Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga Makes a Key Change to the Iconic Story

Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 takes Ms. Marvel and Legion, who are moving through the history of the X-Men, to the most important X-Men story of them all — “The Dark Phoenix Saga.” The Legion of this story is one from the future, when David Haller has left his body to go to the White Hot Room, leaving only his alters in control of his body. Legion is able to entice the Phoenix Force out of Jean Grey into himself, making one of Marvel’s most overpowered characters akin to a god. There have been many different versions of Legion over the years, but this one is the scariest, while also having major repercussions to the timeline. Time travel stories are always fraught with peril, especially ones that take place during stories as important as “The Dark Phoenix Saga.”

Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 takes “The Dark Phoenix Saga” into entirely different places than the original story went. Now, changing anything from such a beloved story is going to make a lot of people unhappy, but Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 shows a great understanding of the story. The changes it makes to the history of the X-Men are somewhat major but they also feel like they fit the story perfectly.

Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 Makes Multiple Major Changes To a Classic

Here’s the Cliff Notes version of “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” so you can see the changes made to the story. Jean Grey is mind controlled by Mastermind, who breaks down the barriers she puts on herself. This awakens the Dark Phoenix, who trounces the X-Men and leaves for space, where she eats the D’Bari solar system’s primary. She comes back to Earth, and the X-Men are able to inhibit her power. However, the Shi’Ar demand Jean be punished, there’s a trial by combat against the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard, and Jean kills herself rather than use the power of the Phoenix to defeat the Imperial Guard because she’s afraid she’ll eat the universe next. Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 takes place after she came back to Earth after destroying the D’Bari. Legion is able to convince the Phoenix Force to bond with them, and leaves Earth in order to reach the White Hot Room. Legion ends up battling an entire fleet of alien ships, and the Phoenix Force tells them that the only way Legion will get to David Haller is by dealing with Ms. Marvel because they’re linked. Legion comes back to the Earth, and is followed by the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard.

This is the next major change to the story. Instead of the Imperial Guard battling the X-Men for the life of Jean Grey, the two teams work together against Phoenix Legion. However, Jean and Cyclops have their own plan, and Jean and Ms. Marvel leave the two groups to battle Phoenix Legion. This fight goes exactly how you’d expect, and eventually Legion confronts Jean and Ms. Marvel. Ms. Marvel is able to use her powers again, and hold the Phoenix Legion still, which causes the Phoenix Force to begin to move towards her. Jean is able to convince the Phoenix back into her, and reveals where she’s taken Ms. Marvel — to the place where she killed herself in the original story. In order to keep the Phoenix Force from taking over Legion again or possessing Ms. Marvel, she ends her own life. Jean’s entire plan was to get herself into a position where she could end the Phoenix’s threat, and her plan is completely successful. While the events of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” have changed, the result is still the same — Jean ending her own life to save the universe.

Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 Changes the Story but Keeps the Major Story Beats

Changing “The Dark Phoenix Saga” too much would completely change the history of the Marvel Universe. Fans don’t know exactly how these Giant-Size stories work — whether everyone will remember Ms. Marvel joining the X-Men in the past or not — but they do know that these stories aren’t going to make major changes to the continuity. So, none of us expected that, for example, Jean would somehow survive the story. However, the fact that Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 was able to change the story so much while also still hitting all of the story beats is pretty impressive.

“The Dark Phoenix Saga” is an amazing story, and there are few stories that can stand with it. Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 isn’t exactly on its level when it comes to quality, but very few Marvel stories can. However, the book finds a way to retell an extremely important story in new ways, all while still keeping the basics of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” intact. The changes it makes to the story work perfectly, and it’ll be interesting to see how much of this story becomes canon, if any of it.

Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 is on sale now.

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