X-Men: Dark Phoenix reshot its entire third act to avoid "parallels" with another superhero movie

X-Men: Dark Phoenix is going to serve as a final farewell to Fox’s world of mutants before they drive down the fork in the road marked ‘Disney’ and eventually settle into the MCU. But the parting shot of the franchise was originally meant to be very different and, as some of its stars reveal, X-Men: Dark Phoenix’s final act was completely reshot to (weirdly) avoid comparisons with another unnamed superhero movie.

Speaking to Yahoo, James McAvoy – the chrome-domed Professor X himself – confirmed “The end changed a hell of a lot,” before expanding upon why: “The finale had to change. There was a lot of overlap and parallels with another superhero movie that came out... a while ago.”

So, why the change? McAvoy doesn’t elaborate – though only one other superhero movie has gone to space relatively recently that also involves a lead coming to terms with crazy cosmic powers, and that’s Captain Marvel. Though, unless one scene involved Jean Grey dragging Magneto after knocking him out in one punch, they probably didn’t need to reshoot the *whole* thing, potentially including the ending.

However, Game of Thrones season 8 winner (let’s be honest here), Sophie Turner is much more upbeat about the changes, calling it “Such a good decision. The third act is the best part of the movie, for me.”

But still: Release the Space Cut, amirite? In all seriousness, I guess we’ll never know what could have been but, uhh, no one tell the producers that Captain Marvel has *also* done the whole fight on a train thing already. Just… no. No more reshoots.

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.