History YMMV / DarkPhoenix

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Regardless of the movie's writing, you can't deny that the CGI in every scene is great. Special mention would have to go to Cerebro, where entering one person's mind brings multiple synapses floating around the user.

* CompleteMonster: [[ManipulativeBastard Vuk]] is the [[BigBad leader]] of the [[Characters/XMenFilmSeriesDBari D'Bari Empire]] and author of an insidious plot to control the Phoenix Force and rule the Earth after using the Phoenix Force to wipe out all life on Earth. Tracking the Phoenix Force to Earth, Vuk murders a woman and takes her appearance before killing the woman's husband by stopping his heart. Vuk subsequently finds and murders Jean Grey's father John after interrogating him about Jean's whereabouts, noting that it's harder to understand someone while they're screaming. After managing to find Jean, Vuk [[TheCorruptor persuades her to try embracing her powers]] and to not bother with ideas of morality. When the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants confront Jean, Jean is overcome with remorse, and Vuk "volunteers" to take the Phoenix Force away from her, knowing full well that Jean will be killed. After the mutants are captured and she is prevented from completely absorbing the Phoenix Force, Vuk and her forces attack the train transporting them to take the Phoenix Force from Jean, killing dozens of soldiers. Utterly without empathy even towards her own people, Vuk was [[OutsideContextProblem unlike any threat the X-Men had faced before]].

* CompleteMonster: [[ManipulativeBastard Vuk]] is the [[BigBad leader]] of the D'Bari Empire and author of an insidious plot to control the Phoenix Force and rule the Earth after using the Phoenix Force to wipe out all life on Earth. Tracking the Phoenix Force to Earth, Vuk murders a woman and takes her appearance before killing the woman's husband by stopping his heart. Vuk subsequently finds and murders Jean Grey's father John after interrogating him about Jean's whereabouts, noting that it's harder to understand someone while they're screaming. After managing to find Jean, Vuk [[TheCorruptor persuades her to try embracing her powers]] and to not bother with ideas of morality. When the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants confront Jean, Jean is overcome with remorse, and Vuk "volunteers" to take the Phoenix Force away from her, knowing full well that Jean will be killed. After the mutants are captured and she is prevented from completely absorbing the Phoenix Force, Vuk and her forces attack the train transporting them to take the Phoenix Force from Jean, killing dozens of soldiers. Utterly without empathy even towards her own people, Vuk was [[OutsideContextProblem unlike any threat the X-Men had faced before]].

** Mystique is seen as this by many viewers when she calls out Xavier, even though it's meant to be an empowering scene. She mocks Xavier by saying that she can’t remember a moment where Xavier actually "risked something" like the rest of the X-Men did, despite the fact that Xavier had sacrificed just as much as they had (including the use of his legs, something ''she was there for'') in the previous movies. She also chastises Xaiver for sending them on dangerous missions (despite willingly doing so before as an X-Men member) and lectures him for trying to make heroes out of the X-Men, claiming they're "just kids". This sentiment comes off as contradictory to the rousing speech she made in ''Apocalypse'' (where she declared they're "not students anymore", but official X-Men). Also, her observation that they're "just kids" is downright nonsensical due to the team now being in their mid-to-late 20s and have been doing such work for nearly a decade, making Mystique come off as both overprotective and hypocritical. She also claims that the female team members are "always saving the men" and that Charles should change the team name to "X-Women" to suit their alleged work and effort. As (male and female) fans pointed out, the male team members (primarily Quicksilver and Nightcrawler) have saved the team, Mystique included, from death at least ''a few times'' in the movies; ''including this film''. Hence, they find this statement untrue and, once again, hypocritical.

** Daniel Cudmore was supposed to reprise his role as Colossus but was cut in the final film. With the appearance of the Mutant Containment Unit (MCU), it appears that with Cudmore being cast in ''Helstrom'' means that Colossus got captured by the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] after all.

* AssPull: When Vuk [[InfoDump first describes the Phoenix Force to Jean Grey]], she explains that Jean is the only person in the universe to be able to utilize its power without dying. [[spoiler:There's no indication that she was lying, so her sudden ability to siphon the power from Jean, and use it against her in the finale, comes out of nowhere. ''Possibly'' subverted when she tries to absorb the Phoenix a second time and she realizes she can't handle its power and Jean uses it against her.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Many of the supporting Mutants -- namely, Quicksilver, Storm, and Nightcrawler -- aren't given much to do from a character development perspective, even if they're all involved in action sequences. Quicksilver gets the worst of it, considering that ''Apocalypse'' teased that he would eventually have to reveal to Magneto that he's his father, but the two never even share a single scene.

* AssPull: When Vuk [[InfoDump first describes the Phoenix Force to Jean Grey]], she explains that Jean is the only person in the universe to be able to utilize its power without dying. [[spoiler:There's no indication that she was lying, so her sudden ability to siphon the power from Jean, and use it against her in the finale, comes out of nowhere.]]

* InformedWrongness: Charles Xavier is portrayed as being in the wrong for hiding an AwfulTruth from Jean Grey regarding her past. [[spoiler:But it's clearly shown that her father didn't want anything to do with her after she accidentally killed her mother, even deeming her a "lost cause" with no hope, while Charles only wanted to protect her from being even more hurt by her tragic past and gave her a home.]] The movie also calls him out for trying to use the X-Men as a means to generate good PR for the entire Mutant species, but considering that [[Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast they were being vivisected by the government merely 19 years prior]], trying to make heroes out of his now-adult students is a logical course of action in a world where many of them are still hated and feared for their unique abilities.

