X-Men: Dark Phoenix Ending Explained

The conclusion of X-Men: Dark Phoenix is a bit of an underwhelming sendoff for the X-Men franchise as a whole which has been hitting theaters since the year 2000. This is likely partly due to the fact that the team did not necessarily know when crafting the film that Disney would take over and the X-Men franchise would be radically changed going forward. It may also be the result of drastic reshoots to dodge having an ending similar to another movie. Still, the ending might leave a few moviegoers wondering what exactly happened, where it came from, or just completely blank because they skipped it after seeing the rough reviews.

Spoilers for X-Men: Dark Phoenix follow. Major spoilers!

By the end of X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Jean Grey had taken on the Phoenix Force and used it as a means to eliminate the alien threat which was essentially hoping to eviscerate life on earth and use the planet for themselves. Jean took Jessica Chastain’s Vuk villain high into the sky where she unleashed the Force and ultimately sacrificed herself to off the villain once and for all.

From there, Professor X and Magneto met outside of a café and played a game of chess together. The scene was symbolic of the characters’ history together, both past and future, as it is often a chess match with one evaluating the other and determining their next move. Chess also has a history in the X-Men movie world, with Charles and Erik having symbolically played the game in several films, including X-Men and First Class. In fact, in X-Men, Erik says, “I made the first move,” in reference to the game while acting against Charles and his idealogy.

The ending seems to be a combination of a couple of different comic book stories. In the Dark Phoenix Saga story by Chris Claremont (which served as the inspiration for the movie, overall), Jean sacrifices herself after a heartfelt goodbye to Scott Summers. The move was made to preserve human life and avoid causing anymore damage on earth or allowing the Phoenix Force to do just that.

However, the ending of Dark Phoenix also seems to offer up vibes of the Avengers vs. X-Men comic in which Professor X uses his mental abilities to fight Scott Summers and prevent the Phoenix Force from consuming him. Ultimately, Professor X sacrifices himself there and Scott becomes more powerful as a result.

The final frame of the film offers up a shot of the Phoenix flying through the sky above Erik and Charles, symbolically indicating that Jean rose up from the ashes as Scott said to her earlier in the film. Now, she is responsible for their continued life and might be looking after them.

Given the loose nature of this X-Men canon, it’s uncler whether or not these characters go on to live out the stories seen in the earlier X-Men movies which take place in their future. X-Men: Days of Future Past and Deadpool 2 may have created spawned alternate timelines but those are a headache which only lead to multiple new questions with each attempted answer.

Have you seen X-Men: Dark Phoenix? What did you think of the movie? Share your thoughts in the comments section or send them my way on Instagram or Twitter.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix is now playing in theaters.