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195-419: "The Dark Phoenix Saga" is one of the most well-known and heavily referenced stories in mainstream American superhero comics, and is widely considered to be a classic storyline by critics. Many of its characters who debuted in this story arc, such as Kitty Pryde , Dazzler , and Emma Frost , would later go on to become some of the most popular comic book characters of all time. Since its introduction in comics,

390-487: A Scottish girl named Moira Kinross , a fellow genetics student with whom he falls in love. The two agree to get married, but soon, Xavier is drafted into the Korean War . He carves himself a niche as a soldier in search and rescue missions alongside Shadowcat 's father, Carmen Pryde, and witnesses Cain's transformation into Juggernaut when he touches a ruby with an inscription on it in an underground temple . During

585-536: A Brood Queen in its place; however, his soul remains intact. The X-Men and Starjammers subdue this monstrous creature containing Xavier's essence, but the only way to restore him is to clone a new body using tissue samples he donated to the Starjammers and transfer his consciousness into the clone body. This new body possesses functional legs, though the psychosomatic pain Xavier experienced after living so long as

780-551: A battle between Iceman and Cannonball against the Marauders for the diaries, during which they are destroyed by Gambit . In the "Torn" arc, the latest incarnation of the Hellfire Club begin an assault on Xavier's School. Kitty fulfilled the role that Emma Frost envisioned, personally taking down Frost and imprisoning her, only to fall under a telepathic delusion created by Hellfire member Perfection , who claimed to be

975-487: A being who had committed genocide. Byrne and Salicrup explained that they had no problem with this resolution because they had always thought of Dark Phoenix as a separate entity who had possessed Jean Grey, with Salicrup drawing an analogy to the film adaptation of The Exorcist : "In the movie there's this little girl who's taken over and several people get killed, but by the end, when the demon's gone no one thinks, 'Let's kill that murderous little girl.'" However, on reading

1170-429: A child. The boy, David , has autism and dissociative identity disorder . Furthermore, he has vast psionic powers like his father. After helping him and his team to escape from David's mind, Xavier promises he will always be there for him. A reformed Magneto is arrested and put on trial. Xavier attends the trial to defend his friend. Andrea and Andreas Strucker , the children of presumed dead Baron von Strucker, crash

1365-623: A coma. From the psychic trauma of Xavier using his powers so violently and the mixing of Magneto's and Xavier's repressed anger, Onslaught is born. Onslaught wreaks havoc, destroying much of Manhattan , until many of Marvel's superheroes—including the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and the Hulk —destroy him. Xavier is left without his telepathy and, overcome with guilt, leaves the X-Men and

1560-520: A compromise, and Claremont responded that such a scenario was unfeasible since in his opinion, the X-Men would want to continually try to rescue Jean from imprisonment. According to Shooter, Claremont out of frustration suggested that they kill off Jean completely. Although Shooter suggests that the proposed plot point was a bluff by Claremont, playing on the unwritten rule that main characters were not to be killed permanently, he accepted it, even over later objections by both Claremont and Byrne. Ultimately, it

1755-518: A cosmic scale making her a god-like being. She can phase through any material of any density and can even phase a planet out of Thane's amber, whereas in her normal state it is an extremely difficult task to simply phase herself out of the amber. She can also apparently transverse between the planes of the multiverse and is immune to the effects of space. Her appearance can be changed but her natural form appears to be rather gaseous in look. Professor X Professor X ( Prof. Charles Francis Xavier )

1950-479: A duel for the leadership of the X-Men against Storm, then leaves them and joins the other four original X-Men to form a new team called X-Factor . In the meantime, Charles becomes stranded in space with the Starjammers, but he is reunited with his lover Lilandra and relishes his carefree lifestyle. He serves as a member of the Starjammers aboard the starship Starjammer , mobile in the Shi'ar Galaxy. He becomes consort to

2145-475: A failed attempt to subdue the X-Men, Frost revoked Kitty's admission. During her teen years, Kitty fostered a number of close relationships with others at the school and in the X-Men. She developed a crush on Colossus and became close friends with his little sister Illyana Rasputin . Initially uneasy around Nightcrawler and other mutants with physical deformities, Kitty finally overcame her fears and became close friends with him. Kitty also befriended Lockheed ,

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2340-468: A final bid to gain their trust, Magneto focuses his powers, attempting to divert the interstellar path of the metal bullet Kitty is trapped in and bring her home to Earth. Meanwhile, inside the bullet, Kitty is revealed to still be alive. Unbeknownst to the others, Magneto had encountered the bullet earlier while attempting to regain his powers with the High Evolutionary and surmised that Kitty

2535-526: A group of underground-dwelling mutants, get him to safety. One of the Morlocks partially restores Xavier's health, but Callisto warns Xavier that he is not fully healed and that he must spend more time recuperating and restrain himself from exerting his full strength or powers, or his health might fail again. Xavier hides his injuries from the others and resumes his life. Charles meets with former lover Gabrielle Haller on Muir Isle and discovers that they had

2730-464: A highly intelligent alien resembling a dragon , who followed her home after a mission in outer space . Lockheed is extremely loyal to Kitty, and the two of them share a psychic bond. Wolverine became something of a mentor to Kitty despite his usually gruff personality. Storm came to view Kitty as the daughter she never had. Though Xavier has threatened to reassign Kitty to the New Mutants ,

