The New 'Dark Phoenix' Trailer Just Dropped & Things Don't Look So Good For Mystique

X-Men films have been around since the beginning of the millennium, and the latest installment, Dark Phoenix, takes a look at the character of Jean Grey and her turn to the dark side. Based on the newly released trailer, it looks like Jean Grey's transformation into Dark Phoenix could be because of the death of someone near to her, and things don't look good for one character in particular. Will Mystique die in Dark Phoenix? The new X-Men trailer certainly doesn't make her odds look good, so fans of the shape-shifting blue mutant might want to sit down for this one.

The first scene in the two and a half minute trailer shows Jean sobbing, saying, "Why did you make me do that?" It leads to another scene of Mystique trying to placate her, and calm her down so that she doesn't lose control over herself, and her powers. It doesn't work, and Jean sends her flying backwards. That, on top of the sobbing and then the shot of the fresh burial plot seen later, definitely hints that a death will occur. And, while the trailer does leave room for doubt, it seems that Mystique will, in fact, die in Dark Phoenix.

Director Simon Kinberg, who also acts as co-writer and co-producer, confirmed that Mystique will meet her end in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. When asked about why, he mentioned that it would be a shock, which was part of the draw. "Well, the thought process behind that was to primarily show that this is a movie that is unlike other X-Men movies," Kinberg said. "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."

He's got a point, but seeing the death of someone who's been there from the start, and is truly one of the key members of their little unit, will be devastating — not just for Jean, but for Charles, who grew up with Mystique (or Raven, to him). In the comics, she's often the foe, but in this cinematic version of the characters, she sways between good and evil, but heavily leans more towards the X-Men's good side.

In the comics, Mystique doesn't really die, except when she fakes her death to escape her romance with Sabertooth. She definitely isn't killed by Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix. But as Kinberg said, this is a great way to shock the team and start the struggle between them and Jean. She's obviously not entirely in control of her powers, but will the team want to save her after she kills one of their own? Her future isn't clear, but it does look bleak.

The rest of the Dark Phoenix trailer shows the group struggling to fix things. Jean gets entangled with the entity that's making her more powerful. And Jessica Chastain's unnamed character is egging her on. (On IMDb, Chastain's character is identified as "Smith," and there are some theories that she's Charles' "twin" from his past. The director himself said in an Empire interview that she's "not of this earth.")

If the film goes the way the of the Dark Phoenix comics, which the trailer partly hints at, then the thing making Jean Grey so much more powerful is the "Phoenix force," which attached to her when the X-Men were in space. In the comics, it uses her as a host and commandeers her powers, making her go off the rails. Chastain's otherworldly alien character could be a manifestation of that entity.

The new trailer doesn't give fans a ton more information than the first one did. But it does seem to confirm Mystique's death and explains why the other members might consider fighting, or even killing, Jean Grey. Viewers will have to wait until June to see how this version pans out.