Mike Eakins
When comic fans hear the word X-Men there’s a potential for volatility in the discussion. Usually brought on by comic stories and how they’re told or by the art that helps the story along. However, the past decade and a half those arguments have been fueled by the Fox movie adaptations. Fox’s latest X-Men offering, Dark Phoenix is no exception. At this year’s WonderCon in Anaheim, CA during a panel featuring cast and crew of the movie, they took to the stage armed with a brand new trailer with hopes of winning over fans and critics alike. Debuting on June 7 of this year, Dark Phoenix has already been put on the proverbial ropes by critics. Riding on the coattails of the ill-received X-Men: Apocalypse, director Simon Kinberg and producer Hutch Parker said: “You let us know when we got it wrong”. Parker, while praising the classic X-Men comics, said the franchise stumbled when it didn’t hew to the source material: “The underlying material is just so good and frankly it’s better than we’ve been as storytellers in some cases. This is a film that aspires to try to tackle the potential of all of that while honoring the legacy and the characters.” The new footage was met with rabid cheers and applause. With Kinberg and Parker at the helm stakes are as high as ever to “get it right”, especially with the beloved cult classic tale of the Dark Phoenix.