Cassandra Nova Xavier is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics , most commonly in association with the X-Men . Created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely , the character first appeared in New X-Men #114 (July 2001). She is a mummudrai , a parasitic life form born bodiless on the astral plane.
118-471: Cassandra is the twin sister of X-Men founder, the telepath Professor X (Charles Xavier). While in the womb together, Charles recognized her evil presence and killed her, resulting in her stillbirth. The mummudrai that became Cassandra became telepathically entangled with Xavier, granting Cassandra some psionic powers herself, including the ability to exit the womb and create a body, with which she sought revenge on Xavier. As Xavier's ideological dark shadow who
236-575: A billion years ago the alien Demon Lords of Stasis cast a spell on their planet to stop evolution. However, five powerful beings led by a female with pyrokinetic powers wage a rebellion against the Lords of Stasis. The rebellion drew the Phoenix to the planet. Although the Demon Lords fight to prevent it, the Phoenix communes with the female and with the loyalty of her disciples that helps her to control
354-482: A bio-phasing ability. She was able to block the considerable telepathic abilities of Charles, create psionic armor, disintegrate the complete tissue of Wolverine 's arm, and make her body completely intangible to an extent that even allowed her to withstand a direct blast from Cyclops . Cassandra has all the powers of the "average" mummudrai as well, which are astral manipulation, mental possession and genetic alternation. Her telepathic capabilities are so advanced that she
472-781: A complicated sequence of events, trapped Cassandra in the humanized body of Psylocke's Revenant counterpart, and then sacrificed her in a ritual that reversed the Great Corruption before it fully dropped the Veil to the Underworld. During Secret Wars , the Westchester domain of Battleworld contained a version of Cassandra who ran the Clear Mountain Institute, the purpose of which was to condition formerly evil mutants into docile, non-violent people. When
590-735: A confrontation between the Avengers and the X-Men on how to deal with its arrival. The Avengers anticipate the destruction that the Phoenix could bring while Cyclops hopes to use the Phoenix Force to restart the mutant population. As the Phoenix Force nears Earth, the Avengers fight the X-Men on the Blue Area of the Moon with Hope caught in the middle, while Iron Man and Giant-Man prepare
708-626: A destructive rampage through the Empire and destroys many planets in the process. He is killed by the Imperial Guard , which later becomes the first line of defense of the Shi'ar Empire. The Phoenix flees, leaving a small remnant of itself in the blade, which can only be lifted by Rook'shir's descendants. Fearing the power of the Phoenix, the Shi'ar demonizes the entity and orders the deaths or sterilizations of Rook'shir's descendants. As time passes,
826-415: A disruptor weapon to kill the Phoenix Force. Iron Man pilots the weapon against the Phoenix Force, but when he uses it to blast the Phoenix Force, the entity is forcefully altered and divided into five fragments that bond with Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, Colossus and Magik . They defeat the Avengers and head back to Earth with Hope. It is theorized that Scarlet Witch 's spell of " No more mutants " angered
944-464: A duplicate body of Jean, believed itself to be Jean and acted in her place while the real version lay in a healing cocoon at the bottom of Jamaica Bay , where the Avengers and Fantastic Four discover her. It allowed Jean to be revived as a member of X-Factor . The extent to which the duplicate and Jean are separate entities depends on who is writing the characters at the time: some instances portray them as inherently separate, while others demonstrate
1062-529: A litter of "young mummudrai gestating in the minds of the X-Men." According to Carey, the storyline "...would have been fun to do, but Joss Whedon got to Cassandra before I did." Cassandra Nova was able to build her own body from scratch and mimic human traits as best she can. She is able to access the full spectrum of latent mutant functions in Charles Xavier 's genome, granting herself vast psionic powers. These powers include telepathy, telekinesis, and
1180-487: A merged consciousness. Another known possessor of the Phoenix Force is Rachel Summers , Scott Summers and Jean Grey's daughter from the Days of Future Past alternate future. The Phoenix Force bonds with Rachel, making her the next avatar of the Phoenix Force. Rachel is one of the longest reigning avatars of the Phoenix, and while she eventually adopts the uniform, she never becomes Dark Phoenix. Rachel has been referred by
1298-495: A microscopic Sentinel tech which she then used to control governments by implanting it in the brains of several humans. These infected humans became mutant-hating machines with no self control and were ready to take down any mutant who so much as looked at them. And while the Red team of X-Men, still oblivious about the threat of Nova, were able to find a way to turn off this Sentinel tech, the thought of finding every single infected person
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#17327803895161416-459: A miscarriage, resulting in her physical body being stillborn . Despite this, the creature survived as chaotic cellular matter that clung to a sewer wall for decades, rebuilding its physical form and perfecting its effort to mimic human traits. During this time, she grew convinced that the womb in which she had fought Charles and the universe she now inhabited were one and the same, a universe in which only she and Charles were real, and that her purpose
1534-532: A parasitic species born bodiless on the astral plane, and it was only through becoming entangled with her brother's developing telepathic mind that Cassandra created a body for herself. After she was able to rebuild herself, Cassandra wanted to have her vengeance. She manipulated Donald Trask (a relative of Bolivar Trask ) to utilize the enormous Wild Sentinels in order to destroy the mutant homeland Genosha , killing 16 million mutants. Cassandra then duplicated Trask's DNA so she could also issue her own orders to
1652-473: A result of the Psi-War. To help Psylocke after the Psi-War, Jean switches powers with her. Jean loses her telekinesis but her telepathy increases greatly. Jean begins to manifest "Phoenix raptors" that represent her telepathic powers "honed to their sharpest edge". As a result of the power switch, Jean temporarily displays a shadow astral form with a Phoenix symbol over her right eye. Jean begins manifesting
