The Dark Phoenix Saga is one of the greatest storylines in all of comics history, and for good reason. With cosmic scale stakes, layered, intricate character development and a shocking death, the X-Men classic was revolutionary for comics at the time.
When Jean Grey inherited the cosmic might of the Phoenix Force, her psionic powers at first only increased. Then, things started to get strange. And murderery. Jean evolved into Dark Phoenix and straight-up killed an entire solar system. But that wasn't the strangest thing that happened. Let's take a look at some of the things about Dark Phoenix that make no sense.
10 It's As Powerful As The Plot Needs It To Be
The Phoenix Force may be the most powerful entity in the entire Marvel universe. It's hard to tell. In the years since it first appeared in the pages of Uncanny X-Men, the Phoenix Force has appeared and reappeared (more on that later), often with logic-defying ability. Born during the Big Bang, the Phoenix is essentially indestructible. Its native power is beyond comprehension; it can alter reality, tap into the lifeforce of future generations and escape time and space through a wormhole into other realities. There is literally no killing it, which begs the question it needs to identify with the Phoenix bird of myth at all.
9 Avatars Don't Need A Sequel
The Dark Phoenix Saga is famous for the death and sacrifice of Jean Grey, a shock to readers and at the time, divergence from comic book expectations. No one ever really died in comics. Her death and the potency of the decision was undermined when Jean later returned. We find out the Phoenix Force essentially cloned her, taking on her memories and personality while sequestering Jean in a cocoon at the bottom of Jamaica Bay. The Phoenix has been doing this for eons, but if it can copy people, surely it can recall them in the same way you can recover files from your trash bin. Why the need for numerous avatars when the Phoenix can pull one out of its library?
8 Loving Someone Means Letting Them Go
We're told the Phoenix was taken with Jean's power and spirit as a child when it first detected her using her telepathic power to keep her friend Annie from dying. The Phoenix Force even broke the connection between Jean and Annie when Jean's own spirit was dragged to the afterlife - which begs some questions - but the Phoenix's love and admiration for Jean evidently didn't extend as far as its cosmic power. Rather than assume her form and live its own life somewhere in the cosmos, the Phoenix essentially imprisoned Jean against her will and assumed her identity. Not cool.
7 So, The Afterlife
Here is where the flaw in Jean's resurrection, from a narrative point of view, is most exposed. Jean is preserved in a cocoon at the bottom of the bay, allowing her to return a few years later and diluting the impact of the end of the Dark Phoenix Saga. But there was another way out, already built into the story.
The concept of an afterlife is one with a few different iterations in the Marvel universe (hell, there's even a - well - a Hell) and the idea Jean traveled to it as a child sets up a tantalizing possibility. The Phoenix Force can cross this threshold; what if it retrieved an adult Jean from the afterlife, after her sacrifice, as a penance for its actions? What if her spirit had truly been a Phoenix, rising from the grave?
6 Omnipotent. Maybe Not Omniscent.
There a couple of instances during the slow build-up of the Phoenix storyline where the Phoenix Force seems less powerful than it really is. One of the earliest is also one of the most absurd. There have been a lot of things that don't make sense in X-Men, but this one is legendary. While impersonating Jean (unbeknownst to the reader) and before she goes dark, Jean is mind tricked by the evil Mesmero into joining - wait for it - a circus. She performed in Mesmero's sideshow along with a few of the other X-Men until she was rescued by the Beast. Not the cosmic entity's finest moment.
5 Oh, But It Gets Worse
The Phoenix is duped again, right away, by the villain Mastermind. Needing a major victory to join the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, Mastermind worked his manipulative abilities on Jean/Phoenix and convinced her that she wasn't Jean Grey - which was true - but Lady Grey, his lover and all-around-leather-fan from the 18th century. Phoenix foreshadows her eventual tendency to overdo things as she joins the Hellfire Club as The Black Queen. Cyclops rescued her by breaking Mastermind's hold of her mind, but this also broke Jean's control of the Phoenix Force, but... there was no Jean. Only the Phoenix.
4 Thanks For Not Eating Us
After being freed from Mastermind, Phoenix flees Earth. Confused and tormented with a flush of human emotions, the cosmic forces flowing through Jean funnel toward a great hunger she can't control. This ultimately leads to Phoenix doing one of the most staggering acts in the history of Marvel - she absorbs the energy of a star, creating a supernova that destroys the entire D'Bari system and its inhabitants. Good thing Phoenix drove around for a while looking for meal options and didn't just stay closer to home for a snack. Though that would have made more sense, given how angry and confused she was.
3 Her Death Is Wasted
Jean's death was one of the great, tragic moments in comic book history. The decision to reverse it sapped it of all its power, though some of that could have been mitigated if the approach had been right. Having Jean be locked away in a cocoon underwater robs the character of all her agency. In a story about men trying to control women, this is problematic.
Jean makes a selfless, heroic decision, and takes control of her own life and power from not just the men trying to control her, but the Phoenix. When you think about the fact the Phoenix is an omnipotent cosmic entity masquerading as Jean, her sacrifice becomes even more diluted because it has no real weight. The Phoenix can't die, and with the retcon of Jean being alive, her death is simply another aspect of an elaborate ruse.
2 Attack of the Clones
It was crazy enough that Jean came back at all. But things became even more insane with the arrival of Madeline Pryor. A gorgeous redhead with a thing for Scott, fans screamed 'CLONE!' from the jump, and boy, were they right. After the Phoenix 'died,' its power tried to reconnect to Jean, sleeping in her cocoon. She was like, Nah, and the Phoenix wandered until it happened on a clone of Jean that just happened to be chilling in the laboratory of Mr. Sinister. She gained some of Jean's memories and lifeforce, and also like Jean/Phoenix, was easy to dupe. She later became the Goblin Queen and tried to destroy the world.
1 It's Hard To Adapt
Despite these glaring issues with the logic of the story, the original as it was presented still retains a lot of elements that would make for a compelling onscreen adaptation. Despite this, two X-Men movies in the last twenty years have failed to deliver on the premise. In both, the fundamental aspects of the story are jettisoned or altered to try and stuff it all into a two-hour movie (or less). This is impossible to do considering the scope of the story. The Dark Phoenix Saga deserves a more patient treatment, which it got in what has become its best adaptation to date in the legendary 90s X-Men: The Animated Series.