The Geek Beat: A Reboot From the Flames
Filed under: The Geek Beat
After four columns about Watchmen, I hope you're ready for a change of pace – and a bit of fantasy fulfillment. Keep in mind the last time I begged for a character comeback, it actually happened. Such is the power of the Geek Beat. (Not really, but let's pretend.)
Now, it's no secret Fox is looking at every single character in their arsenal and pondering how best to reboot or stage a spin-off. When they're reportedly looking at reviving the Fantastic Four, you know they're just desperate for more of that Marvel gold. (Here's where you can jump to the comments and just slag off Fox if you want, I won't mind.) Well, I have a Marvel character that was grievously mishandled, one that's perfect for rebooting by the very nature of her being, and whose return would earn the studio some major geek girl cred. I'm talking about Jean Gray, the Phoenix.
Here I should back up and say that if you've never read The Dark Phoenix Saga, you owe it to yourself to get a copy. It's dated, but it's pretty special, unique for the time it was penned and all that. Follow it up with a little Grant Morrison New X-Men and Phoenix: Endsong, dodging all the Madeleine Pryor and clone retcons that popped up in between. The Jean Gray story that lies at the heart of all these is a rich one -- a nice normal X-Girl who ends up possessed by an alien entity she can barely control.
Now, it's no secret Fox is looking at every single character in their arsenal and pondering how best to reboot or stage a spin-off. When they're reportedly looking at reviving the Fantastic Four, you know they're just desperate for more of that Marvel gold. (Here's where you can jump to the comments and just slag off Fox if you want, I won't mind.) Well, I have a Marvel character that was grievously mishandled, one that's perfect for rebooting by the very nature of her being, and whose return would earn the studio some major geek girl cred. I'm talking about Jean Gray, the Phoenix.
Here I should back up and say that if you've never read The Dark Phoenix Saga, you owe it to yourself to get a copy. It's dated, but it's pretty special, unique for the time it was penned and all that. Follow it up with a little Grant Morrison New X-Men and Phoenix: Endsong, dodging all the Madeleine Pryor and clone retcons that popped up in between. The Jean Gray story that lies at the heart of all these is a rich one -- a nice normal X-Girl who ends up possessed by an alien entity she can barely control.
She ends up destroying an entire universe by eating its sun, which leaves her friends and loved ones just a tad uncomfortable around her. The powers may be alien, but the story is very human. How do you live with yourself after committing atrocities? How does your husband cope when you have better mutant powers than he does? What do you do if your powers reveal he was mentally cheating on you? How do you ask a man who loves you passionately to stab you repeatedly with his claws? Stuff any woman can identify with, really.
It's still infuriating to watch X2 and its pitch perfect Phoenix setup only to get ... what? I don't know who Famke Janssen was playing in X3, but it wasn't the Phoenix or the Dark Phoenix. It was just a pissed off chick who sported zombie CGI (a "fiery phoenix" being a concept no one at Fox had heard of) and a really ugly costume. Poor Janssen. It wasn't her fault, and I'd like to think she was really looking forward to eating the sun. How much would it suck to get handed that script when you had signed on to be fire incarnate?
It's an easy thing to bring back Jean Gray. They've set the precedent in the movies already, so there's no need to spoon-feed it to mainstream audiences. Since Gray has died and come back several times in the comics, (undoubtedly will return a dozen more before we're all old and gray), there's dozens of good stories to cherry-pick from. A story like Phoenix: Endsong makes it easy even for the stupidest screenwriter since it starts with Gray actually clawing her way out of the grave and being discovered by Wolverine. A beginning like that even leaves it a little flexible for recasting should Janssen be uninterested in returning.
You don't even need to make a big deal out of reviving the X-Men to frame her story. You can just use Wolverine's fledgling franchise. After all, he stabbed her at the end of X3, so an appearance sans X-Men wouldn't be that big of a deal. (Considering who all they stuck in his origin movie, Jean is a sensible choice.) The storyline could be all rife with guilt and torment, drawing on all the best "unrequited love" story arcs Jean and Logan shared. It's not pandering to date night crowds, either, since all the best Wolverine storylines are laced with killing and failed romances. A trilogy that tortures him individually with Silver Fox, Mariko Yashida, and Jean Gray would be cool, authentic, and sexy. Plus it solves his pesky problem of where to go cinematically once his origins are exposed to the world.
