Every X-Men Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

In March 2019, Disney finalized its acquisition of Fox's film assets, and just like that, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters belonged to the House of Mouse. So when Dark Phoenix hit theaters a few months later, it was the final X-Men movie of the Fox era and the last film of a franchise dating back to 2000. Sure, The New Mutants was lurking around, but the series proper was coming to a close.

And boy, did it end with a whimper.

Dark Phoenix tells the story of Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), a powerful mutant who's possessed by an all-consuming entity. The cosmic force turns Jean into an uncontrollable psychic who decides it's time for the X-men to become the "X-Terminated Men"... and the movie works about as well as that joke, which is to say it's awful.

Of course, if we're talking about awful, we have to mention Jennifer Lawrence's performance. Granted, she's generally a phenomenal actress, but she so obviously doesn't want to be here. Lawrence is totally phoning it in, so when she's (spoiler alert) mercifully killed halfway into the film, everybody breathes a sigh of relief. But Lawrence is far from the only problem: In order to sell the "Dark Phoenix" story, we have to actually care about Jean, and this series has done a terrible job of giving the retconned character any sort of, well, character. That's also true for young Cyclops, Storm, and Nightcrawler, not to mention the villainous D'Bari. These shapeshifting aliens lack any personality or passion, and that goes for the entire film.

From its big emotional moments to its disappointing action scenes, the movie is a major bore. Sure, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is technically a worse movie, but with that one, at least you're laughing at the screen and not constantly yawning. What could've been a grand space opera with Jean Grey devouring a star and fighting aliens on the moon turned out to be a dull and disappointing farewell to the uncanny X-Men.