2925-489: A local boy from Salem Central named Doug Ramsey around this time, but her feelings for him never went as deep as his for her, and they never actually dated, though they remained close, even more so after Doug's status as a mutant was revealed and he joined the New Mutants under the codename Cypher. They remained friends until his death some time later. During the 1984–1985 Kitty Pryde and Wolverine miniseries, Kitty

3120-553: A long shadow; later milestone sagas would have to look in a new direction—inward—to examine the meaning of the medium and the inner nature of heroes and villains themselves." Chase Magnett of ComicBook.com wrote, "The reason why the characters and subplots surrounding "The Dark Phoenix Saga" remain so flexible is that the core themes of the story are what continue to resonate after almost four decades. [...] We understand that corruption, power, and monstrosity are truly evergreen themes in literature, not just superhero comics. They serve as

3315-410: A man going by the name of Magnus (who would later become Magneto ), a Holocaust survivor who works as a volunteer in the clinic, and Gabrielle Haller , a woman driven into a catatonic coma by the trauma she experienced. Xavier uses his mental powers to break her out of her catatonia and the two fall in love. Xavier and Magneto become good friends, although neither immediately reveals to the other that he

3510-610: A member of the Marauders , caused her to lose her ability to become fully tangible for months. Magic and magical beings can also harm her in her phased state, as demonstrated in a battle with a N'Garai demon whose claws left no visible marks, but caused Kitty severe pain as they passed through her intangible body. Kitty can also extend her powers to phase other people and objects so long as they establish and maintain physical contact with her. She can extend her phasing effect to her own clothing or any other object with mass up to that of

3705-473: A mutant named Xorn joins the X-Men. Xorn uses his healing power to restore Xavier's use of his legs. When the X-Men receive a distress call from a Scottish island, they are surprised to find Juggernaut with nowhere to go, as the island was destroyed by his further-mutated partner in crime, Black Tom Cassidy , who died. Xavier reaches out to his stepbrother and offers him a place in his mansion, with Cain reluctantly accepting. The Juggernaut redeems himself over

3900-507: A new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. After discovering that an outspoken anti-mutant politician brainwashed this new Brotherhood to work for her to publicly discredit mutants, Kitty threatened to expose her if she continued exploiting mutants for her own personal gain. After Krakoa became a new sovereign nation for Mutants, Kitty Pryde, now going by Captain Kate Pryde, discovers she is the sole mutant who is, for unknown reasons, unable to use

4095-455: A new series that would reunite the original X-Men into a new team called X-Factor , to be written by longtime freelancer Bob Layton . Hearing of this, Byrne called Layton and suggested Busiek's idea as a means of raising Jean Grey from the dead while satisfying Shooter's demands for total absolution for Jean. A three-part crossover was planned to launch X-Factor , involving the Avengers ,

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4290-482: A new ship; however, Kitty decides to stay on Earth and ends her time with the Guardians and Quill. Upon returning to Earth, Kitty hopes to finally regain a semblance of a normal life but ends up approached by Storm, who informs Kitty of everything the X-Men have gone through while Kitty was away . Storm announces to Kitty that she intends to step down as leader of the X-Men due to the guilt that she feels for leading

4485-573: A number of trade paperbacks: The story is also included in Essential X-Men, Volume 2 (584 pages, October 1997, Panini Comics , ISBN   978-0-7851-0298-4 ), part of Marvel's Essential series of black-and-white trade paperbacks. The volume collects The X-Men #120–144 and The X-Men Annual #3–4. The story is included in the hardcover Marvel Masterworks : Uncanny X-Men, Volume 4 ( The X-Men #122–131, Annual #3) and Volume 5 ( The X-Men #132–140, Annual #4) The opening of

4680-474: A number of years. Crucially, as he enters late adolescence, Xavier inherits the mansion-house he was raised in, enabling him not only to continue to live in it, but also to turn it in to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters , which he begins together with the first of the X-Men . Brian, his father, dies in an accident when Xavier is still very young, and Brian's science partner Kurt Marko comforts and then marries

4875-484: A paraplegic takes some time to subside. Subsequently, he even joins the X-Men in the field, but later decides not to continue this practice after realizing that his place is at the school, as the teacher of the New Mutants. After taking a teaching position at Columbia University in Uncanny X-Men #192, Xavier is severely injured and left for dead as the victim of a hate crime . Callisto and her Morlocks ,

5070-482: A period (over ten years of published comics, approximately two years in-continuity) Kitty existed in a naturally "phased" state, and had to consciously choose to become solid. Kitty has returned to her original form and is normally solid and must choose to use her power. While phasing, she does not physically walk on surfaces, but rather interacts with the molecules of air above them, allowing her to ascend and descend, causing her to seemingly walk on air. While phased, she

5265-545: A personal reaction upon seeing the prisoners and makes it her mission to liberate everyone there and defeat the captors, as it reminds her of Nazi concentration camps . After Quill gets captured and sentenced to death in an arena battle, Kitty finds and kills one of the Badoon leaders by phasing his heart out of his body. When Captain Marvel summons the Guardians to Earth to help her address Tony Stark , Kitty learns that Thanos

5460-585: A populated planet in the Shi'ar Empire. It hurts Xavier to be on the opposite side of Lilandra, but he has no other choice but to challenge the Shi'ar Imperial Guard to a duel over the fate of the Phoenix. Xavier would have lost against the greater power of the Dark Phoenix, but thanks to the help Jean Grey gives him (fighting her Phoenix persona), Xavier emerges victorious; she later commits suicide to prevent herself from endangering more innocent lives. When

