In an interview with Comicbook.com Dark Phoenix writer and director Simon Kinberg described his film as the “natural culmination for this cycle of X-Men movies” rather than an ending forced by Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox.

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All the X-Men Movies That Probably Won’t Happen Now (and a Few That Will) 9 IMAGES

"From the beginning of conceiving what we were going to do with this film and writing it, which was three plus years ago, so long before there was a Disney merger, I felt like this was the natural culmination for this cycle of X-Men movies,” said Kinberg. "Because it is seeing this family that you've come to love and know for how ever many films, and if you count the originals almost 20 years now, you see that family tested in a whole new way. You see that family start to fall apart in a real way for the first time, ultimately come back together."That felt like the culmination of a storyline or a cycle of these films. And for me, and for most of the fans... Dark Phoenix is the ultimate and most iconic storyline in the X-Men universe. And so I didn't know how we would top Dark Phoenix within this cycle. This felt like we had to earn our way back to Dark Phoenix. And I feel like we did hopefully, and beyond that felt like we'd want to sort of create an ending and the possibility of a new beginning. And that's what we do on this film."2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand also incorporated major elements of the Dark Phoenix Saga into its plot: this film was co-written by Kinberg as well.For more on Dark Phoenix, read about Kinberg spoiling which major character dies , and how we saw Jean Grey battle Magneto in new footage during WonderCon.For more on how the Disney/Fox merger may impact the X-Men franchise, check out all the X-Men movies that probably won’t happen now (and a few that will). Dark Phoenix hits theaters June 7 in the United States, June 6 in Australia and June 5 in the UK.

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