“ | The mortal, Jean Grey, is no more. I am fire made flesh! Power incarnate! I am... the Dark Phoenix! | „ |
~ Jean Grey upon her decent into evil as the Dark Phoenix. |
Dark Phoenix is a major antagonist in the Marvel Universe, specially for the X-Men franchise.
It is the moniker bestowed upon Jean Grey following her entanglement with the Hellfire Club, which led to her transformation into a remarkably formidable supervillain. This malevolent incarnation of Jean Grey wreaked havoc throughout the cosmos, leaving a trail of chaos in her wake. Eventually, she was believed to have perished in a fierce confrontation (although, as it turned out, Jean Grey was later revealed to be alive).
It is worth noting that contemporary retellings of the tale attribute much of the unfolding events to the influence and corruption of the Phoenix-Force, a formidable cosmic entity, which, in the original comic book and the film X-Men: The Last Stand, resulted in the emergence of the Dark Phoenix. However, it is important to clarify that the Dark Phoenix was not a distinct or merged entity, but rather an embodiment of Jean Grey's descent into malevolence.
The Phoenix, in the form of Jean, appeared as the secondary antagonist of X-Men: The Last Stand, the titular antiheroic protagonist of Dark Phoenix, and a prominent plot point in the final episodes of Wolverine and the X-Men. Dark Phoenix was also used in the 1990's X-Men cartoon's third season.
She was portrayed by Famke Jansen in X-Men: The Last Stand (who also portrayed Hilda Van Der Koy, Xenia Onatopp, Evelyn Stockard-Price, Rachel Wright, and Muriel) and by Sophie Turner in X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix.
Biography[]
Backstory[]
Jean Grey was a child who always thought she was a normal human being. At the age of 10, she witnessed the death of her best friend Annie Richardson, who got hit by a car. The emotion caused by the accident awoke in Jean powerful mutant psychic powers such as telekinesis and telepathy, allowing her to feel her dying friend's pain.
As Charles Xavier recruited her in his X-Men team, she endorsed the code name "Marvel Girl" (a nod to the company the character belongs to). He trained her to control telekinesis, but suppressed her telepathy during a long time, only to teach her how to use it as she was more mature, so she wouldn't suffer from trauma. She is one of the founding members of the team.
The Phoenix Saga[]
During The Phoenix Saga, the X-Men were caught in a solar storm, as they were aboard a spaceship. Jean used her telekinesis to protect her team and herself. However, her psychic barriers weren't strong enough to hold back such power. She miraculously survived thanks to the help of the Phoenix Force, a cosmic entity of God-like power which has control over life and death, that found a host in Jean Grey. She awoke in the ocean, calling herself "Phoenix" in front of her teammates. She gained powerful pyromancy powers that water can't even drown, which often appears around her in the shape of a firebird.
Having so much power in one's hands created jealousy towards the X-Men. The Hellfire Club, a group of psychic villains including Emma Frost, began to manipulate Jean, and eventually kidnap her and hid her from Xavier and Cerebro. The group altered her mind, causing her to think she is part of them, their Black Queen. Later, when she was saved by the X-Men, Phoenix realized that she was manipulated, the psychic scheme of the Hellfire members left her mind bruised. The Phoenix Force within her took the opportunity to gain control of her body, and she became the Dark Phoenix: an energy-hungry being which seeks to destroy the universe in order to gain more power. She turned against her own team, thus starting The Dark Phoenix Saga.
Enemies X-Men, the Avengers, fantastic 4, Spiderman, the defenders, the Inhumans, runaways and the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The Dark Phoenix Saga[]
During the said story arc, Dark Phoenix caught the attention of the Shi'ar Empire (whose Empress Lilandra was Charles Xavier's lover) by consuming a star's energy, which caused it to go supernova, destroying planets and countless alien civilizations around it. Later, she even destroyed herself a Shi'ar spaceship and the crew aboard. The Empire immediately classified Jean Grey as a threat to the universe and went at war with the X-Men. During their last fight on the moon, Jean regained control of her own body and stopped D'Ken from destroying the universe with the M'kraan crystal. Aware that nothing or no one could stop her if not herself, she triggered a Shi'ar laser canon with her telekinesis and let it disintegrate her.
X-Factor[]
Later, the Fantastic Four discovered in Jamaica's Bay (where the X-Men's spaceship crashed as Jean became Phoenix) a cocoon holding a humanoid body. DNA test proved that it was Jean Grey, who was put to sleep the whole time, and that the one becoming "Dark Phoenix" was, in fact, a clone. She joined X-Factor along the first members of the X-Men.
