Every Marvel Character Who’s Ever Wielded the Phoenix Force

Marvel has often lagged behind their distinguished competition when it comes to power level, except in the case of the Phoenix Force. This primal entity represents death and rebirth and gives those who wield it godlike power. Readers were first introduced to it in 1976 in X-Men (Vol. 1) #101, when Jean Grey sacrificed herself to save the team by piloting a shuttle to the Earth after a battle with Magneto. This moment changed the character forever, with it all culminating in the X-Men classic “The Dark Phoenix Saga”, one of the most beloved stories in Marvel history. Since then, we’ve seen the Phoenix return numerous times over the years.

However, it didn’t just stay with Jean Grey. Over the years, numerous characters in Earth-616’s universe have held the Phoenix Force, all of them using its power to perform some amazing feats. These Marvel characters all wielded the Phoenix Force on Earth-616, forming a very particular club.

9) Thane

Thanos is Marvel’s greatest villain, and his treatment of his son Thane is proof of that. The Mad Titan’s son was half Inhuman and his Terrigenesis gave him power over matter and energy. Thanos tired to kill him when he first went through Terrigenesis, with the end result being a battle between the Mad Titan and the Avengers. Thane escaped, and along with Ebony Maw went into space. Eventually, he got his hand on a Phoenix Egg, gaining the power of the Phoenix. He and his father fought again, but he lost its power, and was soundly defeated.

8) Celeste Cuckoo

In Phoenix: Warsong, the Stepford Cuckoos became the recipient of the Phoenix Force, but Celeste was the main host. Readers learned about the origin of the five girls, as they were clones of Emma Frost created in the World, the home of the Weapon Plus Program. Celeste ended up using the power of the Phoenix to destroy the World and then sealed the Phoenix in the Cuckoos’ diamond hearts. She only held the power for a short time, but proved to be rather adept with it.

7) Echo

Jason Aaron’s Avengers run was often kind of mystifying at times, and making Echo Phoenix was one of the weirdest decisions in a run full of them. Maya Lopez is a deaf woman who gained the ability to replicate the moves of anyone she sees, starting out as an assassin for the Kingpin before becoming an ally of Daredevil, and the first Ronin in Japan. She was a former member of the New Avengers, and was involved in a tournament to win the Phoenix Force in recent years. She won, and joined the Avengers, helping them in battle against numerous foes, including the powerful Multiversal Masters of Evil. The Phoenix left her, ending one of the strangest chapters in its history. A Phoenix with the Avengers was definitely different from what people were used to, and the novelty of it will always make it special.

6) Rachel Summers

Rachel Summers wasn’t technically from Earth-616, but she did end up on that Earth, so she counts. She came from the “Days of Future Past” universe, where she was born to Cyclops and Phoenix. She was the telepath who sent Kate Pryde in the classic story, even entering into a relationship with Franklin Richards, but she was captured and transformed into one of Ahab’s Hounds. She’d escape his clutches and went back in time, ending up in the present with the X-Men. She’d wield the power throughout her tenure with the team and Excalibur and eventually died, although she got better. She returned with the power of the Phoenix, but she’s lost control of it and instead depends on her mutant psi-powers.

5) Wolverine

Wolverine gained the power of the Phoenix Force in the excellent Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine #1-6. He and the Wall-Crawler ended up in the future, and he used a weapon created by the Beast called the Phoenix Gun, which fired a bullet that was a small portion of the Phoenix Force, against Doom the Living Planet. Later in the story, he’d end up manifesting the full Phoenix Force, and Spider-Man was able to talk him down from the destroying everything. At some point in other universes, he became the Phoenix again, becoming one of the most powerful beings in reality until the end of all things, battling and helped King Thor.

4) Hope Summers

Hope Summers was the first mutant born after M-Day. The Omega-level mutant has the power to copy and enhance the powers of others, and was trained by Cable to be the ultimate soldier. Cyclops had another role for her, probably because she was a redheaded telepath, and began training her to get the Phoenix if and when it came back. It ended up coming toward Earth in Avengers vs. X-Men, which caused a war between the two groups. She started wielding it in limited ways and was able to take it from Dark Phoenix Cyclops, using the power to reignite the X-gene on Earth, leading to the birth of all-new mutants.

3) The Phoenix Five

Okay, so I’m counting the Phoenix Five as a group because until four of them were defeated, they were all collectively the Phoenix. In the underrated Avengers vs. X-Men, a battle on the moon saw Iron Man use his Phoenixbuster armor to try to stop the cosmic raptor of death and rebirth, but ended up breaking it into five pieces, those pieces going into Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, Colossus, and Magik. The group of them decided to use their new powers to fix the world, but the Avengers’ continued attacks against them saw fall further towards darkness. After the defeat of Namor, the resulting power surge caused the others to get more powerful, and they started turning against each other until Cyclops was the last one standing.

2) Cyclops

Cyclops actually held the Phoenix Force twice. The first time was in Avenger vs. X-Men #11, where he took on its full power after he killed Xavier and defeated Emma Frost. He battled the combined forces of the Avengers and the X-Men (a team which contained two Hulks and most of the planet’s heaviest hitters) and dog-walked them until Scarlet Witch and Hope Summers started to work together, the combination of Wanda’s chaos magic and Hope’s connection to the Phoenix (we learned at the end of the Krakoa Era that Jean Grey as Phoenix was her “father”, finally making this make sense), and took the power from him. Later, he found a Phoenix Egg and used it at the Final Incursion, becoming the Phoenix again. He was better at controlling it this time, but was killed by God Emperor Doom and resurrected without it when the universe was rebuilt.

1) Jean Grey

Jean Grey was the first Phoenix, becoming one of Marvel’s most overpowered characters. This occasion in her life has been retconned numerous times, but basically she has a bond to the Phoenix Force to the extent that she basically is the Phoenix Force. She’s done amazing, sometimes terrifying things with the power: destroyed stars, stopped supernovas, traveled through time and space, empowered the entire mutant race and defeated a Dominion, and so much more. She is the ultimate Phoenix, and no matter where else it goes, it always finds her.

Who’s your favorite 616 Phoenix? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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