theaters on February 14, 2019.