Grant Morrison's New X-Men[]
But unfortunately, the Phoenix Force rose again in the shadows. Jean embraced it during the New X-Men events, manifesting pyrokinetic auras and strong psychic energy. With its help, she managed to resurrect Emma Frost, who was broken into several little pieces. She faces Cassandra Nova, Charles Xavier's evil twin sister, in order to prevent her from using Cerebra as a weapon to eliminate every mutant on Earth. But she eventually is killed by Xorn, caught in a personal dilemma with Magneto, who sends a planetary-sized electromagnetic wave right into her body. Jean dies since The Phoenix Force is unable to heal in time the stroke she is having because of this attack.
Phoenix: Endsong[]
The Shi'ar Empire found the Phoenix Force, way later, in a sleep-like phase. They proceeded to destroy it for good, only to awake it in the end. The Phoenix fled towards Earth and entered Jean's dead body, reviving her and forcing her to crawl out of her own grave. After that her powers over life and death healed her wounds, Dark Phoenix didn't wait long before showing up again. The entity was seeking for the essence of love that Scott used to give to its host. Unable to embrace this feeling, it was, in fact, seeking after energy, such as the one coming from Scott's force vision, in order to empower itself.
During a fight between the X-Men and The Phoenix at the North Pole, Emma Frost (who is then a member of the X-Men) used her power to show Phoenix how much she was loved, casting an illusion of all the X-Men she knew and their memories of them, saying altogether "Jean." Full of joy and love, Jean has then found the strength to take control of the Phoenix Force, thus allowing her to discover that they were both bounded forever, a part of each other.
Jean Grey became a being like no other, the White Phoenix of the Crown, in a higher state of life. She is one with the Phoenix, and the Phoenix is one with her. Her task now is to find pieces of the Phoenix that scattered all across the omni verse. After telling her beloved Scott goodbye for the last time, she vanished into the White Hot Room (sort of a parallel dimension where the WPotC belongs to) and was presumed dead. She has taken fragments of the Phoenix which were hidden in her daughter Rachel Grey and the Stepford Cuckoos and has been presumed dead afterward.
Marvel Now[]
The fact is that she is not. She even helped Emma Frost, in one of her visions, from being neutralized by the Sisterhood of Mutants. In her last appearance since, Jean told Emma "Well then, little spirit. Prepare." meaning that Jean, as the Phoenix, might come back sooner than we think, more powerful than ever before, holding all the pieces that she had lost. Nobody has seen her after that.
Rumors among fans say that she managed to give birth to her own child by using the immense power from the Phoenix Force. "Her" child would later be raised by her alternate-reality son Cable, and become the Mutant Messiah : the first mutant born after M-Day (an obscure event caused by Scarlet Witch, erasing or depowering most of mutantkind out of existence), her destiny remaining unknown - she could save both mutant kind and mankind as well as she could become an evil entity that would put both sides at war once again.
The Phoenix Force, in a less powerful form, came back recently during the events of Avengers vs X-Men, trying to get control of Hope Summers. An accident caused by Iron Man caused it to split in five parts, which found hosts in Magik, Colossus, Namor, Emma Frost, and Cyclops: The Phoenix Five. The last of them found a way to gain the others' phoenix powers and became the Dark Phoenix. Eventually, he killed his mentor Charles Xavier, and depowered from the cosmic entity by Hope Summers and Scarlet Witch, was put in a cell.
In the story arc All New X-Men, the Beast brings back the five original X-Men in the present in order to achieve Charles Xavier's dream - peace between Humans and Mutants - and to prevent tragic events that happened during the team's history. The young version of Jean Grey has one mission, to avoid her older self's corruption by the malevolent Phoenix Force. During their adventures, the young X-Men were sent in space among the Guardian of the Galaxy in order to save their red-headed friend from the Sh'iar Empire, which was ready to sentence her to death for the Dark Phoenix's genocide. Eventually, she manifested the full extent of her psychic power by combining both her telekinesis and telepathy: her body would glow pink, emanating mental energy. This form would enable her to use both powers at the same time in order to use devastating attacks.
Marvel's Legacy and resurrection[]
Along the resurrection storyline, the young Jean Grey had to face her own demons. Struck by a vision of the Phoenix Force coming back for her, she manages to get the help of previous Phoenix hosts (Rachel Grey, Hope Summers, the Stepford Cuckoos, Quentin Quire, and even her former archenemy Emma Frost), as well as various other heroes (Namor, Psylocke, the Unworthy Thor, Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch).