1770-572: A seed of her consciousness into Emma's brain. She then preyed upon Emma's survivor guilt over not perishing during Genosha's massacre as well as general guilt as the villainous White Queen in the Hellfire Club. Nova implanted suggestions that exploited Frost's guilt at surviving the destruction of Genosha in New X-Men #115, and Emma convinced herself that her survival was due to Nova catalyzing Frost's secondary mutation . In exchange, Emma
1888-489: A shared consciousness. After committing suicide, the Phoenix Force reaches the Hot White Room where it encounters a manifestation of Death and returns itself to Jean in the cocoon. Horrified by what it has done, Jean rejects it and it fuses with Madelyne Pryor (Jean's clone). This portion of the Phoenix remains with Madelyne until the latter committed suicide while fighting her genetic template before joining into
2006-507: A side effect of when Emma invaded Juggernaut's mind and began feeding into Emma's fears. As the Phoenix convinces Emma that Hope is Jean reincarnated, it tells Emma that she knows what to do. Emma, in a trance-like state, takes her pillow and is about to smother her to death, but Namor intervenes. During the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline, the event has the Phoenix Force returning to Earth, presumably to reclaim Hope Summers, which leads to
2124-489: A slow painful death, Wolverine tries to kill Jean, but he awakens the Phoenix Force within her. Using her incredible powers, Phoenix/Jean returns with Logan to New York City to face "Magneto". Xorn's last act is to kill Jean with an electromagnetic pulse. The Phoenix Force returns to Earth during the mini-series X-Men: Phoenix – Endsong , where it resurrects Jean Grey from her grave. It is not long before she remembers what she has come for—Scott Summers. She needs to feed from
2242-620: A small spark of the Phoenix's cosmic fire and transported to the Savage Land for their match. Realizing that the Phoenix refuses to let Rogers die for unknown reasons, Doom forfeits, refusing to play into the cosmic entity's game. As Doom is returned, Captain America is transported to the White Hot Room where he encounters other competitors chosen by the Phoenix being held in wait for the next match. The Phoenix grants each competitor
2360-626: A tremendous amount of destruction and death in Albany. Although she was presumed deceased when the Air Force bombs the area, a new phoenix shape emerges from the rubble. Under the name of Revenant, it is not known whether she is Jean Grey (presumably dead after the Albany incident ) or a new incarnation. She joins Magneto and becomes part of the Force Warriors. When the truth about the Age of X
2478-453: A tremendous amount of power that is problematic considering Moon Knight's mental instability. As the Fist of the Phoenix, Moon Knight rejects Khonshu as his master, uppercutting Khonshu with the full might of the Phoenix Force, sending him crashing back down to Earth and losing his hold over Thor's hammer Mjolnir as well. Moon Knight declares that the new age will now belong to him instead. Once on
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#17327803895162596-403: A vestige of its power and sends them to different parts of the world to fight each other. During the tournament, the essence of Lady Phoenix attempts to goad Black Panther into becoming the entity's next host, but is rebuked by him. As the tournament continues, the remaining Avengers and their allies attempt to keep the Phoenix at bay. During a confrontation with Thor, the Phoenix reveals that she
2714-448: Is Jean herself, having attained her ultimate potential as a psi, becoming a being of pure energy and reforming herself as Phoenix, only to become slowly corrupted by the manipulation of such foes as Mastermind and Emma; Jean is driven mad as she is unable to adapt to her enormous power. To return Jean to the fold several years later, this storyline was retconned to reveal the existence of the cosmic Phoenix Force entity, which had created
2832-502: Is able to remove Shadow King from Cassandra and destroy him, with Cassandra making her escape, and later encountering Joseph . It was hinted in Morrison's run that Cassandra Nova took on the form of Ernst once she was placed inside the body of Stuff as part of her reprogramming. In the final part of Planet X , Xorn -as- Magneto threatens a defiant Ernst and tells her he suspected there was more to her than it appeared. The final hint
2950-651: Is also being sought by the Chitauri . To Kitty's surprise, the bomb is actually an artifact that contained a fragment of the Phoenix Force. To escape from the Chitauri alive, Kitty accidentally activates the bomb, which kills the Chitauri and apparently releases the fragment of the Phoenix Force into the Universe again. The deities of the Shi'ar, Sharra and K'ythri , can summon the entity at will and consider itself as their sister. Under unknown circumstances, Terrax
3068-571: Is bent on destruction and genocide , Nova is most infamous for being responsible for the massacre of 16 million mutants within the mutant homeland Genosha . In 2009, Cassandra Nova was ranked as IGN 's 50th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time, the only villain from the 21st century to make the list. The character made her live-action debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), portrayed by Emma Corrin . Cassandra Nova began life at
3186-554: Is calling back the missing pieces of the Phoenix Force, and perhaps planning another resurrection. Rachel later says that it was almost like the Phoenix was never with her for she "[c]an't feel it... I can't hear it...It's like it was never there." Around the same time in San Francisco , the Red Queen and her Sisterhood attack the X-Men; first trapping Emma in a psychic barricade by Lady Mastermind . Inside what appears to be
3304-456: Is drawn to Earth when Firehair, a young primitive female red-haired mutant overwhelmed with despair by her friends' deaths, contemplates turning her psychic abilities on herself to commit suicide at the "Burnt Place". Attracted to Firehair's untapped raw psychic power, the Phoenix prevents the suicide, bonds with her, and seeks to use her to fulfill its intended purpose of razing planets to ashes. Consumed by vengeful rage, Firehair nearly gives in to
3422-478: Is his biological mother, which confuses and enrages him. At the tournament's conclusion, Echo is chosen as the Phoenix's new host. As Jean Grey telepathically consoles and congratulates Echo, three Phoenix chicks are seen next to the infant Starbrand 's crib at Avengers Mountain While Maya fully accepts being the Phoenix Force's host, her first outing as the Phoenix does not go according to plan. While stopping