And while it's popularly assumed that no girl gives a crap about a superhero flick, we do. Every bit of Wonder Woman news sends girls clamoring for a live-action movie, and for Marvel girls, Jean Gray is the equivalent of Wonder Woman. Bringing her back right would make Fox pretty damn popular even with the Jezebel crowd. And think of the merchandising! Even non-geek girls sport Wonder Woman and Supergirl pajama sets and sports bras – they'd sport a Dark Phoenix set if you made it. You could probably even get Too-Faced to launch a themed lip gloss. (Yes, that's right – I'm pandering by mentioning boobs and make-up. Besides, I love lip gloss and a good tie-in never hurt anyone.)
So, there you are, Fox. A reboot that not only makes sense thematically, but one that I think fans would welcome with open arms as opposed to the Fantastic Four. After all, it's been nine years since the first X-Men movie, and 2 out of 3 installments left fans pretty unsatisfied. If you want some redemption and franchise rebirth, you could do worse than going for blatant symbolism.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
3-17-2009 @ 10:29PM
Jon Carpenter said...
Hey Elisabeth, I don't wanna be picky or anything, but Jean's last name is Grey not Gray. Trust me, I'm not one of the haters on this site, keep up the good work, your columns are always my favorite
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3-18-2009 @ 10:11AM
Astin said...
I found that distracting too. Even the Wiki entry that's linked is a redirect to the proper spelling.
Oh, and I'm pretty sure you can't destroy a universe by eating a sun. A solar system maybe, but that's about as big as it would get when it comes to sun-eating.
3-17-2009 @ 11:57PM
TONY GM said...
Will Someone please explain to me for the love god what was so bad about phoenix and X-Men 3? Does no one realize that film makers have to make slight alterations to adapt a comic book into film. Why are so many people desperate to see this character destroy an entire galaxy. That would be depressing for most of the audience or just be a passing moment since the movie would require characterization for people in that galaxy. The effect itself would be overblown and ruin the investment of everyone in the audience. Not to mention Famke Jansen did do a good job bringing phoenix to life because the performance touched on all the rights. Her powers were shown to exceed the imagination, there was two conflicting personalities wanting different things (to accept responsibility and to pursue pleasure), and a display of fear and rage that went back and forth. It ended with the same kind of sacrifice that Jean would be willing to do and had done in the last film.
P.S that ending to the second film was shit. It doesn't make sense sense why a phoenix image would cross a lake as the only thing that could create it is Jean who is knocked out and stuck in the same location
P.P.S any movie franchise that relies on bringing a character back from the dead has lost all credibility
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3-18-2009 @ 9:51AM
Kevin said...
The image itself was merely foreshadowing for what was the come in the third one. It was there to hint at what Singer wanted to do to complete the trilogy. Unfortunately it was ruined by he who shall not be named. The third one made no sense whatsoever. If the Phoenix is this all powerful mutant that can do whatever she wants, why is she standing there during the entire fight sequence not doing a thing? And why is she following around and doing whatever Magneto wants? And if Magneto can lift the entire golden gate bridge and all he wants to do is kill the boy why doesn't he just drop the bridge on Alcatraz? Why why why why why why? Sure, suspension of reality is required for a comic book movie, but at least make a film that APPEARS like you made it with a story in mind instead of just wanting to throw 250 million dollars of special effects on the screen.
3-18-2009 @ 10:29AM
Doompatrol said...
Wow... um... you might be the first person I've ever heard defend X3. I just saw it again on TV the other day and all of my pent up anger ended up rushing back. (How do they manage to kill Jean, Xavier and Cyclops in one movie!) I also think it would make a great self contained film and I have no problem with people "coming back from the dead" since it is a typical comic book convention.
3-18-2009 @ 11:08AM
brian said...
Obviously you've never spent any time, outside of the movies, in the x-men universe.
