X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga

AUTHOR: Claremont, Chris

ARTIST: John Byrne (penciller and cover artist); Terry Austin (inker and cover artist); Bob Sharen (colorist); Glynis Wein (colorist); Tom Orzechowski (letterer); John Romita (cover artist)

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 1980

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1990

Publication History

X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga was originally published by Marvel Comics as Uncanny X-Men, issues 129-137. Although launched in 1963 by the legendary creative team of writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the series only truly became popular with the introduction of a new international team of characters in the first issue of Giant-Size X-Men (1975), by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum. Writer Christopher Claremont soon took over the series and would continue to write the book for the next seventeen years. Artist John Byrne collaborated with Claremont on issues 108-143.

The original resolution of The Dark Phoenix Saga in issue 137 was famously challenged by Marvel’s then-editor in chief Jim Shooter, who felt that it lacked moral significance. This forced the creative team to quickly devise a new ending in which Phoenix died. The death of a major character, unusual and seemingly final at the time, brought even more fan attention to the series. Since its release, the saga has become a classic story and has been collected in a variety of trade paperbacks over the years. In 1984, Marvel published Phoenix: The Untold Story, a version of issue 137 with the original conclusion restored.

Plot

The X-Men are a team of mutant superheroes who fight villains while struggling against public prejudice. Feared because of their genetic superpowers, the team operates clandestinely from its base at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, seeking out new mutants to help them defeat threats posed by both humans and other mutants.

While serialized, The Dark Phoenix Saga essentially plays out in three acts. In its first three issues, the team splits into two groups to investigate two new mutants. Storm, Wolverine, and Colossus accompany Professor X to Chicago, where they attempt to recruit Kitty Pryde, while Cyclops, Phoenix, and Nightcrawler meet Dazzler in a New York disco. Neither team realizes that the X-Men have been targeted by the mysterious Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, an organization of ambitious villains. One member, Jason Wyngarde, has already been influencing Phoenix, manipulating her into thinking that she has slipped back in time and is reliving the life of an ancestor who was in love with him. Another, the telepath Emma Frost, uses knowledge gained by secretly monitoring X-Men training sessions in their Danger Room and her own formidable powers to capture the Chicago group. The other X-Men avoid capture thanks to Dazzler’s stunning powers and Phoenix’s increasing abilities. Kitty summons help for the Chicago team, and during the rescue mission, Phoenix demonstrates even more power, overwhelming Frost in a psychic battle.

In the next three issues, the X-Men take the fight back to the Hellfire Club. The team first seeks refuge at Angel’s mountain home, where Cyclops and Phoenix share a romantic interlude, strengthening their love through a psychic bond. Later, a mission to infiltrate a Hellfire Club party goes disastrously wrong when Wyngarde fully subsumes Phoenix into her fantasy world, recasting her as the Black Queen. Wolverine is left for dead in the sewers beneath the club, and the remaining team is defeated. Cyclops struggles to use his connection to Phoenix to save her. When he appears to have died in a psychic sword duel with Wyngarde, the shock snaps Phoenix from Wyngarde’s control. Simultaneously, Wolverine battles his way back into the building. The X-Men escape, but not before Phoenix surrenders to the temptations of her abilities and fries Wyngarde’s mind by opening it up to the entire universe. She then becomes Dark Phoenix and attacks her friends.

The X-Men battle to save their friend in the story’s climax. After being soundly defeated by Dark Phoenix, the team is rejoined by Beast. Overwhelmed by her new persona, Dark Phoenix flies into intergalactic space. There, she consumes the D’Bari star, causing the deaths of the five billion aliens who inhabit its star system. She then defeats a Shi’ar vessel sent to stop her from doing any more damage, which alarms Shi’ar empress Lilandra Neramani. Back on Earth, the X-Men prepare both emotionally and tactically to confront Dark Phoenix. During a battle at Dark Phoenix’s childhood home, Professor X eventually defeats her, returning her to normal. This is not enough to satisfy Lilandra, whose alien devices transport the team away. The X-Men lose a battle of honor against Lilandra’s Imperial Guard on the Moon, triggering a return of Dark Phoenix’s powers. Ultimately, Phoenix chooses to commit suicide rather than let the Dark Phoenix persona rise up again.

Characters

•Phoenix, a.k.a. Jean Grey, the primary protagonist, is a redhead in a skintight green bodysuit. Her telepathic and telekinetic abilities increase exponentially throughout the story, and she battles the temptation of this absolute power. She first becomes the Black Queen, the identity that Jason Wyngarde forces her to adopt while under his control, and then turns into the Dark Phoenix when her powers overwhelm her.

