The mutants' last hurrah as X-Men's 'Dark Phoenix' premieres

It's been nearly 19 years since 20th Century Fox released 'X-Men', inviting cinema-goers into the world of Marvel Comics' super-powered mutants.

On Tuesday, after 12 films, the main franchise came to an end with the world premiere of the classic 'Uncanny X-Men' tale 'Dark Phoenix', months after 20th Century Fox was acquired by the Walt Disney Company.

The film wraps up the franchise which began in the present before going back decades to explore the X-Men in the past.

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Michael Fassbender plays the X-Men's notorious nemesis, Eric Lensherr, more commonly known as the master of magnetism, Magneto.

"I feel really satisfied. It's been a great journey," he told Reuters on the red carpet, adding "I've got to explore Eric at different times in his life in different incarnations and I think we're ending it with a really strong movie here and the fact we're concentrating on Jean Grey and finishing with her story, it feels very complete. I'm satisfied."

The story of Jean Grey, or 'The Dark Phoenix Saga', was the tale that elevated the superhero group into comic book legends - offering a new take on female empowerment and diversity.

Chris Claremont was the driving force of the X-Men comics at the time and in 1976 began the storyline which is seen as one of the most iconic tales in comics.

"I think basically because it's a woman," said Claremont. He added "She was the first mainstream comics heroine to embrace that level of power and to make a moral choice as a consequence. In my vision, you're talking about the Phoenix as being the essential lifeforce of creation. I used to always describe it as a half step-down from god."

With Sophie Turner in the lead role, 'Dark Phoenix', according to the writer/director Simon Kinberg, is the first X-Men film to properly embrace its female cast, which includes Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique and Alexandra Schipp as Storm. Also, teased at the premiere were several other unnamed female characters, played by Jessica Chastain, Aphra Williams and Kota Eberhardt.

"What I love about this movie is that we're really flipping that narrative on its head," said Schipp, adding, "You get to see all these women battling and messing things up and doing it right and it's so exciting but also, we don't mention their gender. It's fantastic. That's true feminism, that's true equality. It's not about your genitals, it's about who you are. And if you're a baddie, you're a baddie - it doesn't matter male, female or otherwise."

Hutch Parker has been the producer of the franchise since 'The Wolverine' in 2013. He said he knows little about the future of X-Men film adaptations.

"The rights, everything goes over to Disney and my assumption - nothing has been declared, but that Marvel/Disney will reacquire the characters and tell new stories with them and create new pathways for the X-Men within that amazing, extraordinary universe that is MCU," said Parker.

Although the curtain may be falling on the mainstream X-Men with 'Dark Phoenix', there is still the spin-off film 'New Mutants', also distributed by 20th Century Fox, set to be released later in the year.