Since the inception of Marvel's favorite team of mutants in 1963, "The Dark Phoenix Saga" by legendary writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne has been regarded by many as the definitive X-Men story arc since it first hit the shelves in 1980. While on film, "The Dark Phoenix Saga" has yet to be brought to the screen as faithfully as its beloved comic inspiration.

Jean Grey (played in the film adaptation by "Games of Throne's" Sophie Turner), an innocent girl given godlike powers during a trip into space, at first using it for good before ultimately being corrupted by its power. What made "Dark Phoenix" so successful was its grand scope and nature; it is an exciting superhero story, but beyond that, it is about friendship and fighting for those you love.

20th Century Fox's first crack at the famous story with "X-Men The Last Stand" was released in a time before most film studios embraced full-on comic book weirdness. Making the Phoenix Force a repressed part of Jean's psyche made sense for 2006 superhero films. But times have changed.

The Avengers go to outer space every other Thursday and audiences eat it up. The original story saw the X-Men trying to protect Jean, who has committed genocide on several alien races from a powerful intergalactic empire who are more than a match for a small team of mutants. The X-Men are dangerously outmatched, but these characters put their lives on the line all for the sake of their friend who they've each built this bond with.

But the bond in Fox's latest attempt of "Dark Phoenix" is not felt because these are characters who were just introduced in the previous film, "Apocalypse". Aside from Xavier, Magneto, and Beast, this main cast of X-Men has not had the years of adventures and development that made the comic story arc so impactful.

The Cyclops (who continues to be a minor role in the films) and Jean relationship does not even start to come together until the film's start while it should be the crux of the entire story, fully established. It was rumored early in the development of "Dark Phoenix" that Fox would try to ride off the Avengers buzz and make the story a two-part event released a year apart, which would have been warranted for a story as huge in scale as this.

Even though the film would still have a lot of balancing to do, characters like Tye Sheridan's Cyclops and Alexandra Shipp's Storm would likely have more of an impact on the story. Not to mention possibly having Jean using her Phoenix powers for good, which Fox just skips over and has Jean flip her lid right off the bat.

But, of course, that never panned out. Not only does the audience not have the connection with the main characters, but the studio refuses to go all out with a story line that relies on going all out.

"The X-Men" in the comics spend majority of their time on Earth, but they also venture out into space on occasion. Jean using her powers to save her team from a space mission in the beginning is faithful, but beyond that space becomes more of an afterthought for the rest of the film. Instead of a tense final fight on the moon with aliens that shows how Jean's actions have affected the universe, Fox swaps the cosmic battles for fights on freight trains and, in "The Last Stand's" case, Alcatraz Island.

It's yet to be seen where the new owners of the "X-Men" film series Disney take the property, but chances are they will want to deviate heavily from what has been done before... which unfortunately includes "The Dark Phoenix Saga". With hundreds of X-Men stories and characters to choose from that Fox had yet to touch upon or fully embrace, it would be hard to see Marvel / Disney just retread old ground.

If there is a story line that perfectly represents the trials and tribulations of the "X-Men", it is "Dark Phoenix," and it's a shame that audiences will likely never see it on-screen.