** Mystique is seen as this by many viewers when she calls out Xavier, even though it's meant to be an empowering scene. She mocks Xavier by saying that she can’t remember a moment where Xavier actually "risked something" like the rest of the X-Men did, despite the fact that Xavier had sacrificed just as much as they had (including the use of his legs, something ''she was there for'') in the previous movies. She also chastises Xaiver for sending them on dangerous missions (despite willingly doing this before) and lectures him for trying to make heroes out of the X-Men, claiming they're "just kids". This sentiment comes of as contradictory to the rousing speech she made in ''Apocalypse'' (where she declared they're "not students anymore", but official X-Men). Also, her observation that they're "just kids" is downright nonsensical due to the team now being in their mid-to-late 20s and have been doing such work for nearly a decade, making Mystique come off as both overprotective and hypocritical. She also claims that the female team members are "always saving the men" and that Charles should change the team name to "X-Women" to suit their work and effort. As fans pointed out (both male and female), Quicksilver and Nightcrawler have saved the team, Mystique included, from death at least ''a few times'' in the movies. Hence, they find this statement untrue and, once again, hypocritical.
** After [[spoiler:Mystique's death]], Hank decided to team up with [[spoiler:Erik to hunt Jean Grey down, even agreeing to Erik's decision to outright kill Jean off out of vengeance for Jean ''accidentally'' killing Mystique. While Hank has a right to be pissed off that Jean killed Mystique, he ''knows'' that Jean did not do it on purpose, and that she's scared and confused because she doesn't know what's happening to her. Despite knowing this, he let his emotions cloud his judgment and decided to team up with his worst enemy to kill his former student without hesitation. The fact he [[NeverMyFault blames everything on Charles]] and makes him out to be a cruel villain who selfishly "messed with the mind of an eight-year-old girl" and declares that they should have "been protecting the students from Charles all along" (despite what he himself is doing in trying to outright ''murder'' Jean) really doesn't help his case either]].

** Mystique's look in the film has a noticeable decrease in terms of makeup quality compared to prior installments. Creator/JenniferLawrence previously made it clear that she isn't a fan of the makeup process that it takes to bring the character to life, likely leading to lighter applications of it in her appearance in this film [[spoiler:and her character's death early on]].

* EightDeadlyWords: The disastrous box office results and poor reviews tells a lot about what the general audience (and fans) thought of this film. Various {{Out Of Character Moment}}s didn't help; it's hard to mourn for Raven the way she acted for most of this film.

** With Jessica Chastain's role being kept a secret, many have proposed that she could be Lilandra or a Skrull, among many choices. Recently theories are that she's in fact a far younger [[ComicBook/NewXMen Cassandra Nova]]. [[{{Jossed}} Then she turns out to just be a member of the D'bari, a minor alien race]].

** With the Film/MonsterVerse, due to being released one week after ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' and being perceived by Godzilla fans as an incoming threat to their movie's already disappointing box office performance. The fact that ''Dark Phoenix'' got even worse reviews and made even less during its opening weekend than ''King of the Monsters'' is cited as a "victory" for the [=MonsterVerse=], although no one ''really'' won (at the very least, ''Godzilla'' was [[CriticalDissonance viewed much more favorably by its fans]], while ''Dark Phoenix'' wasn't that well received even by most ''X-Men'' fans).

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Charles Xavier. He is blamed for Jean losing control and it's implied that the audience is supposed to agree that he was being selfish; caring more about his ego than the students. However, most viewers ''agree'' with him. As detailed in InformedWrongness, Xavier has created a trusted bond between mutants and humans, a vast improvement over them being vivisected and/or mutants using their powers for crime. Despite Mystique's claims, Charles isn't forcing kids into dangerous situations as a publicity stunt; he's sending willing adults to use their abilities to help people. Also, creating mental blocks in Jean's mind arguably wasn't done to control her, but to protect her and others; Jean's powers become wildly unstable when she's emotionally distressed. What could be more distressing than [[spoiler:being a little girl who accidentally killed her mother and is disowned by her father]]? Charles clearly cares about Jean [[spoiler:(when Jean goes inside his mind to telepathically confront him, it's shown that he still views her as the little girl he took in and he says he only wanted to "keep the pain away")]]. While he could've handled the situation better, his intentions come off more as sympathetic than apparently intended. However, it can also be argued that we are supposed to sympathize with Xavier as Jean forgives him and agrees that his actions were done out of love. Adding to his point, when confronted by Mystique about his intentions for the missions, she accuses it of being for his personal fame. He reminds Raven of their previous treatment as criminals and they're always "one bad day away" from being set back to it; their missions and PR prevent that. When Jean loses control (and Erik and Hank go on RoaringRampageOfRevenge), the government doesn't hesitate to cut all ties with the X-Men, begin cracking down on mutant freedom ''all over again'' and the public deem all mutants a threat. This, in which, ''proves Charles was right''.

