Dark Phoenix

Creation of the Phoenix

The first time the Phoenix Force felt the presence of Jean Grey was when Jean's friend Annie Richardson was hit by a car. As Annie died, Jean's telepathic powers kicked in and she connected to Annie's dying mind. Jean's mind was on the verge of being pulled into death also but the Phoenix Force used its power to keep Jean safe. Many years later on an X-men mission to the Starcore spacestation, Jean was forced to pilot a damaged spacecraft back to earth while the rest of the team was safe and secure. As the radiation penetrated the ships shields and her own Telekenetic shields Jean's weak body began to wither and die. In her dying moments she called out for help and the Phoenix Force heard her cry. The Force took a small piece of Jean's essence and fashioned a duplicate body for itself and then places Jean's withered form in a healing cocoon. As the spaceship crashed into Jamaica Bay the cocoon was deposited under the water as the Phoenix Force (in its new Jean body) as a newly risen and empowered Jean, taking the name of Phoenix. So complete was this replication that even the Phoenix itself didn't realize itself to be a copy.

Phoenix with the X-men

Over the next months Phoenix took Jean's place among the X-men and life continued as normal, helping on various missions. She accompanied the team to the Shi'ar Empire where the mad emperor D'Ken was attempting to unleash the neutron galaxy located within the M'Kraan Crystal so he could achieve ultimate power, but at the cost of the entire universe. This was the first demonstration of "Jean's" new found power as Phoenix. Using the her god-like telekinetic power (which now manifested as a huge firebird) she held together the entire neutron galaxy while also reweaving the barrier to keep it contained. After this the new Shi'ar Empress Lilandra already fears the incredible power wielded by the young woman.

In a later mission against Magneto, Phoenix and Beast were separated from the rest of the team, each thinking the the other had perished. Devastated by the loss of Scott, Phoenix leaves the X-mansion to grieve on her own.

Manipulation By Mastermind

After taking some time off to herself, Phoenix journeys to Muir Island. On a shopping excursion she runs into Jason Wyngarde for the first time. Jason is secretly the old X-men villain Mastermind toying with her and her mind. She remains on Muir Island for some time so that Moira MacTaggert can test the full extent of her new powers. During an emergency alarm concerning Moira's son Proteus, Phoenix is swept up in an illusion of herself in the 1800's as Lady Jean Grey (an ancestor of Jean's), wife of the era's Jason Wyngarde and Black Queen of the Hellfire Club of the time period. This psychic illusion catches her off guard and she is felled by Proteus. Later during the Proteus situation, Mastermind once again brings her into his 19th Century illusion once again where he convinces her that a cruel game of manhunt was her own idea.

Following the defeat of Proteus, the reunited X-men return to the mansion and very quickly get reports of 2 new mutants, Kitty Pryde and Dazzler. The team is split in half and Jean joins the search for Dazzler. At the club where they find Dazzler performing, Phoenix once again sees Jason Wyngarde across the floor and is instantly brought back into the illusion where she is his wife and they are dancing, but to the onlooking Cyclops it appears that Jean has just walked off with another man and started dancing. After defeating the Hellfire grunts sent after her, Dazzler, the X-men and Phoenix then go to rescue their teammates that have been captured by the White Queen of the Hellfire Club. With Kitty Pryde and Dazzler's help, the team disposes of the White Queen and quickly mount an attack on the newly discovered Hellfire Club.

During the assault, Wyngarde brought Phoenix into one last illusion where she was the Black Queen and she helped him and the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle take down the X-men and then she took her place as their new Black Queen.

Black Queen

When Jean’s powers were increasing it began to corrupt her and make her want more and more energy which caused Jean to develop a split-personality. At first Jean was able to control it but as time went on it became harder and harder to control. Mastermind wanted to join the Hellfire Club and so he had proceeded to capture Jean Grey by using her hunger to his advantage. Mastermind made Jean think she was in the 18th century by using hallucinations and in time, she became the “Black Queen”.

