Dark Phoenix's Story is Tough to Adapt in 2019

Dark Phoenix has been plagued by production setbacks, and it seems like fans have been waiting for both it and New Mutants to release for a long time. With the release date being moved a number of times due to reshoots and visual effects refinements, Dark Phoenix’s latest trailer really needed to assure fans that this film will be worth the wait. Unfortunately, the overall response was tepid.

There were a number of issues going into this retelling of the Dark Phoenix Saga from the comics. The first being that X-Men: The Last Stand attempted to tell this story, but it didn’t do it well -- one of the reasons for this was because the Dark Phoenix plotline of Jean’s resurrection was competing with the mutant cure plotline. While critics praised Famke Janssen’s performance, no one can say that the Dark Phoenix story reached its full potential.

However, can a story like Dark Phoenix’s succeed in 2019? Consider the fundamental plot from the comics: A young woman gets very powerful very fast, turns dark and sacrifices herself to save everyone. A story like this is difficult to tell in today’s climate, and there are a number of potential issues that the film could face.

The Phoenix Force Imagery

After the Dark Phoenix saga ended in Uncanny X-Men, Fantastic Four #286 made a significant change to the story to allow Jean Grey to come back. Jean uses a holempathic matrix crystal and relives taking control of the starship. The Phoenix Force approaches her in the shape of a woman and has a conversation with her. Jean herself says that, though she is afraid of the Phoenix’s power, she would “dance with the Devil himself” if it means she could save her friends and live.

So, instead of the Phoenix Force unlocking Jean’s potential in her own body, which we had assumed was the case, Jean makes a deal and allows this cosmic entity to create a doppelganger of herself. This is convenient for us to forgive Jean, since the real Jean isn’t the one that ate a star and caused an entire population to die. The real Jean was chilling at the bottom of Jamaica Bay for the Avengers to find later.

The film needs to tread carefully with how it portrays the Phoenix Force. On the one hand, while creating a doppelganger is a cop out solution to have drama without tarnishing a character’s reputation, it did give Jean the opportunity to give consent. From what we’ve seen briefly in the trailer, the Phoenix Force in the film absorbs into Jean’s body, creating cracks in her skin. Something this powerful invading someone’s body (while unconscious!) is a problematic image if it’s not in Jean’s control, as there is a natural comparison to be made with how assault is an ever-present problem for women.

NEXT PAGE: Fox Needs to Handle Dark Phoenix's Mental Health Storyline Very Carefully

The Mental Health Allegory

In Uncanny X-Men, Jean described the relationship between herself and Phoenix as, “separate… unique… bound together. A symbiote… Neither can exist without the other.” As for the film, Sophie Turner has said in interviews that she did a lot of research on schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder (which are often confused but not the same thing) to inform her performance. This is especially clear in the latest trailer, where Jean stares at her hands, shaking, and says, “Why did you make me do that?” as if talking to a separate person.

Here’s where it gets tricky. Characters with schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder are often vilified or killed in television and film. Most recently, we saw this is in Glass with the Horde’s personalities, played by James McAvoy. It is rare to see these disorders in a hero, and thus, 20th Century Fox needs to do this responsibly. If the Dark Phoenix is indeed an allegory for mental health, what message is it sending the people who do have this disorder if the character sacrifices herself as she does in the comics?

The Lack of Women Writers or Directors

The Phoenix and Dark Phoenix sagas were written in the late '70s and early '80s. Thus, it’s not a shock that these stories were written by men: Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Today, the push for more representation on- and off-screen continues to build. Superhero films like Black Panther and Wonder Woman have done wonders to show movie studios that diversity will only improve the genre.

Dark Phoenix is a story about a young woman in trauma, so it’s truly shocking to not have any women as writers or co-directors for this film. People gravitate to media that feels authentic to an experience, even in superhero films where there are powers and universal stakes. People cry during Patty Jenkins’ beautifully directed “No Man’s Land” scene in Wonder Woman because they recognize how important it is for women and people who identify as female to see a woman’s strength.

There are gender differences in the types of trauma one is likely to experience, as well as its lasting impact. The fact that there are no women involved in the writing or directing of Dark Phoenix means that it will be even more difficult for Jean’s trauma to be conveyed in an authentic way.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the latest trailer isn’t resonating with a lot of people. It may be lacking in the authenticity that, for example, Wonder Woman has. Now, Dark Phoenix is not meant to be a film like Wonder Woman, and that’s fine -- there’s a need for more complex female leads, not just strong ones. But doing this without women involved in the creative process is a mistake.

Though it is difficult to tell a Dark Phoenix type of story today, there are, regardless, many comic book fans who are rooting for the movie’s success despite their disappointment in previous X-Men films. And for many, there is something appealing about seeing a wrathful, powerful young woman burning everything to the ground. But only time will tell if Dark Phoenix will rise from the ashes of our concerns to become a critical and box office success.