20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox has been in the superhero game for a long time. Before Tobey Maguire did everything a spider can, before Robert Downey Jr. was Iron Man, and before the Avengers assembled, there were the X-Men. The franchise hasn’t always maintained the most dedicated fanbase or consistent level of quality, but, it’s important to remember that without the original film, released all the way back at the turn of the millennium, the golden age of superheroes wouldn’t exist today in its current form (if at all).
This summer’s Avengers: Endgame, a mammoth culmination of 22 films spread over a decade of film making, is a testament to what Marvel Studios have achieved. The popular series has incorporated some of the world’s most renowned actors into its bonkers playground, while also creating stars that will go down in history.
It seems strangely appropriate then, that things have come now full circle. After kickstarting the Marvel renaissance, the X-Men have finally come home. Like Thanos and the Infinity Stones, the mouse-shaped conglomerate continues its quest to collect every valuable IP in media, and ultimately take over Hollywood entirely. Their latest conquest, of course, came with the acquisition of 20th Century Fox, meaning that their comic book assets now fall under Disney’s umbrella. As a result, this marks the end of the series that began almost twenty years ago, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix will now bring things to a close. Let’s take a look at how the franchise has evolved over the years, and what the future might hold for everyone’s favourite (not-so-merry) band of mutants.
20th Century Fox
After 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, the studios first attempt at tackling the Dark Phoenix storyline, the franchise began its decline in regards to critical reception and public interest. The original trilogy had concluded, the first spin-off had floundered, and the future looked bleak. This called for a drastic change, in order to shake things up in an increasingly competitive market that had already been exposed to Iron Man and the Dark Knight.
Fresh off the huge success of the wonderfully violent, darkly comic Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn stepped in to reboot the X-Men. This resulted in ‘First Class’, a colourful and vibrant re-imagining set in the 1960s. The film brilliantly recounted the origin story of Professor Xavier and Eric Lensherr, through the eyes of James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. To this day, these young iterations of the characters made iconic by Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen, remain two of the best castings in comic book history. The chemistry between the two young leads echoed their predecessors, and also brought a brand new dynamic as they crafted the beginnings of their famous friendship on screen.
While the story revolved around a fictionalized version of history, by intertwining the rise of mutants with the Cuban missile crisis, it was still a refreshingly fun and light-hearted affair. Vaughn maintained the deep, intriguing nature of the characters, while also juxtaposing Xavier’s privileged upbringing with Lensherr’s childhood as a prisoner of war. Stan Lee’s inspiration for the characters was said to be Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, which effectively displays the message at play here. Vaughn truly understood these characters in a way that had not been fully realised on screen before. Take That’s ‘Love Love’ headlined the soundtrack of the film, as he described the relationship between these two morally opposed friends as ‘a love story’. This beautiful, well-performed dynamic would go on to hold the series up for the next eight years.
20th Century Fox
By the time ‘Days of Future Past’ rolled around three years later, Vaughn had departed the sequel in favour of Kingsman: The Secret Service. As many will know, this created a new, massively successful franchise for Fox. Bryan Singer returned after launching the X-Men series in 2000 and brought us the critically acclaimed film that united both the original X-Men cast with the rebooted one.
Hugh Jackman’s fan-favourite Wolverine was brought back into the fold and repositioned as the anchor between two seemingly separate iterations of the same franchise. Originally marketed as a soft reboot with little connection to the old guard outside of their characters, ‘First Class’ was slightly retconned through this time-travelling adventure as a hard-prequel to previous entries. ‘Days of Future Past’ successfully managed to iron out continuity issues, and streamline the story into a more manageable, and cohesive set of films.
X-Men has never been a particularly upbeat or joyful narrative. But, with ‘Days of Future Past’ came a noticeable change in tone. This leaned towards the general aesthetic of the original trilogy, far more than the fun adventure we had seen just three years prior.
20th Century Fox
On the other hand, it could be seen as an oddly prophetic take on the planets political landscape. With rumours of Trump running for President, and a continued discontent from Britain towards Europe, perhaps a story about preventing a post-apocalyptic future was a little too real for a modern superhero movie. This is something that continued years later in the absolutely stunning swansong to Jackman’s tenure as Wolverine. Regardless of how audiences interpret this direction, and it’s experimental, socially-relevant relevant plot points, one can’t argue with the critical results. After all, Logan was the first comic book movie in history to be nominated for a ‘best-adapted screenplay’ Oscar.
While Deadpool and it’s screwball sequel went on to box office glory, making the character a bona fide pop-culture icon in the process, X-Men: Apocalypse continued down the path of darkness. Despite containing a fantastic cameo from Wolverine (albeit largely unnecessary), and another standout sequence from Quicksilver, the film received mixed reviews.
20th Century Fox
Originally marketed as a brooding character piece, before Disney took the reigns, ‘Dark Phoenix’ looks set to hypothetically combine the best aspects of the franchise. Between team-based action, humorous quips, high stakes, and strong performances, it would appear from trailers that Fox have got it right this time.
Ultimately, things could go either way with X-Men: Dark Phoenix. If the underappreciated series is destined to go out on a high note, then it is more than deserved for its daring accomplishments to the genre. If history is bound to repeat itself, then there’s a poetic irony to its downfall at the hands of the Phoenix for a second time. Either way, the gifted youngsters have now returned to Marvel, and audiences eagerly await the next era of mutants on the big screen.
X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX is released in UK theatres 5th June.
