Dark Phoenix Poster & Synopsis: The X-Men Battle One of Their Own

Update: Watch the first X-Men: Dark Phoenix trailer now!

An official poster and synopsis for X-Men: Dark Phoenix have finally been released. The direct sequel to 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse and the X-Men prequel films before it (First Class and Days of Future Past), Dark Phoenix was originally scheduled to hit theaters in November 2018, but was later delayed until February 2019. Marketing for the movie was also put on hold until (very) recently, following the completion of reshoots which, themselves, couldn't begin until August due to the cast's scheduling conflicts.

Now, just a day after a Dark Phoenix trailer shown at a Fox presentation in Russia leaked online, it's been announced that the official Dark Phoenix teaser trailer will premiere on The Late Late Show with James Corden tonight. Sophie Turner, who reprises her Apocalypse role as young Jean Grey in the film, will be presenting the trailer during the talk show and made the announcement via her own Instagram account. Fox has since unveiled additional marketing material for the movie, in an effort to further build hype for tonight's trailer unveiling.

The poster, which you can check out below, is a still version of the Dark Phoenix motion poster that Turner revealed when she broke the news about the trailer. Take a look for yourselves, then read on for the film's official synopsis:

In Dark Phoenix, the X-Men face their most formidable and powerful foe: one of their own, Jean Grey. During a rescue mission in space, Jean is nearly killed when she is hit by a mysterious cosmic force. Once she returns home, this force not only makes her infinitely more powerful, but far more unstable. Wrestling with this entity inside her, Jean unleashes her powers in ways she can neither comprehend nor contain. With Jean spiraling out of control, and hurting the ones she loves most, she begins to unravel the very fabric that holds the X-Men together. Now, with this family falling apart, they must find a way to unite — not only to save Jean’s soul, but to save our very planet from aliens who wish to weaponize this force and rule the galaxy.

Dark Phoenix, as its title implies, marks the second time the Dark Phoenix comic book saga has been adapted for the big screen, following 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand. Longtime X-Men movie writer Simon Kinberg both wrote and directed Dark Phoenix, having previously written both the acclaimed Days of Future Past and the not-so-beloved Apocalypse and Last Stand. Kinberg, for his part, has long made it clear that he knows Dark Phoenix is his chance to do right by the source material in a way that he wasn't able to on The Last Stand - a project that suffered from a lot of behind the scene complications, some of which led to Kinberg having to reduce the Phoenix storyline to a mere subplot.

Kinberg has described Dark Phoenix as being more grounded than X-Men movies past and the film's cast has similarly emphasized its focus on the personal drama within the X-Men family. The official synopsis seems to confirm as much and calls attention to the film's superhero soap opera elements as much as its world-ending stakes. At the same time, Dark Phoenix will be the first truly "cosmic" X-Men movie - something the synopsis also calls attention to by mentioning that there are aliens (one of whom is seemingly being played by Jessica Chastain) who want to harness the Phoenix's powers for themselves.

All in all, the ingredients are there for Dark Phoenix to be a great X-Men movie - question now is, will the execution be up to snuff? Fortunately, with the trailer less than a day away now, it won't be long before we have some actual footage to judge from.