5655-413: A precognitive. During the six-month gap, Kitty visited Genosha . Whatever she experienced there is unknown (although presumably connected to her father, living on Genosha at the time), but it had a profound effect on her. She cut her hair and began to act rebelliously, also using one of Wolverine's bone claws broken off during battle as a weapon. Kitty remained with the X-Men for a while before leaving after

5850-585: A reformed former villain named Changeling to impersonate him while he went into hiding to plan a defense against an invasion by the extraterrestrial Z'Nox, imparting a portion of his telepathic abilities to the Changeling to complete the disguise. When the X-Men are captured by the sentient island Krakoa , Xavier assembles a new team to rescue them, including Cyclops' and Havok's long-lost brother, Vulcan , along with Darwin , Petra , and Sway . This new team, composed of students of Dr. Moira MacTaggert ,

6045-585: A result of her being trapped on the giant space bullet. After rescuing Peter, she decides to stay in space with him. Then, Kitty convinces Peter to steal a powerful artifact called the Black Vortex from his father J'son. Soon, they find themselves being chased by J'son's assassination squad, the Slaughter Lords. In despair, they request the aid of the X-Men and the Guardians of the Galaxy to protect

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6240-549: A small truck, as long as she remains in contact with it. Kitty can also make objects intangible by maintaining contact with them. She has threatened to leave people phased into a wall, and used her power offensively to harm the Technarch Magus , and Danger. Kitty's powers seem to have increased over the years. During an X-Treme X-Men story arc in which she is kidnapped by Reverend William Stryker , she phases out of sync with Earth's rotation to move from one place in

6435-428: A special machine called Cerebro , which enhances his ability to detect mutants and to allow the team to find new students in need of the school. Among the obstacles Xavier faces is his old friend, Magneto, who has grown into an advocate of mutant superiority since their last encounter and who believes the only solution to mutant persecution is domination over humanity. When anthropologist Bolivar Trask resurfaces

6630-484: A special mission: taking a bigger boat out to serve as pirate captain on the X-Men's mission to liberate mutants trapped in oppressive countries that do not recognize mutant sovereignty, while also smuggling and supplying for Emma's Hellfire Trading Company the lifesaving drugs the X-Men provide to humans. Kate Pryde is later appointed the new Red Queen of the Hellfire Trading Company by Emma Frost, to

6825-631: A storyline in Uncanny X-Men , the Breakworlders make their way to Earth. During the conflict between the Breakworlder Kr'uun and the X-Men, Kitty is slain and resurrected by Kr'uun's mate in an alien ritual, which results in her powers returning to normal. Shortly thereafter, Kitty breaks up with Colossus, and decides to return with Wolverine to Westchester to open the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. In Wolverine and

7020-479: A subplot which culminated with the apparent reincarnation of Dark Phoenix in Uncanny X-Men #174–175 (October–November 1983). These issues were later collected in trade paperback form under the title From the Ashes . The story revolves around Cyclops and the newly introduced Madelyne Pryor , a commercial airline pilot who is not only physically identical to Jean Grey, but survived a traumatic airliner crash at exactly

7215-627: A team of younger mutants he established in the absence of the X-Men, ever since the X-Men returned from outer space, she never ended up joining the group, who she derisively calls the "X-Babies". Kitty was later abducted by the Morlocks and nearly forced to wed Caliban . She was then abducted by the White Queen, but rescued by the New Mutants. During this time, Kitty began to date Colossus, although this did not last long. Colossus developed feelings for an alien woman named Zsaji whom he met on

7410-399: A telepath and telekinetic. Jean becomes a being of pure thought, and then re-forms herself upon return to Earth with the new costume, identity and power of " Phoenix ". It is with this incredible power that Jean repairs the fractured M'Kraan Crystal , but voluntarily restrains her powers afterward in order to keep them under control. Her vast potential makes her a target for Mastermind , who

7605-671: A time. In the Days of Future Past story arc, she is possessed by her older future self, allowing her to solidify only her shoulder while phasing the rest of her body through Destiny—a feat explicitly beyond the 13-year-old Kitty's abilities. By contrast, the Kitty Pryde of Joss Whedon's run can punch and kick someone standing on the other side of a wall, selectively phasing and unphasing body parts as necessary. She can even run and leap through an armed opponent, grabbing their weapon as she passes by, which presumably requires her to solidify only

7800-533: A transcript of a round table discussion between Claremont, Byrne, Simonson, Salicrup, Shooter, and inker Terry Austin , discussing the story behind the original ending and why it was changed. Shortly before the publication of Uncanny X-Men #137, future freelance writer Kurt Busiek , then still a college student, heard about the upcoming events through the fan grapevine, as did fellow future comics pros Carol Kalish (who would go on to head up Marvel's Direct Sales Department for years) and Richard Howell (artist of

7995-473: A unique ability to wield the Soulsword and also be harmed by it. Since her possession by the ninja demon Ogun, she has been consistently shown to be an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, having since been endowed with a lifetime of training in the martial arts of Japanese ninja and samurai. She is a professional-level dancer in both ballet and modern dance. She speaks fluent English, Japanese, Russian, and