** Mystique is seen as this by many viewers when she calls out Xavier, even though it's meant to be an empowering scene. She mocks Xavier by saying that she can’t remember a moment where Xavier actually "risked something" like the rest of the X-Men did, despite the fact that Xavier had sacrificed just as much as they had (including the use of his legs, something ''she was there for'') in the previous movies. Not only that, she also lectures Xavier for trying to make heroes out of the X-Men, claiming they're "just kids". This sentiment comes of as contradictory to her rousing speech she made to them in ''Apocalypse'' (where she declared they're "not students anymore", but official X-Men). Also, her observation that they're "just kids" is downright nonsensical due to the team now being in their mid-to-late 20s and have been doing such work for nearly a decade, making Mystique come off as both overprotective and hypocritical. She also claims that the female team members are "always saving the men" and that Charles should change the team name to "X-Women" to suit their work and effort. As fans pointed out, Quicksilver and Nightcrawler have saved the team, Mystique included, from death at least ''a few times'' in the movies. Hence, they find this statement untrue and, once again, hypocritical.
** After [[spoiler:Mystique's death]], Hank decided to team up with [[spoiler:Erik to hunt Jean Grey down, even agreeing to Erik's decision to outright kill Jean off out of vengeance for Jean ''accidentally'' killing Mystique. While Hank has a right to be pissed off that Jean killed Mystique, he ''knows'' that Jean did not do it on purpose, and that she's scared and confused because she doesn't know what's happening to her. Despite knowing this, he let his emotions cloud his judgment and decided to team up with his worst enemy to kill his former student without hesitation. The fact he [[NeverMyFault blames everything on Charles]] and makes him out to be a cruel villain who selfishly "messed with the mind of an eight-year-old girl" and declares that they should have "been protecting the students from Charles all along" really doesn't help his case either]].

* SoOkayItsAverage: If you go in with low expectations, you won't be disappointed. Watch it on a plane or something.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The film was presented as being one by Fox, who sold the movie as a more faithful adaptation of ''The Dark Phoenix Saga'' after ''X-Men: The Last Stand'' reduced its adaptation of the arc to a subplot. Internal comments from inside reports from the studio also suggested that they wanted to get away from an explosion-heavy spectacle following divided reception to ''X-Men: Apocalypse'' in favor of delivering a smaller, more personal character drama. The results were pretty mixed among both general audiences and longtime fans.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The film was presented as being one by Fox, who sold the movie as a more faithful adaptation of ''The Dark Phoenix Saga'' after ''X-Men: The Last Stand'' reduced its adaptation of the arc to a subplot. The results were pretty mixed among both general audiences and longtime fans.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The film was presented as being one by Fox, who sold the movie as a more faithful adaptation of ''The Dark Phoenix Saga'' after ''X-Men: The Last Stand'' reduced it to a subplot. The results were pretty mixed among both general audiences and longtime fans.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Charles Xavier. He is blamed for Jean going out of control and it's implied that the audience is supposed to agree that he was being selfish, caring more about his ego than the students. However, most viewers find it hard to agree. As detailed in InformedWrongness, Xavier has created a bond of trust and respect between mutants and humans, a vast improvement over them being vivisected and/or mutants using their powers to commit atrocities. Despite Mystique's claims, Charles isn't forcing kids into dangerous situations as a publicity stunt for his ego; he's sending willing adults to use their abilities to help people and prove why they're needed. Also, creating mental blocks in Jean's mind arguably wasn't done to control her, but to protect her and others; Jean's powers are wildly unstable and become dangerous when she's emotionally distressed. What could be more distressing than [[spoiler:being a little girl who accidentally killed her mother and is disowned by her father]]? Charles clearly cares about Jean [[spoiler:(when Jean goes inside his mind to telepathically confront him, it's shown that he still views her as the little girl he took in and he says all he wanted was to "keep the pain away")]] and while he could've handled the situation better, his intentions come off more as benevolent and sympathetic than apparently intended. However, it can also be argued that we are supposed to sympathize with Xavier as Jean forgives him and agrees that his actions were done out of love.
** Adding to his point, when confronted by Mystique about his intentions for the missions, she accuses it of being for his ego and personal fame. He reminds Raven of their previous treatment as criminals and that they're always "one bad day away" from being set back to such treatment; their missions and PR prevent that. When Jean loses control (and Erik, his team and Hank go after her in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge for killing Raven), the government doesn't hesitate to cut all ties with the X-Men, begin cracking down on mutant freedom ''all over again'' and the public deem all mutants a threat. This, in which, ''proves Charles was right.''

* AssPull: When Vuk [[InfoDump first describes the Phoenix Force to Jean Grey]], she explains that Jean is the only person in the universe to be able to utilize its power without dying. [[spoiler: There's no indication that she was lying, so her sudden ability to siphon the power from Jean, and use it against her in the finale, comes out of nowhere.]]

* FoeYay: With a side order of LesYay. Vuk spends a large portion of the movie seeking Jean for the Phoenix Force, and when she finds her this kicks in fully. She tells Jean in glowing terms how special and powerful she is, and [[spoiler: the scene where she takes the Phoenix Force involves her cupping Jean's face in her hands and embracing her in a way a lot like a lover]].