X3 was the worst adaptation of a comic book EVER. It wasn't just that they made slight changes to the history, they made HUGE changes to everything.
First, there was never a mention of a "class 5" mutant. In fact, there were never any mentions of classes of mutants in any of the x-men literature.
Second, they just blatantly added mutants with similar mutations again and again. In the final battle seen, there were 5 or 6 guys that had nightcrawler's jumping ability. Yet in the comic each mutants ability was unique.
Third, they killed professor X at the end. That's just wrong.
Fourth, the phoenix was SO different in the comic book & even the cartoon that it was laughable what they did with her powers. She was a shell of a character in the movie. She didn't even do anything, but stand there and look ominous.
Fifth, Cyclops was killed in the first 10 minutes. Again, another travesty that has no basis in the lore of x-men.
It actually physically hurt me to watch that movie, as it destroyed everything that was so special about x-men. There was nothing in that movie that showed that the screen writers had ever even picked up an x-men comic book. So I don't know how in the world you can defend it.
3-18-2009 @ 12:17AM
Joshua said...
The character i would like to se given a movie would be Bishop, For several reasons.
1. he comes from the future (post apocalyptic) which gives the story teller an almost unlimited amount of freedom on what his world looks like.
2. an african american super hero, i know there are a few out there but he has potential to be a strong leading man.
3. he goes back to the past and meats up to help the x-men (his hero's/ legends from his time) this would be a good way to give the x-men a new storyline. maybe the apocalypse story that everyone wants....
see what i did there (post apocalypse/ apocalypse story)
I am crafty watch out for me.....
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3-18-2009 @ 11:48AM
mcafee_matthew said...
I agree with Joshua - while the Phoenix rebooting would be interesting to see - I've found the Apocalypse series and Cable/Bishop future storylines to be very unique to the Marvel Universe and loaded with awesome visual potential and a stylized future world - not to mention more badassness from our protagonist and potentially awesome villain in Apocalypse and his horsemen...(Angel becoming Archangel could be half a movie by itself)
Not cheap by any means but an amazing new viewpoint to go on.
3-18-2009 @ 2:50PM
Mike said...
You mention the Dark Phoenix Saga, but you fail the even mention one of the most important characters of the story: Scott Summers, aka Cyclops. Its their love that becomes the central theme of the story, culminated by Jeans sacrifice at the end to save Scott.
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3-18-2009 @ 8:25AM
j said...
Any excuse to see Janssen in anything is a valid excuse to me.
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3-18-2009 @ 7:15PM
Hughman Bein said...
The thing that was wrong with Phoenix in X3 was that there wasn't a fire raptor. The raptor at the end of X2 was the phoenix as an alien entity or as the restrained personality manifesting itself. I don't care what Phoenix destroys, but picking up some water left me cold. Artistically they had planned to have her destroy more of San Francisco and raise the bay itself. The visuals were beautiful. The thing wrong with X3 was that it was bum-rushed out the door with no time for good post-production. This is obvious in the running time and the scenes that got cut because they looked to cartoony- oh yeah and the mutants with multiple powers taken from multiple characters and given half-second cameos. Fox opts for quantity over quality.
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3-19-2009 @ 4:43PM
Tony GM said...
Well excuse me for having reasonable expectations and not being a biased fanboy. The movie was made to cater to a wider audience so certain things had be exempted Ill admit the the film had some flaws but no more than the other two. This film was made in three years the same as the last how could you say it was bum rushed. There are characters that have similar powers like professor X and Jean Grey or lady deathstrike and wolverine. The deaths of cyclops and professor X had a purpose because they contributed the conflict in the phoenix and they were an allegory for the deaths of civil rights leader. It is my opinion but I think that equal amounts of quality and quantity are better than one outweighing the other. A different interpretation should be not considered invalid but something else to take from the experience. The phoenix was different but not terrible because it respected the idea while toning it down (which is completely different from dumming it down) for people that didn't read the comic yes i am a movie lover first and a comic lover second
3-18-2009 @ 10:13AM
Astin said...