Following her visit at the Sorcerer Supremes', she is haunted by the ghost of her old self, trying to save her from her own tragic story. In the end, Jean has to face a Phoenix Force that wants her out of its way. The entity engulfs her in flames and kills her, only for her to appear in its dimension, the White Hot Room. During her travel in it, the young Jean is faced by the essence of many past Phoenix hosts, transported from prehistory to her first day at Xavier's school. Eventually, she faces the Phoenix itself, which has been trying to get rid of her from its homeworld. Being its true host, she manages to force it to send her back to Earth-616. Once resurrected, she discovers that her older self is alive and what was the real plan the Phoenix Force had in mind.
X-Men: Phoenix Resurrection[]
In fact, the Phoenix had created an "egg". It was a psychic dimension hidden on earth, creating the perfect life for Jean - featuring elements from her life, such as her husband Scott Summers, her parents, Wolverine, but also her best friend Annie who appears to be still alive. While the entity was trying to smolder Jean in order to resurrect her and use her body as a vessel again, her sub-conscious would send the X-Men hints in order to save her - illusions of dead X-Men members, sources of immense psychic power emanating at different points on the planet, paranormal events... It is Old Man Logan that meets her in person, enabling her to dissociate from the reality that the Phoenix made up in order to restrain her. In order to keep her for itself, the Phoenix even resurrects Scott, who she eventually kills after kissing him by absorbing his vital energy, claiming that they were "better off dead". In the end, Jean convince the entity that the Dark Phoenix isn't her real self and that she isn't made for its apocalyptic destiny. Warning that without its presence Jean would die, it disappeared like a flame being extinguished.
After the event of Phoenix Resurrection, Jean Grey joined the X-Men, forming its third team: Red (along with the originals Blue and Gold). Together, they must fight the infamous Cassandra Nova, who is menacing the peace between mutant kind and humankind that Jean is desperately trying to maintain by advocating for her people's rights.
As for the Phoenix Force itself, it decide to host a tournament to decide which hero is worthy to be their next host. During the contest it manifest itself as Firehair, the first human mutant that become the host of Phoenix Force and claim through her to be Thor real mother. The winner of the tournament is Echo. Phoenix choose Echo as a vessel and stay inside her.
Rise of the Power of X[]
After Avengers defeat Council of Red, which comprise of Mephisto from Multiple timeline. Phoenix Force leave Echo and go back to Jean Grey. In Fall of X event, Mother Righteous trap mutants population in White Hot room, which has mental effect on Jean Grey/Phoenix Force, allowing her to easily mind control her and take her hostage. They were sacrifice by Mother Righteous in her attempt to achieve Dominion. But all of the power is absorb by original Nathaniel Essex, now call Enigma. Using the fact that Dominion exist outside of time to absorb all power from his clones to bring himself into exist even before he actually ascend.
Jean Grey/Phoenix Force is revive by the sacrifice of Hope Summer. Using her life force and merge herself back to being one with Phoenix. Enigma try to stop Phoenix by summon himself and other dominions from Overspace to fight her, but other domimions tell Jean/Phoenix that they wish her no harm and they will no longer attempt to absorb mutankind and humanity before leave, leaving Essex at the mercy of Phoenix. Enigma travel back in pasts try to change event of history that make Jean Grey who she is, but Jean/Phoenix manage to prevent any change in timeline. Moira who has link her mind with Essex, has last minute change of heart, reveal Enigma hiding place Jean. Allow her to confront him directly, she manifest power of every X-Men and deal a finishing blow on Enigma. Trapping him in his dying moment for the rest of eternity.
After all thing has settle for mutantkind, Jean Grey say goodbye to Professor X and X-Men before leaving earth to protect cosmos from cosmic threat.
In other media[]
Movies[]
X-Men: The Last Stand[]
Dark Phoenix is the secondary antagonist of X-Men: The Last Stand - this time caused by Jean apparently going insane. In the film, Professor Xavier recognizably remembered this alternate personality of Jean Grey by its other name "The Phoenix", whom he sees as in his own words, "a creature all desire, joy, and rage". In this reality, the Phoenix isn't the name of an evil entity from the space, but an alter ego that the professor had maintained in chains during most of her life.
X-Men: Apocalypse[]
At a point in the movie, Jean is shown having a nightmare, in which she has a reddish vision of Earth being ravaged by a mysterious cataclysmic event, causing the end of all life. While talking to Xavier in the same scene, she refers to a "dark force" within herself, obviously referring to the Dark Phoenix.