* InformedWrongness: Charles Xavier is portrayed as being in the wrong for hiding an AwfulTruth from Jean Grey regarding her past. [[spoiler: But it's clearly shown that her father didn't want anything to do with her after she accidentally killed her mother, even deeming her a "lost cause" with no hope, while Charles only wanted to protect her from being even more hurt by her tragic past and gave her a home]]. The movie also calls him out for trying to use the X-Men as a means to generate good PR for the entire Mutant species, but considering that [[Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast they were being vivisected by the government merely 19 years prior]], trying to make heroes out of his now-adult students is a logical course of action in a world where many of them are still hated and feared for their unique abilities.
* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler: Jean Grey ends up killing Mystique by accident during a moment of lost control.]] Not helped by [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil the trailers effectively spelling this out]].

** [[spoiler: With the way that ''Days of Future Past'' shows Jean Grey at the X-Mansion, few in the audience actually expected Jean Grey to stay dead by the end of the movie. Her survival is confirmed in the final shot, where a flaming Phoenix appears above Paris.]]
** A non-death variant also occurs. [[spoiler: Some also called that Jean wouldn't actually turn evil since the ending also showed her with the X-Men and the same of the theme of the movie was that you can evolve to change yourself and change your fate.]]

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Charles Xavier. He is blamed for Jean going out of control and it's implied that the audience is supposed to agree that he was being selfish, caring more about his ego than the students. However, most viewers find it hard to agree. As detailed in InformedWrongness, Xavier has created a bond of trust and respect between mutants and humans, a vast improvement over them being vivisected and/or mutants using their powers to commit atrocities. Despite Mystique's claims, Charles isn't forcing kids into dangerous situations as a publicity stunt for his ego; he's sending willing adults to use their abilities to help people and prove why they're needed. Also, creating mental blocks in Jean's mind arguably wasn't done to control her, but to protect her and others; Jean's powers are wildly unstable and become dangerous when she's emotionally distressed. What could be more distressing than [[spoiler:being a little girl who accidentally killed her mother and is disowned by her father]]? Charles clearly cares about Jean [[spoiler: (when Jean goes inside his mind to telepathically confront him, it's shown that he still views her as the little girl he took in and he says all he wanted was to "keep the pain away")]] and while he could've handled the situation better, his intentions come off more as benevolent and sympathetic than apparently intended. However, it can also be argued that we are supposed to sympathize with Xavier as Jean forgives him and agrees that his actions were done out of love.

** After [[spoiler:Mystique's death]], Hank decided to team up with [[spoiler: Erik to hunt Jean Grey down, even agreeing to Erik's decision to outright kill Jean off out of vengeance for Jean ''accidentally'' killing Mystique. While Hank has a right to be pissed off that Jean killed Mystique, he ''knows'' that Jean did not do it on purpose, and that she's scared and confused because she doesn't know what's happening to her. Despite knowing this, he let his emotions cloud his judgment and decided to team up with his worst enemy to kill his former student without hesitation. The fact he [[NeverMyFault blames everything on Charles]] and makes him out to be a selfish villain who selfishly "messed with the mind of an eight-year-old girl" and declares that they should have "been protecting the students from Charles all along" really doesn't help his case either]].

* InformedWrongness: Charles Xavier is portrayed as being in the wrong for hiding an AwfulTruth from Jean Grey, yet [[spoiler: it's clearly shown that her father didn't want anything to do with her after she accidentally killed her mother, and he just wanted to protect her from being even more hurt by her tragic past]]. The movie also calls him out for trying to use the X-Men as a means to generate good PR for the entire Mutant species, but considering that [[Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast they were being vivisected by the government merely 19 years prior]], trying to make heroes out of his now-adult students is a logical course of action in a world where many of them are still hated and feared for their unique abilities.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The original story line was absolutely a game-changer when it came out in the early '80s. An almost god-like female character carrying a story of her own about her own power she can't control was unheard of back then, but has since become common in modern times. A few reviewers have pointed out that the story didn't translate well because general audiences who don't know much about comics history would assume that ''Dark Phoenix'' is the derivative one. It's especially similar to another female-led superhero film that came out only three months earlier, ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}''. [[https://www.vox.com/2019/6/13/18659723/x-men-dark-phoenix-failed-xmen This piece from Vox]] points out there were also two other popular pieces of media in the first half of 2019 that followed the same beats as the original ''Phoenix Saga'' story, Vanya Hargreeves's arc from ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy'' and Daenerys's arc from the final season of ''Series/GameOfThrones''.

* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler: Jean Grey ends up killing Mystique by accident.]] Not helped by [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil the trailers effectively spelling this out]].

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Charles Xavier. He is blamed for Jean going out of control and it's implied that the audience is supposed to agree that he was being selfish, caring more about his ego than the students. However, most viewers find it hard to agree. As detailed in InformedWrongness, Xavier has created a bond of trust and respect between mutants and humans, a vast improvement over them being vivisected and/or mutants using their powers to commit atrocities. Despite Mystique's claims, Charles isn't forcing kids into dangerous situations as a publicity stunt for his ego; he's sending willing adults to use their abilities to help people and prove why they're needed. Also, creating mental blocks in Jean's mind arguably wasn't done to control her, but to protect her and others; Jean's powers are wildly unstable when she's emotionally distressed and what could be more distressing than [[spoiler:being a little girl who accidentally killed her mother and is disowned by her father]]? Charles clearly cares about Jean [[spoiler: (when Jean goes inside his mind to telepathically confront him, it's shown that he still views her as the little girl he took in and he says he only wanted "to keep the pain away")]] and while he could've approached the situation better, his intentions come off more as benevolent and sympathetic than apparently intended. However, it can also be argued that we are supposed to sympathize with Xavier as Jean forgives him and agrees that his actions were done out of love.

