After a bit of malaise, Fox's X-Men film series appeared to be back on the right track with 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past. Produced and written by Simon Kinberg, it looked as if Kinberg was being set up to be the studio's lead X-Men creative, as he was also picked to produce and write 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse.
That film was universally panned, but Kinberg was given another chance as he produced, wrote, and directed 2019's Dark Phoenix, the franchise's second attempt to cover the 1980 Dark Phoenix Saga, from writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne.
Unlike Apocalypse, which still turned a small profit despite poor reviews, Dark Phoenix was a commercial flop in addition to being eviscerated by critics and audiences alike.
Since then, Kinberg has moved on to other projects, and the X-Men are now back in the hands of Marvel Studios and Disney.
While speaking to JoBlo about his role as executive producer on Apple TV+’s Invasion, Kinberg reflected on what he would do differently with the Dark Phoenix Saga, in hindsight.
"The idea of doing Dark Phoenix as a series is fascinating because what I felt in constructing the movie, and even initially when writing the movie, was that it required more than one movie to tell that story," said Kinberg in response to a question on whether the Dark Phoenix saga is better suited for the episodic format of television.
Kinberg added, "I think to do it in a way that was really loyal to the comic is to make it as intergalactic as the book and to really get into the Hellfire Club. There’s so many different aspects of the story, right? They have to be excised when you’re telling a two-hour version of it. But, the idea of doing a four-hour, if it were two movies or doing an eight-hour limited series or 10 hours, would really allow you to get into all of the different elements of the original book and original run."
An element of the story that both of Fox's cinematic attempts overlook is the galactic nature of the story.
In the comics, the Phoenix is a cosmic entity that is considered the embodiment of creation and the nexus of all psionic energy from the past, present, and future. The story involves the M'Kraan Crystal, Starjammers, the Shi'ar Empire, and the Kree and Skrulls.
None of these elements are ever explored in the films as Fox's adaptations always asserted that the Phoenix's abilities are inherent powers that Jean Grey was born with.
Now that the X-Men are back with Marvel Studios, do you want to see Kevin Feige and co. explore the Phoneix storyline or are you hopeful that lesser-known X-Men storylines are explored? Let us know in the comment section below.