Dark Phoenix missed a golden opportunity, and the movie suffered for it

Dark Phoenix was the perfect time for these villains. Spoilers are ahead.

Dark Phoenix debuted in theaters and was not met with success. It had a less than stellar domestic opening weekend at the box office with $33 million which is the lowest opening for an X-Men movie. While the movie wasn’t 2015 Fantastic Four bad, it had a good amount of flaws. Dazzler was shoehorned and was a wasted cameo. Storm barely having any lines and continued the trend of Marvel Comics fans not getting a good Storm in a movie. Quicksilver may be the most popular character in the new franchize and he wasn’t in the movie long at all. Despite all of this, the worst thing were the antagonists.

The alien race the X-Men battled were called D’bari, who have roots tied into the Marvel Comics universe and even the Phoenix Force. So their appearance makes sense. However, they were they nothing to write home about. They also weren’t popular enough to get people excited. A debate could be made that they ruined the movie. Especially since Fox missed an opportunity in Dark Phoenix that was right in front of their faces. Instead of the D’bari, they could have used the Shi’ar Empire Imperial Guard.

The Imperial Guard had an incredibly important role in story of the Phoenix. They battled the X-Men to decide the fate of Jean Grey and beat the X-Men in combat. The X-Men lost the fight. In the end, Jean sacrificed herself so the Phoenix Force wouldn’t consume her and kill more beings across the universe. The battle between the X-Men and the Shi’ar Imperial guard is the fight scene we deserved to see.

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The Dark Phoenix final fight on the train was okay. It showcased the powers of all the X-Men and had moments where it was exciting. The problem is their were no memorable attacks from the characters during the battle. If 20th Century Fox used the Shi’ar Imperial Guard, we could have gotten a better battle with different powers. The Imperial Guard also wear garbs with bright colors and eye-catching designs. If the X-Men defeated them, it would have looked better than them beating up a plethora of generic henchmen without a name. Even if they lost, the X-Men having a good outing would have been enough to make fans happy. Instead, it was an okay fight scene that people won’t remember in a month.

It would have been nice to see the X-Men get a great farewell movie. Sure, they’ve had some bumps along the way, but they were still a franchize we adored. It could even be said that they (along with Blade) started the momentum that created the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  The good news is there’s nowhere to go but up for Marvel’s Mightiest Mutants. Hopefully, Marvel Studios will take the X-Mento new heights.