X-Men films have its share of ardent fans, often shielding its popularity from the monstrous glare of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (despite X-Men characters also being Marvel properties). X-Men was the first superhero property that made a success out of the idea of having multiple heroes on screen, a formula that later worked for The Avengers. While it isn't labelled as a 'universe' as in an MCU or a DC Extended Universe, X-Men franchise has its share of spinoffs (Deadpool and Wolverine films). The Deadpool films have become so adored that its popularity often eclipses the main canon. EXCLUSIVE! Bharat VS Dark Phoenix: Salman Khan’s Film Is Giving Distributors a Major Headache.

That brings us to the idea of this feature - the main X-Men films. The canon began in 2000 with the first movie, simply called X-Men. The sequel, X2, arrived in 2003, and is hailed by many as the best X-Men movie ever made (Logan is also in hot contention for that title). The capper on this trilogy, X-Men: The Last Stand, came out in 2006 and is regarded as a disappointment by the fans.

Then in 2011, Mathew Vaughan brought the X-Men to the '60s by kick-starting a prequel series, dubbed by fans as the First Class trilogy. X-Men: First Class was hailed by both critics and fans for reviving the interest back in the X-Men franchise. The sequel for this, X-Men: Days of Future Past, tied up the old and the new franchise with interesting results, and it turned out to be the biggest success story for the main canon.

However, the threequel, X-Men: Apocalypse, was reviled by the critics for its underwhelming narrative and its scant regard for the continuities. The last problem is something that has affected not just The First Class trilogy but also the previous films and spinoffs. Deadpool even quips about this in his first film when he asks Colossus which Xavier are they meeting - James McAvoy (who played the character in the First Class trilogy) or Patrick Stewart (in the original trilogy).

Now on June 5, we arrive at Dark Phoenix, the continuation of the First Class trilogy, and most probably, the end of the X-Men franchise as we have known it till now. The movie has been plagued with production troubles and frequent delays in release dates. While we can only know the extent of how these issues affected Dark Phoenix after watching it, the movie comes with its own set of problems even before the release. Most of them are related to continuity issues that have plagued the franchise ever since The First Stand ended.

So what are they? We have listed below five major problems that the X-Men franchise has created for Dark Phoenix with its continuity issues.

#1 The Jumping of Eras

Photo Credits: 20th Century Fox

For some strange reason, someone in the creative team of Fox had this grand idea of setting every movie in the First Class series in each decade. So while X-Men: First Class was set in the '60s, Days of Future Past brought in the '70s and Apocalypse was in the '80s. So when Dark Phoenix comes in with the '90s, four decades have already been passed and yet the main characters and the stars look nearly the same in age as they first began.

You can argue that X-Men may not age as faster as us mere mortals (though Rose Byrne's Moira MacTaggart in Apocalypse looks nearly the same as she appeared in First Class, and she is just a human). This, however, is only true for certain mutants like Mystique and Wolverine, and not for the rest. Also, it is difficult to imagine that in a matter of a couple of years, James McAvoy's Professor X has to look like Patrick Stewart, for the first X-Men movie came out in the year that it was set in, viz. 2000.

#2 The Wolverine Conundrum

Photo Credits: Instagram

Hugh Jackman has hung his boots playing Wolverine with his swansong X-Men film, Logan. The movie was a perfect goodbye for the character that we loved since the franchise made its debut in 2000. Before Logan happened, Hugh Jackman is the only actor who has appeared the maximum times in the X-Men franchise. In the First Class trilogy, he had appeared in the first movie and Apocalypse in cameos, while he had an important arc in Days of Future Past.

So in the timeline that Dark Phoenix is set, Wolverine is still alive and roaming around in his Berserker Rage. But will we see him in the film? Mostly not, because Jackman has bid adieu to the character in the most fitting way and any retcon of this will only ruin the sorrowful beauty of Logan's ending. But thanks to his previous appearances, fans still have some expectations of Wolverine's claws appearing on the screen and we really can't blame them!

#3 The Days of Future Past Conclusion

Towards the end of X-Men: Days of Future Past, Wolverine had made some drastic changes in the past and saved the X-Men from having a dark, bleak future where they go extinct (at the hands of the Sentinels). In the new future that he created (X-Men doesn't follow MCU's time travel theory), Wolverine finds Professor X, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Rogue, Iceman, Colossus, Beast, Storm and Kitty Pryde all alive and teaching happily at the X-Men mansion.

So if we have seen a future where these characters are alive, should we really be worried about them in Dark Phoenix? Or if that's not the case, has the franchise messed up the timeline again that the conclusion of Days of Future Past is now made redundant?

#4 Revisiting the Dark Phoenix Saga From The Last Stand

Jean Grey's Dark Phoenix saga has already been revisited in The Last Stand, though not on such a cosmic level as in the upcoming movie. Nothing wrong with repeating the idea, since the saga was not utilised well in The Last Stand, and Dark Phoenix director Simon Kinberg wants to rectify this through his movie. But for the fans, they not only will have a sense of deja vu, but also, it feels rushed when it comes to Jean Grey's arc in the First Class trilogy. The character was only introduced in the last film, Apocalypse, where we also got a hint of how powerful she is. There is also a kind of trepidation with how this whole arc is reconstructed in Dark Phoenix, when X-Men has already botched it up once.

#5 What About Apocalypse Post-Credit Stinger?

The post-credit scene of X-Men: Apocalypse showed some men in black suits were clearing all the materials from the Weapon X facility that Wolverine had ravaged earlier in the movie. We later find out that these men belong to Essex Corporation, which left the X-Men fans excited, for it indicated the arrival of Mr Sinister, a popular X-Men villain. However, going by the promos of Dark Phoenix (and the leaked spoilers), there is no indication that Mr Sinister will ever turn up, which would make the Apocalypse stinger kinda pointless.

Dark Phoenix stars James McAvoy as Charles Xavier, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Sophie Turner as Jean Grey/Phoenix, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops, Alexandra Shipp as Storm, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler, Evan Peters as Quicksilver and Jessica Chastain as the mysterious main antagonist.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 03, 2019 07:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).