Essential X-Men Volume 2: The Phoenix Part

Well, here is all of part five:

5. Phoenix to Dark Phoenix

Now this is going to take a while, so let’s start at the beginning. After the whole “saving the universe” thing, Jean knew that this unlimited power could go bad. So, she set limits on how much Phoenix power she accessed and used. Those limits were broken when Wyngarde started messing around with her head and trying to control her. Soon, she began to change, and everyone began to notice. Her power levels were increasing big time, and her attitude began to change as well. She used her advanced powers to do things that were pretty much out of character for her. The biggest thing was when she fought Emma Frost. She fought her as Phoenix, and pretty much thrashed Frost and left her for dead (Don’t worry though, she’ll be back as an enemy, as an X-Man, and then as Cyclops’s new woman…….wait, what?). When the team goes undercover to the Hellfire Club’s hideout, Jean is then put under Wyngarde’s control and becomes the Black Queen.

She still looks good for a fictional character.

Because of Wyngarde’s control over her, she doesn’t recognize the other X-Men and pretty much treats them like crap. Luckily, Scott is able to contact Jean via physic rapport (a mental link between them), and goes into her mind. Wyngarde finds out and goes in there too. While inside Jean’s mind, they fight and Cyclops loses, but this is enough to knock Jean out of Wyngarde’s control. She frees the X-Men and gives Wyngarde a taste of his own medicine. Unfortunately, Wyngarde’s actions have caused Jean to transform into an evil version of the Phoenix: The Dark Phoenix.

She's over 9000!!!! (Yeah, I went there.)

As DP, she dispatches of the X-Men easily. Then, she leaves the planet in big fashion. Even the Fantastic Four, Spider-man, Dr. Strange, and the Silver Surfer are wondering what the heck is going on. After she leaves, Beast, a former X-Man and present Avenger, comes to help the team get back on their feet.

Cue cameos......Now!

Phoenix leaves the solar system (yep, she that powerful now), and ends up in another galaxy. There, she finds a sun and drains it of its energy. This causes the sun to go supernova and blow up, destroying all of the planets in that system. Some of them were inhabited. So, Jean, as DP, just committed genocide. Nearby, a Shi’ar cruiser bears witness to this act. Knowing what would happen to other systems, they attack Phoenix and are destroyed. Before they are destroyed, the cruiser sends a message to the Shi’ar Empire, and Lilandra, who is now empress, sees the message. Now, she has a decision to make.

While the X-men are still licking their wounds, they find out that Jean is coming back to Earth. They, along with Beast, devise a plan to stop her. Beast creates a device that “disrupts coherent thought.” Jean comes back to Earth and goes to her parents’ house. She ends up freaking out her parents and sister.

She senses the X-Men coming and leaves, but the X-Men jump her and get the device on her. It doesn’t stop her thrashing them. Wolverine realizes that they need to stop Jean – permanently. He jumps her and is about to kill her, but normal Jean shows up and tells him to do it. He hesitates. DP comes back and blasts him across the field. The device fails and DP now in full control of her powers. Scott (Cyclops) then shows up from “somewhere over there” and talks her down. Xavier mindblasts her, DP comes back, and Xavier vs. DP begins. Xavier wins and binds the DP in Jean.

Yeah, Xavier is a bad mama-jamma.

He puts more limits on DP so that Jean can’t even use the power of the Phoenix. Everyone is glad that it’s all over. Then this happens…

Nightcrawler: We're in space again....

They are transported to a Shi’ar cruiser. Lilandra and the Imperial Guard have come to Earth to destroy the Phoenix. Here, the X-Men find out about Jean’s acts in space, and they are shocked. They still want to help her and Beast even tries to persuade Lilandra to give Jean a trial. Eventually, it’s Xavier who staves off this battle by saying “Arin’nn Haelar” (or something like that, I don’t know). It’s pretty much a challenge to a duel of honor. The X-Men (including Angel and Beast) will battle the Imperial Guard (aka A Lot of Aliens) for Jean. Lilandra talks it over with some other rulers of races like the Skrull and Kree, and accepts the challenge. If the X-Men win, they can find a way to remove Phoenix permanently. If the Imperial Guard win, they will do anything and everything to ensure that Phoenix is destroyed. Lilandra gives the X-Men some time off to get ready.

During this time, Storm and Kurt wonder should they be fighting for Jean after what they have learned. Logan, Colossus, Beast, and Scott are set and ready to fight for Jean at all cost. Jean and Scott have some words before the fight.


So the time of the fight arrives, and all of the X-Men are going to fight for Jean. The team and the Imperial Guard are transported to the “Blue Area” of the moon, where there are ruins and air apparently. Outmanned and outgunned the X-Men fight the Imperial Guard. They are all beaten, except for Scott and Jean. Before making a last stand, they have a quick moment together.


Then, they go out and fight. Unfortunately, the breakers (or limits, whatever) break down and Jean loses it again and beats the Imperial Guard. With all hell breaking out on the cruiser, Xavier then decides that they have no choice but to stop Phoenix once and for all. Luckily, Jean is somewhat still in control, and lets the X-Men try to stop her, but nothing works. So Jean, in an act of desperation, offs herself with one of the weapons on the moon. Scott witnesses her final act.

So the arc ends with a real depressing ending. This is still one of my favorite stories though. The X-Men themselves show how heroic they are in fighting against all odds for Jean, even if they did not succeed. The fact that Jean killed herself was pretty controversal for that time and probably still is. Originally, Jean wasn't supposed to die. If you want to read anything about that, look it up on Wikipedia.

The next issue is the funeral of Jean Grey. During the funeral, Scott remembers all of the times with the X-Men and Jean. At the end, he decides to leave the X-Men for a while. We also get a new X-Man (or X-Woman I should say): Kitty Pryde.

Indeed.