•Cyclops, a.k.a. Scott Summers, is the leader of the X-Men and Phoenix’s lover. He must constantly wear either his visor or his ruby-quartz glasses in order to restrict his powerful optic blasts. Throughout the story, he struggles to lead his team and to save his true love.

•Wolverine, a.k.a. Logan, is the metal-clawed berserker in the blue and yellow costume. He is an aggressive antihero with claws that cut through anything and a healing factor that restores him after any injury. He is also in love with Phoenix, although this love is unrequited.

•Storm, a.k.a. Ororo Munroe, is an African woman with blue eyes and white hair. She is able to control the weather and was once worshiped as a goddess. She maintains a cool surface demeanor in order to control her powers, but is loyal and passionate in defense of her friends.

•Colossus, a.k.a. Peter Rasputin, is a Russian man who is capable of transforming his body into steel. Caring and selfless, he dislikes hurting people, but feels it is his responsibility to use his superstrength to battle evil.

•Nightcrawler, a.k.a. Kurt Wagner, is a dark blue mutant with a tail who is able to teleport and cling to any surface. While his demonic appearance often makes him the target of prejudice, he maintains a cheerful, adventurous attitude toward life.

•Professor X, a.k.a. Charles Xavier, is the founder of the X-Men, a partially paralyzed telepath. He is the foremost proponent of mutant equality, and his deep concern for his charges can cause him to be overbearing as a teacher and mentor.

•Angel, a.k.a. Warren Worthington III, is a former member of the X-Men with large wings that enable him to fly. Now active as a wealthy industrialist, Angel is uncertain about his role as a superhero.

•Beast, a.k.a. Hank McCoy, is a fuzzy blue member of the Avengers superhero team who returns to help his friends and original teammates, the X-Men. His joking manner belies a serious commitment to good, and his intellect is as useful as his acrobatic abilities in combat.

•Kitty Pryde is a young Chicago teen just discovering her mutant ability to phase through solid objects. Although her parents’ imminent divorce unsettles her, she is courageous and resourceful.

•Dazzler is a disco queen who wears elaborate blue makeup and travels on roller skates. She has the ability to transform sound into light effects. Although she does not like superheroics, she will fight for what is right.

•Jason Wyngarde, a.k.a. Mastermind, the primary antagonist, is a dashing, bearded rogue in period garb. Wyngarde is really Mastermind, an old X-Men villain who can create convincing illusions in the minds of others. Cunning and selfish, he is seeking to take the power of the Inner Circle by controlling Phoenix.

•Sebastian Shaw, a.k.a. Black King, is the dark-haired, frequently shirtless leader of the Inner Circle. An ambitious power player, he manipulates those around him into doing his bidding. His mutant ability to transform any kinetic attack into superstrength makes him a particularly dangerous opponent.

•Emma Frost, a.k.a. White Queen, is the blond Inner Circle villain in the white corset, cape, and boots. Canny, confident, and cruel, Frost enjoys using her abilities to manipulate and overwhelm others.

•Lilandra Neramani is the lithe, armored empress of the Shi’ar. Although Professor X is Lilandra’s beloved, her sense of duty to her empire and the universe prompts her to see the bigger picture.

Artistic Style

The look of The Dark Phoenix Saga is dominated by the artistic styling of John Byrne. Byrne concentrates on characters, drawing detailed human figures against backgrounds that are often sparse or absent. He sometimes uses color against monochromatic backgrounds in order to accentuate this character focus. One intriguing example is the duel between Cyclops and Wyngarde on the astral plane, an all-white location where the only features are steps and a doorway.

Although unusually attractive and fit, like most superheroes, the X-Men have relatively realistic anatomical proportions and musculature. Their faces are expressive, displaying not just dramatic emotions like shock and surprise but also smaller reactions, such as wry smiles and looks of concern. The distinction between Phoenix and Dark Phoenix, for example, is not simply a matter of costume color. Dark Phoenix’s face is often consumed by madness.

The saga is also action packed. Motion lines abound, indicating combat that is fast and fierce. The attention paid to characters and their faces can accentuate this even further; Shaw’s takedown of Storm, for example, seems even more brutal in light of Shaw’s cruel smile and Storm’s pained expression. And, of course, one can always tell how much fun Wolverine is having in a fight.