3540-515: Is later confronted by robotic police officers looking to arrest him for deicide . Before he is able to escape the planet, Iron Man realizes that the planet's people, known as the Voldi, worship the Phoenix Force and his hand in its disappearance has angered them. At some point during the Time Runs Out storyline, Cyclops acquires a Phoenix Egg that he holds in reserve, hoping to use it to end
3658-576: Is left powerless after being shortly bonded to the Phoenix Force. As an interdimensional portal transports four villains from the 616 Marvel Universe into the Ultraverse dimension, the Phoenix Force is also pulled into the Ultraverse and critically damaged. Requiring a human host to recover, the Phoenix Force bonds with Prime then with Amber Hunt . Amber, unable to control the Phoenix Force's power, attacks her friends and would have destroyed
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3776-456: Is left stranded 2 billion years in the past, with a mass extinction event on the horizon. When an incarnation of Brotherhood of Mutants , led by the ex- Acolyte Exodus , attempted to attack the institute, nurse Annie Ghazikhanian decided to leave the Mansion, along with her son Carter , as she felt the place was no longer safe. As they leave, the astral projection of an undetermined person
3894-529: Is part of being human. Then, she and the resurrected X-Men form a giant Phoenix and become part of the universe itself. On Earth-TRN342, Cassandra Nova has somehow survived for four thousand years and nearly conquered the world as the "Great White Owl" after she unleashed the Great Corruption and dropped entirely the Veil that separated the Main Reality with the reality of the Revenants, better known as
4012-546: Is revealed, Legion apologizes to everyone before rewriting the universe and putting everything back the way it was. However, Revenant is also brought back to Utopia. Later, as all mutants begin to regain their true memories, Revenant is revealed to be the mind of Rachel Summers given human form. During the Fear Itself storyline, the Phoenix Force appears to Emma Frost. The Phoenix mocks her, saying that Scott Summers would never love her as he loved Jean Grey. It seems to be
4130-563: Is shown next to Carter's face. Annie seems unaware of this projection. Carter's dialogue and expression at this time hint that he is under the control of this individual. The projection was later revealed by Chuck Austen as the intended return of Cassandra Nova, but on his departure from the books, the storyline was dropped. In an interview, Marvel writer Mike Carey stated that one of the more outlandish storylines he had considered involved Cassandra Nova and another mummudrai. A second mummudrai would arrive from space and impregnate Nova, creating
4248-575: The Marauders , as Cassandra has some crucial information that and the Marauders will need to act on. Indeed, when Pryde, Bishop, Psylocke, Aurora, Tempo, Daken, Somnus and Nova travel 2 billion years into the past in an attempt to save the ancient mutant civilization of Threshold from destruction, the Marauders plan to save the past immediately went awry when they came up against the twin villains Sublime and Arkea and their army of "Unbreathing". The team
4366-643: The Dark Phoenix is defeated in psionic combat by Professor X , and Jean Grey regains control. The X-Men, along with Phoenix, are teleported to space by the Shi'ar and given a trial by combat. Just as victory seemed certain for the Imperial Guard, Jean becomes Dark Phoenix again. She apparently commits suicide on Earth's moon before Cyclops . As originally written, the Jean Grey incarnation of Phoenix
4484-609: The Dark Phoenix, while Jean Grey appears within Cyclops' mind and convinces him to let go of the Phoenix Force. The Phoenix escapes Cyclops' body and enters Hope Summers'. Together, Hope and the Scarlet Witch wish away the Phoenix Force and the damage it caused, in the process activating the X-gene that allows the creation of new mutants around the world. Even with the Phoenix gone, its effects remain in various ways, with four of
4602-568: The Grey family, except Rachel, who was marked, and Cable, who was not present. Afterward, at the graves of the Grey family, Rachel vows revenge on the Shi'ar and says: "I'm not my mom. I'm not the Phoenix. I'm my own woman. And by the time I'm done... they'll wish I WERE the Phoenix." In the last issue of Kingbreaker , the Phoenix abandons Rachel and Korvus during battle with Vulcan 's new guard, leaving them both without its power. As it leaves Rachel mutters "Please, not now... Mom." implying that Jean
4720-510: The Imperial Guard fought Cassandra who defeated them and headed into the X-Mansion. She had planned on using Cerebra to eliminate all mutants, but Jean Grey (who was getting increasingly powerful due to a manifestation of the Phoenix entity) was able to split Xavier's consciousness into pieces and store a little part in every single living mutant mind. Cassandra used Cerebra and focused on all
4838-818: The Incursions. During the Secret Wars storyline, Cyclops stands on top of the Phoenix Egg during the incursion between Earth-616 and Earth-1610. Cyclops uses it to become one with the Phoenix Force again, and uses his powers to decimate the Children of Tomorrow. After the realities collapse together, the Phoenix-Cyclops was one of the few survivors to come through the Incursion with a full memory of what had come before, proclaiming that resurrection
Cassandra Nova - Misplaced Pages Continue
4956-570: The Mummundrai. As the Revenants were unleashed on Earth, Cassandra becomes their Queen and soon enough Bishop's presence in this reality came to Cassandra's attention. Bishop had been flung into this future Earth after failing in his attempt to kill Hope Summers and soon became a Revenant Hunter, even adopting a little girl named Amber. While on a mission to track a Bull Revenant called the Demon Bear for two months, Bishop and Amber found it in
5074-581: The Phoenix Force are truly one entity, have transcended into the White Phoenix of the Crown , signified by a new white and gold costume. As a result of a Shi'ar attack on the Phoenix Force, the entity is in an incomplete state and Jean must search out the remaining parts of the Phoenix Force. The consequences of this were partially addressed in X-Men: Phoenix – Warsong in which a small part of