During the movie's climax, she eventually uses her pyrokinetic power in order to stop Apocalypse from nearly killing the Professor. Before being disintegrated, the villain says that "All is revealed." while facing Jean and her firebird aura.
Dark Phoenix[]
Dark Phoenix appears as the titular main protagonist of Dark Phoenix.
Television[]
X-Men: The Animated Series[]
Dark Phoenix also appeared as the secondary antagonist in Season 3 of the 1990's animated series X-Men. In this series, the ending of the Phoenix story arc shows Jean Grey, as Phoenix (still as a fiery creature), taking the super-powerful M'Kraan Crystal into the core of the Earth's yellow sun. Oddly, both survived this and were eventually brought to Muir Island, where Phoenix was developing a darker side that Xavier was understandably scared of. Phoenix would refuse to abandon Jean's body, which leads to her getting captured by the Inner Circle (Hellfire Club) and mind-controlled.
Dark Phoenix emerged and broke free of the Inner Circle's control, going into space to destroy a star that was monitored by Shi'Ar explorers. Shi'Ar queen Lilandra goes to Earth and demands that the Dark Phoenix be executed due to it being able to destroy "all that is", just like the M'Kraan Crystal that spawned it. The X-Men have to battle the Shi'Ar's gladiators to save Jean. She then stops D'Ken from destroying the universe but when her powers become dangerous, she uses a Shi'Ar space cannon to kill herself. Phoenix emerges and, with the X-Men's life-force, resurrects Jean and leaves.
Wolverine and the X-Men[]
- Main article: Dark Phoenix (Wolverine and the X-Men)
The Phoenix is featured as a major antagonist in the TV series Wolverine and the X-Men. In this series, the Phoenix is a creature that has been around on Earth since homo superior first appeared. It would enter the host mutant at birth, grow within it and then reach maturity, at which point it would cause mass destruction and risk total destruction of Earth. At the start of the series, a mysterious explosion occurred at the X-Mansion that presumably killed Jean Grey and Professor X.
A year later, Magneto finds a comatose Professor X on the shores of his kingdom of Genosha. The Professor is brought back to the X-Mansion, where the Professor reveals that the coma he is in will last for 20 years and he has woken up to see a world ravaged by fire and the robotic Sentinels are making mutants an endangered species. The cause of both the explosion and the fires on Earth were revealed towards the end of the series when Emma Frost and Cyclops look at the X-Mansion before it is destroyed; both were caused by stress from Jean Grey, the unfortunate host of the Phoenix, who would unintentionally unleash her powers.
In "Shades of Grey", Jean Grey (who has recently woken up from a coma in a hospital) is ratted out to the Mutant Response Division, who comes to capture her. The Phoenix suddenly manifests and unleashes a psychic wave that causes a portion of the East Coast to lose consciousness. Cyclops and Emma save Jean from Mister Sinister, who uses her Phoenix powers to defeat him. Emma brings Jean before the Inner Circle and tells Jean of the Phoenix, what it can do and how they can stop it; by getting the Stepford Cuckoos to absorb the Phoenix. However, when Emma discovers what the Inner Circle plans to do with the Phoenix, she absorbs the fiery creature into her body, turns into a diamond and explodes, releasing the Phoenix into the atmosphere and killing both of them.
X-Men Anime[]
The Dark Phoenix appears at the beginning of the series X-Men Anime having consumed Jean Grey and nearly destroys the world with her magnificent power. The X-Men battle against her and Cyclops tries to reach Jean within the astral plane using a ruby necklace that Scott gave her to come to her senses. Recognizing the damage the Phoenix was causing, Jean sacrificed herself saving her true love and the entire world. The Dark Phoenix's persona is reminiscent of the film version from X-Men: The Last Stand where dark veins surround her face and Jean's eyes were completely black.
Videogames[]
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance[]
In the first game, Dark Phoenix appears at the end of the game. If the player decided to save Nightcrawler instead of Jean Grey in Mephisto's realm, Dark Phoenix will come to Earth and take revenge on the people who refused to save her.
In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, Jean Grey is playable with the Phoenix and Marvel Girl outfits being available for her. When reading Nicky Fury's notes about her, the player can discover that Jean did show up as the Dark Phoenix in the game's backstory and that Fury has got plenty of contingency plans in case she would go red again.
