X-Men: Dark Phoenix ramps up production, so let’s look at set and Instagram photos

Set photos have popped up online for “X-Men: Dark Phoenix.” Have you forgotten there are more X-Men movies? Don’t worry—James McAvoy is shaving for it!

Sometimes it feels like X-Men: Dark Phoenix is nothing more than Internet rumors. As if Fox is trying to perpetuate the possibility that X-Men: The Last Stand will really not matter after this. Or that X-Men: Apocalypse was actually better than it was.

(Or so they can continue holding onto their mutant rights from reverting back to Marvel.)

That may still be the case. Regardless! Some new set photos appeared on Twitter (with a hat tip to io9) showing the Danger Room under construction:

Not necessarily that exciting. But what’s more fun is this fantastic Instagram post by James McAvoy that’s nothing more than his razor:

These posts coupled with casting rumors around Jessica Chastain in talks to play Lilandra (reportedly the villain, but that doesn’t make complete sense) probably means that it’s a movie that’s actually happening.

And I, for one, am very excited for this. X-Men: The Last Stand butchered the Phoenix Saga so much so that fans refuse to acknowledge its existence. As middling as Apocalypse ended up, one thing it did correctly was make up for The Last Stand in a matter of about 14 seconds.

The X-Men Cinematic Universe’s continuity is already very screwed up thanks to Days of Future Past. Let’s not try to make sense of it at this point, especially trying to factor in its new television shows coming this fall.

The younger cast from Apocalypse did a great job with their roles. Which makes Dark Phoenix exciting, too. It will be fun to see how these newcomers to the series do having this movie rest on their shoulders.

Next: Chris Evans is probably still done being Captain America in the MCU

X-Men: Dark Phoenix rolls into theaters sometime in 2018.