5192-406: The Phoenix Force becomes divided between the other four members of the " Phoenix Five ", making it harder to defeat them. Spider-Man then baits Colossus and Magik into taking each other out by playing off of their fears when fighting them in a volcano, forcing their portions of the Phoenix to be divided between Emma and Cyclops. When Cyclops invades the mystical city of K'un Lun, Lei Kung defends
5310-495: The Phoenix Force before it can find a suitable host. With the time-displaced teen Jean Grey out of the Phoenix Force's way, the cosmic entity had resurrected the present adult Jean Grey. However, she does not recall her life as a mutant and an X-Man, and terrible visions from her previous life leave Jean unsure of the differences between reality and fiction. The X-Men theorize that the strange psychic occurrences are subconscious cries for help made by Jean Grey, and they must try to stop
5428-433: The Phoenix Force from merging with her. Old Man Logan is able to make Jean Grey remember her true life and as she learns about the fate of her family and several friends. Jean faces the Phoenix Force and is finally able to convince the cosmic entity to stop bringing her back as its avatar and to let her go. Alive once again, Jean is reunited with her friends as the Phoenix Force journeys back into space. Namor, embittered by
5546-534: The Phoenix Force is famous for its central role in The Dark Phoenix Saga storyline, and is intrinsically linked to Jean Grey . The Phoenix first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #101 (October 1976), and was created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum . The Phoenix Force is an immortal and immutable manifestation of the universal force of life and passion. The Phoenix Force is a creation of
5664-548: The Phoenix Force joins with the Stepford Cuckoos . After nearly losing control to the Phoenix power, the Stepford Cuckoos develop a secondary mutation, where their hearts turned to diamond and they are able to imprison the piece of the Phoenix Force. With the failed attack on the Phoenix Force that ended with Jean Grey escaping their suicide bomb attack and returned to the White Hot Room to restore herself,
5782-470: The Phoenix and blasts Bastion who manages to grasp Hope's neck. Hope touches the ground, goes full Phoenix Force, and blasts Bastion and the dome. Later at a celebratory bonfire, Emma notices the flames around Hope take the shape of the Phoenix and Emma recalls the Sisterhood attack where the woman resembling Jean freed her from Lady Mastermind's illusion. While fighting the fifth so-called "Light", who
5900-424: The Phoenix into their Black Queen . She breaks free of Mastermind's control, but transforms into the Dark Phoenix. She battles the X-Men, flees to the stars, devours the energies of the D'Bari star system to satisfy her "hunger" as the Dark Phoenix, annihilates the five billion inhabitants of its fourth planet, and destroys a nearby Shi'ar observatory vessel that opens fire on her before she returns to Earth. There,
6018-565: The Phoenix raptor, creating a rift between her own and Scott's relationship, and the entity starts to appear as another personality within Jean, having a conversation with Professor Xavier on its role in events to come. When the X-Man Xorn reveals himself to be a traitor who claimed to be Magneto, he traps Jean and Wolverine on Asteroid M, which is drifting closer to the Sun. Rather than watch Jean die
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#17327803895166136-652: The Phoenix remains on Earth with Jean Grey deducing it is searching for a new avatar. Having made a nest near Avengers Mountain at the North Pole , Namor and the Defenders of the Deep attempt to take the entity by force, leading to a battle with the Avengers and Agents of Wakanda. However, the Phoenix decides to hold a contest to judge who would be worthy to become its next host. The entity selects Captain America and Doctor Doom as its first combatants, who are empowered by
6254-479: The Phoenix vows to return to its prior existence of "touching all that is" while allowing an echo of its power to remain with Rachel's now-dominant consciousness. Returning to Earth with all her memories, Rachel manages to return to the future she had come from. While she could not change her past, she and her teammates are able to change the directives of all the Sentinels of the era to preserve all life, ending
6372-405: The Phoenix, and to calm the entity, a new host was needed along, with five acolytes, to succeed at bringing about evolution (the acolytes were actually revealed to be the first five new mutants that have appeared around the globe since the decimation of the mutant population), and that was the reason the Phoenix came to Earth. When the Avengers defeat Namor in an attack on Wakanda , his portion of
6490-417: The Shi'ar Imperium, driving Lilandra insane and using the latter to make the Shi'ar Imperial fleet destroy the empire. Cassandra also made Lilandra send the Shi'ar Imperial Guard to wipe out the mutant population of Earth, starting with the X-Men. The Imperial Guard fought the X-Men until they were able to show the truth to the Imperial Guard. Angered at Cassandra's treachery and realizing the danger she posed,
6608-520: The Shi'ar still want to permanently prevent the ascension of the Phoenix Force. In hopes of eliminating the possibility of a new Omega-level psionic mutant becoming a host for the Phoenix Force, the Shi'ar sent a commando unit—the Death Commandos—with the purpose of wiping out the Grey genome and killing Quentin Quire to Earth. They arrived at Rachel's family reunion site and kill all the members of
6726-611: The Tamer acquires a Phoenix Egg and stores it on his warship. Thane deceives his allies (the Champion , Starfox and Nebula ) into helping him invade Terrax's warship to steal the egg. After being shot and killed by Nebula, Thane opens the egg and become the new host of the Phoenix. Using his new powers, Thane defeats his own father and conquers the Black Quadrant. Thane finds Thanos and fights him, causing them both to fall into
6844-473: The Three-in-One), Beak's grandson Tito Jr , E.V.A. , and No-Girl ( Martha Johansson ), Cassandra became one of the X-Men, fighting against Sublime and its armies of Crawlers , led by Apollyon. Cassandra was destroyed by Sublime after it unleashed Phoenix on the X-Men. However, this timeline diverged from Earth-616 when Jean Grey reached back and psychically forced Cyclops to accept Emma's offer to run
6962-451: The White Hot Room, a woman resembling Jean Grey appears to Emma and helps her break free of Regan's influence with what appears to be a miniature version of the Phoenix energy raptor to let her help Logan, who has been robbed of a lock of Jean's hair that was in his possession. Madelyne uses the hair sample to locate Jean's gravesite, and then attempts to repeat a resurrection ritual with her corpse, but Cyclops had ordered Domino to substitute