Marvel vs Capcom[]
“ | Ask not for pity from Dark Phoenix. There is none in her! | „ |
~ Dark Phoenix victory quote |
Dark Phoenix appears as a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds/Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. If Phoenix's life is emptied and her Hyper Combo Bar is full, she will turn into Dark Phoenix.
Powers and Abilities[]
Jean Grey has been stated to be an Omega Level Mutant. She is also an Omega-Level Telepath. By birth, Jean is among the most powerful telepaths, telekinetic and psions. She is also one with the Phoenix Force, and while acting as its avatar she is one of the most powerful Abstract Entities in the Earth-616 universe. She also was considered to be a "Mutant Alpha-Psi", an Alpha Level Telepath, an Alpha-Level Mutant and Psionic of Highest Order. As Dark Phoenix, she has been stated to be a global threat and to manifest cosmic-level powers. According to Prosh, her Comparative Mutagenic Power Register was of 8.9.
Initially, Jean's powers were simply restricted to telekinesis and even lifting her own weight quickly tired her. With training, her telekinesis improved, but it wasn't until after she was released from the stasis chamber she was placed in by the Phoenix Force that her telekinesis really started to become powerful. Jean's telepathy was suppressed at a young age by Charles Xavier after she connected with her dying friend, Annie Richardson. Later, Xavier released these mental blocks for a more mature Jean. She lost telepathy following her release from the Phoenix egg, only to regain it after battling Psynapse with X-Factor. While accessing the Phoenix Force, Jean's empathy, telepathy, and telekinesis are greatly magnified and heightened to an incredible degree. The Phoenix Force also allows her to travel unaided through the vacuum of space, cross interstellar distances faster than the speed of light, and to manifest flames while using her powers, often in the shape of a fiery raptor. The entity grants her the power to control life and death - she can empty a living being from its life force in order to redistribute it, bath herself in it so she can heal, or even heal/resurrect another being. This power is linked to the Phoenix's ability to come back from the dead. However, the true extent of the Phoenix Force's power is unknown. While its abilities seem rather simple, it is said that a White Phoenix of the Crown, such as Jean Grey in her past life, is able to bend reality to their will, travel across dimensions, time, space, and even rewrite the past.
- Empathy: Jean has demonstrated her exceptional empathic powers on multiple occasions, which grant her the remarkable capability to influence, manipulate, and even transform the emotions, sensations, and sentiments of those around her. It is precisely due to these extraordinary empathic abilities that the all-powerful Phoenix Force selected her as its rightful vessel among humankind. Nevertheless, in alternative depictions, Jean's possession of empathic powers has not been depicted, with her only exhibiting telekinesis and telepathy instead.
- Telepathy: Not only can Jean read minds, but she can also project her own thoughts onto others, effectively broadcasting her messages to specific individuals or even larger audiences. This unique power allows her to communicate with others on a whole new level, bypassing the need for verbal or written communication. Jean possesses a multitude of extraordinary abilities that set her apart from ordinary humans. One of her most powerful gifts is the ability to read the thoughts of others. With this skill, she can delve into the deepest recesses of someone's mind, uncovering their innermost secrets and desires. Additionally, after absorbing Psylocke's specialized telepathy, Jean's own telepathic skills and power were further enhanced. She could now create psionic firebirds, which possessed the ability to not only cause mental anguish but also inflict physical harm. This newfound power showcased Jean's immense control over telepathy and her capability to harness it for destructive purposes. However, this enhanced telepathy came at a temporary cost. Jean had to sacrifice her telekinetic abilities, which allowed her to move objects with her mind. While this loss was a setback, it demonstrated the extent of her newfound telepathic prowess and the sacrifices she was willing to make to further develop her powers. Furthermore, Jean has the remarkable ability to manipulate and influence the minds of both humans and animals with higher intelligence. This means that she can control the thoughts and actions of creatures such as dolphins, ravens, and dogs, bending them to her will. This power gives her a significant advantage in various situations, as she can effectively communicate and cooperate with these animals to achieve her goals. However, Jean's powers reach new heights when she taps into the immense power of the Phoenix Force. While accessing this cosmic entity, her telepathic abilities are greatly amplified, allowing her to reach even greater distances and delve into the minds of individuals who would otherwise be out of her range. In summary, Jean Grey possesses a wide range of specialized telepathic abilities that set her apart from ordinary individuals. From reading minds to broadcasting her thoughts and influencing the minds of others, Jean's telepathic powers are truly extraordinary. With the added boost from the Phoenix Force and her absorption of Psylocke's abilities, she has become a force to be reckoned with, capable of creating psionic firebirds and inflicting both mental and physical damage.
