X-Men: Dark Phoenix - 8 Mistakes It Must Avoid
1. Pull Punches With The Ending
If you're keen to avoid spoilers from a comic book series that's more than three decades old, shield your eyes now.
The Dark Phoenix Saga reaches its gun-wrenching conclusion with Jean Grey sacrificing herself, choosing to die as a human rather than live as a dark, planet-devouring goddess. A sound choice.
It was an emotional gut-punch from Marvel and writer Chris Claremont, although they later cheapened it by retconning the whole thing.
One twist and a whole other story arc later and Jean was alive in suspended animation - the Phoenix, apparently, mimicked her likeness and took her place.
So what can the movie learn from this? For one, don't pull any punches when it comes to the ending - teasing that Jean is still alive in a post-credits sequence would only undermine her sacrifice.
Her demise needs to deliver an emotional sting and leave the audience feeling like they've witnessed a tragedy of Greek proportions, but it won't do either if her survival is revealed to set up a future sequel.