The Dark Phoenix Saga - Misplaced Pages Continue

8190-426: A vicious psychic duel, he creates a new set of psychic "circuit-breakers" which reduce her to only her original Marvel Girl powers. This allows Jean's normal personality to reassert control. The Shi'ar abduct the X-Men, tell them of Dark Phoenix's casual genocide , and declare that she must be put to death. Xavier challenges Lilandra to Arin'n Haelar, a Shi'ar duel of honor that cannot be refused. After conferring with

8385-483: A villain to solve the issue, and eventually it seemed like the best solution to get the book back on track. The segment of the saga set at the Hellfire Club ( Uncanny X-Men #132–134) was heavily inspired by the Avengers television episode " A Touch of Brimstone ", and some of the characters' appearances were modeled after the cast of "A Touch of Brimstone" as a subtle acknowledgment of the inspiration. The ending of

8580-510: Is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby , the character first appeared in The X-Men #1 (September 1963). The character is depicted as the founder and occasional leader of the X-Men . Xavier is a member of a subspecies of humans known as mutants , who are born with superhuman abilities. He

8775-492: Is a coming-of-age storyline in which she matures from a girl to a young woman, adopting the new name "Shadowcat". In the late 1980s, Kitty joined the British-based super team, Excalibur, where she remained for roughly ten years before coming back to the X-Men. In the early 2000s, she disappeared from the spotlight after semi-retiring from superhero work. She was featured in the 2002 mini-series Mekanix and came back to

8970-456: Is a masterpiece of comic book storytelling that has influenced countless writers and artists in the years since its publication." Pierce Lydon of Newsarama ranked "The Dark Phoenix Saga" 1st in their "Best X-Men Stories" list, asserting, "If there's one story that defines the X-Men above all others, it's 'The Dark Phoenix Saga,' in which Chris Claremont and John Byrne's somewhat tumultuous creative relationship begins to come to an end with one of

9165-544: Is a mutant. The two hold lengthy debates hypothesizing what will happen if humanity is faced with a new super-powered race of humans. While Xavier is optimistic, Magneto's experiences in the Holocaust lead him to believe that humanity will ultimately oppress the new race of humans as they have done with other minorities. The two friends reveal their powers to each other when they fight Nazi Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and his Hydra agents, who kidnap Gabrielle because she knows

9360-636: Is a pickpocket, and the Shadow King , a powerful mutant who is posing as Egyptian crime lord Amahl Farouk. Xavier defeats the Shadow King, barely escaping with his life. This encounter leads to Xavier's decision to devote his life to protecting humanity from evil mutants and safeguarding innocent mutants from human oppression. Xavier visits his friend Daniel Shomron, who runs a clinic for traumatized Holocaust victims in Haifa , Israel . There, he meets

9555-477: Is a prisoner on Earth and tries to convince Quill to tell Gamora. When fighting starts Kitty woefully realizes that some of her former students are on Tony Stark's side instead of fighting with Captain Marvel. During the battle the Guardians' ship was destroyed, effectively stranding them on Earth. After helping the Guardians stop Thanos from leading an invasion from the Negative Zone the Guardians are given

9750-600: Is an exceptionally powerful telepath , who can read and control the minds of others. To both shelter and train mutants from around the world, he runs a private school in the X-Mansion in Salem Center , located in Westchester County, New York . Xavier also strives to serve the greater good by promoting peaceful coexistence and equality between humans and mutants in a world where zealous anti-mutant bigotry

9945-440: Is angered by Xavier stopping him from getting his revenge on Magneto. Charles and Logan are later trapped in a dimension with different laws of physics , wherein they have to coordinate their moves together and, in the process, gain a better understanding of the other's views. Apocalypse kidnaps the fabled "Twelve" special mutants (Xavier included) whose combined energies would grant him omnipotence. After Apocalypse's defeat with

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10140-614: Is attempting to prove himself in order to join the prestigious Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club . Under the identity of Jason Wyngarde, he begins to seduce Jean. With the help of a mind-tap device created by the Club's White Queen, Emma Frost , Mastermind projects his illusions directly into Phoenix's mind. These illusions cause her to believe that she is reliving the memories of an ancestor, Lady Grey , who in Mastermind's illusions

10335-569: Is brought to an American nurse, Amelia Voght , who looks after him and, as she sees to his recovery, they fall in love. When he is released from the hospital, the two moved into an apartment in Bombay together. Amelia is troubled to find Charles studying mutation, as she is a mutant and unsettled by it, though she calms when he reveals himself to be a mutant as well. They eventually move to the United States, living on Xavier's family estate. But

10530-399: Is created in the most violent act Xavier claims to have done: erasing the mind of Magneto. In X-Men #106 (August 1977), the new X-Men fight images of the original team, which have been created by what Xavier says is his "evil self ... who would use his powers for personal gain and conquest", which he says he is normally able to keep in check. In the 1984 four-part series titled The X-Men and

10725-518: Is declared Emperor of Spartax she is told she will become the first lady of Spartax. Kitty takes on the mantle of Star Lord and joins the Guardians of the Galaxy in Peter Quill's place so he can take on his royal duties. When Hala the Accuser massacres Spartax in an attempt to make Quill pay for J'son's actions against her people, she initially easily lays waste to the capitol and overpowers

10920-586: Is gathered, including the Kree and Skrull empires, and concludes that Dark Phoenix is an even more serious threat than the planet-consuming Galactus and must be destroyed. On Earth, the X-Men are greeted by Avengers member (and former X-Man) Beast . Dark Phoenix returns to Earth, to her family's home, and finds herself conflicted between her normal feelings for her loved ones and her new destructive impulses as Dark Phoenix. The X-Men attack her but are again defeated. Her mentor, Charles Xavier , arrives, and through