7080-572: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.237 via cp1104 cp1104, Varnish XID 200129182 Upstream caches: cp1104 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:53:09 GMT Phoenix Force (comics) The Phoenix Force is a fictional entity appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . Created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum ,
7198-669: The Wild Sentinels before killing her pawn. Cassandra infected her own body with millions of Nano-Sentinels just as she was captured by Cyclops and Wolverine . Cassandra was taken to the X-Mansion , where she broke free and defeated most of the X-Men easily. Cassandra then put herself into Xavier's machine Cerebra (an enhanced version of Cerebro ) and switched minds with her brother before Emma Frost snapped her neck (as vengeance for her own students massacred in Genosha). Xavier
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#17327803895167316-487: The X-Men came to investigate, Cassandra's forces captured them, and she exposed them to the same treatment, seeking to transform them into "pure" and perfect role models for the children of Westchester. It was eventually revealed that this version of Cassandra is actually a female clone of Charles Xavier, created by Apocalypse , and then possessed by the Shadow King . Charles, working together with Psylocke and Cable ,
7434-406: The X-Men for only a short time. She prevents the complete destruction of the universe by repairing the damaged energy matrix at the core of the M'Kraan Crystal. During a skirmish with Magneto , Phoenix and Beast are separated from the other X-Men, each group believing the other to have perished. In Greece, Phoenix meets a man named Nikos, later revealed to be Mastermind , a mutant that can alter
7552-624: The X-Men's clutches by using her psychic powers to hop from host to host, and she took possession of the Ambassador from the United Kingdom in the United Nations at some point. She secretly observed Jean returning to life and set about establishing an official mutant 'nation'. Jean confronted the United Nations, unbeknownst disrupting Cassandra's finely-laid plans, and now Cassandra vows to tear down Jean's efforts. She also created
7670-538: The X-Men; Beast was reduced to a feral animal, Wolverine regressed to James Howlett as a timid child, Kitty Pryde lost control of her own phasing abilities, and Cyclops's powers disabled and rendered catatonic. Meanwhile, Emma/Cassandra utilized a cruel dystopic vision where Kitty gets tricked into using phasing powers to open the containment chamber where Cassandra, trapped in Stuff's form, had been imprisoned. Cassandra's plans were foiled by Cyclops, and other students at
7788-411: The Xavier Institute (including Blindfold and Hisako Ichiki ). Cyclops revealed that while "Cassandra" had influenced Emma to recruit Kitty to free her from the container, Emma had subconsciously recruited Kitty to the team to kill her in the hopes that this would thwart Cassandra's plans. Cassandra then attempted to have Emma transfer her mind into Hisako. Cassandra was attempting to manipulate Emma on
7906-425: The Xavier Institute together. In the 616 timeline, Cassandra remembered her original identity. Cassandra Nova factors prominently in the future depicted in X-Men: The End storyline as this version of the Phoenix . In this timeline she remains a villain, primarily responsible for the Shi'ar attacks on the X-Men, which she had manipulated in the hopes of gaining control of Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force. Her hope
8024-415: The afterlife. In doing so, Jean's mind is dragged along to the "other side" with Annie. The Phoenix lends its energy to break the connection, and keeps a close watch on her because it felt a kinship with the young mutant . Years later, when Jean is dying on a space shuttle, her mind calls out for help and the Phoenix Force answers and saves her, transforming Jean into the Phoenix . The Phoenix remains with
8142-414: The astral plane, but Scott Summers was talking to Emma in the physical world, trying to convince Emma to return Cassandra's mind to Stuff. Emma's only response was to say "Go to hell", though it's unclear whether she was talking to Scott or Cassandra. It was never revealed if Cassandra's possession of Hisako was successful or if Emma returned Cassandra's mind to its prison. Cassandra had in fact escaped from
8260-446: The being's control. Determining that she needed to leave Earth to prevent the possibility of losing control, Fongji ventures off into space, never to be seen again. Centuries later, the Phoenix Force returns to Earth without a host when it feels the mind of a human transcend the physical realm and resonate with its energy. Jean Grey telepathically linked her mind to her dying friend Annie Richardson to keep Annie's soul from moving to
8378-519: The body and was locked into a self-repeating program in the synthetic brain. Nova seemed to have returned in her original form in the "Danger" story arc of Astonishing X-Men , alongside Sebastian Shaw of the Hellfire Club . However, it is revealed that she is merely an illusion created by Emma who is acting out post-hypnotic suggestions implanted during Nova's previous appearance. This infiltration occurred when Emma tricked Nova into entering what appeared to be her original body: Nova managed to plant
8496-447: The body for someone else's and it causes Madelyne to either discorporate or become absorbed into the fake. During a conflict with several Predators X (genetically engineered mutant hunters), the Stepford Cuckoos are overwhelmed and knocked unconscious as the fragment of the Phoenix they captured forcefully escape from the girls' diamond hearts. During the final confrontation with Bastion , Hope Summers turns into what appears to be
8614-545: The child. She left behind a very rattled and confused Bishop and Demon Bear, who were knocked cold by Puck. Eventually Cassandra took possession over the body of Ginny and killed another new mutant psychic to begin the Great Corruption. As the Revenants began to be unleashed by the hundreds throughout Los Angeles, Bishop and his allies attacked the Owl Queen at her base at the Griffith Observatory and, through
8732-463: The city on the back of the immortal dragon Shou-Lao the Undying, and reveals it had defeated the Phoenix in a past incarnation. While Cyclops defeats the dragon, Hope is able to absorb its power and defeat Cyclops who then goes to seek the other remaining portion of the Phoenix Force possessed by Emma Frost. Emma had been using the Phoenix Force to control all of Utopia, read the thoughts of everyone on