In attempt to save Jean, the X-men were captured and chained up in the corner of the dining room. When the Hellfire Club was sitting at the table trying to eat supper Emma Frost saw Jean’s puzzled face and soon realized what was going on. She knew that Cyclops was trying to connect to Jean Grey through their telepathic connection. (which only Scott and Jean shared) Emma then ordered that Mastermind do something at once. Mastermind then had a telepathic battle with Cyclops inside of Jean Grey’s mind and in the end Mastermind killed Cyclops which ends up making the real Jean Grey heartbroken. That allowed Jean to retake control over her body and powers for a short amount of time. When the Phoenix retakes control of her body she becomes overwhelmed with madness and breaks free of mastermind allusion. Confused and angry the Dark Phoenix ended up turning into a bird like form of pure fire, and stated “No one can control the power of the Phoenix!" and then busted right through the ceiling and flew to the roof. Mastermind then followed her to the roof in hopes that he would still be able to control her, but soon learned that he was no match for the mighty Phoenix.

When the Phoenix was done with Mastermind, Cyclops got to the roof and called out Jean Grey’s name. That upset the Dark Phoenix so much that she broke out and yelled, “The mortal Jean Grey is no more, I am the Dark Phoenix!". The Phoenix then felt Jean Grey retake her body once again (only for a few seconds) but manages to say the words, "Scott, Help Me". When the Dark Phoenix retook control, she shot a fire ball at them which blew the X-men into a nearby park.

Dark Phoenix

The Dark Phoenix then proceeded to fly over to the park and tell the X-Men that their destinies had come to an end and that the Dark Phoenix had come to destroy them all.Then the battle began and in the end, the X-Men lost. Cyclops (being the last to go down) was hit the hardest because he had upset the Dark Phoenix the most, mainly because he confused her. When the Dark Phoenix asked Cyclops why he had cared about the body of Jean Grey so much, he replied, “I love her”. That statement made the Dark Phoenix upset because she didn’t understand or know what the emotion felt like, so she replied, “I do not understand, your answer is unacceptable” and then used a force-field to wipe him out. When Cyclops was knocked out Jean Grey retook control of her body again (this time for a longer period of time) and walked over to Cyclops’s body and started to cry.

She then she said the words, “Don’t ever forget Scott, I will always love you” then the Dark Phoenix retook control and became madder than ever and took the form of an enormous bird made out of pure fire. This figure was seen for hundreds and hundreds of miles. The Dark Phoenix then proceeded to fly straight up into the sky until she was no longer seen. The waves of power that the Dark Phoenix had gave off when she transformed into the birdlike shape were sensed by extremely powerful telepaths throughout the universe, each one showed an extremely puzzled face.

The Dark Phoenix then entered space and created a black hole in which she had used to teleport into another galaxy (D’Bari Galaxy). The Dark Phoenix then dove into the D’Bari’s star and started to feed on its energy until there was nothing left but a nova.

When the Shi’ar tried to attack the Dark Phoenix she then turned around and attacked back, but with little effort, luckily not destroying the Shi’ar but causing more than enough to damage to give them the hint to back off. The Dark Phoenix then flew back to earth causing the captain in charge of the spacecraft to contact the empress and give her the warning. Meanwhile when all of this was going on, Beast was creating a machine that would neutralize the power of the Dark Phoenix, but only for an extremely short period of time. Once created Beast tried to figure out where the Dark Phoenix could be headed next but had no trouble figuring it out.

Beast along with all the other X-men (including Xavier) went to Jean Grey’s childhood home and waited for her to arrive. When she arrived Xavier tried to fool the Dark Phoenix by putting hallucinations into her head, making her think that her parents are sitting in the drive way waiting for her. Once Jean walked outside the car started to pull away causing Jean to go farther and farther into the yard as she chased after it. When she was far enough, the X-men then made their move and with much luck Beast was actually able to slip the device onto Dark Phoenix’s head. At first it looked like it was working, the Dark Phoenix had fallen to the ground in pain, but after a few short seconds the Phoenix stood up and melted the device. The Dark Phoenix then became overwhelmed with rage, she laughed and the taunted Beast for his failure. Dark Phoenix then picked up the X-men with her telekinetic powers, by this time it looked like the X-men had finally came to their end, but then out of nowhere Xavier tries his best to invade the mind of the Dark Phoenix and successes. He then summoned the Dark Phoenix to a telepathic battle.