11115-485: Is immune to most physical attacks, and has some resistance to telepathy as her psyche may reside in other dimensions from where she phases, as long as telepaths cannot access those dimensions. The density of some materials (such as adamantium ) can prove deleterious to her phasing, causing her to be severely disoriented or experience pain if she tries to pass through them. Some energy attacks also prove problematic for Kitty. For example, an energy blast fired by Harpoon ,

11310-486: Is incarcerated for his actions. He later returns to the X-Men after Operation: Zero Tolerance , in which he is shocked by the cruel act of being turned over to the mutant-hating Bastion , following a clash with the sentient Cerebro and a team of impostor X-Men . Xavier questions his dream again and Magneto shortly thereafter is confronted by the X-Men. After the battle, the UN concedes Genosha to Magnus, and Wolverine

11505-475: Is later appointed adjunct professor at Columbia University . Origins of Marvel Comics: X-Men #1 (2010) presents a different version of events, suggesting a scholarship to the University of Oxford rescued him from his abusive home, after which he "never looked back", suggesting he began his academic career as a very young man at Oxford. His stepbrother is resentful of him. At graduate school , he meets

11700-515: Is listed as one of the top ten most intelligent fictional characters in American comics. In a number of comics, Xavier is shown to have a dark side, a part of himself that he struggles to suppress. Perhaps the most notable appearance of this character element is in the Onslaught storyline, in which the crossover event's antagonist is a physical manifestation of that dark side. Also, Onslaught

11895-608: Is not part of DC or Marvel canon) has the cosmic villain Darkseid resurrect Jean Grey in her Dark Phoenix persona as part of his quest to discover the secret of the Anti-Life Equation . In the end, Dark Phoenix is betrayed by Darkseid and sacrifices her life yet again to stop Darkseid. Also in 1983, shortly after beginning a freelance writing career, Kurt Busiek attended a comics convention in Ithaca, New York , staying at

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12090-407: Is possessed by a demon, the ninja Ogun . Ogun psychically bestows upon Kitty a virtual lifetime of martial arts training. Kitty was brainwashed by Ogun into becoming a ninja assassin, and was sent to attack Wolverine. Kitty is able to resist Ogun's influence with Wolverine's help, and the two form a strong teacher/student bond, which helps them in vanquishing Ogun. Kitty returns to the X-Men, no longer

12285-436: Is shattered, returning him to his former paraplegic state, while his son David is seemingly killed. In the following months, Xavier rebuilds the mansion, which previously was rebuilt with Shi'ar technology, and restructures the X-Men into two teams. While holding a mutant rights speech, Xavier is nearly assassinated by Stryfe in the guise of Cable , being infected with a fatal techno-organic virus . For reasons of his own,

12480-403: Is to balance leading the X-Men as well as managing the mansion when there are many political factors trying to deliberately get in the way of the X-Men. She also begins to have awkward one-on-one moments with Colossus; they try to remain friends, but given their long history their interactions swiftly become complicated. Kitty's first case as field leader of the X-Men sees her and her team taking on

12675-480: Is too late to intervene. Xavier's evil twin Cassandra Nova , whom Xavier attempted to kill while they were both in their mother's womb, orders a group of rogue Sentinels to destroy the independent mutant nation of Genosha. Magneto, who is Genosha's leader, appears to die along with the vast majority of the nation's inhabitants. Nova then takes over Xavier's body. Posing as Xavier, she reveals his mutation to

12870-400: Is trained here, Generation X , with Banshee and Emma Frost as headmaster and headmistress, respectively. Professor X is for a time the unknowing host of the evil psionic entity Onslaught , the result of a previous battle with Magneto. In that battle, Magneto uses his powers to rip out the adamantium bonded to Wolverine's skeleton, and a furious Xavier wipes Magneto's mind, leaving him in

13065-494: Is unharmed when Shadowcat has finished passing through the object. This process is called "phasing" or quantum tunneling and it renders her almost completely intangible to physical touch. Shadowcat passes through objects at the same speed at which she is moving before she enters them. Originally she was unable to breathe while inside an object, but now she can phase through solid objects without needing to hold her breath such as when she travels underground or phases buildings through

13260-492: Is widespread. However, he later abandons his dream in favor of establishing a mutant nation in Krakoa. Throughout much of the character's history, Xavier has been depicted with paraplegia and uses a wheelchair. One of the world's most powerful mutant telepaths, Xavier is a scientific genius and a leading authority in genetics . He has devised Cerebro and other equipment to enhance psionic powers and detect and track people with

13455-400: The 2001 story " E Is for Extinction ". He also appears in almost all of the X-Men animated series and in many video games, although usually as a non-playable character . Patrick Stewart plays him in the 2000s X-Men film series , as well as providing his voice in some of the X-Men video games (including some not connected to the film series). According to BusinessWeek , Charles Xavier

13650-410: The Avengers and the Fantastic Four . However, he also has a manipulative streak which has resulted in several significant fallings-out with allies and students. He often acts as a public advocate for mutant rights and is the authority most of the Marvel superhero community turns to for advice on mutants. Despite this, his status as a mutant himself and originator of the X-Men only became public during

