X-Men #137 (Sep 80): The Fate of the Phoenix!Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writter/co-plotter; John Byrne, co-plotter/penciler; Terry Autin, inker; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Jim Salicrup, editor; Louis Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief
Starting Line Up: Cyclops, Phoenix, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Storm, Colossus
Guest Stars: Angel, Beast, The Watcher
Synopsis: The X-Men and friend have been teleported a Shi'Ar battle cruiser. They are addressed by Lilandra, who declares Phoenix must be destroyed. Cyclops argues she was the one who saved the universe from Lilandra's brother. She then tell the X-Men of Phoenix killing 5 billion people. Cyclops again argues that the destruction was caused by Dark Phoenix and her power is under control. Lilandra rebuts that if control can be lost once, it can be lost again. Xavier steps in and uses his knowledge of the Shi'Ar to challenge his love for a duel of honor for Phoenix' life. She confers with the Kree and the Skrulls (other major alien races in the Marvel Universe, as see in Avengers and Fantastic Four respectively, they also hate each other) and then accepts. The X-Men are given a night to rest for battle. They each go off and contemplate the situation. Jean is scared, but does not agree that her death is the wrong punishment. The rest of the X-Men all think about the upcoming battle and how they will fight to the death for Jean. None believe the Shi'Ar have the right to condon her to death. But some have doubts about their chances and about themselves, especially Angel. Jean has a replica of her green Marvel Girl costume made to wear in battle, since she no longer has the limitless power of the Phoenix. Dawn arrives, and they go. They are teleported to the "Blue Area" of the moon; a giant crater where an Earth link atmosphere exists. The crater is filled with abandoned buildings of a long gone civilization. The Imperial Guard soon arrives, so the X-Men split into two groups for hit and run attacks to wear them down. Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Nightcrawler, and Angel go above ground, while Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, and Beast go below. They both find action. The below team doesn't do as well as their upper counterparts as Wolverine and Storm are soon seperated from the group. And then they are seperated as Wolverine falls into a crystal building. Storm is soon defeated. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler and Angel are seperated from their group when Angel is thrown down a pit and Nightcrawler goes aftr him. Wolverine wakes up inside the crystal building and finds it belongs to The Watcher. He's promptly ejected from the building. He's then defeated by a Kree and a Skrull representative (who then battle each other). Nightcrawler has lost Angel, and all alone he is defeated. Colossus and Beast have been doing well until this point, but eventually Beast is downed. Colossus goes toe to toe with Gladiator, the praetor of the Imperial Guard. Their fist fight levels a building on top of them. Gladiator walks away from it. Colossus does not. The slaughter is causing Xavier much pain to witness and Lilandra feels terrible that her duty is causing it. The lovers are the last two standing X-Men. Cyclops and Marvel Girl, Scott Summers and Jean Grey. They say what they feel might be their goodbyes then go out fighting. Cyclops is downed by a blast. This has the same effect as in the Hellfire Club. She loses it, and the power of the Phoenix unleashes itself again. No matter what, the power will never be contained. Xavier mentally commands his X-Me to awake... and attack Phoenix. Colossus strikes her with a powerful blow, but he could not bring himself to hit her full force. It's enough to snap her back to her senses. She realises that as long as she lives, the uncontrolable power of the Phoenix will be a part of her. She knows, for the good of the universe, she must die. She runs away into one of the abandoned buildings. Cyclops follows her, but she stops him. She explains she will always be hounded by the darkness of Phoenix and she doesn't have the strength to keep it in check for the rest of her life. She doesn't want anyone else to die because of her. She activates one of the guns in the building telekinetically and fires. She's vaporized before her lover. Phoenix is dead.
Yeah, but is it good? I stated the last issue would have been more than a satisfactory conclusion to the story. It would have been, but this is far grander, far intenser, far more epic. There's a balance here between action and drama. Yes, the X-Men lose the fight, but it's a battle they could never win. They were outmatched from the start. But they fight anyway, against all odds, and give everything they to save one of their own, one of their family, someone they love. Before the battle, we get about a page per character, alone with their thoughts, contemplating the situation. It really drives home the importance of their fight. The fact that Xavier makes the challenge against his love, Lilandra, also adds that Jean's life is more important to him than what Lilandra may think. The issue has contains a prologue and epilogue with The Watcher, a Fantastic Four character who always watches, but never interferes, in the course of human events. This lends credibilty to the grand scale of the stort. In the end, when Jean realises she will never be able to control her power, she goes out the noblest of ways. Despite the pleas from her lover, she takes her own life. So many characters get wasted deaths to sell an issue (and are promptly brought back for the same reason), but this death was tragic, powerful, and meaningful. This is why I praise Chris Claremont. This is why I love comics.
My one complaint about this issue is that it doesn't feature Iceman. Claremont found a way to write in two of the missing original X-Men, so why not the third? He means just as much to Jean as Beast does. That's my only complaint. This is comic writting at its finest.
Significata: Phoenix dies. New members of the Imperial Guard are introduced for anyone keeping track of them (I'm not). Double sized issue. Sold for 75 cents. Ranked #3 in the 100 Greates Marvel Comics of all time.
