Dark Phoenix featurettes look back on the legacy of X-Men films, comics

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Last week we reported that Fox was planning to release a slew of new content on X-Men Day, which was set for this very day, Monday the 13th. Wouldn’t you know it, Fox has delivered on their promise and dropped several new featurettes for the upcoming X-Men movie, DARK PHOENIX, with each one looking back on the legacy of both the movie series dating back to the first in 2000 and the classic comic book arc that inspired this latest outing.

[SEE MORE]

The first video assembles cast members from all the past X-Men movies, including Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender, Patrick Stewart, Sophie Turner and more, with each giving a little blurb about what they think makes the series as a whole so exceptional. “The very first X-MEN changed comic book movies,” says Jackman.

Next up, the Marvel Icons video features comic book heavyweights Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson, the former writing “The Dark Phoenix Saga” the movie is based on. Claremont recalls the call he got from Stan Lee upon being hired at Marvel, doing a pitch-perfect impression that reaffirms everything we love about the Marvel honcho. More importantly, the writer spoke about how Lee inspired him when it came to crafting character drama. “That was the thing I learned I guess from Stan; Actions have consequences.”

[SEE MORE]

Finally, a third video does something similar to the first and recalls the legacy of the movie series, trying to hint that everything that we’ve seen since the first movie in 2000 (including another take on Dark Phoenix in X-MEN: THE LAST STAND) has been leading to this latest movie. I wouldn't say anything has been building up to DARK PHOENIX like, say, an Avengers movie, but they certainly have churned out a ton of mutant-centric movies over the years.

Given that we will soon be on the edge of new actors taking on these roles as the series is expected to be absorbed into the MCU, taking a look back on this series of films puts a lot into perspective. Though there have been a lot of highs and lows, the X-Men series deserves a ton of props for keeping things going for almost 20 years with hit after hit. There have less-than-stellar entries like X-MEN ORIGINS and all the way to Oscar-nominated hits like LOGAN, which is a pretty wide and impressive swath to cover. Lord knows how DARK PHOENIX turns out, but as a fan, I'm excited to see where the series goes next. More colorful costumes, perhaps?

 DARK PHOENIX is in theaters June 7.