13845-506: The Beyonder 's planet in the first Secret Wars . Colossus' feelings toward Zsaji were primarily a side effect of her own unique healing abilities, which she had used on him after he became injured. Regardless, Colossus' feelings were real and he returned to Earth consumed with grief after Zsaji's death. He admitted to Kitty that he loved Zsaji, which hurt her deeply and ended the budding romantic relationship. Kitty had made good friends with

14040-599: The Danger Room has become sentient, he keeps it trapped and experiments on it for years, an act that Cyclops calls "the oppression of a new life" and equates to humanity's treatment of mutants (however, X-Men Legacy #220 - 224 reveals that Xavier did not intend for the Danger Room to become sentient: it was an accident, and Xavier sought a way to free Danger, but was unable to find a way to accomplish this without deleting her sentience as well). Charles Francis Xavier

14235-595: The Greek island of Kirinos. Xavier discusses his candidates for recruitment to his personal strike force, the X-Men, with Moira, including those he passes over, which are Kurt Wagner , Piotr Rasputin , Pietro and Wanda Maximoff , and Ororo Munroe . Xavier also trains Tessa to spy on Sebastian Shaw . Xavier founded Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, which provides a safe haven for mutants and teaches them to master their abilities. In addition, he seeks to foster mutant-human relations by providing his superhero team,

14430-485: The Marauders . Kitty and Colossus, meanwhile, attempt to protect the students from a faction of the Marauders led by Exodus . It is revealed over the course of the story that Kitty, worried of the Destiny Diaries' safety, devised a plan with Cyclops and Emma Frost to hide them and have Emma wipe the location from her mind. The location could only be revealed by a code word spoken to Kitty. The arc concludes with

14625-481: The Skrulls during their attempted invasion of the Shi'ar Empire. Xavier breaks free from imprisonment by Warskrull Prime, and is reunited with the X-Men. A healthy Xavier returns from the Shi'ar Empire and is reunited with both the current and original X-Men teams, and resumes his leadership responsibilities of the united teams. In a battle with his old foe, the Shadow King , in the " Muir Island Saga ", Xavier's spine

14820-466: The Vision and The Scarlet Witch 12-issue limited series , among others). The three of them also heard that Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter had declared that Jean Grey could not be revived unless it was done in such a way as to render her guiltless of Dark Phoenix's crimes. Taking this as a creative challenge, all three then-fans decided to come up with their own resurrection scenario. Busiek's involved

15015-563: The Xavier Institute ) to teach mutants to explore and control their powers. Its first group of students was the original X-Men ( Cyclops , Iceman , Marvel Girl , Angel , and Beast ). Xavier's students consider him a visionary and often refer to their mission as "Xavier's dream". He is highly regarded by others in the Marvel Universe , respected by various governments, and trusted by several other superhero teams, including

15210-418: The "mutant problem", Xavier counters him in a televised debate, however, he appears arrogant and Trask sends his mutant-hunting robot Sentinels to terrorize mutants. The X-Men dispatch them, but Trask sees the error in his ways too late as he is killed by his creations. At one point, Xavier seemingly dies during the X-Men's battle with the sub-human Grotesk , but it is later revealed that Xavier arranged for

15405-553: The Brood attacks Spartax, planning to use every encased person to lay eggs and create an army of Brood to start invading other planets and conquering them. Kitty feels the only way to stop them is by submitting to the Vortex herself as she's the only one who can resist the cosmic corruption. She reluctantly submits and becomes a being of unlimited power. After being reminded of the love between her and Peter Quill, she goes back and phases all

15600-529: The Dark Phoenix Saga depicts a pessimistic conclusion that retreats into traditional humanist ideas of self-sacrifice. David Caballero of Screen Rant included the cover of Uncanny X-Men #136 (August 1980) in their "X-Men: The 10 Most Iconic Covers Of All Time" list. Anthony Orlando of BuzzFeed ranked the cover of Uncanny X-Men #135 (July 1980) 8th in their "15 Greatest Covers In All Of Comics" list. Uncanny X-Men #168 (April 1983) began

15795-514: The Earth’s surface. The use of her abilities also interferes with any electrical systems as she passes through by disrupting the flow of electrons from atom to atom, including the bio-electric systems of living bodies if she concentrates in the right way. This typically causes machines to malfunction or be destroyed as she phases through them, and can induce shock and unconsciousness in living beings. Using her power began as an optional ability, but for

15990-508: The Fantastic Four, and the debut issue of X-Factor , thus involving Avengers writer Stern, Fantastic Four writer/artist Byrne and X-Factor writer Layton. Busiek, by that time, was working at Marvel as a freelance assistant editor on Marvel Age Magazine . He was paid and credited for the idea, and edited a series of interviews for Marvel Age promoting the new series. Everything in the interviews pertaining to Jean's resurrection

16185-413: The Fantastic Four, for aid, but Richards initially refused because he was not sure he would be able to help. Having nowhere else to go, the X-Men turned to Richards' enemy Doctor Doom . This created a moral dilemma for both the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, and both teams fought each other because the Fantastic Four were trying to stop the treatment while the X-Men were determined to save Kitty's life. In

16380-498: The Greys were referred to him when no other expert could help their catatonic daughter, Jean . Xavier trains her in the use of her telekinesis , while inhibiting her telepathic abilities until she matures. Around this time, he also starts working with fellow mutation expert, Karl Lykos , as well as Moira MacTaggert again, who built a mutant research station on Muir Island . Apparently, Charles had gotten over Moira in his travels to

