The new Dark Phoenix trailer turns Jean Grey into an unwilling killer

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Things are going to get heavy in the next X-Men movie as the new Dark Phoenix trailer shows

Ahead of its upcoming debut this summer, we now have a new trailer for Dark Phoenix, the final X-Men movie from 20th Century Fox that retells the story of Jean Grey's ascent to destructive, godlike power when she becomes a vessel for an alien force. You can watch the trailer above, but beware: it pretty explicitly spoils the death of at least one central character, unless this is the greatest bit of misdirection from a modern trailer yet.

Sophie Turner plays Jean Grey, who rebels against Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) when she realizes he was trying to control her potential for near-unlimited psychic abilities. After tragedy befalls the X-Men with the death of a team member - who is pretty clearly Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), given that she's missing from most of the trailer's later scenes, though Quicksilver (Evan Peters) is another possible victim - the X-Men start to fracture as some join forces with Magneto (Michael Fassbender). 

Even Xavier and Magneto are seemingly helpless in the face of Jean's powers, as she demonstrates by crushing Magneto's helmet around his head. But Jean isn't in control either, judging by the trailer's tearful opening scene as she lashes out with fatal consequences after Mystique attempts to calm her down.

Shortly before the trailer premiered, Jessica Chastain - who plays the as-yet-unnamed villain in the film - appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to talk about her role. "I play this character from another world, and I come to Earth because Jean Grey has a power that I want to harness for my own uses," Chastain explained. She also dropped a bombshell: "I get to beat up a lot of X-Men in the movie... maybe kill some?" In the trailer, Chastain's character entices Jean into embracing the darkness, telling her: "You're special, and if you stop fighting that force inside you, you will possess the very power of a god."

Dark Phoenix is one of the most anticipated upcoming movies of the year and hits US theaters on June 7, bringing an end to Fox's series of X-Men movies before the rights officially transfer over to Disney. You can check out a new poster below to go along with the new trailer:

Speaking of Sophie Turner, she recently talked about Sansa wearing armor for the first time in Game of Thrones season 8.

Lucas Sullivan
Lucas Sullivan

Lucas Sullivan is the former US Managing Editor of GamesRadar+. Lucas spent seven years working for GR, starting as an Associate Editor in 2012 before climbing the ranks. He left us in 2019 to pursue a career path on the other side of the fence, joining 2K Games as a Global Content Manager. Lucas doesn't get to write about games like Borderlands and Mafia anymore, but he does get to help make and market them.