Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers for what’s probably the first act of the upcoming X-Men film Dark Phoenix.

Late last night, 20th Century Fox released the trailer for Dark Phoenix, the movie that is expected to be the capper for the current iteration of the X-Men universe before the characters get absorbed in the giant amoeba that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Many of you seemed to be fairly uninspired by the trailer, but personally, I was a bit shocked by how much they were willing to reveal in the trailer.

It seemed to imply that Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique would be meeting her maker in the first act of the movie, and that it would serve as the potential point of no return for Jean Grey and the jumping off point for the story to come. But is that actually what happens? Surprisingly enough, in an interview with EW, Simon Kinberg confirmed that yes, Mystique is dead. Dead as a doornail. So why reveal that in the trailer?

“Well, the thought process behind that was to primarily show that this is a movie that is unlike other X-Men movies. It’s a movie where shocking things happen, where intense, dramatic things happen. People don’t just fall off buildings and dust themselves off and walk away. There’s a reality to this movie and a consequence to this movie. Even more than that, it was to show that Jean/Dark Phoenix is genuinely a threat to everyone, including the X-Men.”

Kinberg was then asked if he felt nervous about killing off Mystique, who is played by the world-famous Jennifer Lawrence:

“I felt it was the strongest, most dramatic thing for the movie, and sometimes you have to make those kinds of hard decisions to service the larger story. And the larger story really is Jean cracking up, losing control because she’s more powerful than anyone else in the world. To dramatize that properly, you have to show real loss, you have to show real pain and show real threat and menace. I didn’t want to do that by her blowing up a building with anonymous people in it. It had to feel really personal for the X-Men, and I wanted it to be something that would fracture the X-Men as well. Mystique is someone who in our universe has been part of the X-Men and has been part of Magneto’s world. Her death impacts literally everybody.”

From a story standpoint, I can definitely see that as a real game-changing moment for these characters, but will it be enough for fans? Those of you on this site seem to be ready to wave bye-bye to this series. But if Mystique’s death isn’t enough for you, Kinberg teased even more deaths:

“There are certainly other major casualties in this.”

But do casualties mean deaths? We’ll see. Did the trailer really do much for you? You can check out my reaction to the trailer down below!

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SOURCE: EW