16575-470: The Guardians. After the Guardians regroup and formulate a strategy to defeat her, Kitty manages to partially phase Hala into the ground so the rest of the Guardians can knock her out and separate her from her weapon. After Quill loses his title as king he and Kitty end up on a mission with the rest of the Guardians on a concentration camp prison planet owned by the Badoon after Gamora gave them information on it so they can free Angela . Once there, Kitty has

16770-530: The Himalayas, Xavier encounters an alien calling himself Lucifer , the advance scout for an invasion by his race, and foils his plans. In retaliation, Lucifer drops a huge stone block on Xavier, crippling his legs. After Lucifer leaves, a young woman named Sage hears Xavier's telepathic cries for help and rescues him, bringing him to safety, beginning a long alliance between the two. In a hospital in India, he

16965-714: The Kree and Skrulls, Lilandra agrees to Xavier's demand. The next day, the X-Men and the Shi'ar Imperial Guard are teleported to the Blue Area of the Moon to do battle, with the victors deciding the fate of Phoenix. The Imperial Guard defeat most of the X-Men, leaving Cyclops and Phoenix alone to make a final stand. When Cyclops is seemingly killed, Jean's panic overrides Xavier's psychic restraints and restores her to Dark Phoenix. Lilandra initiates Plan Omega, which would consist of destroying

17160-543: The Massacre to be tended to by Moira MacTaggert . MacTaggert was able to keep Kitty's condition from deteriorating to the point where she completely lost physical substance and ceased to exist, but was not able to do any more to help her. At this time, Kitty's natural state was to be intangible. Where she once had to make a conscious effort to phase, she could now only maintain her solidity through an act of conscious will. The X-Men went to Reed Richards, Mister Fantastic of

17355-616: The Micronauts , Xavier's dark desires manifest themselves as the Entity and threaten to destroy the Micronauts' universe. In other instances, Xavier is shown to be secretive and manipulative. During the Onslaught storyline, the X-Men find Xavier's files, the " Xavier Protocols ", which detail how to kill many of the characters, including Xavier himself, should the need ever arise, such as if they went rogue. Astonishing X-Men vol. 3, #12 (August 2005) reveals that when Xavier realizes that

17550-554: The Princess-Majestrix Lilandra while in exile, and when she later resumes her throne he takes up residence with her in the Imperial palace on the Shi'ar homeworld. Xavier joins Lilandra in her cause to overthrow her sister Deathbird , taking on the powers of Phoenix temporarily wherein he is named Bald Phoenix by Corsair, but sees that he must return to help the X-Men. Xavier eventually becomes imprisoned by

17745-530: The Savage Land to tell him that all the X-Men are dead, he shuts down the school and travels with Lilandra to her kingdom, where she is crowned Empress and he is treated like a child or a trophy husband. Xavier senses the changes taking place in Jean Grey, and returns to Earth to help and resume leadership of the X-Men. Shortly thereafter he battles his pupil after she becomes Dark Phoenix and destroys

17940-468: The Shiar. At the conclusion of the storyline, Kitty begins a long-distance, flirtatious relationship with Starlord, Peter Quill . In the following weeks, Kitty's relationship with Peter Quill evolves more and more as they developed stronger feelings for each other every day. At one point, Quill gets captured during one of their dates and she has no option but to go to his rescue, despite her fear of space as

18135-463: The Vortex. After a few of their own friends can't resist the temptation and submit to the Vortex, betray the team, and escape with the artifact; the team splits and Kitty stays in Spartax to help an orphanage. She is encased in amber after Thane (who was allied with J'son) freezes the whole planet along with the people inside it; but thanks to her phasing powers, she manages to get out of the amber. Then

18330-521: The White Phoenix of the Crown. Jay Edidin of Polygon included "The Dark Phoenix Saga" in their "9 Greatest X-Men Stories of All Time" list, writing, "Ask any fan to pinpoint the classic, iconic X-Men story, and most will send you straight to Uncanny X-Men #129-138: the issues that chronicle the corruption and fall of the cosmically empowered Jean Grey. It’s also the story that has seen by far

18525-425: The X-Men #4, she appears to be suddenly pregnant, but the pregnancy was revealed to be a Brood infestation, and it was swiftly dealt with by a team of X-Men. Since returning to Westchester, Kitty has shared several kisses with Iceman . During the events of Avengers vs. X-Men , Kitty does not take a side, but instead decides to stay at the school to work with the students. Once Bobby returned from working with

18720-466: The X-Men after realizing that the Phoenix had corrupted them, he and Kitty finally decide to go on a date. After Beast brings the original five X-Men into the future to stop Cyclops in the present, Kitty volunteers to take responsibility for the temporally relocated X-Men while they work to undo this dark future. This soon puts her at odds with the rest of her team as they believed the original five should go back to their own time to prevent any damage to

18915-524: The X-Men and orchestrate her (Nova's) escape from the Stuff body. As Cyclops killed the mental projections, Emma tried to force Kitty to kill her to get rid of Nova. Undeterred, Cassandra Nova switched her focus to attempt to transfer her mind to Hisako Ichiki . It appears that Nova did not succeed, as the team was transported to S.W.O.R.D.'s air station en route to Ord's Breakworld for the "Unstoppable" arc that concludes Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men . As

19110-506: The X-Men fight members of the extraterrestrial race known as the Brood , Xavier is captured by them, and implanted with a Brood egg, which places Xavier under the Brood's control. During this time, Xavier assembles a team of younger mutants called the New Mutants , secretly intended to be prime hosts for reproduction of the aliens. The X-Men discover this and return to free Xavier, but they are too late to prevent his body from being destroyed with

