X-Men: Dark Phoenix - 6 Reasons To Be Excited

As stated, there was a brief period in the late 2000s when it looked as if the X-Men series was dead in the water. X-Men: The Last Stand was a hot mess, X-Men Origins: Wolverine was even hotter and messier - and yet, they were able to pull it together and bring their A-game for 2011's prequel/semi-reboot X-Men: First Class, which saved the franchise.

Unfortunately, the series fumbled the ball once more with 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse. A bitter disappointment, particularly coming on the heels of series highlight Days of Future Past, Apocalypse was just resting on its laurels. The existing series stars (McAvoy, Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence) seemed to be going through the motions, and the newly introduced young incarnations of the classic X-Men line-up were given little chance to come into their own.

But as we've seen, the X-Men movies have a habit of pulling their socks up when they know they've got a lot to make up for, hence First Class and The Wolverine were so much better than the films that came before them.

Surely everyone in the X-Men team recognises what a misstep Apocalypse was, and as such they're bound to go that extra mile to make Dark Phoenix considerably better.

One suspects the fact that Deadpool and Logan have since outshined the central X-Men series both critically and commercially will also have lit a fire under Dark Phoenix's behind.