X-Men ‘Dark Phoenix’: Is Jessica Chastain’s Character Actually the Phoenix Force?

The latest Dark Phoenix trailer dropped on Wednesday night, giving fans a better look at what the upcoming X-Men film has in store.

But even with the new footage, very little information has been given regarding Jessica Chastain’s character, who is listed as “Smith” in the official cast.

Throughout the trailer Chastain is seen talking with Jean Grey, giving her more information about the Phoenix Force inside of her.

“Look, you’re special, Jean,” Smith says as she looks at the Force in action around her. “And if you stop fighting that force inside you, if you embrace it, you will posses the very power of a god.”

This led fans to a new theory regarding a movie — Chastain’s character isn’t a person at all. She’s the living embodiment of the Phoenix Force, and only Grey can see her.

“So I watched that latest trailer for the #XMenDarkPhoenix movie and maybe I am wrong here, but does Jessica Chastain play a manifestation of the Phoenix Force that only Jean Grey sees?,” one fan tweeted after watching the new trailer.

“Also Jessica Chastain is the Phoenix Force,” wrote another.

Having Chastain be the devil on Grey’s shoulder would give a new twist on the Dark Phoenix storyline from the comics, and would likely be an improvement on how the story arc was handled in X-Men: The Last Stand, where the Phoenix was merely a part of Grey’s own personality kept hidden by Professor Xavier.

During Chastain’s interview on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, she hinted at her character’s actions in the movie.

“Is your power for good or for evil?,” Jimmy Fallon asked.

“Well, I think the power’s for good, but other people might think it’s for evil,” she teased. “I mean, I get to beat up a lot of X-Men in the movie.”

“You do?!,” Fallon said.

“Maybe kill some?,” she responded.

Back in October Simon Kinberg gave a hint as to what Chastain’s character is during an interview. Based on his answer, the new fan theory sounds rather plausible.

“I can tease that she is not of this world, that she is an extraterrestrial character,” he said. “I can tease that she does some pretty wonderful things with it. Beyond that, in terms of where she comes from specifically in our universe and what she’s based on in the comics, I guess I will say she’s sort of an amalgam of a couple different characters and iterations of those characters over the span of the different tellings of the Dark Phoenix story that have taken place.”

Dark Phoenix hits theaters on June 7.

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