Bryan Singer has officially passed the torch to X-Men: Dark Phoenix director Simon Kinberg. In terms of creative voices who have had the biggest impact over Fox's X-Men cinematic universe, Singer would have to remain near the top of the list. After kicking off the franchise back in 2000 with the first live-action X-Men film, Singer has gone on to direct every single main team film in the franchise, except for two (2005's X-Men: The Last Stand and 2011's X-Men: First Class).

Simon Kinberg had been rumored to direct Dark Phoenix for several months now before the official confirmation finally came earlier today. After having worked on the X-Men films, as both a writer and producer, for over a decade, the news of him finally taking a shot at bringing an X-Men film to life as director, didn't come as all that shocking or unexpected. And it looks like Bryan Singer wasn't planning on wasting any time before publicly giving Kinberg his blessing.

Following the news of Kinberg directing X-Men: Dark Phoenix earlier today, Singer took to his official Instagram account to post a photo of he and Kinberg together, with the caption "#torchpass @xmenmovies @simondavidkinberg #xmen #darkphoenix Epic story in great hands!" Check out the photo for yourself down below:

What's interesting is that this does feel a bit like deja vu, and is reminiscent of when Brett Ratner took over as director of X-Men: The Last Stand, in Singer's place. After all, this is now the second time that Bryan Singer has directed two X-Men films in a row, effectively setting up an adaptation of the Dark Phoenix storyline from the comic books, before handing over the actual film adaptation itself to another director. Based solely on his previous writing and producing credits, though, it does seem fair to say that Kinberg is equipped to create a compelling and solid X-Men film.

It's been a busy day for X-Men fans already, with the combined news of both Kinberg directing Dark Phoenix, and the report that Zero Dark Thirty star Jessica Chastain is currently in talks to play the film's villain. While Chastain's involvement is not yet set in stone, it does mark yet another sign of Dark Phoenix's creative team finally coming together, with reports that a number of the main X-Men actors will be returning in the new film, including Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Sophie Turner, and more over the past few months. And after having penned the last several X-Men films, it's hard to think of someone more ready or deserving of bringing X-Men: Dark Phoenix to the big screen than Simon Kinberg.

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Source: Bryan Singer