8850-408: The cosmic force far away from her friends and allies, where a final battle can take place. It is revealed the Phoenix wants the adult Jean, but to do that it needs the younger Jean out of the way. The force floods her body with flaming psychic energy, incinerating her from the inside out, leaving only a skeleton. Strange psychic occurrences around the world, which include a large bird flaring out from
8968-490: The energy from his optic blasts, and, confused by her own emotions, thinks she is in love with Scott. She realizes Scott is in love with Emma Frost, former White Queen of the Hellfire Club and headmistress of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning . Through a number of incidents, Jean manages to assert herself and gain control of the Phoenix Force with emotional support from the X-Men. Jean then declares that she and
9086-545: The entity as "The One True Phoenix". During an encounter with Galactus , Rachel Summers—completely overtaken by the Phoenix Force—battles Galactus to save a planet he was preparing to devour. The Phoenix Force disrupts Galactus' feeding process and easily defeats him. Galactus accuses the Phoenix Force of hypocrisy and reveals to it that its existence in a corporeal state is sustained by robbing energy used to birth future generations. Realizing this to be true,
9204-465: The entity ends up in Shi'ar space, where it bonds with a citizen of the Empire named Rook'shir , who controls the power of the Phoenix Force in conjunction with his blade. He is ultimately overwhelmed by the Phoenix's power and becomes the first known host to succumb to the Phoenix Force's destructive impulses, going insane from the power it embodied and becoming the Dark Phoenix . Rook'shir goes on
9322-478: The entity is contacted by a mage named Feron . Feron worships the legendary Phoenix , so his daydream-like visions prompts the Phoenix to adopt the fiery bird's form. He asks the Phoenix to help him by lending its energy to project a lighthouse-like stone pillar across the multiverse . The pillar later becomes the lighthouse base for the British superhero team Excalibur . Afterwards, Necrom attacks Feron to steal
9440-581: The entrance to the God Quarry. Inside, the Coven senses the Phoenix Force inside of Thane and separates it from him so that Thane can fight his father as the man he truly is. The Phoenix Force flies off and presumably leaves the God Quarry. While on a solo mission against the Wrecking Crew , teenaged Jean receives a vision that the Phoenix Force is coming back to Earth. Determined to not succumb to
9558-411: The fate that befell her adult counterpart, Jean tries to fight the future and forge her own destiny. When the Phoenix arrives, Jean, backed by a host of former Phoenix Force wielders, tries to defy destiny and stop the Phoenix before it can take her over. While she is able to wound the Phoenix with the aid of Cable's Psi-mitar, the Phoenix seems just too strong for anyone to overcome. Jean eventually pushes
9676-457: The firebird's bloodlust to become a Dark Phoenix, but is pacified by her wolf guardian and decides to use her powers to protect those weaker than herself. Using the alias Lady Phoenix, she joins that time period's incarnation of the Avengers. Her only known fight is with an out-of-control Celestial called the Fallen. During this time she and Odin share a romantic relationship that Odin considers
9794-563: The forests outside a human settlement. Little did they realize that the Demon Bear was part of a trap set by the Great White Owl herself. Bear and Owl attacked, and Bishop held them off long enough for Amber to flee to safety, but ended up being possessed by both Revenants for his heroism. The Revenant Queen intended to use Bishop as a vessel, for she wanted to travel back in time to set off the Great Corruption several thousand years earlier than it originally happened. Re-materializing in
9912-514: The former Phoenix Five—Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus and Magik—suffering from various problems with their powers as well as Magneto, due to his prolonged time on Utopia. Cyclops and Magneto's control over their abilities regress back to the level of control that they had possessed in their first appearances, Emma Frost retains her diamond form but only has erratic control over her telepathy, and Colossus' body fluctuates between his organic and his metal parts rather than completely transforming into one or
10030-634: The genocidal attack on Genosha. In the Here Comes Tomorrow future timeline, Cassandra's reeducation was a complete success; she had embraced Xavier's dream and went on to become Headmistress of the Xavier Institute. Instead of simply going by the name of Cassandra Nova, she added the Xavier surname to her own, now calling herself Cassandra Nova Xavier. Alongside Wolverine, the three remaining Stepford Cuckoos (now calling themselves
10148-629: The genocide that had prevailed for years. On the way back to her time, Captain Britain is lost in the timestream and Rachel is forced to switch places with him, as she does not belong in the timeline she had existed in. She emerges from the timestream about 1,900 years in the future and forms the Clan Askani, which is responsible for bringing her brother Nathan to their time to fight Apocalypse . She later encounters Diamanda Nero, Apocalypse's High Councilor and viceroy. She tries overpowering him, but
10266-512: The ground, Black Panther and Ghost Rider get to work, calling back the Spirit of Vengeance, Iron Fist and Eye of Agamotto out of Khonshu's grasp. With that, the Avengers assemble and Khonshu's forces weaken. However, Moon Knight is still floating up in the atmosphere, reacting and dwelling on the new power that now lies within him. The voices in Moon Knight's head suggest that if he were to burn
10384-546: The infinite power of the Phoenix, she breaks the spell and the Demons are swept away. The Phoenix later warred with the ancient energy creature known as le Bete Noir, and eventually trapped its enemy within Earth's still cooling molten core, creating in the process the "Burnt Place", a permanently razed clearing, where eventually the xenophobic surrounding tribes sacrificed anyone who deviated in any way from their norms. The Phoenix
