Origin

The Force came into existence when the Universe itself was born; however it had no conscience of itself, it simply was. Until a mind touched the Force and it awakened, the mind of a Feron. In joyous communion, the Force let itself be shaped by his dream and it appeared in a bird image. When Necrom interfered, He tore off a portion of the energy-bird and the Force fled in agony. Necrom bound the portion to some of his life force and left it to incubate in a body in a buried cavern were it would evolve into Anti-Phoenix.

Hurting from this violation the Force tried to go back to it’s former state of unawareness but it couldn’t and kept soaring through the universe, inspiring Shi’ar legends about the Phalkon. After hundreds of years, it became clear that the existence of the universe itself was being threatened by the Shi’Ar Emperor‘s use of the M‘Kraan Crystal. The Force now requiring an avatar, returned to Earth only to find Feron gone.

Instead, discovering a being with a passion for life and creation similar to it’s own – Jean Grey. During a fight with the alien Z’Nox, it probed Jean for a first time and, when she later was dying of radiation poisoning during an unshielded space flight, the Force made her, in order to save her friends in the back area of the shuttle. The Force duplicated Jean’s body, infused it with some of the soul, essence and life force of Jean Grey and merged with this body.

The new being was overwhelmed by the rich experience of life, friendship and love. It denied its own consciousness and forced itself into totally believing it was the real Jean Grey. Reborn, it named itself Phoenix, taking Jean’s place among the X-Men, while the real Jean's body was placed inside a healing cocoon. The vast cosmic powers were to much for a human mind to handle, in the end; Phoenix sacrificed herself on the Moon after Mastermind created another personality within her, Dark Phoenix.

With the mortal shell shattered, the immortal force reflected it‘s actions. It could not conceive a way to undo the evil it had done save for returning Jean Grey the stolen life force, essence and soul. On her way down to Earth, it passed Rachel's time probing astral self, floating over New York. At first mistaking it for Jean, it soon discovered that this was the future daughter of Jean. Amazed by this temporal anomaly, it probed deeper and found out about the life of pain and misery that Rachel had led, yet she had never given up.

Impressed by another such passionate creature, the Force decided to follow Rachel into the future but, shortly before leaving, it keyed the package of stolen fragments of soul, life force and memories to Jean’s genetic structure and sent it circling the globe, where they accidentally were received by Madelyne Pryor, a Sinister-made genetic clone of Jean Grey.

Back in the Days of Future Past timeline, Rachel passed out from the strain of the journey and the Force revealed itself to Kate Pryde. Kate herself had nothing left to live for but she asked the Force to give Rachel the chance for a fresh start. The next day, Rachel and Kate broke into the facilities of Project Nimrod, a new Super Sentinel. It was a suicide mission and, once inside, they planted a nuclear bomb. Shortly before, the explosion Kate said the codeword, “Dark Phoenix,“ which was the sign for the Force to supercharge Rachel’s power to send her back in time – physically.

Rachel was unaware that she hosted the Force’s essence and her memory was suppressed by it; these conditions were part of the deal, since Kate had wanted to give Rachel a new life, without the ghosts of her past haunting her. The Force rode in Rachel’s “backseat“ for some time, until Rachel, unaware of already being the Force’s host, vowed to take on her mother’s codename, Phoenix, to restore the meaning of the name.

The Force perceived this as voluntarily accepting the power and it bonded to her fully, making Rachel more powerful than ever. Having learned from its past mistakes, the Force allowed Rachel only that amount of power she could handle; preventing her to face the same trouble her predecessor had. While helping her teammate Meggan to search for her origin, Rachel discovered that the continued usage of the Phoenix powers was responsible for her scrambled memory.

To give her memory time to reassert itself, Rachel willed the Force to be dormant and the memories started to heal. Yet when they returned to Excalibur, they had to deal with the Anti-Phoenix, and dared to wrest the full Force from Rachel. She had no choice but to reactivate it and fight for her right to wield it. In outer space, the two fought to a stalemate but, at last, Necrom exploded when he attempted to absorb more Phoenix energy than he could handle.

Rachel too was mortally injured in the battle and was returned to Earth by the goddess, Roma. When Professor X and Jean Grey probed the catatonic Rachel, they met the Phoenix Force. It revealed Rachel’s history to them; how it met Rachel and that it, upon Kate Pryde’s request in the future, had scrambled her memory. Rachel’s body had been so much injured in the battle with Necrom that it needed special healing and nurturing.

Swearing to protect Rachel, the Force departed with her to the stars. In outer space, the Force encountered Galactus and the World Devourer told it the truth about itself. As long as it was only being, it was the sum of all that lives. However, to provide itself with a conscience, it needed energy to feed off, energy that else would have been used by future generations.

Shocked that again it was responsible for mass destruction by wanting to explore humanity, the Force waited until Rachel had fully recovered. Afterwards, it handed control back to Rachel and gave up all feelings and awareness. To help Captain Britain who was stuck in the timestream, Rachel switched places with him, entering the time-stream to a fate unknown.

When Rachel was rescued by her brother, Cable; from the end of time. she told him that halfway on her journey through the timestream, she felt the Phoenix Force abandoning her to reasons unknown. The Force’s current whereabouts are unknown. Through a rift, the Force crossed over to Malibu‘s Ultraverse for a large crossover and temporarily found a new host in Amber Hunt. It was also seen in the future of the Guardians of Galaxy, empowering a man named Giraud, who called himself Phoenix IX.

Hosts

Amber Hunt: she was a host of the Phoenix Force when it had entered the Malibu Universe.

Cyclops: he was a host of the Phoenix Force, briefly during an X-Men/Teen Titans crossover.

Dark Phoenix: the duplicate of Jean Grey that was created by the Phoenix Force, she eventually could no longer handle the power and committed suicide as not to be utterly turned over to darkness.

Diamanda Nero: she was possessed by the Phoenix Force for a short time after she fought Rachel Summers.

Emma Frost: she tried to be the host of the Phoenix Force when it last came to Earth but she was unworthy and could not contain the raw power.

Feron: the firs thost of the Phoenix Force, he is what gave it thought but eventually Necrom used them to create the Anti-Phoenix.

Jean Grey: Jean Grey is the greatest host of the Phoenix Force, as together they have achieved the title, the White Phoenix of the Crown, making them the most powerful combination.

Kid Omega: he used the Phoenix Force to bring Sophie Cuckoo (the one he desired) back to life but she refused to allow this.

Marvel Girl: the daughter of Jean Grey, it became her host at the urging of Kitty Pryde and Rachel Summers has become one of its current hosts.

Nightcrawler: briefly did he possess the power of the Phoenix when he battled Jean Grey and he was seduced by the almighty power of Dark Phoenix.

Phoenix IX: Giruad is the host of the Phoenix on Earth-691 as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Prime: he was a host of the Phoenix Force during the time that it entered the Malibu Universe.

Professor X: he was the host of a portion of the Phoenix Force during his time with the Starjammers.

Rook'shir: a member of the Shi'ar race who has been a host of the Phoenix Force.

Stepford Cuckoos: during X-Men: Phoenix - Warsong, Celeste Cuckoo temporarily became the hostess of the Phoenix Force.

Storm: Storm is possessed by the Phoenix Force in a What If...? storlyine.

Vulcan: Gabriel Summers is possessed by the Phoenix Force in a What If...? issue.