Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Major spoilers forDark Phoenixbelow.
As Vulture contributor Max Robinsonput it,Dark Phoenixwas promoted with the enthusiasm of a local carpet store sale.
But the core narrative feels conclusively over.
Its greatest lesson is a metatextual one, a cautionary tale about the way capitalism eats its own.
The fact thatDark Phoenixwas the end of the road couldve been a curious sort of boon, actually.
Typically, we complain that the good guys are never in any serious threat in superhero movies.
We know the next few movies on the slate, so theres no risk of the universe collapsing.
But here is a movie that should be able to defy all those expectations, right?
Well, the trouble with that equation is … what favorite characters?
But these particular iterations of them?
Good luck finding the superfans.
Which brings us back to that shockingly dull climax we were talking about.
I guess the aliens want to siphon the remaining power out of Jean?
Surrounded by X-Men and the corpses of aliens, the two women rise above the ground.
Vuk tells Jean she cant kill her without letting her powers loose and killing her friends.
Vuk knows Jean wont risk harming them, and thus that your emotions make you weak.
Jean wittily replies, No, my emotions make mestrong.
Jean then flies Vuk into space and shoots her with energy until they both explode.
A brief epilogue does follow.
This is the way a franchise ends.
Not with an explosion but a fizzle.
It wasnt always this way.
I was 14 years old at the time and went with my best friend, Brian.
We had become acquainted with Marvels forever-angsty mutants thanks to their eponymous animated television show in the early 1990s.
Brian subsequently got into comics and demanded that I join him; the first one I ever bought wasX-MenVol.
69, the conclusion of the Operation: Zero Tolerance crossover event.
How could this be?
)As it turned out, the movie was fine.
I wasnt especially blown away, nor was I disappointed.
I liked the comics better.
And yet, that wasnt the point.
By then, however, the X-Men movies themselves were floundering.
If anything, the Disney sale and its subsequent housecleaning was something of a mercy killing.
Fox couldnt keep this cultural meme, this idea of the modern long-underwear thriller, contained.
Soon, everyone was aping and more important one-upping them.
The core narrative never regained the momentum it lost to its artistic offspring at other studios.
An additional lesson that capitalism taught the X-Men was that no product survives without innovation.
Diminishing returns were inevitable.
But nobody cares anymore.
And yet, the final lesson of money and the X-people is one that was largely beyond their control.
No studio exec likes taking over a portfolio that they didnt begin themselves.
Better to start anew.
There are exceptions, of course, withDeadpoolbeing a notable one.
In general, shiny newness will always prevail.
I have a feeling there will be innovation and reinvigoration when they get around to rebooting the characters.
Well enjoy them again.
For a time, that is.
Theres gold in them thar hills, but only so much of it.
At some point, the MCU, too, will disintegrate.
Good ideas have a habit of running away from home.
