When Magneto returns in X-Men: Dark Phoenix, he may have a new role. Nerdist reports the character will have a new outfit in the film, which suggests his connection to an infamous group of mutants. This rumor may contain potential spoilers for the upcoming film, so read on at your own risk!
According to the report, Magneto will wear a costume that is "meant to suggest the imagery commonly associated with cult leaders." As such, the report speculates that X-Men: Dark Phoenix will introduce the Acolytes, or a group of militant mutants who believe in Magneto's creed that mutants are superior to humans. First appearing in Chris Claremont and Jim Lee's X-Men #1 in 1991, the Acolytes have boasted such members as Colossus, Quicksilver, Fenris, Omega Red and more. In the team's original incarnation, their ringleader Fabian Cortez used Magneto's alleged death to make him a martyr and lionize his human-hating ideals. In the comics, the Acolytes have long been seen as a group of mutant supervillains.
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Additionally, the report indicates that Dark Phoenix will also use Genosha as a setting. After debuting in Uncanny X-Men #235, the island nation took on a prominent role in 90s X-Men comics when Magneto claimed it as his own. He soon made Genosha a mutant homeland, where mutants could live free of persecution. Ultimately, Genosha and its inhabitants were obliterated by Sentinels; it has never again been fully operational.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix will recount the events that turned the psychic mutant Jean Grey into the all-powerful celestial creature Phoenix, as portrayed in the Dark Phoenix Saga comic book arc that ran from January to October in 1980. In the comic book storyline, Magneto never witnesses Jean in her full Dark Phoenix state, though he does meet her just after she "returns to life" as Phoenix. If this report is any indication, however, Magneto may feel the full force of the Dark Phoenix in the upcoming film.
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Written and directed by longtime franchise producer Simon Kinberg, X-Men: Dark Phoenix will adapt the seminal 1980 Marvel Comics storyline “The Dark Phoenix Saga.”
Opening Nov. 2, 2018, X-Men: Dark Phoenix stars James McAvoy as Charles Xavier, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Alexandra Ship as Storm, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler.