Fox sets dates for X-Men’s Dark Phoenix, New Mutants and Deadpool 2

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Today, Fox updated their upcoming slate dates with several reveals, including their Marvel mutant franchises, to include the long-rumored DARK PHOENIX and NEW MUTANTS, as well as a slight shift for DEADPOOL 2.

Last summer's X-MEN: APOCALYPSE was met with mixed feelings, but the next entry is pushing forth and tackling perhaps the biggest X-Men story from the comics, The Dark Phoenix Saga. You may cringingly recall that the story was somewhat tackled on the big screen before in X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, which starred Famke Janssen as Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix and was received less than enthusiastically by critics and fans when it debuted in 2006. However, writer/producer Simon Kinberg, who is rumored to direct this next iteration said that he would tackle it differently if given the chance. "I'm a huge fan of The Dark Phoenix story, and I felt like there was a lot that we didn't do in X-Men: The Last Stand, which was based on the Phoenix story. [Things] that if we were so lucky to get another chance, we would do differently."

Looks like he may well get that chance if he is indeed directing, as DARK PHOENIX is now dated for release on November 2nd, 2018. Either way, we'll get a new version of this classic tale, so fingers crossed that they're able to pull it off properly this time around.

Next up is another long-rumored project; Josh Boone's adaptation of NEW MUTANTS, which is now slated for an April 13th, 2018 release. Created by Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod, the New Mutants are a band of young mutants comprised of members like Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Warlock, Sunspot, Boom Boom, Rictor, Warpath, Shatterstar, and others. Boone released an animatic of the film that teased some characters and a potential villain last year (see below), which gives an early look at the direction they're headed for the spinoff.

Lastly, DEADPOOL 2 shifts from June 29th, 2018 to June 1st, 2018 and is expected to begin production early this summer. We've already gotten an early peek at how that's progressing with director David Leitch at the helm as well as the recently announced cast additons of Josh Brolin as Cable and Zazie Beetz as Domino. 

I'm happy to see Fox capitalizing on the Marvel mutant franchise and pressing forward with some ambitious plans. With Singer stepping away from the main X-Men series I think it could breathe some new life into the series and NEW MUTANTS offers the opportunity to introduce some new characters in the universe without being bound to the other films. DEADPOOL 2 speaks for itself and most of us are simply excited to see what they do. Love it or hate it, Marvel's mutants are invading theaters in 2018, putting up some competiton for the MCU and DCEU flicks also on deck that year.