X-Men: Dark Phoenix is coming in 2018, following up on the events of its predecessor, X-Men: Apocalypse. So far, little information has been revealed about the movie, but that’s beginning to change thanks to an upcoming issue of Empire, which features a peculiar image of Magneto in dire straits.
The image in question shows Magneto in a beaten, bloodied and unconscious state while a slew of armed individuals attempt to detain him. It’s a mysterious image, especially considering how powerful Magneto is. There has to be more to the story, but we won’t find out the full context until we actually watch the movie.
Empire’s next issue will have a big three-page feature on the movie’s titular character: Jean Gray. The character was mildly rebooted in the last X-Men movie, and it will now explore her Dark Phoenix storyline, which was infamously butchered in X-Men: The Last Stand.
Here is Empire’s description of the movie, shedding some light on the main plot:
X-Men: Dark Phoenix allows Writer-director-producer Simon Kinberg to right a wrong he still feels from his past with the X-movies, when the Dark Phoenix storyline was subsumed into a larger plot of X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006.
This film is set in 1992, roughly a decade after Apocalypse and finds the X-Men dealing with being heroes. An unfortunate side effect is how that fuels Charles Xavier’s (James McAvoy) ego. He starts sending the team on more dangerous missions, including one to space that ends with Grey going to some very dark places. “It’s about duality,” Turner tells us, “darkness and light, this sense of her being a completely other person and struggling with that…”
Aside from Michael Fassbender and Sophie Turner, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult and Tye Sheridan will reprise their roles with Jessica Chastain joining the cast for the first time.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix will arrive in theaters November 2, 2018.
