The year began with superhero fans expecting 2018 to deliver no fewer than three movies in the X-Men universe: Deadpool 2, The New Mutants, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix. But now only the first of these will arrive before the end of the year. It has been announced that Dark Phoenix has moved back to February 2019, while the already-delayed New Mutants has shifted back even further into next year.

　　X-Men: Dark Phoenix was originally scheduled to arrive on November 2, but Fox have confirmed that it will now hit theaters on February 14, 2019. The movie is directed by Simon Kinberg, who will make his directing debut after years as a writer and producer on X-Men movies. It's set to tell the classic Dark Phoenix story from Marvel's comic books, and stars Sophie Turner, Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, and Jennifer Lawrence. While we are yet to see any footage from the movie, some first images were released in December.

　　As for The New Mutants, the movie was originally due next month. A trailer and several viral tweets were revealed late last year to promote it, before the release was moved to February 2019. But with Dark Phoenix now pushed to that month, The New Mutants will now open on August 2, which is 16 months after first scheduled.

　　Earlier this month, New Mutants star Anya Taylor-Joy spoke about her frustration with the delays. "The only thing that I could say, without being in trouble, is that it being delayed is disappointing, frustrating in fact, because we were all very excited for it to be released on April 13," she said. "I don't mean just disappointing for me, but I'm sure there are a lot of other fans that were looking forward to seeing it."

　　Taylor-Joy also confirmed the rumor that part of delay was due to reshoots that will introduce a new character. "I don't think it being delayed is a bad thing because it's definitely more important to make sure that we get it right than rushing to make a date," she said. "So, hopefully, all of these reshoots and adding of the new character that will give the fans an altogether satisfactory, wonderful product."

　　In related news, the first full trailer for Deadpool 2 was released last week. It followed a series of less conventional promos, but this one gave us our first proper look at the movie, which hits theaters in May. You can also check out our breakdown of the trailer here.