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X-Men: The Dark Stand (released)

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Hey X-Fans, I’m pleased to announce that my X-Men project “The Dark Stand” is now up on IFDB and available to download.

This is a top-to-bottom rebuild of the original version I posted back in 2019, back when it was called “Dark Phoenix, Dark Stand”, I’ve went with a far less clunkier and more straight forward title this time around. This edit also took a few pointers from another edit that was directly inspired by my original (“Rise and Fall of the Dark Phoenix” by jimbojka)

For those not familiar with it, this is a merging of Dark Phoenix with X-Men: The Last Stand and a little bit of X-Men: Apocalypse.

An idea I brain-stormed in between sorting out other edits, it occurred to me just how easy it is to merge the two storylines together by simply removing the involvement of the aliens as well as everything after Jean leaves Magneto’s island. I feel merging both films helps in some small part ‘redeem’ them for their otherwise large flaws in storytelling and adds extra weight and dimension to Jean’s struggles rather than the random heel turn from the original third movie.

If you’re looking for a movie that serves as the third in the trilogy that began with X-Men Days of Future Past and continued with Apocalypse, you’ll find some difficulty here, due to the conflicting continuity with Angel’s inclusion and backstory here, I would rather you see this as the third in the trilogy begun in X-Men First Class and continued in Days of Future Past instead

Changes from the original movies are

  1. Film opens with Warren Worthington as a child and his father discovering his son is a mutant, setting up his involvement in the cure storyline later
  2. ‘Last Stand’ Titles, followed by young Jean from the 1970s (Dark Phoenix), we follow her through the car accident and meeting Charles
  3. Flash Forward to Jean and the team meeting Wolverine/Weapon X during his rampage in 1983, Jean calms his mind (X-Men: Apocalypse)
  4. Cut to space shuttle rescue/Jean is empowered by the Phoenix (Dark Phoenix), movie plays out as normal until Jean departs Eric’s island and Xavier is cut off from the white house, we cut out the aliens
  5. Not too distant future/Danger room sequence opens the second half of the film
  6. References to Jean dying are cut (Last Stand)
  7. References to Logan and Beast not knowing each other cut (Last Stand)
  8. Scenes and references to Raven in The Last Stand cut as she’s dead
  9. References to Xavier being killed cut as he doesn’t die in this one
  10. A good chunk of the cure storyline cut to quicken the pace
  11. Logan’s pep talk to the remaining X-Men cut as he mentions losing Scott and Jean
  12. Logan saying “I Love You” to Jean before he stabs her cut, he is simply grateful to what she did for him during the Weapon X rampage
  13. Jean in med bay scene moved to just after Jean is stabbed, she does not die, she is wounded, and Xavier is seen putting the mental blocks in place
  14. Scott and Jean’s reunion moved to the very end. Film cuts to credits while they kiss. Scott’s grizzly murder cut. Happily ever after for the whole franchise.

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Hey, Cameron Samurai,

I just finished watching the Dark Stand, and I enjoyed it. The way you included the flashbacks from Apocalypse was cool. This edit revealed the narrative of Charles becoming a bad guy and how Jean losing control of her powers sent Mutant and Human relationships back. What might improve the narrative even more is finding a way to resolve the tension between Jean and Charles, not necessarily in a good way, but maybe you could return the scene where Jean kills Charles. You probably took that out because Charles is alive in Logan, so maybe that wouldn’t work. But if there was some way to bring the relationship full circle at the end, I think it would help. Perhaps the scene where she kills Charles could be played as a mental battle? I don’t know if you need the monologue or the scenes with Jean in the medical bay or the scene with the Cyclops at the end. Maybe instead of bringing her back to like, you can use the shot of the Phoenix flying at the end of Dark Phoenix.

I kinda wish there was a little more included with Wolverine’s origin and how he became part of the X- Men because, as it is now, it seems like he randomly becomes the main character, and it seems out of left field to me. I like how you took out the romance between Wolverine and Jean, though. Also, since no one in the X-Men is supposed to have seen Jean in years, Wolverine seems too emotionally invested in her before he kills her. Maybe you could cut out more dialogue between them in that last scene, but that could make him seem heartless. Maybe you could replace the dialogue with a flashback to the scene where Jean restores his memories maybe?

