Magneto Rumored To Be A Cult Leader In X-Men: Dark Phoenix

X-Men: Dark Phoenix may show moviegoers a very different side of Magneto.

Rumors coming out of the set of Fox’s latest X-Men franchise feature (via Nerdist) suggest that Michael Fassbender is looking for a cult leader style look in the new film. This has led to some speculation that the film may also introduce a mutant faction known as the Acolytes.

While Magneto’s original mutant faction, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, operated like a terrorist cell with Magneto as their leader, the Acolytes were formed much later and viewed Magneto in more religious and less political terms. To them, Magneto was the mutant messiah and they devoted themselves to him completely. Among the Acolytes, its members included the powerful mutant zealot known as Exodus and the treacherous and cunning Fabian Cortez, who could boost other mutants’ abilities. The X-Man Colossus also defected to the Acolytes for a time.

Another interesting note is that the home base of the Acolytes was a space station built by Magneto called Avalon. This may be relevant since X-Men: Dark Phoenix will send the X-Men movie franchise into space for the first time.

Magneto was last seen in X-Men: Apocalypse, where he was inducted into another kind of mutant cult, the Four Horsemen of the godlike mutant Apocalypse. Despite the chaos and destruction he caused, Magneto seemed to have redeemed himself by the end of the film, at least in the eyes of his friend Professor X, though Magneto’s future seemed to be less clear than ever.

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X-Men: Dark Phoenix will take place in the 1990s. The film will find the X-Men forced to deal with the destructive cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force. In addition, they’ll also be forced to struggle against the Shi’ar, a powerful cosmic empire that both worships and fears the power of the Phoenix.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix is being written and directed by Simon Kinberg, based on the classic X-Men comic book story “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” and will star Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Evan Peters. Production on X-Men: Dark Phoenix is set to begin in Montreal in July.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix will be released in theaters on November 2, 2018.

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