Yah, a reboot on Jean Grey's storyline would be welcome. I remember seeing X2 in theatres and the place going NUTS when the phoenix was shown. I also remember the groans when X3 came out and the Ratnerian interpretation of The Phoenix was revealed. Now when I watch X2, I get angry when that ending happens because of the lost opportunity.
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3-18-2009 @ 12:39PM
Ryan said...
A reboot would be just fine by me. I was one of the people that could NOT WAIT for X3 because of the Phoenix storyline. And then I saw X3 and it was just oh so so so so SO bad. There really was NOTHING about it that I liked.
And yes I realize that filmmakers are free to change the source material to fit it in the world of film, but this was changing so much that it really wasn't X-Men anymore. And the changes, especially when it came to the Phoenix, took a very interesting and intense storyline and made it into a shell of itself. Just awful.
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3-18-2009 @ 12:41PM
Meli said...
I would LOVE to see the Phoenix rebooted!! The very thought of X3 makes me angry and I have never till this day been able to sit through it a 2nd time, I've tired. Recently I watched X-Men agan and forgot how fun that movie is; then feel sad knowing where the franchise ends up.
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3-18-2009 @ 1:47PM
Gozer said...
I was actually hoping they went more into Dark Phoenix in X3. Would love a film devoted to Jean Grey and Phoenix. Famke is really amazing. For what it is worth, I went online to Marvel.com a few years back and tried to search for any female character that wasn't somehow weaker than all the male characters. It was a real challenge. Basically the only one who registered, villain or hero, was Jean, largely due to Dark Phoenix. That says a lot about gender in comics... Not sure if you can search the characters the same way on the site now.
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3-18-2009 @ 3:18PM
CoreyBean said...
You wouldn't have had to look furhter than the X-Men, though. Storm was always shown to be pretty powerful & has been a leader of the X-Men. Rouge is more formidable in the comics. (Her back story is complicated, so I could see why that wouldn't make it to the movies.) Mystique was a better character in the books in that she was more of a mastermind-type bad guy instead of the sexed-up number in the films. I think she could have been used as a completely separate villian from Magneto. To me, though, it seemed all the characters were kind of sidelined to make room for Wolverine. It's kinda of tough to do every character justice & tell a story in just a couple of hours I guess.
Speaking of Mystique: I think they should have used some more X-men foes besides Magneto. With Mystique you could have Blob & Pyro & all those guys. Apocolypse might have been tricky. The Sentinals would have been fun to see.
3-18-2009 @ 6:03PM
Gozer said...
You are right about Storm and Rogue - the new "official" ratings on the Marvel website are very high for both of them. Not so for Mystique, She-Hulk, . A few years ago on the website and in the old Who's Who issues there was always a deficit in the number of female characters that had the highest rating for "intelligence" and I remember that bothering me, especially since so many of the male heroes did have that top rating. So many of the big-name male heroes have top ratings for all categories - Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America (?), Wolverine, Beast (?), Silver Surfer, Galactus (no kidding)... At the very least they need a new scale if you can put Beast on the same level as Galactus. Test my theory at http://www.marvel.com
3-18-2009 @ 1:52PM
Jimmy said...
If they're going to film the Dark Phoenix saga it needs to be done right. Yes, the original story will need to be updated but don't jettison all the other character and make it a Wolverine-centric plot; that would only do a disservice to the story. And forgive my nastiness here, but Famke Janssen is 45-years-old. She's still a looker, but honestly she's now just too old for the part. You gotta feel a little bad for Janssen. She and her character were pushed aside in X3 to give Halle Berry ("Hey, everyone I won an Oscar!") more screen time; not to mention the bastardized Dark Phoenix story that went nowhere.
If they want to film this story they should do a reboot with all new actors in the roles, except Hugh Jackman since everyone now associates him with Wolverine. They could even make the Wolverine character more central to the story, but if they can't do it right they shouldn't do it at all.
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3-18-2009 @ 5:54PM
craig said...
A Dark Phoenix reboot would be good ,but I think they should do a X-Force or a X-Factor movie instead. What is going to happen of course is if Wolverine does good money Fox will have a Deadpool and or a Gambit movie.
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