'X-Men: Dark Phoenix' Director Explains the Relationship Between Jean Grey and Cyclops

The first look feature on X-Men: Dark Phoenix revealed a lot of character insights, but one X-Man it didn't really discuss was that of Cyclops. We got our hands on the new issue of EW that has the full, in-depth breakdown of X-Men: Dark Phoenix, which reveals more about Cyclops' role in the film, and where he is in his relationship with Jean Grey.

According to EW's report, "The one mutant who never wavers from Team Jean is Scott (Tye Sheridan), a.k.a. Cyclops." That's pretty much a faithful depiction of Cyclops in the original Marvel Comics "Dark Phoenix Saga" storyline, as Cyclops fights his way across the stars in order to save Jean.

As Dark Phoenix director Simon Kinberg describes, keeping that aspect of the story intact was very important to the filmmakers, stating, "that relationship, his being willing to kill or die for her, is a huge part of the emotional core of the movie. It also makes Scott start to have to become a leader."

From these descriptions, it sounds like Cyclops will get the story and characterization that X-Men movie fans have been waiting for since the franchise first began. While fans like James Marsden's Cyclops from a casting point, the X-Men films have never really depicted him as the leader of center that he is in the comics; that distinguished honor always went to Hugh Jackman's Wolverine.

Cyclops was eliminated from the franchise for years thanks to his prompt (and fan-hated) death at the hand of Dark Phoenix in X-Men: The Last Stand. Now that he's back, and has a quality young actor like Sheridan behind him, it's time for this rebooted X-Men timeline to set things right.

The X-Men Movie Universe continues with The New Mutants on April 13th; Untitled Deadpool Sequel on June 1st; and X-Men: Dark Phoenix on November 2nd.