‘Dark Phoenix’ is the end of an ‘X-Men’ era

“This is the end.” 20th Century Fox released the long-awaited trailer for Dark Phoenix on The Late Late Show with James Corden Wednesday night. While marketing for the latest installment of the X-Men franchise is only just getting started in earnest, all signs point to Dark Phoenix being the conclusion of what will be a nineteen-year-old franchise by the time of its release.

With the specter of Disney’s acquisition of Fox looming in the background and recent comments from Disney CEO Bob Iger about the X-Men landing in the hands of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige, it’s hard to ignore the rumblings that signal the end of an era fast approaching. While Fox still has horror-centric The New Mutants set for an August 2019 release, and Drew Goddard’s planned X-Force movie that may be able to squeeze into production before the reshuffling starts, Dark Phoenix looks to be the last central X-Men movie to come from Fox. With its Doors cover song, funeral shots, and suggested ramification of the lies, secrets, and friction between characters, the trailer certainly doesn’t hold back from the suggestion that Dark Phoenix will serve as a grand finale.