** Mystique is seen as this by many viewers when she calls out Xavier. She mocks Xavier by saying that she can’t remember a moment where Xavier actually "risked something" like the rest of the X-Men did, despite the fact that Xavier had sacrificed just as much (including the use of his legs, something ''she was there for'') in the previous movies. Not only that, she also lectures Xavier for trying to make heroes out of the X-Men, claiming they're "just kids". This sentiment comes of as contradictory to her rousing speech she made to them in the previous movie (where she declared they "aren't students anymore", but official X-Men). Also, her observation that they're "just kids" is downright nonsensical due to the team now being in their mid-to-late 20s and having been doing such work for nearly a decade, making Mystique come off as both overprotective and hypocritical. She also claims that the female team members are "always saving the men" and that Charles should change the team name to "X-Women" to suit their work and effort. As fans pointed out, Quicksilver and Nightcrawler have saved the team, Mystique included, from death at least ''a few times'' in the movies.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Charles Xavier. He is blamed for Jean going out of control and it's implied that the audience is supposed to agree that he was being selfish, caring more about his ego than the students. However, most viewers find it hard to agree. As detailed in InformedWrongness, Xavier has created a bond of trust and respect between mutants and humans, a vast improvement over them being vivisected and/or mutants using their powers to commit atrocities. Despite Mystique's claims, Charles isn't forcing kids into dangerous situations as a publicity stunt for his ego; he's sending willing adults to use their abilities to help people and prove why they're needed. Also, creating mental blocks in Jean's mind arguably wasn't done to control her, but to protect her and others; Jean's powers are wildly unstable when she's emotionally distressed and what could be more distressing than [[spoiler:being a little girl who accidentally killed her mother and is disowned by her father]]? Charles clearly cares about Jean [[spoiler: (when Jean goes inside his mind to telepathically confront him, it's shown that he still views her as the little girl he took in)]] and while he could've approached the situation better, his intentions come off more as benevolent and sympathetic than apparently intended. However, it can also be argued that we are supposed to sympathize with Xavier as Jean forgives him and agrees that his actions were done out of love.

** Mystique is seen as this by many viewers when she calls out Xavier. She mocks Xavier by saying that she can’t remember a moment where Xavier actually "risked something" like the rest of the X-Men did, despite the fact that Xavier had sacrificed just as much (including the use of his legs, something ''she was there for'') in the previous movies. Not only that, she also lectures Xavier for trying to make heroes out of the X-Men, claiming they're "just kids". This sentiment comes of as contradictory to her rousing speech she made to them in the previous movie (where she declared they "aren't students anymore", but official X-Men). Also, her observation that they're "just kids" is downright nonsensical due to the team now being in their mid-to-late 20s and having been doing such work for nearly a decade, making Mystique come off as both overprotective and hypocritical. She also remarks earlier that the female team members are "always saving the men" and that Charles should change the team name to "X-Women" to suit it. Never mind Quicksilver and Nightcrawler saving the team, Mystique included, from death at least ''a few times'' in the movies.
** After [[spoiler:Mystique's death]], Hank decided to team up with [[spoiler: Erik to hunt Jean Grey down, even agreeing to Erik's decision to outright kill Jean off out of vengeance for Jean ''accidentally'' killing Mystique. While Hank has a right to be pissed off that Jean killed Mystique, he ''knows'' that Jean did not do it on purpose, and that she's scared and confused because she doesn't know what's happening to her. Despite knowing this, he let his emotions cloud his judgment and decided to team up with his worst enemy to kill his former student without hesitation. The fact he [[NeverMyFault blames everything on Charles]] and makes him out to be a selfish villain who "messed with the mind of an eight-year-old girl" and declares that they should have "been protecting the students from Charles all along" really doesn't help his case either]].

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Charles Xavier. He is blamed for Jean going out of control and it's implied that the audience is supposed to agree that he was being selfish, caring more about his ego than the students. However, most viewers find it hard to agree. As detailed in InformedWrongness, Xavier has created a bond of trust and respect between mutants and humans, a vast improvement over them being vivisected and/or mutants using their powers to commit atrocities. Despite Mystique's claims, Charles isn't forcing kids into dangerous situations as a publicity stunt for his ego; he's sending willing adults to use their abilities to help people and prove why they're needed. Also, creating mental blocks in Jean's mind arguably wasn't done to control her, but to protect her and others; Jean's powers are wildly unstable when she's emotionally distressed and what could be more distressing than [[spoiler:being a little girl who accidentally killed her mother and is disowned by her father]]? Charles clearly cares about Jean and while he could've approached the situation better, his intentions come off more as benevolent and sympathetic than apparently intended. [[spoiler: When Jean goes inside his mind to telepathically confront him, it's shown that he still views her as the little girl he took in.]] However, it can also be argued that we are supposed to sympathize with Xavier as Jean forgives him and agrees that his actions were done out of love.
** Adding to his point, when confronted by Mystique about his intentions for the missions, she accuses it of being for his ego and personal fame. He reminds Raven of their previous treatment as criminals and that they're always "one bad day away" from being set back to such treatment; their missions and PR prevent that. When Jean loses control (and Erik and his team go after her in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge for killing Raven), Charles is ''proven right'' when the government doesn't hesitate to cut all ties with the X-Men, begin cracking down on mutant laws ''all over again'' and the public deem all mutants a threat.

