History Film / DarkPhoenix

** The D'Bari are based on the alien species of the same name from the comics, but their ability to shape shift in this movie makes them more reminiscent of the Skrulls –- a completely different race of green-skinned aliens from the comics.

* ContinuityCameo: ComicBook/{{Dazzler}} makes a short appearance when she plays music at a party.

* TouchOfDeath: The D’Bari’s typical means of killing are touching the victim’s chest, stopping their heart.

* TakeThat: In the third act, the Mutant Containment Unit appears to apprehend Mutants after deeming them a threat to the citizens of New York City. [[FunWithAcronyms In other words]], [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse the MCU]] [[RealitySubtext shows up to take the X-Men away]]. Given that the train sequence was a reshoot filmed well after Disney's plans to acquire Fox were well underway, it's hard to argue that this wasn't deliberate ([[https://www.cnet.com/news/x-men-dark-phoenix-director-talks-about-the-movies-mcu-easter-egg/ though Simon Kinberg]] insists that it the reference was something of an AffectionateParody).[[invoked]]

* TakeThat: In the third act, the Mutant Containment Unit appears to apprehend Mutants after deeming them a threat to the citizens of New York City. [[FunWithAcronyms In other words]], [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse the MCU]] [[RealitySubtext shows up to take the X-Men away]]. Given that the train sequence was a reshoot well after Disney's plans to acquire Fox were well underway, it's hard to argue that this wasn't deliberate ([[https://www.cnet.com/news/x-men-dark-phoenix-director-talks-about-the-movies-mcu-easter-egg/ though Simon Kinberg]] insists that it the reference was something of an AffectionateParody).[[invoked]]

* TakeThat: In the third act, the Mutant Containment Unit appears to apprehend Mutants after deeming them a threat to the citizens of New York City. [[FunWithAcronyms In other words]], [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse the MCU]] [[RealitySubtext shows up to take the X-Men away]]. Given that the train sequence was a reshoot well after Disney's plans to acquire Fox were well underway, it's hard to argue that this wasn't deliberate.[[invoked]]

* TakeThat: In the third act, the Mutant Containment Unit appears to apprehend Mutants after deeming them a threat to the citizens of New York City. [[FunWithAcronyms In other words]], [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse the MCU]] shows up [[RealitySubtext to take the X-Men away]].[[invoked]]

The film also has the distinction of being the last "main-series" ''X-Men'' film to be made before Creator/{{Disney}}'s acquisition of Fox, with ''Film/TheNewMutants'' being the last spin-off. Prior to its release, creative control over the ''X-Men'', ''Fantastic Four'', and ''Deadpool'' film franchises transferred to Creator/{{Disney}} (or rather, Creator/MarvelStudios) going forward. Director Simon Kinberg has referred to this as the GrandFinale of the series, it being the "natural culmination" of all ''X-Men'' films up to this point, and in April 2019 was confirmed to be the official "send-off" of Fox's ''X-Men'' series, with Disney assuming theatrical distribution rights. The movie was also the last one in Fox's series to bear the 20th Century Fox logo, while ''The New Mutants'' was subsequently released under the rebranded 20th Century Studios name.

The film also has the distinction of being the last "main-series" ''X-Men'' film to be made before Creator/{{Disney}}'s acquisition of Fox, with ''Film/TheNewMutants'' being the last spin-off. Prior to its release, creative control over the ''X-Men'', ''Fantastic Four'', and ''Deadpool'' film franchises transferred to Creator/{{Disney}} (or rather, Creator/MarvelStudios) going forward. Director Simon Kinberg has referred to this as the GrandFinale of the series, it being the "natural culmination" of all ''X-Men'' films up to this point, and in April 2019 was confirmed to be the official "send-off" of Fox's ''X-Men'' series, with Disney assuming theatrical distribution rights.

* GrandFinale: Fox shifted the promotion of the film from "the first movie in a new trilogy" to "what may very well be the last movie in this series" once Disney's acquisition of the company picked up steam. Case in point, the trailer itself is set to [[Music/TheDoors "The End"]], with an air of finality to the story. Simon Kinberg eventually referred to this as the culmination of the series before the inevitable reboot into the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse.

* AlternateHistory: Because of the events of ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', Kinberg confirmed on the commentary that the President isn't who it was in real life (Given the film takes place in 1992, it would be UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush, though on the commentary, Kinberg erroneously stated UsefulNotes/BillClinton, who'd win the 1992 election, but would be inaugurated the following year).

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:The ending scene of the movie implied that Jean Grey became a cosmic entity]].

** It is unclear how much of ''Film/XMenApocalypse'' happened. Magneto, last seen in ''Film/DaysofFuturePast'' having violently escaped from imprisonment for assasinating one President and attacking Washington DC to try to kill another, is in relatively good standing with the US government. This implies he was credited for defeating Apocalypse as shown in that film.

