New Dark Phoenix Clip Teases the X-Men’s Oldest Frenemies

If there were one relationship that has animated the X-Men franchise for nearly two decades, it would be between Charles Xavier and Magneto. In the first decade of the franchise, these two venerable mutants were portrayed by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, respectively. Charles, better known as Professor X, has long quarreled with Magneto about the best way to handle humanity’s distrust and hatred for the mutant kind. Charles believes they do that by respecting their laws and proving that mutants are people, too. Magneto feels no such empathy for humanity. Once these roles were recast with younger versions of the characters in X-Men: First Class (2001)—James McAvoy as Charles and Michael Fassbender as Magneto—we finally saw Magneto’s backstory on screen. His parents were murdered in the Holocaust, giving his longstanding desire to burn it all down and leave only mutants alive a brutal historical context.

We spell all this out to give you some context for this new clip from Dark Phoenix. This is the first installment in the X-Men franchise to lose the super team’s name in the title, it’s also the last film in the franchise as we know it. While the story is focused squarely on Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) and her evolution—so to speak—into the titular Dark Phoenix, the clip is all about the dynamic between Charles and Magneto.

Dark Phoenix follows the result of a catastrophic rescue mission in space. Jean is enveloped in an interstellar force that ultimately transforms her into Dark Phoenix, essentially a goddess of death. Jean becomes a danger to her fellow mutants and humanity itself. Not even Magneto, who loves nothing more than a powerful mutant who might help him in his war against humanity, seems capable of harnessing her awesome powers.

Dark Phoenix blasts into theaters on June 7. Joining Turner, McAvoy and Fassbender are Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Evan Peters (Quicksilver), and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler).

Featured image: Sophie Turner stars as Jean Grey in Twentieth Century Fox’s DARK PHOENIX. Photo Credit: Courtesy Twentieth Century Fox.