Jessica Chastain’s villain in the upcoming Dark Phoenix is not just influenced by one comic book character, but a mix of a few. The newest X-Men film will revolve around the mutant Jean Grey, played by Sophie Turner, who begins to develop unique powers that turn her into a Dark Phoenix.

While Dark Phoenix is only Turner’s second time playing Jean Grey, the film stands as the tenth installment of the main X-Men series, not including Deadpool. The series has been going strong since 2000, but has gotten a new found interest given the massive success of the Oscar-nominated Logan in 2017. Jean Grey will no doubt be a threat in the upcoming movie; however, Chastain has been confirmed to be the villain in the film. Even with the first teaser trailer for Dark Phoenix, not a lot has been revealed about Chastain’s character. Chastain is said to be playing “an otherworldly shapeshifter” which only fuels the belief that the Skrulls will be featured. Rumors have been running wild on who the actress will be playing and now the answer has become a little clearer.

When talking with IGN, director Simon Kinberg explained that Chastain’s role would have, “elements of a few different characters from the comics”. Kinberg also revealed that Chastain will not be playing a female version of Mastermind who was a villain to Jean Grey in the comic books. The director elaborates by saying, “Jessica’s character is not Mastermind but there are elements of the way Mastermind manipulates Jean that Jessica’s character does employ”. It was also confirmed in the interview that Chastain’s character is not from Earth and that a good chunk of the movie will be in space.

Dark Phoenix will be following a similar story that X-Men: The Last Stand told about Jean Grey, who was formerly played by Famke Janssen. However, with the recent trailer and the previous news about the movie, Dark Phoenix seems to be making some changes to The Dark Phoenix Saga. The trailer seemed to focus on Jean Grey and the other X-Men but future trailers will surely develop the Skrull storyline and eventually reveal who exactly Chastain is playing in the movie.

In past movies, the X-Men have fought the likes of Magneto, Sebastian Shaw, and even Apocalypse. Even though it’s unclear what Chastain’s role will be, it’s likely she will have a substantial role in Dark Phoenix. The X-Men series so far has done a decent job with casting their villains and with someone like Chastain getting to play the next enemy, the mutant team is likely to have a tough fight ahead of them.

More: Why Dark Phoenix Isn’t Being Made Into an MCU Film

Source: IGN

  • X-Men: Dark Phoenix Release Date: 2019-06-07 New Mutants Release Date: 2020-08-28