Dark Phoenix knows that Xavier is no match for her, so she decides to taunt and play around a little bit. He tries his best to defeat her, but once the Dark Phoenix had had enough she then decided to destroy him. She had almost succeeded, but Xavier called for the help of Jean Grey herself (who is in a way trapped within her own body) just in time. Together with the two extremely powerful telepaths working together, they are able to bind the Dark Phoenix into her own powers, but only for the time being.

Since the Dark Phoenix had been contained, Jean Grey was able to retake control of her body once again. Once she awoke Jean Grey was greeted home by all her fellow X-men. It had seemed like everything had just fallen back into place. Then the Shi’ar arrived and tried to take Jean Grey away so that they could destroy her and the evil, powerful creature that was within her to insure the universe’s safety. The empress then ordered her Imperial Guards to capture Jean. The X-men got ready for the battle of their lives and were willing to do anything to protect Jean. Luckily for them Xavier was able to enter the mind of the empress and found out that if the Imperial Guards were challenged to a battle, they must accept it. The X-men were then brought onto the spacecraft and were taken into space. On board, Jean Grey was accused of genocide and the only solution was death. Finally the X-men and the Shi’ar agreed that there would be a battle and the winner would determine Jean Grey’s fate.

The Battle of Death

Once the X-men had gotten ready they along with the Imperial Guards were then teleported to a moon where the battle would take place.

The X-men (not knowing they were no match for the Imperial Guards) then decided to split up into pairs. After many hours of battle Jean Grey and Scott Summers were the last two left in the match. Before the two decided to give the Imperial Guards the best they had, Jean and Scott hid in a nearby cave to say their last few words before they fought for their lives. When they were done they ran out and were confronted by all of the Imperial Guards. Jean and Scott were doing great until Scott was shot down. The sight of Jean Grey’s true love falling to the ground put so much guilt and stress on her that the Dark Phoenix was able to retake control of the body once again. By doing so she sent off extremely powerful waves of power which knock off the energy flow of the Shi’ar spacecraft.

The Phoenix persona reasserted herself briefly, before being stunned by Colossus' punch. She ran into a back alley, followed by Scott. There, she explained to him that she would never be able to control her powers and would grow until she consumed the entire universe. Realizing this, Phoenix activated an ancient Kree weapon which scattered her physical form into atoms, ultimately ending her threat forever. Scott realized Jean had planned her suicide should something happen to reveal to her that she would never be able to control her powers.

After Her Death

Although there was no body to be buried, the X-Men, along with Shi'Ar Majestrix Lilandra and Jean's family, held a memorial service and burial for her. Scott used the occasion to think back on his whirlwind romance with Jean, before deciding to quit the X-Men. Lilandra gave John and Elaine Grey a holempathic matrix crystal created by Shi'Ar science. It would give the impression that Jean were near when anyone would hold the crystal.

It was revealed sometime later that the real Jean lay dormant in her cocoon, healing from the radiation that allowed the Phoenix to take her place. After its death on the moon, The Phoenix Force returned the borrowed life force and memories of Jean to her, however she rejected it and the memories and lifespark entered the cloned body of Madelyne Pryor. The remaining Phoenix Force then allowed itself to bond to Jean Grey's biological (if not natural) child, Rachel Summers. After years, the Phoenix Force returned to Jean Grey and upon Jean's death, the two have merged into one entity, calling itself the White Phoenix of the Crown.

Powers

When Jean Grey is linked with the Phoenix, the possibilities for her powers are nearly limitless, and as Dark Phoenix, she has no inhibitions making her powers unlimited, driving her to engage in any behavior or activity which thrills her and her desire for sensation.

Her telepathic power is said to be one of the strongest in the world. The creature has fought Charles Xavier (considered to be Earth's most powerful mutant telepath) and nearly won, had it not been for the Omega-Mutant Jean Grey’s assistance to reassert her personality. Dark Phoenix’s telepathic powers are so great that she is able to communicate with the dead, across the great expanse of space, and beyond. Within the M'Kraan crystal, Phoenix linked all living beings in the universe together as one, using their combined might to repair the energy matrices which kept the negative galaxy contained inside.

The Dark Phoenix is also considered to be the most powerful telekinetic in the universe. Her abilities as a telekinetic are so sensitive and strong that she manipulates the atomic structure of matter, including transmogrification of matter. The Dark Phoenix is life incarnate and does not need to breathe, eat or sleep in order to survive.