** Mystique is seen as this by many viewers when she calls out Xavier. She mocks Xavier by saying that she can’t remember a moment where Xavier actually "risked something" like the rest of the X-Men did, despite the fact that Xavier had sacrificed just as much (including the use of his legs, something ''she was there for'') in the previous movies. Not only that, she also lectures Xavier for trying to make heroes out of the X-Men, claiming they're "just kids". This sentiment comes of as contradictory to her rousing speech she made to them in the previous movie (where she declared they "aren't students anymore", but official X-Men). Also, her observation that they're "just kids" is downright nonsensical due to the team now being in their mid-to-late 20s and having been doing such work for nearly a decade, making Mystique come off as both overprotective and hypocritical. She also remarks earlier that the female team members are "always saving the men" and that Charles should think about changing the team name to "X-Women" to suit it. (Never mind Quicksilver and Nightcrawler saving the team, Mystique included, from death at least ''a few times'' in the movies.)

** Mystique is seen as this by many viewers when she calls out Xavier. She mocks Xavier by saying that she can’t remember a moment where Xavier actually "risked something" like the rest of the X-Men did, despite the fact that Xavier had sacrificed just as much (including the use of his legs, something ''she was there for'') in the previous movies. Not only that, she also lectures Xavier for trying to make heroes out of the X-Men, claiming they're "just kids". This sentiment comes of as contradictory to her rousing speech she made to them in the previous movie (where she declared they "aren't students anymore", but official X-Men). Also, her observation that they're "just kids" is downright nonsensical due to the team now being in their mid-to-late 20s and having been doing such work for nearly a decade, making Mystique come off as both overprotective and hypocritical. She also remarks in her [[Narm unintentionally funny moment]] that the female team members are "always saving the men" and that Charles should think about changing the team name to "X-Women" to suit it. (Never mind Quicksilver and Nightcrawler saving the team, Mystique included, from death at least a few times in the movies.)

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Charles Xavier. He is blamed for Jean going out of control and it's implied that the audience is supposed to agree that he was being selfish, caring more about his ego than the students. However, most viewers find it hard to agree. As detailed in InformedWrongness, Xavier has created a bond of trust and respect between mutants and humans, a vast improvement over them being vivisected and/or mutants using their powers to commit atrocities. Despite Mystique's claims, Charles isn't forcing kids into dangerous situations as a publicity stunt; he's sending willing adults to use their abilities to help people. Also, creating mental blocks in Jean's mind arguably wasn't done to control her, but to protect her and others; Jean's powers are wildly unstable when she's emotionally distressed and what could be more distressing than [[spoiler:being a little girl who accidentally killed her mother and is now hated by her father]]? Charles clearly cares about Jean and while he could've approached the situation better, his intentions come off more as benevolent and sympathetic than apparently intended. [[spoiler: When Jean goes inside his mind to telepathically confront him, it's shown that he still views her as the little girl he took in.]] However, it can also be argued that we are supposed to sympathize with Xavier as Jean forgives him and agrees that his action were done out of love.

** Mystique is seen as this by many viewers when she calls out Xavier. She mocks Xavier by saying that she can’t remember a moment where Xavier actually "risked something" like the rest of the X-Men did, despite the fact that Xavier had sacrificed just as much (including the use of his legs, something ''she was there for'') in the previous movies. Not only that, she also lectures Xavier for trying to make heroes out of the X-Men, claiming they're "just kids". This sentiment comes of as contradictory to her rousing speech she made to them in the previous movie (where she declared they "weren't students anymore", but official X-Men). Also, her observation that they're "just kids" is downright nonsensical due to the team now being in their mid-to-late 20s and having been doing such work for nearly a decade, making Mystique come off as both overprotective and hypocritical.

** It was initially heavily suggested that the film's central conflict would've been the other X-Men's WhatTheHellHero towards Xavier for allowing Jean to unleash the Phoenix. However, the film has them mad at him for mentally screwing with Jean and locking away certain sensitive memories to prevent her from going nuts with her powers [[spoiler: that lead to Mystique's death]]. It would've been a nice {{Deconstruction}} of GodzillaThreshold as well as preventing the above mentioned AssPull.
** Even before the film was released, some detractors expressed frustration that, instead of telling a different story with the younger cast introduced in ''Apocalypse'' to better flesh them out, Fox opted to do a do-over of one of the least popular movies in the series with less build-up to the pay-off of Jean Grey's FaceHeelTurn. That this comes two main-series ''X-Men'' movies after ''The Last Stand'' [[CosmicRetcon was rendered non-canon]] is also a sore point. Also a sore point is that this happened so soon after ''Days of Future Past'' wiped the slate clean for the franchise to go in any direction, yet the powers that be went with another Phoenix story.