One notable artistic flourish is the Phoenix effect, a bird-shaped energy halo that surrounds Phoenix during powerful actions. This becomes a predatory avian bearing down upon the Shi’ar vessel and later grasping the D’Bari star in its talons. The battle between Professor X and Phoenix is presented in alternating frames, with increasing close-ups showing Professor X’s struggle and the dissolution of the Phoenix effect revealing his triumph.

Themes

The seductiveness of power is the central theme of The Dark Phoenix Saga. Throughout the story, Phoenix is constantly dealing with the nature of her advanced abilities. After Wyngarde’s manipulation, she gives in to the temptation of absolute power and appetites. This struggle defines Phoenix’s heroism.

Love and friendship counterbalance this corruption. The X-Men connect as a surrogate family, bound together by their shared status as outcasts. Over the course of the saga, practically every X-Man considers his or her relationship to Phoenix and pledges to protect her. Cyclops’s attempt to reach Dark Phoenix through love nearly succeeds before Professor X arrives to defeat her. None of the characters reject Phoenix for her crimes, and even Lilandra questions her actions against Phoenix before concluding that her duty tragically outweighs her compassion.

Feminism is another theme present in the saga. X-Men comics are often lauded for the inclusion of complex and effective female characters. There are no girl hostages or screamers here, and the villainous Emma Frost is the equal of any male supervillain. Phoenix’s temptation is certainly multilayered and detailed, a rich exploration of character. However, the saga somewhat undercuts this feminism with Phoenix’s suicide at the end of the story, which casts her more in the role of martyr than of savior.

Impact

Certainly one of the most important superhero stories ever written, The Dark Phoenix Saga launched the X-Men to the heights of superhero popularity that they still enjoy to this day, and achieved star status for Claremont and Byrne. In many ways, the saga represents the accidental magic of the creative process. At the time, the death of a major character—by suicide, no less—was stunning. It seems unlikely that the original ending, in which Phoenix lives with her powers removed, would have inspired the same fan reactions. The X-Men became the must-read series, and The Dark Phoenix Saga became a model for the kind of shock-driven event stories that became common in comics during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Good imitations achieve The Dark Phoenix Saga’s same level of attention to character, while bad ones kill major characters simply for surprise and sales boosts.

Despite the finality of the tale, Phoenix lived up to her name and returned many times. The resurrections, temptations, and downfalls of Phoenix have become a familiar recurring narrative to fans in the decades since the saga was first published. Tales with other characters often invoke the power theme by using the “dark” adjective.

The saga also promoted three characters. Although Wolverine had been part of the X-Men for some time, his lone battle through the Hellfire Mansion demonstrated his potential as a solo character, and he remains one of Marvel’s most popular characters. Kitty would go on to join the X-Men, arriving at the end of issue 138. As a young Jewish girl, Kitty made for an unusual superhero. Finally, Dazzler would become the star of her own comic book series. Uneven in quality, the series focused on Dazzler’s unsuccessful attempts to avoid superheroics. Later, she too would join the X-Men.

Films

X-Men: The Last Stand. Directed by Brett Ratner. Twentieth Century Fox, 2006. This film stars Famke Janssen as Jean Grey, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and James Marsden as Cyclops. The film differs from the novel in a number of major ways. It still dwells on the temptation of power for Jean, but does not use the Hellfire Club or Shi’ar elements. Jean’s struggle is reconfigured as a power play between Magneto and the X-Men. As Cyclops is killed early in the picture, the primary romantic emphasis is on Wolverine, who ultimately makes the decision to kill Jean out of mercy.

Television Series

X-Men. Created by Stan Lee. Genesis Entertainment, 1992-1997. The program starred Catherine Disher as Jean Grey and Norm Spencer as Cyclops. The animated series roughly followed the main elements of the saga, adjusting for some characters who were series regulars. Phoenix’s suicide was notably changed to a departure of the Phoenix entity from Jean.

Further Reading

Claremont, Chris, et al. Uncanny X-Men (1975-1984).

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. The Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans (1982).

Lobdell, Scott, et al. X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic, Book 1 (2006).

Bibliography

Claremont, Chris, and John Byrne. Phoenix: The Untold Story. New York: Marvel Comics, 1984.

Fingeroth, Danny. Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society. Foreword by Stan Lee. New York: Continuum, 2004.

Jones, Gerard, and Will Jacobs. The Comic Book Heroes: The First History of Modern Comic Books from the Silver Age to Present. Rocklin, Calif.: Prima, 1997.

Reynolds, Richard. Superheroes: A Modern Mythology. London: B. T. Batsford, 1992.