- Telepathic Defense: There are multiple defensive methods in which she can display her telepathic abilities.
- Telepathic Cloak: She possesses the capability to conceal her existence and the utilization of her powers in order to evade detection by other individuals with psychic abilities or entities with psychic powers. Moreover, she can also extend this protective shield to encompass those who are in close proximity to her. However, it is important to note that this method of concealment through telepathy is not flawless, as individuals possessing exceptional psychic abilities may still have the capability to perceive and penetrate through this ability.
- Cloak Mind: One notable ability possessed by mutants is the capacity to reconfigure their "mental engrams" in such a way that renders their unique thought patterns undetectable by devices like Cerebro or even by other individuals possessing telepathic abilities.
- Psychic Shield: She possesses the capability to create a psychic shield that serves as a form of protection for herself and also extends its safeguarding abilities to the minds of other individuals. This psychic shield acts as a powerful barrier, shielding against any negative or harmful psychic influences that may attempt to infiltrate their consciousness. By erecting this shield, she not only safeguards her own mental well-being but also extends her protective abilities to those around her, ensuring the preservation and harmony of their minds.
- Telepathic Illusions: She possesses the ability to generate incredibly lifelike telepathic illusions, tricking individuals into perceiving and even feeling events that are entirely fabricated.
- Telepathic Camouflage: She possesses the extraordinary ability to manipulate the way people perceive her and others, allowing her to change their physical appearance. This incredible power extends to the point where she can make individuals completely disappear from sight, as if they were invisible. The only restriction on the extent of her camouflage lies in the number of people she intends to deceive, rather than the number of people she is disguising.
- Telepathic Manipulation: She possesses the ability to effortlessly manipulate the thoughts and mental faculties of others, granting her the power to produce a wide range of outcomes and influences.
- Memory Alteration: She possesses the ability to manipulate the memories of others through various methods such as erasing, implanting, restoring, or altering them according to her will.
- Mind Control: She possesses the ability to manipulate and influence the thoughts and behaviors of individuals, exerting control over their minds and actions.
- Mind Possession: One of her extraordinary abilities is the capability to take control of someone else's thoughts and utilize their physical form as her own.
- Personality Alteration: Using the power of her own will, she has the ability to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of other individuals, resulting in a lasting and profound transformation of their personalities, be it in part or in whole.
- Mental Paralysis: She has the ability to cause a temporary state of mental or physical paralysis. During this state, individuals are temporarily unable to move or think.
- Mental Amnesia: She possesses the ability to eliminate all recollection of specific memories or induce a complete state of forgetfulness.
- Mind Transferal: She can transfer both her mind and powers into other host bodies if her own physical body was somehow killed.
- Heal Trauma: She possesses the remarkable capability to wipe out an individual's recollections and alleviate psychological distress by means of "psychic surgery," alongside the extraordinary ability to activate or suppress the pain and pleasure receptors within a person's brain.
- Mental Sedating: She has the ability to use telepathy to put her victims into a state of sedation. Once they are already unconscious, she can maintain their sedated state for as long as she desires.
- Neural Jumpstart: One of her incredible abilities is the capability to enhance the velocity of neural signals within the complex network of the brain. This extraordinary skill holds the potential to elevate the powers of another individual with mutant abilities to unparalleled heights. However, it is important to note that this enhancement is merely momentary and does not have a lasting impact.
- Dilate Power: One remarkable capability is the ability to strategically implant "psychic inhibitors" into the minds of mutant opponents, effectively hindering their ability to utilize their extraordinary powers. This extraordinary technique allows for the successful neutralization of their unique abilities, thereby granting an advantage in combat or any other situation where their powers might pose a threat.
- Mind Link: The incredible capacity to establish a profound mental bond with any person, forging an everlasting connection that endures through time.
- Psychic Blast: She possesses the ability to emit psychic force bolts that lack any tangible impact, yet possess the power to manipulate a victim's cognitive faculties, inflicting excruciating agony, inducing temporary unconsciousness, or even leading to a state of mental incapacitation.
- Astral Projection: One of her extraordinary abilities is the power to detach her astral form from her physical body and transport it onto either the Astral Plane or the physical plane. When she materializes on the physical plane in her astral form, she possesses the incredible capability of traversing vast distances with ease. On the Astral Plane, she exhibits a remarkable mental prowess, enabling her to conjure psionic objects and effortlessly manipulate the various elements of her surroundings. Moreover, she possesses the extraordinary gift of astral communication, allowing her to establish contact with others through her sheer willpower or by tapping into the thoughts and memories of those around her.
