History YMMV / DarkPhoenix

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The original story line was an absolute game-changer when it came out in the early '80s. An almost god-like female character carrying a story of her own about a 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''.

* EvilIsSexy:
** Jean Grey, as played by the gorgeous Creator/SophieTurner, is already beautiful, but once she becomes emotionally unstable, she looks stunning.
** Creator/JessicaChastain's cold demeanor and ruthless drive as Vuk take nothing away from her own attractiveness.

** 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 re-shoots 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 re-shoots 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.

* 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, many 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 appear sympathetic. However, it can 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 deems 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. She also chastises Xavier 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.

* SignatureScene: The train battle, which is almost unanimously seen as the highlight of the film.

* TheScrappy: Vuk, the main antagonist of the film, is also disliked for being a [[FlatCharacter dull, uninteresting, and ultimately forgettable villain]] who has little characterization beyond manipulating Jean Grey into trying to destroy the world. The fact that Creator/JessicaChastain's talents were wasted on her only makes people dislike her more.

* 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. 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.

* TheScrappy: Vuk, the main antagonist of the film, is also disliked for being a [[FlatCharacter dull, uninteresting, and ultimately forgettable villain]] who has little characterization beyond manipulating Jean Grey into trying to [[GenericDoomsdayVillain destroy the world]]. The fact that Creator/JessicaChastain's talents were wasted on her only makes people dislike her more.

* TheScrappy:
** You would be hard pressed for to find anyone who actually likes Mystique in this film due to acting extremely UnintentionallyUnsympathetic as seen below. This even includes [[https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1660798/jennifer-lawrence-x-men-dark-phoenix-mystique-exit-quit-marvel Jennifer Lawrence]], who was sick of the role and the franchise by this point.
** Vuk, the main antagonist of the film, is also disliked for being a [[FlatCharacter dull, uninteresting, and ultimately forgettable villain]] who has little characterization beyond manipulating Jean Grey into trying to [[GenericDoomsdayVillain destroy the world]]. The fact that Creator/JessicaChastain's talents were wasted on her only makes people dislike her more.

** Vuk, the main antagonist of the film, is also disliked for being a [[FlatCharacter dull, uninteresting, and extremely generic villain]] who has little characterization beyond manipulating Jean Grey into trying to [[GenericDoomsdayVillain destroy the world]]. The fact that Creator/JessicaChastain's talents were wasted on her only makes people dislike her more.