WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Avengers #39, by Jason Aaron, Dale Keown, Scott Hanna, Jason Keith & VC's Cory Petit, on sale now.

The Avengers are preparing to battle a classic X-Men entity in the Phoenix Force. While this does not seem like the who most would associate with Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the oldest Phoenix story ever told was in the Avengers Vs. X-Men event.

As Avengers #39 shows, the Phoenix Force has been around for a very long time, and even its first appearance on Earth pre-dated its X-Men introduction by a million years. Its first appearance on Earth took place at the dawn of human and mutant life. However, the Phoenix first took a host even further into the past and into the deepest depths of Marvel's cosmos.

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X-Men Phoenix First Host

The first Phoenix story existed far away from Earth. During Avengers Vs. X-Men the two superteams were fighting as the Phoenix Force raced to Earth. The Avengers wanted to protect and shut away Hope Summers since everyone believed she was fated to house the Phoenix. Wolverine wanted to kill her, and the X-Men wanted to let the possession happen to try to help mutants rise again from the depths in which they fell after M-Day. A spin-off issue featured young mutants known as The Lights, trying to find a way to help Hope. They stumbled on this story of the Phoenix Force.

This happened in Uncanny X-Men Vol. 2 #13 by Kieron Gillen, Billy Tan, Cam Smith, Craig Yeung, Guru-eFX, and Joe Caramagna. Hope had teammates known as The Lights, five mutants whose X-Genes activated when she arrived from the future. The four ended up meeting a being known as The Unit, who told them the story. The Unit admitted he had seen countless Phoenix moments, bringing destruction and rebirth, and he gave Hope the best advice he could, based on his knowledge.

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The first time he discovered the Phoenix Force was "a billion or so years ago." It was a world where demon rulers feared progress and found a way to end evolution. It was very similar to the story of the Earth's first meeting, with the Phoenix which also found a society that wanted to end the evolution of mutants, and even further into the future where M-Day threatened to do the same. In that original moment on the world far away, a hero rose and gathered five acolytes before calling for the Pheonix Force. When it arrived, the hero joined forces with the five, and the group swept away the demons, and the world started anew. It was the same ending as the first Earth story, as the Phoenix Force helped in a time of extreme prejudice.

The Unit revealed he pulled the Lights away from Hope so they couldn't unite and help her save their world. He wanted to see what happened when the Phoenix Force could not get what it needs -- the five. In this case, he wanted to see how it responded. The Phoenix Five adapted in this case and chose five new acolytes to join with Hope, bringing together the Phoenix Five. Even when Earth's heroes beat the Phoenix Force, it still achieved its goal, restoring mutant powers all over the Earth, helping them start anew again.

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