Is there any Marvel mutant more misunderstood than poor Dazzler? She’s so often the butt of nerd jokes for her unusual ability to turn sound waves into light shows (not to mention that she was literally created to be a cross-promotional gimmick with a record company, which inherently makes her a sell-out), but over the years she’s still maintained a pretty sizable following thanks to her literal rockstar status. Now, she’s finally getting her chance to wow us on the big screen; according to Entertainment Weekly, Dazzler will have a role in X-Men: Dark Phoenix, the next installment in the X-Men franchise.
Last year, fans speculated that Dazzler might appear in X-Men: Apocalypse—and that she would even be played by Taylor Swift, a genius casting choice that, unfortunately, later proved to be false.
Of course, she almost did appear in Apocalypse, in a way; a deleted scene that was still used in the film’s marketing depicts Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) and Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan) picking out a Dazzler album as an easter egg for eagle-eyed audiences.
The rumor mill kicked up again recently when a Dark Phoenix casting breakdown surfaced online, which called for a “very attractive, charismatic and confident,” female actor with strong singing skills; she’s also described as “a little bit edgy” and “a born entertainer.” Based on what EW has now confirmed, it feels very likely that this is meant to be Alison Blaire—which totally makes sense, because the character made her very first appearance in Uncanny X-Men #130, smack dab in the middle of the Dark Phoenix Saga.
Of course, as much as we all love Dazzler, it’s hard to account for how she’ll fit into a movie that will ostensibly be about the political dealings of an empire of space birds (no, really). But according to EW, she’ll only pop up “in a small role,” so I’d wager it’ll probably be some kind of a concert scene towards the beginning of the movie. And no, it probably won’t be Taylor Swift.
Here’s the biggest question that’s yet to be answered, though: which version of Dazzler are they going to recreate on screen? Obviously the Farah Fawcett hair, white jumpsuit, and roller skates that make up her most iconic costume spring to mind first, but personally I’m way more into her current A-Force punk rock look (top left):
But then again, if Dark Phoenix follows the same convention as every other post-First Class movie, that’ll set it squarely in the ’90s… which means Dazzler should look something like Olivia Newton John
Okay, sure, it’s a little bit Olivia Newton John from the 1982 “Let’s Get Physical” music video, but dig that leather jacket! That counts as “a little bit edgy,” right?
Or, best of all, they could ditch the part of the casting call that wants a “caucasian” actor and go with someone who looks like the original concept art for Dazzler, back when John Romita Jr. designed her to look like Grace Jones. Admit it, that would be cool, right?
What do you think, fellow Dazzlerites? (Can I go ahead and coin that term because the movie comes out?) Tell us about your fave Alison Blaire costume in the comments.
Images: Marvel Comics
