'X-Men: Dark Phoenix' trailer unveils major character death twist

Dark Phoenix is going to be emotional, then…

The new trailer for the next chapter in the X-Men series has been unveiled, revealing that fans are going to have to deal with the loss of a major character.

SPOILERS AHEAD

In the opening frames, a tortured Jean Grey – played by Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner – loses control of her powers, and Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique bears the brunt.

It’s a shocking reveal, equally shocking for Xavier (James McAvoy), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Cyclops (Ty Sheridan) and Storm (Alexandra Shipp), who have to watch on powerless.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, director Simon Kinberg said of the decision to reveal Mystique’s death in first trailer that he did so to ensure fans realise this is a ‘different’ X-Men movie.

Read more: Dark Phoenix – everything you need to know

“It’s a movie where shocking things happen, where intense, dramatic things happen,” he said.

“People don’t just fall off buildings and dust themselves off and walk away. There’s a reality to this movie and a consequence to this movie. Even more than that, it was to show that Jean/Dark Phoenix is genuinely a threat to everyone, including the X-Men.”

As for killing off Lawrence’s character, he added: “I had a lot of emotions about it. I was obviously sad about it, as Jen’s friend, and also as a fan of Jen as an actress. But I felt it was the strongest, most dramatic thing for the movie, and sometimes you have to make those kinds of hard decisions to service the larger story.

Read more: Dark Phoenix trailer leaks online

“And the larger story really is Jean cracking up, losing control because she’s more powerful than anyone else in the world. To dramatize that properly, you have to show real loss, you have to show real pain and show real threat and menace.

“I didn’t want to do that by her blowing up a building with anonymous people in it. It had to feel really personal for the X-Men, and I wanted it to be something that would fracture the X-Men as well. Mystique is someone who in our universe has been part of the X-Men and has been part of Magneto’s world. Her death impacts literally everybody.”

Set in 1992, a decade after the events of X-Men: Apocalypse, the movie will see Jean Grey battle with Phoenix, the powerful, dark entity inside her.

The movie lands on 7 June.