That is what Phoenix announced to the X-Men as they attempted to flee in The Blackbird, just before she blew it up. The X-Men barely survived their plummet to Earth: Colossus dive-bombed his steel form through the trees below, Nightcrawler teleported into an uncomfortable roll, and Storm caught Wolverine, who in turn grabbed Cyclops, just before they sullied the landscape.

She attacked the X-Men, taking them down like pins in a bowling alley. Her powers reached the point where she could turn Colossus back into his human form, or transmute organic and inorganic substances into another. She had truly become a goddess, with powers beyond the ken of mortal (X-)men!

After Phoenix abandoned them to take to the stars, the fallen X-Men were rescued by the Beast. At that point, the Beast was serving in the Avengers, and he hopped on a Quinjet as soon as he heard about the fracas at The Hellfire Club. We also heard from one Moira MacTaggert, who was monitoring the frequency of Phoenix’s powers. When Moira saw the powers go off the chart, she warned an already worried Professor X, who paraphrased to Angel the famous anecdote attributed to the British historian Lord Acton: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely!”

MacTaggert referred to the Phoenix as “cosmic,” and even the Silver Surfer could sense her as she streamed into space. He deemed her a “kindred soul” who was so much like himself, yet so different. Part of that difference was her human shell, another part was that selfsame corruption tearing at her psyche. After traversing several galaxies, Phoenix suddenly hungered. She craved more power with a cosmic-level appetite and consumed a star to receive that sustenance, killing an entire planet and its five billion inhabitants in the process. This galactic crime did not go unnoticed, for there was a Shi’ar Imperial battle cruiser passing by, and it was able to report what had happened to the Shi’ar majestrix, Lilandra, before it succumbed to the Phoenix as well.

Phoenix returned home, and not just to Earth, but to her parents’ house. Once home, a confrontation led to harsh words from her father, further turning her from her human nature. Outside, she noticed the work of Storm in changing weather patterns, and she left to confront the X-Men. They managed to pop a mind-scrambler on her head, in hopes of muting her powers, but when it came to the follow-through, they all held back—except Wolverine, who unsheathed his claws. For a split second, though, Phoenix’s Jean Grey personality emerged, and Wolverine couldn’t follow through either. Then it was too late. Phoenix overloaded the mind-scrambler and trapped the X-Men.

Cyclops tried to persuade Phoenix to give in to her emotion, claiming that she couldn’t kill them because she personified love. Professor X used that distraction to psionically attack Phoenix. He didn’t succeed at first, but Cyclops had somehow returned the Jean Grey aspect to Phoenix, and as Phoenix battled Professor X on the psychic plane, the Jean Grey persona reasserted its control. Dark Phoenix reverted to Jean Grey and was “cured”—albeit temporarily. Everything seemed to have finally reverted to normal, but then all of the X-Men, including Jean, were teleported to Lilandra’s ship, a Shi’ar Imperial Dreadnought. Lilandra decreed that even though Dark Phoenix had reverted, no psychic bonds or mental chains could ever truly contain that level of power. She decreed that Phoenix must be destroyed!

Professor X had one last card to play, however. He challenged Lilandra to a Duel of Honor, as was allowed by intergalactic law. This put Xavier’s X-Men against Lilandra’s Imperial Guard, with Jean’s life at stake. The X-Men, with one night to ponder their future and hers, all decided to stand by her and give their lives if necessary.

One by one the X-Men fell into the KO’d pile, until it was only Cyclops ad Jean left. A true Last Stand, and one that unleashed the Phoenix Force once more!

A piece of Jean still survived in Dark Phoenix’s head, and it struggled for control. The piece that was Jean came to the realization that even though she was dominated by the Phoenix Force, the mere fact that the Phoenix Force chose to form itself in her image meant that she was party to human emotions and to Jean Grey’s love and personality. That persona simply would not let go, and it could not allow itself to go on, knowing its actions could cost billions more lives! So, in a moment of sacrifice that symbolizes the very ideal of the metaphoric soul of humanity, after some brief words of love and apology to Scott, she sacrificed her life to prevent the corruption from completely taking control of her again.

I know, I know, I promised Wolverine. Well, you’ll get him at some point in the near future. For now, I’d like to turn my attention to the entire point of this Saga: the Phoenix essence itself.

The Phoenix Force is a sort of cosmic, disembodied essence that is sentient and self-aware but is really just a gathering of cosmic energy and power. Jean Grey could tap into this force and create a bond between them, and eventually, Jean Grey became a sort of avatar on Earth for this force. That avatar is represented by Jean Grey, Phoenix Force. In my X-Men Files article last fall, I described the Phoenix Force as such:

“Jean Grey, Phoenix Force is the Phoenix entity modeling itself after Jean Grey, and it displays the bond between the Jean Grey essence and the Phoenix essence. As a lovely translation of comic flavor into game effect, you need to have Jean Grey in the KO’d pile to recruit Phoenix Force, as Jean Grey was in a coma under the sea while Phoenix was playing Jean Grey in the X-Men. Her ability is reflective not only of the awesome level of power that the Phoenix Force provides, but also of the restraint of the Phoenix when Jean’s essence was dominant in her psyche. She doesn’t KO or stun the characters; she returns them to their controllers’ hand, which is more humane. Rather than taking them out, she simply sends them packing . . . ”

In retrospect, though, it’s more complicated than that, because Jean Grey is one of the most complicated characters in this game. Jean Grey and Dark Phoenix are essentially the same character, so why are they labeled differently? And why would I say that Jean Grey, Phoenix Force is really the Phoenix entity modeling herself on Jean Grey, when it’s actually a Jean Grey character, not a Dark Phoenix character?

