Dark Phoenix Had One Excellent Cameo That I Can’t Stop Thinking About

While I left Dark Phoenix pretty disappointed, there was one Easter Egg included that made me more excited than pretty much anything else in the movie. They remembered that “The Dark Phoenix Saga” was the first appearance of …

**SPOILER ALERT FOR X: MEN DARK PHOENIX***

(Credit: Marvel Comics)

Dazzler was one of the first comics I ever got as a kid (why? I couldn’t tell you) but ever since being introduced to the big-haired Disco mutant, she has been one of my favorite C-List characters in the Marvel Universe.

The character has an interesting origin story, having been created by a committee of Marvel staff, primarily writer/editor Tom DeFalco and illustrator John Romita Jr. She ended up being introduced in The Uncanny X-Men #130, which is right at the beginning of The Dark Phoenix Saga and as you can imagine, she didn’t really fit that storyline really well.

Alison Blaire is a mutant with the power to turn absorbed sound into bursts of light, and she and can control sound. While initially a weak power player in the franchise, they evolved the character into one that was able to shoot lasers from her eyes, release sonic waves that could kill people, and can even bend light enough that she phases through attacks.

In the movie, we get a glimpse of the character played by Halston Sage (The Orville), putting on a light show for the students on the grounds of the manor and surprisingly wearing her iconic white outfit.

Dazzler (Halston Sage) in X-Men- Dark Phoenix/ 20th Century Fox

Honestly, the reason why this scene stood out for me was that it is was one of the few times that X-Men: Dark Phoenix fully embraced the silliness of its source material. Dazzler is in her traditional costume, and in the brief moment that we see her, the film celebrates the essential camp of her existence. Dazzler can be a silly character, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it.

I wish that the X-Men movies had been this bold with their other choices throughout the series. Remember back in the first movie where Cyclops made fun of the idea of them wearing “yellow spandex”? The mentality that comic book movies could only work if they were dark has been largely debunked with the Marvel movies and new DC films like Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Shazam!, but a lot of other series still seem to believe that the darker and gloomier, the better. While watching Dark Phoenix, I found it more comical to see Magento wearing his helmet and not a costume. For some reason, the helmet-plus-jeans look looks more ridiculous than head-to-toe purple.

Dazzler was my hope that the story would understand what makes the X-Men fun and exciting, but sadly, that hope lasted as briefly as Dazzler did. Because truly the moment she shows up is the moment that the movie decides it’s also time to fast-track Jean’s storyline into usability. Maybe next time?

(image: 20th Century Fox)

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