Welcome to Weekend Watch, a recurring feature where we highlight some of the best geek-related videos around the web. Whether it’s short films, behind-the-scenes clips, video essays, or top 10 countdowns, the only requirement is that they are about our favorite geeky topics!
In this edition of Weekend Watch, we’re celebrating the release of Dark Phoenix by taking a look at the history behind The Dark Phoenix Saga. First up, we have a quick video that runs through the major beats of the classic X-Men story. Next, we’ll dig deeper into the story arc of The Dark Phoenix Saga, as well as the history of the Phoenix Force itself.
Following this, we have a video that delves further into the origins and powers of the powerful cosmic force. After that, we switch gears to a video that details the multiple adaptations of the Dark Phoenix saga. We’ll close things out with a cram session of all the previous X-Men Movies, along with a scene breakdown from X-Men: Dark Phoenix itself.
TL;DR – The Dark Phoenix Saga
We’ll start off with an amusing video from Marvel that runs through the broad strokes of The Dark Phoenix Saga. “TL;DR” quickly and efficiently runs through arguably the greatest X-Men story of all time. It also features some interesting animation, but this serves mostly as a primer for the uninitiated.
X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga Story Arc Explained
Next, we have a great video from WatchMojo that delves further into the specific story arc of the source material. It goes through the story, beat by beat, to give a pretty comprehensive (and accurate) overview of The Dark Phoenix Saga’s plot. If you’re familiar with the story, none of this will be new information. Nevertheless, it still provides a great refresher on the intricacies of the saga.
History Of The Phoenix Force
The entity that drives the entire story is the Phoenix Force itself. This video from the always-trusty Variant details the history of the Phoenix Force. Along with being the origin of all psionic energy in the universe, the Phoenix force forever exists in all realities of the omniverse. As a result, the Phoenix Force is arguably the most powerful – and scary – cosmic entity in the Marvel Universe. Aside from its most notable appearance in the aforementioned saga, the Phoenix Force has a surprisingly deep history.
Phoenix Force: Origins & Powers Explained
While the last video only touched upon the extended history of the Phoenix Force, this one from FilmComicsExplained goes even further. It delves further into the many hosts of the Phoenix Force throughout the years. In addition, we also get a look at the scope of the powers and abilities of the cosmic entity.
Dark Phoenix: The True Story
Shifting gears to the various film and television adaptations of X-Men’s most famous storyline, we have a great video that uncovers the true story of Dark Phoenix. Coming from NowThis Nerd, the video naturally covers the origins of Jean and Phoenix. Afterward, the video goes through some of the internal controversies that led to Jean’s untimely demise in the story. While comic book deaths/resurrections are now commonplace, Jean’s death was a big deal back then.
It then segues into the adaptations of the famous comic book run, which have been hit and miss. Of course, The Dark Phoenix Saga’s successful adaptation by X-Men: The Animated Series is touched upon. Additionally, the lackluster live-action film adaptations are also covered, including X-Men: The Last Stand and Dark Phoenix.
The Complete X-Men Recap Before Dark Phoenix
Next, we have the latest in the series “Cram It” from Screen Junkies. The video, which recaps all of the live-action iterations of the franchise, offers a nice recap of things so far. While the spinoff films aren’t covered, narrator Dan Murrell keeps things light and fluffy. If anything, the video showcases the massive continuity issues that plague the franchise as a whole.
Anatomy Of A Scene – Dark Phoenix
Regarding the latest film adaptation, this video from The New York Times features a scene breakdown from Dark Phoenix. Led by writer/director Simon Kinberg, “Anatomy of a Scene” features one of the film’s weirder action sequences. As Kinberg points out, the scene could have easily been very silly. Say what you will about the way it’s executed, but it’s admirable for him to at least try something different – even if it still teeters on the slightly absurd.
What are your thoughts about Dark Phoenix? How does it stack up to the rest of the franchise? Make sure to let us know in the comment section below!
