It might be time to retire the Dark Phoenix story on the big screen

After this latest attempt at adapting the Dark Phoenix story, it may be time to retire the story.

Well, Dark Phoenix didn’t open at number one. Instead, it flopped and is looking to lose $100 million. Add in the bad reviews and bad press, things are looking bleak for Dark Phoenix. Going into the next life with Marvel, perhaps it is time to retire her.

Let’s start at the beginning with X-Men: The Last Stand, the third installment in the original series. Here was our debut of the Dark Phoenix on the big screen. Sadly, it does not follow the original Dark Phoenix of the Chris Claremont run. Instead, she is basically evil Jean Grey. On top of this, she is shoe-horned into a story with mutants battling a “cure” and other new characters like Juggernaut, Callisto and Beast. Plus, we have a villain in Magneto. And of course, the film did not pull in good reviews. Fans view it as the weakest in the trilogy. Add in X-Men Origins: Wolverine afterwards and people felt the franchise was better off dead.

What is unique is how many may look at this film as at least a financial success. Sure, it opened at the number one spot and was the highest opening in the trilogy. Look further and the numbers are not all that impressive. It cost $210 million and brought in $459 million globally. It could not even make double its budget from either market alone. Obviously, it made money somehow to continue the franchise and not retire it.

This brings us now to the latest installment – Dark Phoenix. Already, it seems they decided to retire the character in the newer series. No was no indication in the films of any impending Phoenix force. In an age of post-credits scenes, we get no warning of this at all in a previous film. It is all basic knowledge now that the film is critically a dud and not a financial hit at all, with an upcoming 60% drop for its second weekend. What must we do?

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One can argue that X-Men: The Last Stand is something of the Batman and Robin of its series. Now, the same can perhaps be said of Dark Phoenix. With that abysmal performance from Warner Bros. and DC, the Batman basically went into hiding, a.k.a. they retire him from film for close to a decade. This character has been treated as something of a throwaway, merely used to make a release date. She is mere trailer fuel and nothing much for the film or story, at all. Her creation is this generic one-off character that’s basically an evil Jean Grey or Jen Grey when she loses it. Until they get her right, it may best that she’s retired.

This is not to say never bring her back again. Instead, we need time for things to settle down. Two movies had her, and yet they both made little to no money, unnerved the fans and receivde scathing reviews. Going back to Batman and Robin, can you imagine something coming out shortly afterwards? Especially if it keeps some of the remaining crew? Or maybe it has a new crew but brings back Mr. Freeze & Poison Ivy? No, the taste in people’s mouth is too sour. They are still experiencing the hangover from last night and need more time, more water, more food and rest.

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It may sound as if the Dark Phoenix is something of an omen of bad luck. This is hardly the case, but it does almost seem and feel that way. No, this is a character they truly need to consider and develop, along with her entire backstory. We did not get the likes of Thanos or Heath Ledger’s Joker overnight. Whatever crew at Marvel takes the reigns of X-Men in the future must consider this. Do they want a real character with a story? Or are they looking to tell another run-of-the-mill action flick with some over-powerful villainess? Fans would rather you do her right, and not to keep using her and getting her wrong.

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