- Mental Detection: By perceiving the unique mental radiations emitted by a superhuman mutant, she has the ability to detect the presence of another individual with similar powers within a limited, yet unspecified distance from herself.
- Telekinesis: Projection of psychokinetic energy enables her to levitate objects, propel or manipulate them however she wishes, lift herself and move through the air to simulate flight, stimulate individual molecules to create heat, generate concussive force as blasts or bursts, and create protective shields. While she has access to the Phoenix Force, she is able to manipulate matter and energy on a sub-atomic scale using her telekinesis. She can even change her Phoenix clothes into a set of street clothes, and lift multiple heavy objects at once without having any difficulties.
- Psychic Firebird: She has the ability to materialize her telekinesis in the form of a mystical firebird, whose powerful talons possess the capability to cause harm not only to the physical body but also to the mind.
- Force Field: One of her remarkable abilities is the capacity to generate a telekinetic field, which serves a dual purpose. Firstly, she can utilize it as a protective shield for herself and her allies, ensuring their safety in the face of imminent danger. Secondly, she can harness its power to manipulate and elevate numerous weighty objects, employing them as formidable weapons against her adversaries.
- Tactile Telekinesis: She possesses the ability to employ her own protective barrier made of telekinetic energy. This force field acts as a shield, safeguarding her from any external threats or harm.
- Telekinetic Aura: She possesses a remarkable capability to manifest and control telekinetic extensions of her own self that are exceptionally potent.
- Matter Transmutation: She possesses the extraordinary ability to exert control over matter at the most fundamental level, manipulating and altering it on a sub-atomic scale. This incredible power allows her to perform remarkable feats such as transforming ordinary wood into the precious metal of gold, converting living plants into dazzling crystals, and even disintegrating physical bodies by selectively modifying their intricate molecular structures. Her mastery over the very building blocks of existence grants her seemingly limitless potential to reshape and manipulate the world around her.
Phoenix Force Avatar: As the favored and true avatar of the powerful Phoenix Force, Jean may greatly increase her powers by tapping into the life energies of those yet unborn. The Phoenix Force also allows its avatars to manifest additional powers, especially in terms of Jean as its "host, house, and self". Jean Grey is the strongest and complete host of Phoenix Force and as such, she is even capable of forcibly ripping it out of another host and forcing its status upon herself. They became the White Phoenix Of The Crown.
- Interstellar Travel: A Phoenix Force avatar can fly unaided through the vacuum of space, and can travel interstellar distances faster than the speed of light.
- Cosmic Pyrokinesis: Jean, while acting as a Phoenix Force avatar, can create 'cosmic' fire under any conditions- even the impossible ones such as in the vacuum of space or underwater. This fire does not require oxygen to burn, and burns so intensely that matter is consumed without by-products such as ash. Jean has perfect control over this fire, and it only consumes what she wills. Typically it manifests as a raptor or part of a raptor such as a claw or wings. It is unclear whether this fire is an extension of her powerful telekinesis or a more general property of the Phoenix Force, or it is possible that she can create her very powerful 'cosmic' fire by the combination of both her extended telekinesis power and Phoenix Force as the result of her status as the one true Phoenix. It is certainly true that the cosmic fire is literal punctuation to the Phoenix's purpose to 'burn away what doesn't work' and 'burn through lies'.
- Cosmic Teleportation: She can teleport her and others across vast distances such as to another planet or galaxy, across the vast vacuum of space itself, or even an entirely new timeline all-together.
- Concussive Force Blasts: She can use the 'Phoenix energy' to manipulate and project multiple forms of energy, and use it to project blasts and beams of immense concussive force powerful enough to destroy whole planetary bodies.
- Telekinetic Sensitivity: This lets her feel the texture of objects she has a telekinetic hold on, feel when other objects come into contact with them, and probe them at a molecular level to identify if they contain alien materials or feel when two things which she has a telekinetic “hold” upon are similarly composed.
- Resurrection: The Phoenix Force can resurrect others after they have died into pure living flesh, bone, and blood. It is unknown if factors such as time since death have an effect on the ability to successfully resurrect a person, nor is it clear how the Phoenix calls back the soul of a person to their body.
- Energy Absorption: She can directly absorb, manipulate, generate, and fully control any type of energy such as Cyclops' ruby-red-colored optic blasts or the entire energy of a star, black hole, or even a whole galaxy. Jean, as the "One-True Phoenix", was shown to be able to activate and deactivate the mutations of other's with just the use of her psychic abilities.