* DrowningMySorrows: After accidentally [[spoiler:killing Mystique]] and attacking the military in Genosha, Jean flees to a bar to do this using a telepathic disguise. Charles also does this after [[spoiler:Raven dies]], taking a dram of whiskyfrom a bottle during his disastrous talk with Hank - the morning after, he's crashed out on the couch when Scott finds him, with not much of the bottle left.

** Quicksilver looks like he's going to have another of his SuperSpeed successes, only for Dark Phoenix to yank his SteppingStonesInTheSky from under his feet. At the speed he hits the ground, he's out of action for the rest of the movie.

* NoSell: Played with. The D'Bari are capable of withstanding fire from multiple assault rifles at very close range thanks to their HealingFactor. The larger .50-calibre machine guns the military have, on the other hand, can take them out in a few shots.

* PragmaticAdaptation: A number of elements from the original story, such as the Hellfire Club and the Shi'ar Empire, are completely AdaptedOut in favor of streamlining the movie into a sub-2-hour format (themovie version of the Hellfire Club was disbanded at the end of ''Film/XMenFirstClass''). Aliens are still present in the story, however, and Vuk ends up filling a similar role to Mastermind.

* CharacterDevelopment: Jean Grey gets a extended character arc, which started in ''[[Film/XMenApocalypse X-Men: Apocalypse]]''. She started out as an hopeless girl that believes that she will never control her powers, will hurt people, and destroy the world. In this film Jean’s nightmare seemly becomes a reality as she becomes one with a world destroying force and loses control of her powers. Resulting in her hurting Scott, then founds out that she caused her mother’s death when her power first manifested, and then kills Mystique. It seems hopeless and she is just about to give into her destiny. [[spoiler:However, after seeing that Charles had hope in her and still does, she starts to have hope in herself which allows her to use her pain to empower herself take control of her powers and her destiny.]]

As suggested by its title, ''Dark Phoenix'' is an adaptation of the iconic Creator/MarvelComics Franchise/XMen storyline by Creator/ChrisClaremont and Creator/JohnByrne, ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'', which was previously integrated into 2006's ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'', stated to be more faithful than the latter film was. It is set in the early [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties 1990s]], following the successive decade trend set by previous films ''[[Film/XMenFirstClass First Class]]'', ''[[Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast Days of Future Past]]'' and ''[[Film/XMenApocalypse Apocalypse]]''.

-->[[spoiler:'''Hank:''' Fair? Oh, don't talk about fair. You messed with the mind of an ''eight-year-old girl''. You pushed out all that pain and anger, where do you think it's gonna go?]]

* AwfulTruth: [[spoiler:Jean Grey inadvertently killed both of her parents in the past before Charles Xavier adopted her. Except not quite; Xavier erased the knowledge that her father survived from her memory. She discovers the truth, and when she seeks him out, she learns that he hates her for what she did and that he wanted nothing to do with her. Xavier tried to hide this knowledge from Jean in the hopes that it would spare her the pain, but it ultimately causes her downfall into becoming the Dark Phoenix Hank calls him out on this after Raven's death.]]

* AwfulTruth: [[spoiler:Jean Grey inadvertently killed both of her parents in the past before Charles Xavier adopted her. Except not quite; Xavier erased the knowledge that her father survived from her memory. She discovers the truth, and when she seeks him out, she learns that he hates her for what she did and that he wanted nothing to do with her. Xavier tried to hide this knowledge from Jean in the hopes that it would spare her pain, but it ultimately causes her downfall into becoming the Dark Phoenix]].

* BilingualBonus: The cafe that Erik and Xavier are sitting at during the movie's end is called "Café Les deux copains", lit. "Cafe the two friends". Fans of ''Film/{{Amelie}}'' will notice the parallel with the "Café les Deux Moulins" from that movie.

** The marketing campaign in general was rather off. Selling it as a event movie and grand finale of the series when it was never designed to be that but more of a character-driven psychological thriller. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0sw9Y29GVY&list=PL4P2exRjRCFzVfdXDBXQqJxVI0h0tyXsQ&index=2&t=0s As this video throughly explains]].

** Selene in the comics is the Black Queen of The Hellfire Club, who were AdaptedOut. Here, while she's on Magneto's team who go to kill Jean after [[spoiler:Raven's death]] she, along with Ariki, stand with Erik and [[spoiler:Hank]] in defending Jean from The D'Bari in the climax.

* PrecisionFStrike: Cyclops gets to drop one while talking to Magneto.

*** As in ''The Last Stand'', Magneto plays a role in Jean's transformation into the Phoenix - only this time round, she is the one who seeks him out, instead of him seeking her out.

* NoSell: Played with. The D'Bari are capable of withstanding fire from multiple machine guns at very close range thanks to their HealingFactor. The larger .50-calibre machine guns the military have, on the other hand, can take them out in a few shots.