I think for Magneto. Maybe you should edit to wear Jean stays with Magneto in the Dark Phoenix portion of the movie. That way, it’s less confusing when he talks to her later in the woods in the Last Stand portion. To make it seem like he took her in then and there. You could put the newscast about Mutants being arrested in stuff after she attacks the cops and kills Mystique, and also makes it seem like Magneto never became a pacifist. And I don’t know if this is worth including, but maybe you could add the scene from Apocalypse where Magneto’s family is killed?

I think the final battle could use some editing. Jean’s supposed to be this all-powerful being, but she just stands there the whole time. Magneto’s emo squad and Angel could be minimized a little more. I like how you included Angel’s story in the beginning and gave his dad motivation to make the cure, but after that, I don’t know how important they are, and I think they could be taken out of the final battle altogether. I don’t think the story with Rogue and Bobby is that important, either, since they’re not at the film’s beginning.

I like how you are trying to give this movie a happy ending, but I think the story might work better as a tragedy and would lead to Logan more effectively. That being said, you’re an editing genius. These movies tie together better than I ever thought they would. Thanks for putting in all the effort to make this. I will watch X-Men movies like this from now on, First Class, Days of Future Past, and then the Dark Stand. Thanks again. You’re a real talent.

May the Force be with You

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I appreciate your amazing feedback and ideas for improvement. Edits are always in a state of creative flux, and when you have at least one set of ideas, someone will come up with a thousand other different ones, you have some excellent points and ways to tighten the bolts on the edit.

Magneto taking Jean in and just keeping her around is a much better idea, I agree, I don’t know what I was thinking just having her tail off, but then I wonder why Eric wouldn’t have used her much sooner…and then I remembered he’s supposed to be more of a pacifist at this point and needed the motivation. Your concept of his family being murdered from Apocalypse would have given him that drive to seek Jean out if he had let her go, so yeah, that scene could definitely be included for more drama.

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Thanks, dude, You got mad skills, and this edit idea is dope. Do you still have your WandaVision Edit?

May the Force be with You

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AhsokatheChosenOne said:

Thanks, dude, You got mad skills, and this edit idea is dope. Do you still have your WandaVision Edit?

I do have the Wandavision edit, and I will be reuploading it soon!

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Hey Cameron Samurai, just wanted to give you props too for another great edit…on paper its a crazy idea to try and stitch together two/three films made nearly 15 years apart, but you found the common threads, and somehow it works!

A couple of thoughts I had while watching…

  • to give more weight to Scott & Jean’s relationship and their reunion at the end where they look into each other’s eyes, I would’ve liked to see more young Scott/Jean earlier on…after opening credits, maybe have the scene I think from Apocalypse where Scott’s brother has brought him to the School and he bumps into Jean in the hallway where they have a heated discussion, followed by later when they’re outside and Hank gives Scott the glasses he made, and Scott sees Jean for the first time and they talk about both being outsiders…nice to see where they started, and where they end up

  • this intro could then be followed by a short montage of training / team-building before the X-Men are called upon to go into space [nicely echoed by the Danger Room training bit later in the edit with the next gen X-Men]…in my mind, this montage could possibly replace the flash-forward, though elements could be brought in later…rather than have this ‘flash’ this early in the film, echoing AhsokatheChosenOne’s comments, perhaps add a scene of Logan waking up from a nightmare at the Mansion later in the edit (utilising the Weapon X experiment scenes from Origins / X-Men 1, inserting a flash of Jean calming his mind)…so the fragmented sequence is from his perspective, not Jean’s…maybe it happened, maybe it didn’t…

  • I’d almost forgotten the Logan forest fight scene in X3, but seeing he’s running in a white vest, I thought there’s gotta be a way of editing in the forest Beserker scenes from the Logan film, where he’s running in a white vest! It may not be the cleanest AND I know he’s aged AND his vest is more bloody in Logan…but with some quick clever editing, I’m sure there’s a way of punching up your edit to a R rating!

Really appreciate your efforts dude. Thank you!

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Thanks for the feedback my friend, always a pleasure to get these and suggestions on how to improve. Those all sound like great ideas, the danger room sequence from Apocalypse would have fit there quite well I’d have to agree and would be book-ended when we head into the future!

And boy did I miss a trick with a Logan forest fight

I’ll definitely have to see if I can start this up again with suggestions like this in mind, it’s a fun concept I’ve already went back to a few times now, always changing bits about them