It's been a long and winding road as we tried to figure out how Jessica Chastain was going to fit into the next X-Men movie, X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Initial rumors of her role were debunked, but now we know who she'll be playing, more or less. While the character name has not been released, it's now being reported that Chastain will portray an otherworldly shapeshifter who has a connection to the Phoenix, and will apparently be using Jean Gray for her own purposes. It sounds like Chastain will be the movie's primary villain, though from what the actress says, it's less a diabolical evil, and more an objective one. According to Chastain...
Simon and I were talking about the character and I said, 'I keep thinking of the vet who tells you you need to put your dog down.' There's something very clinical about it.
Of course, the question one has to ask based on this statement is, who exactly is the dog that needs to be put down? If Chastain's character is manipulating the Phoenix, as Entertainment Weekly reports, then it would seem that Chastain wants to use the Phoenix to put down the X-Men, or possibly humanity as a whole. Exactly why we'll have to wait and see.
The description of the character as "otherworldly" would seem to indicate Chastain will be playing something alien rather than mutant. This would fit in with the more traditional version of the Dark Phoenix saga from the comics, as aliens feature prominently, it might also indicate why early reports were that Chastain would be playing Lilandra, and alien leader that is a big part of the comic version of the story. Chastain herself debunked that rumor, but until now, we didn't know anything about who she actually would be playing. It's unclear at this point if somebody else will be playing that role, or if it won't exist in the new movie.
The first look at the character has also been revealed. Although, if the character is a shapeshifter, we can assume she won't always look like this, and that this probably isn't the character's natural look if she is, in fact, an alien.
It certainly sounds like an interesting character that Jessica Chastain will be playing in X-Men: Dark Phoenix, if nothing else it should make it interesting for there to be a second shapeshifter up against Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique. The next chapter in the X-Men franchise will hit theaters next November.
