With a very low critic score on RottenTomatoes and a whole “hum-drum” feeling from the fan community who is just waiting to see what Disney will do with the X-Men, Dark Phoenix has unfortunately not been well received. There was a lot to be hopeful for with this concluding chapter in the First Class series. All of that hope went out the window pretty quick.
But one mystery that the film succeeded in keeping very close to the vest was who the villain of the movie was. The D’Bari, led by a shapeshifter, Vuk, inhabiting the body of a woman, played by Jessica Chastain. The surviving D’Bari want to take over Earth for themselves and want to absorb Jean to do it. Confused? You may or may not be after you read this — 10 Things Know About The D’Bari, The Film’s Mysterious Alien Race
D’Bari Debuted In 1964
While the appearance in Dark Phoenix derives from their brief appearance in the original X-Men story, the alien race actually makes their very first appearance when Captain America returns to the comics, the iconic Avengers #4 from March 1964.
Perhaps all of the negative talk will go away if the MCU decides to run and incorporate it, but for now, using a completely unknown group was a head-scratcher.
Their Leader’s Name Is Vuk
While not having a name at first, the D’Bari—known as Vuk—had explained that their spacecraft crashed into the ocean. There, it was embedded and became stuck. Vuk swam to find help, but humans were so scared of her, they ran away. So, she shot them with a ray gun that turned them to stone instead.
Vuk Helped Namor Stop The Avengers
Since the humans wouldn’t help, she eventually turned to Namor for assistance. He agreed, but only if Vuk turned the Avengers to stone with his ray gun.
Captain America was no turned to stone and convinced Vuk that the team could help him if he turned them back. Thor helped raise the ship to a level that the team could work on and help send them home.
They Sort Of Look Like Vegetables
It would’ve looked really funny and out of place (even for an X-Men movie!), but the D’Bari look like either zucchini or broccoli. Unlike veggies though, they live lives spanning centuries. To reproduce, they can do so with or without another D’Bari in a process called “budding.” Only in Marvel will so much be written about such a lesser set of characters.
Jean Wiped Them All Out
One of the reasons the original story has endured so much over the years is that it was never seen before in comics. The dramatic tension, an alien and cosmic force overtaking one of our beloved heroes and turning her into a villain. During her fall to the Dark Side, she devoured the D’Bari star system to feed her hunger (and eat her vegetables).
Vuk Changed Drastically During Production
Dark Phoenix’s production got completely hamstrung and had to endure a slew of rewrites and reshoots (never a good sign for a movie) to avoid comparisons with another group of green-skinned shapeshifting aliens that made their debut in Captain Marvel — the Skrulls.
There’s probably a small cluster of fans out there who are already hypothesizing that Disney uses this connection to bring the X-Men into the MCU.
Vuk Came Looking For Vengeance
When the Phoenix ate the D’Bari’s sun, Vuk was not on the planet, she was off world. He eventually found his way to Earth, and to Jean. In a suit of armor, the Starhammer, he came after Jean; he didn’t seem to mind that this version of Jean wasn’t the Phoenix-possessed version. He was doing such a good job of getting his revenge, that Jean telepathically made him think she was dead, so he could celebrate and leave.
Death Made Jean Live As One
In the original story, Jean makes the ultimate sacrifice and kills herself. Death herself shows Jean what life was like for the near five million D’Bari she extinguished. She lived and saw the destruction through the eyes of a girl named Gvyn. She was not unlike girls on this planet — hanging out with her friends, who were trying to set her up on a date.
Toddler Convinces D’Bari To Leave Earth
Babies of superheroes are vastly more advanced than their civilian counterparts, like Captain Britain and Meggan’s baby Maggie.
At three years old she could talk and hold philosophical conversations. When Vuk came after Rachel Summers (Jean’s Phoenix-laden daughter), Maggie was able to convince Vuk and the rest of the D’Bari to head to a universe where their planet wasn’t taken out to rebuild their civilization.
D’Bari Aren’t Skrulls
Despite their appearance in the Dark Phoenix movie (which again had to have a lot of it reshot), the D’Bari are not, nor do they have anything to do with the Skrulls.
They don’t in the comics or the movies (so far). Other than both being green and having wrinkly skin, there are no connections, and their shapeshifting abilities came from the writers of Dark Phoenix.