10502-575: The latter was using Searebro (the undersea Cerebro unit) to watch as the waves of anti-mutant hatred wash over the world and simultaneously sends also the unwilling Jamie Carlson aka Teen Abomination to smash Atlantis. With the help from Avengers and the rest of Atlanteans, Jean's X-Men and their allies use mass-produced Magneto 's helmets to save Cassandra's brainwashed victims. During the confrontation with Nova, Nightcrawler teleports Gabby behind Cassandra's head to de-power her, allowing Jean to succeed in cracking open Nova's psyche so she could feel all of
10620-483: The mutants most impacted by Nova's horrific assault on Genosha, with all of Frost's young students dying in her arms and Pryde's human father being killed as well. And since Pryde knew that they would almost certainly not succeed in the past without the help of Cassandra, she devised a plan to use her while she was needed and then take her down. Kept alive but immobile and imprisoned in Threshold's "zero cells", Cassandra
10738-406: The mutants to which the pieces of Xavier's mind were brought back together; Jean telepathically attacked, successfully defeating Cassandra and forcing her out of Xavier's body. Without a body, Cassandra was a pure psychic energy, bodiless and blind. Frost tricked Cassandra into returning to what appeared to be her old body, which was in reality the alien polymorph "Stuff". Cassandra's essence entered
10856-428: The one time in his life when he truly felt alive. It was later claimed that from their love, Thor was born, but in truth, Phoenix left Odin due to his callousness, until millennia later, she arranged for Odin and Gaea to conceived a child. When Thor was born, his birth was felt by King Laufey who immediately killed him. The Phoenix resurrected him, leaving him permanently imbued with some of her power. At some point,
10974-548: The other. While Magik's powers initially appeared to have been increased to the point where she can channel the power of Limbo on her own, a confrontation with Dormammu reveals that her new power is destroying Limbo each time she used it. It is later revealed that the power disruptions experienced by Cyclops, Emma, Colossus, Magik and Magneto were actually the result of nano-sentinels unleashed on them by Dark Beast . Simultaneously, while spending some time in deep space, Iron Man helps defend an ancient planet from space pirates. He
11092-491: The pain and suffering she had caused and experience empathy for the first time in her existence thus ending her terror. She was eventually moved to the mutant-only nation of Krakoa , having been given a second chance per the island's laws. She resides in a hidden section that even the island itself forgot, away from the council's reach. Captain Pryde secretly found Cassandra which informed Kate that she will be needing Cassandra on
11210-666: The perceptions of others . Mastermind plants seeds of dissent within Phoenix's fragile psyche by comparing her to a god and insisting she could do whatever she wished. She encounters Mastermind again in Scotland under the guise of Jason Wyngarde, believing the latter to be both the work of the reality-warping mutant Proteus and the lover of one of her ancestors. An encounter with the Hellfire Club and manipulation by Mastermind and Emma Frost (the White Queen) transformed
11328-491: The planet if the X-Men and new Ultra hero Foxfire had not arrived, who after a long battle are able to separate the Phoenix from Amber and send the cosmic entity back to the 616 universe. Jean Grey begins to wear the same costume the Phoenix Force had worn, manifest Phoenix firebirds, and tap into its cosmic reserves several times, worrying Scott as he feared the Phoenix had returned until Jean temporarily loses her powers as
11446-492: The planet, take vengeance on anyone who had ever harmed a mutant, and dismantle all Sentinels. Cyclops defeats Emma and elevates to the level of Dark Phoenix, killing Professor X in the process. In the final issue, the X-Men and the Avengers battle the Dark Phoenix, but they are losing as the Dark Phoenix starts to burn the world. As a last resort, Captain America sends in Hope and Scarlet Witch, who together manage to take down
11564-424: The power of the Phoenix. Strengthened by the Phoenix Force, Feron is able to fight back, but Necrom steals a fraction of the Phoenix Force's essence, forcing it to flee back to space in agonized confusion. In the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century, Yu-Ti of K'un-L'un has visions of the Phoenix coming to Earth and of a red-headed Iron Fist who would confront it. In one vision, she loses control and destroys
11682-654: The present outside Union Station in Los Angeles, California, the Owl Queen directed Bishop's body towards finding a worthy psychic to sacrifice for the Corruption's rituals. She zeroed in on a new mutant named Ginny Guzman, but the girl was already being fought over by Spiral and a team from the Jean Grey School. The Revenant Queen allowed the Demon Bear to run roughshod over the girl's defenders until she got close enough to project her own corrupted psyche into
11800-430: The same time as Charles Xavier . Conceived without a body, Cassandra improvised one by copying Xavier's DNA to make her own body, effectively being his twin sister. She grew with her brother until she had fully formed hands and eyes, when she decided to try to kill Charles by attempting to strangle him with his own umbilical cord. Charles defended himself by hitting her with a psychic blast, which caused their mother to have
11918-464: The sun and an explosion on the moon, raises red flags for the X-Men, who quickly launch an investigation on these events. After a string of bizarre encounters with familiar enemies, many of them considered deceased, the X-Men come to one conclusion: the Phoenix Force is back on Earth. The X-Men also discover that psychics are going missing or falling ill, which prompts the team to investigate Jean Grey's grave. They find her coffin empty, and race to locate
12036-420: The surface world's reckless disregard for his underwater kingdom, beckons the Phoenix Force to Earth and vows to sacrifice every part of himself to reunite with the entity once more. Namor proposes that if the Phoenix helps him destroy the Avengers, then he will help it set the galaxies ablaze. The Phoenix chooses Moon Knight as its new host instead, allowing him to escape Khonshu's sway, but also provides him with
12154-486: The universe that was born of the void between states of being. It is the nexus of all psionic energy of the past, present, and future in all realities of the multiverse , the Guardian of Creation and of the dangerously powerful M'Kraan Crystal . The Phoenix Force is among the most feared beings in all of existence—it can cut, re-grow, or destroy any part of the universe. It has been described as being "the embodiment of
