Nomad Mystic There and Back Again

Warning: SPOILERS for Night Phoenix are ahead!

In its well-nigh two decades of existence, the Ten-Men franchise was full of highs and lows, and one of the offenders in the latter category was the lack of continuity. From multiple versions of the same graphic symbol existing within these movies to certain events and twists going unexplained, this mutant-filled serial was never one to follow a straight and cohesive narrative path.

1 attempt to rectify this problem came in 2014 with X-Men: Days of Future By, which saw Wolverine traveling back to 1973 and changing the franchise's timeline. Granted, there were still some continuity issues to follow, simply at to the lowest degree in this revised timeline, rather than being hunted by Sentinels, things were peaceful for the X-Men in 2023. Unfortunately, with the way the recently-released Night Phoenix concludes, it's incredibly hard to line up how events go from that ending to the brighter Days of Future Past time to come (for the sake of argument, let's assume that Logan takes place in a separate timeline).

X-Men Days of Future past Wolverine with Jean Grey and Cyclops

In the revised 10-Men timeline that came to be at the cease of 10-Men: Days of Future Past, Xavier's School of Gifted Youngsters is still running, with Tempest, Beast, Kitty Pryde and Colossus all teaching young mutants, and Wolverine learning that he's a history instructor. Professor X is withal the headmaster of the schoolhouse, and the biggest surprise was that Cyclops and Jean Grayness were still alive.

Now allow's cut to Dark Phoenix, which ended with Jean Grey taking Vuk, the leader of the D'Bari, into space and killing the alien as she reabsorbed the stolen Phoenix force. And then, with her full potential unleashed, Jean disappeared into a fiery blaze of glory, although a flaming phoenix appeared in the sky in the flick's terminal infinitesimal.

In the aftermath of the X-Men's conflict with Jean and the D'Bari aboard the Mutant Containment Unit train, Professor X's school was renamed the Jean Grey School for Gifted Youngsters, and Charles himself finally retired from fighting for mutant rights and joined his old friend Erik Lensherr, a.one thousand.a. Magneto, for a game of chess in France. Back at the school, Hank McCoy, a.k.a Beast, took over as headmaster, a function he more than deserves afterwards all those years spent by Xavier'southward side.

Obviously a changed timeline meant that events will not unfold the same mode. That was immediately obvious with Cyclops and Jean Gray being back at the end of Days of Future Past, and plain Night Phoenix's mere being reaffirms that, as Jean Grey's corruption this time around is much different than what happened in X-Men: The Final Stand .

All the same, fifty-fifty with these changed events, logically speaking, it's incredibly difficult to believe that with the mode Night Phoenix ends, we're still on the path to that futurity shown at the end of X-Men: Days of Future Past. The renaming of the school isn't an issue since the exterior of the building in 2023 was never shown, and neither is Beast and Storm nevertheless teaching in that location. No, the trouble is where Professor X and Jean Grey are left at the terminate of Dark Phoenix.

Allow'due south start with Jean. Information technology's clear when Dark Phoenix wraps up that her fellow X-Men believe she'due south dead, but the sighting of that flaming phoenix is a not-so-subtle indicator she's still alive. And that'due south par for the class when it comes to comic book storytelling; most of the time, the characters never stay permanently dead.

Only how specifically does Jean find her way back into the X-Men's lives? Was her reemergence intended to be another big upshot or does she just come back to the X-Mansion, say, "Hey, guys, I'm back and definitely not feeling murder-y anymore" and everything goes dorsum to normal? There's a lot left to the imagination that bluntly would

As far every bit Professor X is concerned, the fact that he retired from working towards improving mutants' lives flies in the face of him still instruction at the at present-Jean Gray Schoolhouse for Gifted Youngsters in Days of Future Past. Why should we come across Xavier's decision to stride downward after acknowledging all the mistakes he'd made equally graphic symbol growth when we know he'll eventually exist dorsum to his usual routine. Bold that Wolverine still joins the X-Men in this revised timeline around the same time he did in the original timeline (i.e. circa 2000), then that means Xavier will exist back to overseeing the team of mutant superheroes within ten years or so.

Absolutely, a lot can happen in iii decades. Maybe Professor X decided retirement wasn't for him and he decided to return to working towards bettering life for mutants. And I could believe that… if we actually saw that happen.

The same goes for Jean Grayness; it'd exist easier to consume her rejoining the 10-Men if we saw more than of her redemptive arc. Aye, she did save her teammates at the terminate of Nighttime Phoenix, but she's even so a long way off towards resuming anything close to a normal life, especially if she'south dealing with the Phoenix Forcefulness.

All this leads me to believe that, despite what Simon Kinberg and others have said about how Dark Phoenix was ever intended to be the end of the Ten-Men franchise (not accounting for The New Mutants, which is still scheduled for release), it was initially planned for the movie to get a sequel, ane where Jean's Phoenix arc would have been properly ended and Professor X would take returned to action. Notwithstanding, once Disney'due south purchase of Play tricks was finalized, those plans were thrown out the window since Marvel is expected to reboot that property to fit within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Which leaves usa here, where one has to do a lot of mental legwork to lay out how the new X-Men timeline tin progress from Dark Phoenix to the future in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Despite Dark Phoenix being an incredibly rough scout, I would have welcomed a follow-up where all the pieces were properly in place for that future we saw in 2014. On the other hand, possibly it would have been better if this franchise had just ended on a high notation with Days of Hereafter Past.

Let us know your thoughts on Dark Phoenix in the comments below, and stay tuned for any updates concerning what the MCU plans to do with the X-Men in the coming years. Don't forget to also program your trips to the theater later this yr accordingly with our 2019 release schedule.