- Life-Force Control: As Jean is one with the Phoenix Force, she can fully control and manipulate life and death itself, as such, it can take the "life energy" from something, rendering it "dead" or vice versa.
- Immortality: Jean and the Phoenix Force are one-and-the-same entity at some fundamental level, and as such Jean can never truly die and as a Phoenix Force avatar she does not age. Upon the death of her corporeal form, Jean spends time in the White Hot Room doing 'Phoenix work'. The Phoenix Force can also restore Jean's body to life, although there appears to be some unknown limitation to how quickly it can successfully accomplish this following her death.
- Temporal Manipulation: While acting as the Phoenix Force avatar can manipulate the past, present and future across large temporal distances and with a profound knowledge of the causal effect her actions will have and see through the time. It may be the case that time as a concept doesn't apply to the White Hot Room. Jean as the White Phoenix of the Crown held her universe in her palms possessing the infinite power to write what she would as the "One True Phoenix" in any timeline, using it to manipulate the past to save her timeline from a horrible future, altering the memories of everyone in the reality itself in the process.
- Atmokinesis: Jean is capable of manipulating and creating cosmic weather. It can create cosmic storms, solar flares, geomagnetic storms, cosmic rays, coronal mass ejection and black holes. It was thanks to this that Storm could find Dark Phoenix, by tracking the disturbances on the weather the she was generating.
- Existence Mastery: Since Jean Grey is Phoenix entirely she is able to possesses total control over the entirety of existence. She can warp reality, bring anything into existence, freely manipulate all existing things and return them to nothingness when their purpose is extinguished. It's possible that she could have created and given birth by using a portion of the Phoenix Force to create Hope Summers Though Jean herself did not give birth but gave the portion to her the minute she was born so she could save the mutant race. Another possibility would be her appearance (Hope possesses Jean's green eyes and red hair and resembles her also being the only other host that has been linked to the Phoenix without actually being a host at the time as well as the only other avatar to turn into a White Phoenix) and that she is Phoenix.
Phoenix excels at astral combat. She maintained a psychic link to Cyclops for a number of years. She possessed the memories of the Phoenix duplicate of her as well as those of Madelyne Pryor-Summers, her clone, and is thus an expert pilot. Jean has shown some proficiency in hand-to-hand, non-psionic combat; the extent of this is unknown as she prefers to utilize her telekinesis and telepathy during battle. She has a college education from Metro College.
Jean possesses the normal human strength of a woman of her age, height and build who engages in moderate regular exercise. However, some incarnations of Phoenix, including at least the first appearance of Dark Phoenix at the Hellfire Club, possessed super strength sufficient to lift over 100 tons physically.
Jean demonstrated the upper-limit of her kinetic strength by grasping multiple components (the strewn rubble of a Genoshan school), which, according to Hank McCoy, weighed anywhere up to 50 tons. From this display it can be theorized that Jean's maximum telekinetic load without the use of the phoenix force is 50 tons, though she could lift Avalon. Also she could stop a plane in mid air and lift it, while feeling Cable's pain with her telepathy.
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Trivia[]
- A younger version of the Phoenix in X-Men: Apocalypse was played by Sophie Turner, who was famous for her role of Sansa Stark.
- Originally, Phoenix is just Jean Grey secondary mutation. But later retcon into be a cosmic being to reduce Jean Grey guilt in her Genocide of D'Bari. Although later Marvel writers would hype Jean Grey as "One True Phoenix" thus nullify the original goal of the retcon and make Jean Grey gulity in D'Bari genocide as confirm by Celestial Progenitor in Judgement Day event.
- The Phoenix Force is often mistaken for Jean Grey, as during The Dark Phoenix Saga events, it took her appearance and personality and lived among the X-Men. It was used as a plot device for the series X-Factor as its authors wanted to bring back the four original X-Men as a new team.
- The two theatrical films that feature Dark Phoenix as a main character were wildly unpopular.
- X-Men: The Last Stand's adaptation of the entity as The Phoenix, which was merely a dissociative identity of Jean Grey, was disliked for changing the character too much. The general subpar nature of the film was also unhelpful to selling the change.
- X-Men: Dark Phoenix had a version much more faithful to comics, as the Dark Phoenix was an extraterrestrial force that inhabited Jean; however, this film had an even worse reception than the previous one from an aborted timeline.
External Links[]
- Jean Grey on the Heroes Wiki
- Jean Grey on the Marvel Wiki
- Phoenix Force on the Marvel Wiki
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