The rebooted X-Men universe has taken us to the beginnings of the crime-fighting mutant group in the 1960s, shown us their time-tripping evolution in the 1970s, and will, on May 27, take us into the 1980s as they fight their biggest opponent to date, Apocalypse. So, what could possibly be next for another round of X-Men films? According to X-Men: Apocalypse director Bryan Singer, the answer just might be in outer space.
...we’ve also introduced the tenets of time travel, which already exists in the comic book. Also I imagine – and this is the first time I’ve actually answered the question this way – but another thing that’s been introduced in the comics is a big alien, interstellar tenant within the X-Men universe that hasn’t been explored. And to me, that might be kind of fun because I’m a huge Star Wars and Star Trek fan, and exploring the X-Men universe and being able to utilize that would be exciting, visually.
Director Bryan Singer, who’s helmed X-Men, X-Men 2, Days of Future Past and Apocalypse, spoke to Fandango about the direction the franchise could take next. Considering how immersed he is in the X-Men universe, and his love for space-bound stories like the ones that can be found in the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises, it makes sense that he would want to find a new X-Men frontier to explore with the next film (or films). And, since there is already a "big alien, interstellar tenant" in the X-Men comics, outer space is as good a place for the movies to visit as any.
So, what story could possible take the X-Men to the stars? Some people believe that the inclusion of a young Jean Grey in X-Men: Apocalypse points to the next film being a telling of the famed Dark Phoenix Saga. This told the story of Jean Gray merging with the power of Phoenix after being exposed to the radiation of a solar flare while on a mission in space. From that experience, Jean is able to gain her ultimate potential as a telepath and telekinetic, but voluntarily holds her powers back to keep them under control. Unfortunately, this led to her being a target for the villain Mastermind, which eventually leads to the walls around her power collapsing and Jean going absolutely batshit.
Now, here’s where we get to the space stuff. Jean, now calling herself Dark Phoenix, takes off into space, using up most of her power. To recharge she uses a nearby star, which then goes supernova and kills everyone on the planet that orbits the star. Um, yeah, you guessed it, Dark Phoenix Jean done gone and pissed off some aliens, the Shi’ar, a humanoid/sorta avian race that happens to control all the inhabited planets in their galaxy.
And, if that sounds like too much for one film, not to worry, there’s actually a lot more to the story that involves more X-Men stuff, all of which would make for an awesome set of new X-Men movies. Well, whatever happens with the franchise next, you can bet that a trip to outer space will certainly make for a cool X-Men film.
