Wolverine cut from 'Dark Phoenix' storyline because of age-gap with Jean Grey

The latest X-Men movie focuses on the Marvel Comics’ Dark Phoenix Saga but there is one key storyline missing.

That’s the romance between Logan/Wolverine and Jean Grey which saw the former fall hard for the latter and have his heart broken when she became the Dark Phoenix.

We’ve only ever seen Logan’s love for Jean play out in the original X-Men trilogy and The Wolverine, through Hugh Jackman and Famke Janssen, but this storyline was put on hold when Sophie Turner took over as the younger version of the redheaded telepath.

Simon Kinberg, who wrote and directed Dark Phoenix, explained to Rolling Stone why he decided against continuing that romantic storyline.

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“If you know the Dark Phoenix story, you’d want to really service the love story between Logan and Jean,” Kinberg said. “And I think the notion of Hugh Jackman, as great as he looks for his age, and Sophie Turner — it didn’t sit well with me. Or anyone else!”

Speaking to Yahoo Movies UK, Kinberg said he wanted to ensure the movie always revolved around Jean.

“What I really wanted to do with this film is focus on Jean, her struggle, and the way that was impacting all of those around her who loved her,” he said.

“I really wanted that to be the sole focus. Part of what I felt is in the in the X-Men movies that maybe are not our strongest films is that we sometimes bite off more than we can chew in terms of the characters. We service so many characters’ stories, that we lose, in some ways, the emotional through line of the film.

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He also admitted that one of his biggest regrets on making X-Men: The Last Stand is not doing the Dark Phoenix storyline justice.

“I didn't really look back on The Last Stand because I didn't feel as though we told the Dark Phoenix story,” he explained. “The cosmic aspects of the story were not touched upon, and more importantly, the story of Jean and her struggle with power she can't control was the background of that film.

“And that's my big regret from that movie was that we didn't tell the story,” Kinberg added. “And it's such a complex, and epic story, it can barely fit into one movie, it certainly can't fit into the background of a movie.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix is in cinemas now