MCU Should Bench One X-Men Character Already Torpedoed by Dark Phoenix
Fans are hoping Marvel won't be doing the Dark Phoenix saga in the MCU any time soon, saying there are plenty of other great X-Men stories to adapt.
Exciting times are ahead for MCU fans as the X-Men join the universe.
Audiences have already witnessed Patrick Stewart's surprise cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, gotten excited about Hugh Jackman 's return as Wolverine for Deadpool 3, and debated whether Namor, the Sub-Mariner in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, was a mutant.
And fans are hungry for more. However, there is one character that the majority of viewers would rather Marvel did not include in the MCU.
Jean Grey is one of the most important characters in X-Men, with one of the most prominent arcs. Professor Xavier's student has powerful empathic and telepathic abilities, as well as telekinetic powers. The character is usually associated with a powerful cosmic being, the Phoenix.
The Dark Phoenix Saga, an extended X-Men comic book storyline, revolves around the Phoenix Force and Jean Grey becoming its host. Corrupted by the power of the Phoenix, Jean becomes the antagonist, causing destruction and death. Eventually, Jean Grey's conscience causes the Phoenix to sacrifice herself to prevent further destruction.
The story has been adapted twice by 20th Century Fox for 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand and 2019's Dark Phoenix. However, the Dark Phoenix saga has proven to be a difficult story to adapt.
Neither film won the favour of X-Men fans. The Last Stand was criticised by fans for cramming two different storylines into its running time. Instead of focusing on the Dark Phoenix saga, the filmmakers added another storyline based on the comic book arc Gifted, which revolves around a cure for mutants.
Dark Phoenix became one of the biggest box office bombs of all time. It was widely criticised for its script, pacing, character development and lack of faithfulness to the lore.
Given these two failed attempts to bring the Dark Phoenix saga to the big screen, MCU fans feel that the story has been done to death and needs to sit for a while before trying again.
Besides, there are so many other great X-Men stories from the 55+ years of the franchise that avoiding the Dark Phoenix saga shouldn't be a problem. It looks like Marvel would be fulfilling the wishes of the fans if they didn't bring Jean Grey's powerful alter-ego Dark Phoenix into the MCU.