Well, it is and it isn’t Jean Grey. One could argue that this version of Jean Grey was from before Jean “lost her life” while plummeting toward Earth in a spacecraft cockpit filled with radiation. One could also argue that it is the Jean Grey from after she was found in the bay and had recovered, able to once again tap into the Phoenix Force. Either one of these interpretations will do, because Jean Grey is certainly an avatar for the Phoenix Force while she is tapping into it.

Even though the Phoenix Force modeled itself on Jean Grey, there was a part of Jean in it. Perhaps not the physical self, but the essence of Jean Grey was in this physical embodiment of Jean. This is why there was a distinct split in personality between Dark Phoenix and Phoenix—the struggle for control between the Jean Grey essence and the Phoenix Force essence. Just as there was a psychic rapport between Jean and the Phoenix Force that affected Jean Grey, that selfsame rapport affected the Phoenix Force, making the Phoenix Force a sort of reverse avatar for Jean. So, I argue that the essence of the Phoenix Force in certain moments, such as the sacrifice she made to save billions of lives, or during the special moments with Scott Summers, was as much Jean Grey as it was the Phoenix.

Here’s what I had to say in that same article about the dark side of the (Phoenix) Force:

“Dark Phoenix is the character that succumbs to the dark side. She literally uses her awesome power to feed on resources, causing the very stars to collapse and turn into black holes when she’s sucked them dry. Dark Phoenix KO’s all resources. She doesn’t send them carefully packing; she callously destroys life to sustain herself . . .”

Much like Galactus, Dark Phoenix hungered and used the energy of a cosmic body to provide sustenance. This character is distinctly separate from the Jean Grey persona. Her speech is different, right down to the font used when she’s speaking. She looks and acts differently, and the power completely corrupts her, whereas with Jean Grey, Phoenix Force there was humanity and struggle against corruption.

The other version of Phoenix in the game is the new Dark Phoenix, Alien Life Force. This is the Black Queen incarnation, under Mastermind’s mental control. She has loyalty, and although this loyalty is projected through Mastermind’s Mind Control, it is no less fierce. However, that fierce loyalty lies with Mastermind through his control, and not specifically with the Hellfire Club itself. Also, she is most often in the 18th century world of Lady Jean Grey and not the present. It’s this bizarre form of loyalty that provokes her first effect: to return all of your other characters to their owners’ hands. She is not a teammate and will not fight alongside the others, but she will fight powerfully.

She is somewhat limited in power, as the Mindtap Mechanism used by Mastermind has not broken down, and the mental roadblocks prevent her from using her full power capability. Even so, when she fights, she is stronger than the average Joe, and even a limited Phoenix is more powerful than most others are at full strength. When she does hit you, you’ll know it. The character who is taken out takes double-stun endurance loss, and you gain that endurance. The double-loss reflects her sheer power level, as does her 21 ATK / 21 DEF frame, which is rather high for an 8-drop. The endurance gain reflects how, as she takes you down, she feeds off of your energy. It also reflects the slow release of the constraints on her power over time.

Finally, we have two plot twists and an equipment card that specifically cover Dark Phoenix. Mind Control deals with Mastermind’s mental dominance over her. You need a Mental character to use it, and it represents the assertion of the mind control before the damage is dealt, diminishing the power level of the character and preventing him or her from dealing full damage.

Mastermind used the Mindtap Mechanism to hold his control over Phoenix. It was designed and built by Emma Frost, and it greatly enhanced his power of illusion and persuasion. Without it, Mastermind wouldn’t have stood a chance at controlling a mind as strong as that of Phoenix. This is represented in the game by the direct increase in ATK that it bestows upon the character, and by the gradual increase in its user’s power as the control over his or her victim is strengthened over time, giving a bonus counter every recovery phase.

Finally, Phoenix Rising reflects two aspects of continuity. The first is Phoenix herself, as Jean Grey is removed from “existence” so that Phoenix can become Jean Grey. Phoenix Rising also reflects that although Phoenix can do just about anything, there is a great cost to her power and its replenishment: that of obliteration.

NEXT WEEK: It’s PC preview time, and I’ll look at who will be invading Atlanta and who the primo contenders will be!

Questions? Queries? Comments? Send ’em along and I’ll try to get them answered in the column! Email me at:

Kergillian (at) hotmail (dot) com

* Just as a point of interest, the Dark Phoenix Saga is when we get a clip of an angry Senator Kelly emerging from The Hellfire Club with a canny Sebastian Shaw following, commenting to the Senator that a good alternative plan for dealing with The Mutant Menace are the Sentinels! This is the point of origin for an entirely new era of Sentinels in the X-Men comics, and would eventually lead to the emergence of Master Mold and the attempted genocide on the island nation of Genosha. Sebastian Shaw and Shaw Industries were integral in the creation of the “new” Sentinels—though Shaw had yet more tricks up his sleeve, as his alliance with Senator Kelly was another foothold in his plan for Hellfire world domination!

Also known by his screen name Kergillian, Ben Kalman has been involved in the Vs. community since day one. He started the first major online community, the Vs. Listserv, through Yahoo! Groups, and it now boasts well over 1,850 members! For more on the Yahoo! group, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Marvel_DC_TCG.