‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’ Director Shoots Down Fan Theory About Jessica Chastain’s Character

Even after seeing the first trailer for the newest (and possibly last) Fox X-Men movie, Dark Phoenix, we’re still no closer to figuring out who Jessica Chastain is playing in the film. It’s been made clear that she is an alien of some sort, and that she will have an influence over Jean Grey. Other than that, her identity is a complete and total mystery.

One of the most popular theories floating around is that she is playing a gender-swapped version of the X-Men villain Mastermind, who messed with Jean’s head in the Dark Phoenix comics. However, according to director Simon Kinberg, that theory isn’t remotely true.

While speaking to IGN about the new film, Kinberg shot down the Mastermind theory pretty quickly, but did reveal that the mystery character does share some traits with the classic villain.

“I will say that Jessica’s character is not Mastermind but there are elements of the way Mastermind manipulates Jean that Jessica’s character does employ,” Kinberg explained. “For me, as you’ll see, that Jessica’s character has elements of a few different characters from the comics.”

Kinberg went on to offer a few more vague details about Chastain’s role, revealing that the character is definitely extraterrestrial in nature.

“She is from, let’s say, not our planet, her character,” he continued. “I’ll keep it relatively mysterious but it is a cosmic story in a way that is extraterrestrial, which is something we’ve never done in the X-Men movies before but is obviously something that is integral to the Dark Phoenix story so I felt we couldn’t do what we did on X3 and ignore that. We had to actually embrace it. So there’s a fair amount that takes place in space, and the inciting incident that starts to turn Jean, let’s say, dark and fill her with this power that she can’t control happens in space. And then there are forces from space that come to Earth because of that.”

That’s all we know about Jessica Chastain’s character at this point, and it might stay that way until the film’s release next year. Fortunately, we’ve got plenty of time to speculate between now and then.

Who do you think Jessica Chastain is playing in Dark Phoenix? Let us know your best theories in the comments below!

Dark Phoenix is set to hit theaters on February 14, 2019.