Dark Phoenix: 10 Ways It's The Worst X-Men Film Yet

8. It Learned Nothing From The Last Stand, And Is Somehow Less Entertaining

If you've been following the marketing of Dark Phoenix and have gotten the sense that it all looks a bit familiar, you'd be correct. The film is largely a retread of X-Men: The Last Stand, only whereas that film at least had the redeeming features of Kelsey Grammer's Beast and Magneto lifting the Golden Gate bridge, Dark Phoenix is found wanting in mostly every department.

To be clear, 2006's X-Men threequel is a poor adaptation of the Dark Phoenix saga. There's no cosmic element - an area upon which the new film does improve - classic characters are wasted, and Vinnie Jones is the Juggernaut. It fails both as just a superhero film and as a faithful adaptation of the Dark Phoenix comic, but it did at least spotlight some interesting ideas and was fortunate enough to feature the talents of a compelling cast.

Now, when approaching that same comic in 2019, you'd probably think that Dark Phoenix would at least attempt to address what The Last Stand got wrong about the comic - correct? There's the aforementioned cosmic presence - which is welcomed - but it's nowhere near prevalent enough and most of the story repeats arcs from The Last Stand, including Charles' mental manipulation of Jean while she was a child.

Where's the Hellfire Club? The Black and White Queens? The Shi'ar? None of it is there, only this time there's no Grammer to save it.