Marvel did something that no one had tried before in superhero comics — they grounded their superheroes. DC’s heroes were basically gods on Earth, but Marvel’s were more normal people. Spider-Man was basically the readers, the Fantastic Four were a family, and Captain America was like the uncle who saw some things in World War II or Korea. This approach set Marvel apart, and made it the favorite of readers. Now, obviously, there were gods and forces of cosmic destruction like Thor, Galactus, Loki, Silver Surfer, and more, but the focus of Marvel was on the people. The X-Men were the ultimate extension of this, both because of the central civil rights metaphor and because of the found family aspects of the team. The X-Men were a group of friends who had become a family, and everyone understood that. And then the Phoenix Force happened.
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I’m not going to mince words — “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is Marvel’s greatest story. It might not be your personal favorite, but no other Marvel story was able to take what Marvel did best — realistic character interaction and emotion — and meld it with the divine like “The Dark Phoenix Saga”. No other Marvel story since has reached its level. The Phoenix Force has become important to the Marvel Universe, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that isn’t a good thing. The Phoenix Force has been terrible for Marvel, and the effects its had have been wide-reachingly negative as time has went on.
The Phoenix Force Is More Trouble Than It’s Worth
It all starts with the death of Jean Grey in “The Dark Phoenix Saga” but it doesn’t end there. Jean’s end in the story is one of the most gut-wrenching moments in comic history. Even knowing how everything turned out, there’s no way to miss the sorrow of it. One of the reasons “The Dark Phoenix Saga” works so well as a story is the sheer emotion it contains. It sells the anguish of the X-Men over what happened to their friend and their resolve to save her. When she finally breaks free of the Phoenix, their relief is palpable, but the story’s end — a battle in the Blue Area of the Moon between the X-Men and the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard — smashes all of that, and Jean realizes that the people she loves are more important than her own life. It was a perfect death, and it echoed through the years. However, Marvel decided at some point to bring her back, which at first was alright. They came up with a way to make it all make sense. However, in recent years, writers have wanted to link Jean and the Phoenix together. I’m an X-Men aficionado and even I don’t know what’s going on with Jean and the Phoenix. Apparently, she now was always the Phoenix, instead of Dark Phoenix Jean being a Phoenix-created simulacrum of itself based on Jean. It’s honestly a bunch of nonsense. Retcons are supposed to make sense of everything in the easiest possible way, and this latest one did the opposite of that.
The next problem comes from an issue that has run rampant in the superhero fandom over the last few years — power scaling. Power scaling is all about fans judging the “feats” of a character in order to see who is “objectively” the most powerful. Now, this is ridiculous on multiple levels, the greatest of which is the simplest — that every character is as powerful or as weak as the story needs them to be. Marvel has some overpowered heroes, but the Phoenix Force is so broken in that regard. The Phoenix Force has become a cosmic force of death and rebirth, able to burn away entire diseased universes. Making it a normal part of the Marvel Universe, under the control of Jean Grey, has made it so creators have to deal with this all-powerful force in a universe that already includes characters like Thor and Eternity. There was once a time when the Phoenix Force was powerful, but not destroy entire universes powerful. All of that has changed, as creators have made it into something that it was never meant to be. The Phoenix Force can lend itself to interesting stories, but the way it is now, it’s just power scaling porn. The Phoenix Force has made Jean Grey a less interesting character this go around — the only people who can write great Phoenix stories are Chris Claremont and Grant Morrison apparently — because the stories are more about what she can do with the power than they are about her. Let’s be real — nothing good has come of the Phoenix Force since Avengers Vs. X-Men.
Nowadays the Phoenix Force Makes Everything Worse
I was excited by the latest return of the Phoenix Force, but that’s mostly because I knew Kieron Gillen would be writing about it at the end of the Krakoa Era and nostalgia. It seemed fitting for the Phoenix Force to appear then, and I fondly remembered Morrison’s New X-Men and the way that book dealt with the Phoenix Force. However, time has proven that this go around has been a mistake. It feels like no one knows what to do with it and the people who could — like Al Ewing — are nowhere near the X-Men office. Phoenix has been a huge disappointment for most Jean Grey fans, as shown by its sinking sales.
Once upon a time, the Phoenix Force was a good idea because the story wasn’t about the power, but what the power meant for the characters. That time is long past. It’s just another toy in the power scaler’s arsenal for Internet argument, and hasn’t led to a legitimately great story in many years. The Phoenix Force is bad for the Marvel Universe, and it’s going to take an amazing story to change that. Unfortunately, I don’t believe the X-office has the talent to make that happen.
What do you think about the Phoenix Force? Sound off in the comments below.
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