#the dark phoenix saga

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019, Simon Kinberg)

21/01/2025

[themollyjay]

X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga

So, having just finished re-reading The Dark Phoenix Saga, all I can say is Fuck Chris Clairmont and John Byrne for what they did to Jean Grey, and fuck Jim Shooter in particular for the editorial edict that demanded Jean Grey die.

Especially fuck the fact that NO ONE ever seems to take into account what the Hellfire Club did Jean in this story. Mastermind spends issues violating and twisting Jean's mind, stripping away her morality, conditioning her to enjoy cruelty and brutality.

Essentially, rewriting her entire personality into "evil" mode, while stripping away her self restraint. Then, of course, instead of Jean being allowed to heal, being allowed to recover from the way she was traumatized and violated, she get all the blame for what happened.

I'm just going to say it, loud and clear. Jean wasn't responsible for what happened to the D'Bari, or any of the other things Dark Phoenix did. If you want someone to blame, Look at Mastermind, Emma Frost, and the rest of the Hellfire Inner Circle.

The fact that Clairmont, Bryne and Shooter all put the blame squarely on Jean and the old "Power Corrupts" BS leaves me absolutely enraged, every time I read the story. I end up wanting to punch something.

And the Adaptations of the Dark Phoenix Saga in the live action movies are even worse. They both skip over what was done to Jean. They both put it on Prof. X, who, admittedly, is an absolute ass through all of Dark Phoenix.

But by removing what was done to Jean, they just turn the whole story into "woman can't handle power", which is it's own flavor of bullshit. And turning the D'Bari into the villains in X-Men: Dark Phoenix… WTF? Just WTF? God, the victim blaming…

[x-istential-crisis]

Simply let go girlie ty plz just let loose I can’t WAIT

Uncanny X-Men #130

Chris Claremont and John Byrne

[holy-shit-comics]

[bagofbonesmp3]

[thebestcomicbookpanels]

Original art for Special Strange #33 by Jean Frisano. This was the French reprint title for the Uncanny X-Men

[themarvelproject]

Cyclops and Jean Grey by Lukas Werneck (2024) in a fantastic homage to John Byrne's all-time classic cover for Uncanny X-Men #137 (1980)

[ffverr]

[xmencovered]

The Dark Phoenix Saga / Uncanny X-Men 129 - 137 / Published: October 1979 - June 1980 / Artist: John Byrne (#130 John Romita Jr.)

[vertigoartgore]

Jean Grey as the Phoenix by artist Mindy Lee.

[rei-ismyname]

Logan's psychosexual murder cycle

As I frequently mention, Logan has a habit of attempting and advocating for the murder of women and children. Most often women with red hair. I think the intensity of his insistence on putting himself in those situations as well as his unshakable belief that it's right is rooted in this moment. In his 'love' for Jean and his inability to kill her when she begged him to. She had to do it herself/The Phoenix did it.

I don't think much of his obsessive stalking, pining, and possessive paternalism masquerading as love - but I believe he feels what he thinks is love. As such, this moment had more significance for him than if it was just a friend. My interpretation is that he feels he let Jean down, both in failing to protect or kill her, and the trauma of her death was keenly felt.

Because love, sex, family, and violence are so closely linked for him (just wait until I get to his vicarious patricide obsession with Scott and Oedipal transference) plus his long history of black ops/government fuckery, Logan believes his value to a family unit is tied to his ability and willingness to kill. His relationship history has also convinced him that he is unsafe to be around - that he brings violence with him.

I don't believe Logan has the tools or the environment to reconcile these conflicting feelings, and his status as popular IP has Flanderised these aspects of him. Combined with his post-death deification of Jean, he finds himself seeking out opportunities to relive this event. To do it over and make right what once went wrong. Jean's personhood or status as a much more powerful being doesn't come into it - if anything he sees The Phoenix as something to kill, to protect others from (this discrepancy is part of the reason why he can never truly understand Jean.) It's completely illogical and never works out well, but trauma repeats especially when not dealt with.

Because of his position, he's very successful in finding those opportunities, retraumatising himself every time (and usually a bunch of other people too.) AvX might be the best example, but far from the only one - I guarantee that when he was trying to kill Hope all he could see was Jean's face. Obviously you can't kill someone and save them (well usually not), and loving and killing someone are near opposites, but Logan keeps repeating the cycle becoming more messed up and antisocial with every iteration.

That boy needs therapy.

[starspilli]

seen a lot of people talking about fanon stuff specifically irt dc recently and i have to say i think it really comes down to a lot of people just… not caring about comics as a medium. which sucks imo! comics are such a unique and special format for storytelling and i really just think a lot of these stories or characters don’t hit the same when you divorce them from that context. which is where i think a lot of the stuff i’ve seen people talk about comes from… like sure you can look at panels posted online or read through a character’s wikipedia article and know all of the technical canon about them but i think that by not reading the comics you’re robbing yourself of smth very special... i really love when you can tell people who talk about these things have a real love for & knowledge of the medium and its history

[x-istential-crisis]

Almost somehow didn’t post jeans planet decimation.

Uncanny X-Men #135

Chris Claremont and John Byrne

[flilisskywalker]

She is so silly. I love her.

[pageofqueens]