Why Marvel Totally Retconned Jean Grey as the Phoenix, & Went Back On It 28 Years Later

In 1980, the X-Men gave Marvel the ultimate superhero story, at least up to that point. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” was the culmination of several years of build-up, as writer Chris Claremont told the story of Jean Grey’s fall to darkness. Behind the scenes, things got very contentious as the story evolved. Claremont wanted the story to end with Jean losing her powers but redeemed, while Marvel editor in chief Jim Shooter thought that Jean Grey couldn’t survive a story where she destroyed an entire solar system. This changed the ending completely and led to the blockbuster that fans have loved for decades.

“The Dark Phoenix Saga” has become a legendary story, but it’s also one that has added to the confusing nature of X-Men history. Claremont didn’t want Jean to die at all, and had more plans for the character, and eventually a plan was made to change the entire ending of a blockbuster tale to bring her back. It was one of the most audacious retcons of the day, and it has caused numerous stories… and just as many problems. All of that changed in 2024 when the X-office decided to change X-Men history again, as the Krakoa Era revealed that Jean and the Phoenix were one, something that creators went out of their way to change. It’s a strange situation, but it’s honestly in line with the history of this retcon.

The Original Retcon Made Jean Grey a Palatable Character Again

Jim Shooter’s original qualms about keeping Jean Grey alive make a hundred percent sense. Claremont had the character devour an entire star system, killing billions, and there’s no way to come back from that. It’s hard to redeem a character who did something like that, and this was also the origin of the retcon. Jean Grey, basically, was too important to X-Men history to stay dead. She was the original woman of the team, and her fall to darkness wasn’t exactly her fault. Death made her perfect, crystallized in reader memory, and that made everyone want her back all the more.

Chris Claremont made the X-Men a juggernaut, and wanted Jean back, as did fans. So the retcon started. Jean was never actually the Phoenix, instead the Phoenix created a perfect copy of her to incarnate in order to feel the universe. She never ate a star and killed billions; she was in a cocoon in Jamaica Bay. X-Men fans didn’t have to feel bad about it, and it also raised the question of if she was destined to fall to darkness as well just like the simulacrum did. Many creators over the years wanted to bring the Phoenix back, so a “bond” between the two was established, but never really elaborated on. It allowed her to not be a monster, but still have the potential to become the Phoenix again. Eventually, it was established that she was a perfect host for the Phoenix, proven by Grant Morrison’s revolutionary New X-Men run, and became one with it in a way no one else did. She was free of the moral stink and could still be the Phoenix.

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Now, in a lot of ways, this retcon made things a bit confusing at times. However, it also allowed everything else. You could never have a Jean Grey who killed billions as a hero again. This is why the recent change has been rather mystifying. Jean as the perfect Phoenix host had to be for some other reason, so they made it so she was the human manifestation of it. It was always her, in the way that once something happens it moves backwards and forwards through time. Suddenly, we have to somehow do the moral calculus of how to make sense of this.

Jean isn’t the one who destroyed the solar system, as the Phoenix had taken control at that point, but she was still the Phoenix. This change honestly makes the whole thing a little more confusing and paradoxical, but Marvel would rather things this way, despite not really doing anything with it. At this point, Jean Grey is one of several overpowered Marvel characters, and the publisher mostly hand waves away any discussions of her culpability for the genocide that Dark Phoenix committed. You can say what you want about the original retcon, but the newest one seems to actively make the entire situation worse.

Marvel Will Almost Certainly Retcon Jean Grey and the Phoenix Again

One of the biggest problems with superhero comics is the dependence on nostalgia. If something gets popular, it’s going to come back. Jean Grey was sacrificed for a best of all time story, but she was too important to stay dead. The Phoenix Force was too popular to leave behind. It was always coming back. The first retcon brought Jean back and did so in a way that could head off any problems. It allowed so many stories to be told from it, and became a part of the history of the team that all fans understood (eventually, at least). It allowed everyone to have what they wanted.

The X-Men books have been trying to refine the relationship between Jean and the Phoenix for 28 years, and it’s finally flipped back around to Jean and the Phoenix having always been one. Ten years down the road, it could change. Maybe even in five years. Who knows? “The Dark Phoenix Saga” has always been the most popular X-story, and that meant it was always going to get retconned. It’s a part of how everything works. And it will be retconned again down the road. The cycle will always continue.

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