** After [[spoiler:Mystique's death]], Hank decided to team up with [[spoiler:Erik to hunt Jean Grey down, even agreeing to Erik's decision to outright kill Jean off out of vengeance for Jean ''accidentally'' killing Mystique. While Hank has a right to be pissed off that Jean killed Mystique, he ''knows'' that Jean did not do it on purpose, and that she's scared and confused because she doesn't know what's happening to her. Despite knowing this, he let his emotions cloud his judgment and decided to team up with his worst enemy to kill his former student without hesitation. The fact he [[NeverMyFault blames everything on Charles]] and makes him out to be a selfish villain really doesn't help his case either]].

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Charles Xavier. He is blamed for Jean going out of control and it's indicated that the audience is supposed to agree that he was being reckless and selfish, caring more about his ego than the mutants. However, the majority of viewers find it hard to see it this way. As detailed in InformedWrongness, Xavier has managed to create a bond of trust and respect between mutants and humans, a vast improvement over them being vivisected and/or mutants using their powers to commit atrocities. Despite Mystique's claims, Charles isn't forcing kids into dangerous situations as a publicity stunt; he's sending willing adults to use their abilities to help people. Also, creating mental blocks in Jean's mind arguably wasn't done to control her, but to protect her and others; Jean's powers are wildly unstable when she's emotionally distressed and what could be more distressing than [[spoiler:being a little girl who accidentally killed her own mother and is now hated by her father]]? Charles clearly cares about Jean and while he could've perhaps approached the situation better, his intentions come off as more benevolent and sympathetic than apparently intended. [[spoiler: When Jean goes inside his mind to telepathically communicate with him over his actions, it's shown that he still views her as the little girl he happily took in.]] However, it can also be argued that we are supposed to sympathize with Xavier as Jean forgives him and agrees that all of his action were done out of love instead of selfishness.

* AssPull: When Vuk [[InfoDump first describes the Phoenix Force to Jean Grey]], she explains that Jean is the only person in the universe to be able to utilize its power. [[spoiler:There's no indication that she was lying, so her sudden ability to siphon the power from Jean, and use it against her in the finale, comes out of nowhere.]]
* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Most people were wary of film's premise given that the last time the Dark Phoenix plotline was adapted on screen was in the largely-disliked ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'' -- a film which also had the same writer.

* EndingAversion: Judging by the film's disappointing box office returns, even the fans who were the biggest supporters of Fox's ''X-Men'' movies prefered ''[[Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast Days of Future Past]]'' and/or ''Film/{{Logan}}'' as the GrandFinale for the film series, both of which were highly acclaimed among fans and critics alike and were considered to have provided satisfactory endings that shouldn't be followed up on and [[ToughActToFollow couldn't be topped]].

** Reshoots and delays for ''Dark Phoenix'' occurred shortly after Disney announced its plans to acquire Fox's assets. This led some fans to believe that the reshoots and delays were a result of this impending buyout, possibly to tie the film in with the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse in some way. This was not helped at all by an AprilFoolsDay story reported by [=JoBlo=] ''that this would be the case'', which went over more than a few heads. In all likelihood, Fox's earlier apprehension toward working with Marvel Studios with regards to the ''Franchise/FantasticFour'' property would likely indicate that no such plan is in place, and that Fox's iteration of the ''X-Men'' franchise [[ContinuitySnarl/XMenFilmSeries already has enough continuity issues]] to integrate it into the MCU. Not to mention Creator/KevinFeige's refusal to integrate anything Marvel not produced by him (such as ''Film/{{Venom|2018}}'') into his movie canon, or perhaps more realistically, the reshoots could have been done to retool the film into a GrandFinale for the series due to the buyout. Some of the people involved also stated the movie had to be made more distinct from ''Civil War'', as its initial version took heavy inspiration from it.

** Jessica Chastain's cold, Emma Frost-esque demeanour and ruthless drive take nothing away from her own attractiveness.

** With the MCU. It's gone so far that after the buyout of Fox by Disney, fans of the MCU wanted to see Marvel Studios shelve it permanently... Even though it wouldn't have been financially feasible in any way for Disney to do so (as, even in the event of a flop, Fox and Disney by extension would get some money back). After the movie bombed, a theory came from Fox fans, hypothesizing that the movie was sabotaged by Disney to serve ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}'', though the director said that the ending was changed at the request of test audiences, and Disney did not have authority over Fox at the time that the movie was wrapping up post-production. [[note]]The merger completed less than three months before the release of the film; Disney's only actions on the project were apparently to give the movie a last-minute marketing push. It was also in Disney's best interests to have the movie do as well as possible, even if there was no intent to do a follow-up, since the Fox purchase was so expensive.[[/note]]

* FoeYay: With a side order of LesYay. Vuk spends a large portion of the movie seeking Jean for the Phoenix Force, and when she finds her this kicks in fully. She tells Jean in glowing terms how special and powerful she is, and [[spoiler:the scene where she takes the Phoenix Force involves her cupping Jean's face in her hands and embracing her in a way a lot like a lover]].

** The Phoenix Force, a powerful cosmic force, resembles a sentient cloud. [[Film/FantasticFour2005 Where have we seen that before in Fox's Marvel films?]] The Galactus comparisons get funnier when you consider that Galactus quite infamously destroyed the Skrull homeworld in the past of the Marvel Universe, and that the D'Bari in this movie are Skrull stand-ins.

