Although X-Men: Apocalypse wasn't a perfect movie, it did quite a bit of table setting for the future of the franchise. Many important plot threads fell neatly into place, and fans of the X-Men lore have already started to theorize how they could potentially play out in the future. Most fans have come to the consensus that the X-Men franchise will adapt The Dark Phoenix Saga in its next installment, and the rumored title for the film (along with the movie's working titles) definitely seem to support that idea.
The latest issue of Production Weekly seemingly confirms that 20th Century Fox's upcoming X-Men movie will be titled X-Men: Supernova, and it will enter production under the working titles Dark Phoenix and Teen Spirit. This report corroborates rumors that surfaced last month regarding the Supernova subtitle for the upcoming X-Men movie, and it seems to confirm our previously held suspicions that it will lead nicely from X-Men: Apocalypse into The Dark Phoenix Saga. The working title Teen Spirit also seems to perfectly fit in with the rumors that the next X-Men movie will take place in the 1990s, as it's a perfect way to pay tribute to the grunge scene that characterized the decade.
For those of you who do not already know, The Dark Phoenix Saga is arguably the most iconic X-Men storyline of all time. The tale revolves around Jean Grey (played by Game of Thrones' Sophie Turner in the new films) becoming possessed by a cosmic entity known as the Phoenix after a mission in space, and her subsequent turn to evil as The Dark Phoenix. The current X-Men films appear to be toying more with the idea that the Phoenix is an already existing facet of Jean's personality (rather than a separate entity), but the fundamental DNA of the classic Dark Phoenix Saga is still in place.
It's not surprising to see that 20th Century Fox isn't doing much to hide the fact that The Dark Phoenix Saga is on the horizon. After all, X-Men: Apocalypse aggressively teased it as the next installment in the X-Men franchise, so fans pretty much already expect it. Beyond that, the X-Men franchise tried (and failed miserably) to adapt The Dark Phoenix Saga in 2006 when Brett Ratner took over for X-Men: The Last Stand. To instill fan confidence in the project, the studio may want to put all of its cards on the table early to let its fans know that it intends to get it right this time around.
Seriously, The Last Stand's take on this story was far from great:
As always, CinemaBlend will bring you all of the latest and greatest X-Men news as more information becomes available to us. We don't know much about X-Men: Supernova just yet, but it's safe to say that the promise of a proper adaptation of The Dark Phoenix Saga should get comic book fans very excited.
The X-Men franchise will continue to expand when Logan hits theaters on March 3.
