10 Crazy X-Men Ideas Fox Had Before Marvel Got The Rights Back
1. Dark Phoenix Sequel
Dark Phoenix was supposed to be a two-parter, but Fox made director Simon Kinberg scale back his ambitious plans, and his story was crammed into a single, terrible movie. However, a big part of why it flopped is because promoting it was never a high priority for Disney, especially knowing Marvel Studios had plans to reboot the franchise.
Throw in the fact that fans didn't care about seeing these characters again when a new take is in the works, and the odds were always stacked against it. With that in mind, it's unlikely it was always destined to flop, and you'd best believe there would have been another X-Men movie after this one.
With Dark Phoenix, the action had moved into the 90s, but a sequel likely would have lined up with the timeline of the original trilogy. Beyond that, all that's really known is the cast would have returned (minus Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique). Dark Phoenix even ended by teasing further plans for Jean Grey following her fiery transformation, none of which will now ever be explored.