12272-405: The very passion of Creation—the spark that gave life to the Universe, the flame that will ultimately consume it." During its time as a sentient and formless mass of energy, it traveled the cosmos and was worshiped by several alien races, including the Shi'ar , who named the entity Phal'kon, the "sister" of their other gods K'ythri and Sharra . According to the alien peace-keeping robot Unit,
12390-420: The world with the Phoenix Force, the parasite of humanity would be purged and he would be a hero that saved the world. At this point, Moon Knight understands that he has lost his mind. After he reignites the sun and Thor breaks free from his entrapment with his hammer, Moon Knight almost welcomes the beating he gets from Thor, and the Phoenix Force subsequently leaves him as its host. Instead of returning to space,
12508-473: The world; in another, she tames its power. When walking the streets, Yu-Ti comes across Fongji Wu, the daughter of a woman who had ventured to the outside world and lain with a man from beyond K'un-Lun. After defeating Shou-Lao and becoming the Iron Fist, Fongji confronts the Phoenix Force and becomes its host. The Phoenix Force attempts to overwhelm Fongji and turn her into the Dark Phoenix, but she resists
12626-527: Was able to hide her possession of her brother's body over quite some time despite directly interacting with considerable telepaths like Jean Grey , Emma Frost , and the Stepford Cuckoos at the same time. Cassandra can also manipulate her body to act as a rapid healing factor or to mimic the DNA and voice of others, such as when she mimics Donald Trask so that she can voice command the Wild Sentinels for
12744-435: Was either not Ernst or they didn't know she was Ernst. In Joss Whedon 's third arc of Astonishing X-Men , a psychic projection of Cassandra Nova seeks Stuff's gelatinous, green form, locked inside a metal case. Whedon's plot apparently contradicts Austen's two-part arc. Likewise, Ernst has been distinctly shown alongside the student body in later publications. Telepath Too Many Requests If you report this error to
12862-462: Was in " Here Comes Tomorrow ", where she tells Martha Johansson , whom Ernst was always seen around, that "of course you can still call me Ernst." Subsequent writers have tried to contradict this, under presumed editorial edict. In Chuck Austen 's New X-Men , Cyclops and Beast investigate Cassandra's containment unit following the destruction of the mansion, only to never find it (and seeming not to care once they don't); this would seem to suggest she
12980-447: Was out of control, Hope attempts to take some of his powers only to exhaust herself and collapses. She is contacted by the Phoenix Force who refers to Hope as her "child", and that the other lights needed her. Hope regains consciousness and goes back to face Kenji Uedo. The Age of X reality is created when Legion 's mind reacted to Doctor Nemesis 's attempt to restore its sanity. In this reality, Jean Grey's Phoenix Force ability causes
13098-524: Was overwhelming. On the other side of the globe, Nova-controlled governments are threatening death to all mutants. The Polish army nearly succeeds, but the Red team steps in before things get bloody thanks to Jean's telepathic powers and Namor 's intervention. Nova also had recruited the unwilling Forge to her cause and reveals that her mutant hatred is motivated by her near-death at the hands of her brother (that she had actually tried to kill first doesn't register with her). She later reveals herself to Jean while
13216-399: Was saved several times through the power of Nova, much to everyone's chagrin. In the final battle against Arkea and Sublime, Nova invited the two sentient bacterium to attach to her body as a host, only to use her incredible telepathy to slaughter the trillions of hosts they had all connected to her, ending the Marauders battle against Sublime and Arkea. Yet, after being saved by Nova, Cassandra
13334-422: Was struck down by a psychic attack from Somnus. As it turns out, her awakened empathy never struck a change in her sadistic traits, so Kate, Somnus, and Emma had planned Nova's betrayal from the very beginning of their mission, using Frost's considerable psychic talent to install an impenetrable crystal box in Pryde's mind that kept Nova, and the rest of the team, from discovering their plan. Emma and Kate were two of
13452-434: Was the goal of their mission. He is killed by God Emperor Doom in a subsequent confrontation. It has since been revealed that thousands of years ago, the civilization of planet Maveth was able to create a bomb that, when used, scorched the entire surface of the planet, killing all life within a generation; however, a second bomb is discovered by Gamora and Kitty Pryde to be hidden in the tomb of Maveth's king, which in turn
13570-631: Was to assist Nova as part of a scheme to infiltrate the X-Men as a sleeper agent with Nova having erased the memory of their encounter at the time. Her influence resulted in Emma creating manifestations of Cassandra's human form, Sebastian Shaw, Emma's younger self as the White Queen (calling herself "Perfection"), and Negasonic Teenage Warhead , a former student of Emma's who was killed in Genosha. Emma and these manifestations then proceeded to attack
13688-497: Was to bond with the Phoenix and thus be able to destroy all existence. Though she was successful, Jean and Psylocke are able to subdue Cassandra. Jean then tells Cassandra that they are all going to transcend reality. Jean uses her connection to the Phoenix to bring a host of X-Men together (both dead and living) so that they can all become one with the universe while bringing others back to Earth. Xavier and Cassandra admit that they are scared of each other, and Jean tells them that this
13806-409: Was to destroy every illusion Charles held dear: her brother's dream, the X-Men and loved ones. Jean Grey later discovered that Cassandra is a mummudrai (from a Shi'ar legend which means 'opposite') of Charles. "Legend says each of us faces our own personal mummudrai in the womb, shortly before birth - it is our first experience of the alien, the other, the different." In reality, the mummudrai are
13924-465: Was trapped in Cassandra's broken body and was unable to warn the X-Men before Cassandra, in Xavier's body, shot her twin. Now in Xavier's body, Cassandra mentally forced the Xavier Institute student Beak to beat Beast into a coma after the latter discovered that Xavier and Cassandra shared the same DNA. Cassandra then contacted the Shi'ar and its leader Majestrix Lilandra . Cassandra manipulated
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