* InformedWrongness: Charles Xavier is portrayed as being in the wrong for hiding an AwfulTruth from Jean Grey, yet [[spoiler:it's clearly shown that her father didn't want anything to do with her after she accidentally got her mother killed, and he just wanted to protect her from being hurt even more]]. The movie also calls him out for trying to use the X-Men as a means to generate good PR for the entire Mutant species, but considering that [[Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast they were being vivisected by the government merely 19 years prior]], trying to make heroes out of his students is a logical course of action in a world where many of them are still hated and feared.
* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler:Jean Grey ends up killing Mystique by accident.]] Not helped by [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil the trailers effectively spelling this out]].

** [[spoiler:With the way that ''Days of Future Past'' shows Jean Grey at the X-Mansion, few in the audience actually expected Jean Grey to stay dead by the end of the movie. Her survival is confirmed in the final shot, where a flaming Phoenix appears above Paris.]]
** A non-death variant also occurs. [[spoiler:Some also called that Jean wouldn't actually turn evil since the ending also showed her with the X-Men and the same of the theme of the movie was that you can evolve to change yourself and change your fate.]]

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The original storyline was absolutely a gamechanger when it came out in the early 80s. An almost god-like female character carrying a story of her own about her own power she can't control was unheard of back then, but has since become quite common. A few reviewers have pointed out that the story didn't translate well because general audiences who don't know much about comics history would assume that ''Dark Phoenix'' is the derivative one. It's especially similar to another female-led superhero film that came out only three months earlier, ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}''. [[https://www.vox.com/2019/6/13/18659723/x-men-dark-phoenix-failed-xmen This piece from Vox]] points out there were also two other popular pieces of media in the first half of 2019 that followed the same beats as the original ''Phoenix Saga'' story, Vanya Hargreeves's arc from ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy'' and Daenerys's arc from the final season of ''Series/GameOfThrones''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Many of the supporting Mutants -- namely, Quicksilver, Storm, and Nightcrawler -- aren't given much to do from a character development perspective, even if they're all involved in action sequences. Quicksilver gets the worst of it, considering that ''Apocalypse'' teased that he would eventually have to reveal to Magneto that he's his father, but the two never even share any scenes.

** It was initially heavily suggested that the film's central conflict would've been the other X-Men's WhatTheHellHero towards Xavier allowing Jean to unleash the Phoenix. However, the film proper has them mad at him for mentally screwing with Jean and locking away certain sensitive memories to prevent her from going nuts with her powers [[spoiler:leading to Mystique's death]]. It would've been a nice {{Deconstruction}} of GodzillaThreshold as well as preventing the above mentioned AssPull.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Charles Xavier. He is blamed for Jean going out of control and it's indicated that the audience is supposed to agree that he was being reckless and selfish, caring more about his ego than the mutants. However, some viewers find it hard to see it this way. As detailed in InformedWrongness, Xavier has managed to create a bond of trust and respect between mutants and humans, a vast improvement over them being vivisected and/or mutants using their powers to commit atrocities  Despite Mystique's claims, Charles isn't forcing kids into dangerous situations as a publicity stunt; he's sending willing, consenting adults to use their abilities to help people. Also, creating mental blocks in Jean's mind arguably wasn't done to control her, but to protect her and others; Jean's powers are wildly unstable when she's emotionally distressed and what could be more distressing than [[spoiler:being a little girl who accidentally killed her own mother and is now hated by her father]]? Charles clearly cares about Jean and while he could've perhaps approached the situation better, his intentions come off as more benevolent and sympathetic than apparently intended. However, it can also be argued that we are supposed to sympathize with Xavier as Jean forgives him and says that all his action were out of love instead of selfishness.

** Mystique is seen as this by many when she calls out Xavier. She mocks Xavier by saying that she can’t remember a moment where Xavier actually "risked something" like the rest of the X-Men did, despite the fact that Xavier had sacrificed just as much (including the use of his legs, something ''she was there for'') in the previous movies. Not only that, she also lectures Xavier for trying to make heroes out of the X-Men. This sentiment comes of as contradictory to her rousing speech she made to them in the previous movie and her observation that they're "just kids" is downright nonsensical due to the team being in their late 20s at the youngest and having been doing this for nearly a decade, making Mystique come off as both overprotective and hypocritical.

* SnarkBait:
** The film's release getting pushed back several months just ''one day'' after the release of the first trailer announcing the original date, on top of similar issues with ''Film/TheNewMutants'', didn't exactly help Fox's optics with fans. While the delay was clearly meant to account for ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'' taking its February release window, the issue could have been sidestepped entirely had Fox just announced the ReleaseDateChange before the trailer dropped.
** The fact that the film was directed, written, and produced by Simon Kinberg, one of the co-writers of ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'', and recycled some of the same story beats from that movie with few changes, has made it the butt of more than a few jokes. The fact that Kinberg was previously heavily involved in [[Film/FantasticFour2015 another superhero film]] with an infamous TroubledProduction regarding haphazard reshoots has not helped matters. When the movie came out, this was taken further when some argued that Kinberg's new take on the material was actually ''worse'' than ''The Last Stand''.
** The scene where [[MundaneUtility Storm uses her powers to make ice cubes for Scott's drink at the party]] is often mocked as the perfect encapsulation of her [[AdvertisedExtra complete lack of importance or development]] of this specific version of the character.