19305-411: The X-Men to war and offers Kitty her position. After touring X-Haven and seeing how much things have changed and how much things need to change for the better, Kitty agrees to lead the X-Men as long as Storm remains on the team. Her next act is to relocate the mansion from Limbo to Central Park, New York so the X-Men can refocus on being part of the world instead of fearing it under the belief that if

19500-494: The X-Men truly are to be seen as heroes, then they need to actually live in the world that they are trying to save instead of constantly worrying about their own survival. Under Kitty's new leadership, the X-Men go through some small changes to shed their history and make new names for themselves, such as convincing Rachel Summers to change her code name to Prestige and renaming the mansion as The Xavier Institute for Mutant Education and Outreach. Kitty learns first-hand how hard it

19695-529: The X-Men were dead, Kitty and Nightcrawler joined Rachel Summers , Captain Britain , and Meggan to form the Britain -based team Excalibur following an adventure in which they saved Rachel from Technet . For a brief time, Kitty studied at St. Searle's School for Girls in Britain. During her time with Excalibur, Kitty developed a crush on Professor Alistaire Stuart which went unreciprocated since Alistaire

19890-498: The X-Men's Resurrection Protocols also won't apply to her, which means Kate cannot be resurrected if she died. He orchestrated a distraction by paying off human supremacists Homines Verendi to stage an attack on his own son. Once Kate was defenseless, Shaw emerged from below deck and ensnared Lockheed with a net gun, making him a helpless hostage. He then released Krakoan seeds at her feet, which wrapped around her and prevented her from using her powers. He then dropped her and Lockheed into

20085-481: The X-Men, as an example of mutants acting in good faith, as he told FBI agent Fred Duncan . With his inherited fortune, he uses his ancestral mansion at 1407 Graymalkin Lane in Salem Center , Westchester County , New York as a base of operations with technologically advanced facilities, including the Danger Room – later, Fantomex mentions that Xavier is a billionaire with a net worth of $ 3.5 billion. Presenting

20280-454: The amber that encased Spartax, along with the Broods trying to infect the people, and sends them all to another dimension. Kitty doesn't give up the cosmic power but admits to Peter that she is afraid of it. Peter promises her that he will never abandon her no matter how much she changes. Then, Peter kneels and proposes marriage to Kitty. She, with tears in her eyes, accepts. Later when Star Lord

20475-549: The apparent death of Colossus. Trying to give herself a normal life, she attended the University of Chicago . During this time, her father was killed when Cassandra Nova 's Sentinels destroyed Genosha. Kitty later finds a recording of his death due to exploring footage of the attack. She is also kidnapped by William Stryker , but the X-Treme X-Men team helped her escape, and she assisted them on several missions. At

20670-476: The astral plane to meet with her and retrieve information on the cure to the Legacy Virus, but after gathering the information does not want to leave her alone. If not for Jean and Cable talking him down and pulling him back, the professor would have died with his first love, who states she has no regrets. As Beast cures the Legacy Virus, many infected Genoshan mutants recover overnight, providing Magneto,

20865-505: The basis for the critical darling Immortal Hulk today. Few superhero stories, if any, have addressed these ideas as well as "The Dark Phoenix Saga" though." Literary scholar Ramzi Fawaz interprets the story as an indictment of the fall of feminist liberation into a narcissistic personality. While he reads the earlier stories of the Phoenix force as presenting a potential alliance between projects of liberation for white women (represented by Jean Grey) and for Black women (represented by Storm),

21060-574: The battle, which meant she was no longer competing with Xavier for the approval of Kitty's parents. Kitty's parents had not heard from her in more than a day, because during that time she was first being pursued by the Hellfire Club's men and then working with the X-Men to save their friends. All they knew was Kitty had left with Xavier's "students" to get a soda, there had been reports that the soda shop had been blown up, and Kitty had been missing since. Therefore, they were angry at Xavier when he finally returned with Kitty in tow. At first, it seemed like there

21255-612: The bullet in two and levitating Kitty to the ground. When she and Colossus try to touch, it is revealed that she is trapped in her intangible form, unable to speak, and the X-Men place her in a protective chamber similar to the one used for her following the events of the Mutant Massacre. How Kitty survived her time in the bullet is unclear to the X-Men's science team, where the X-Men discover that all her bodily functions halted. An analysis by Kavita Rao hypothesizes that Kitty created an intense muscle memory to keep herself and

21450-433: The bullet phased and has "forgotten" how to un-phase. During a conversation with Colossus, with Emma Frost acting as the psi-conduit, Kitty picks up Emma's stray thoughts on killing the captive Sebastian Shaw , to prevent Namor from discovering she previously lied to him. While disgusted at Emma's intentions, Kitty offers a compromise. Due to her current ghost state, she is the perfect tool for making Shaw disappear. In

21645-496: The bullet, as it continues to hurtle through space. Whether she is alive or dead is unknown, though the X-Men consider her lost to them. As a result of these events Kitty does not appear in the X-Men crossover event X-Men: Messiah Complex , since this takes place after the events of Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men . She is briefly mentioned in the aftermath of the Messiah Complex, by Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Wolverine, as

21840-430: The bullet, but because the bullet's design would harden as time went on, it would become increasingly difficult to break the bullet open. After the X-Men move to the island of Utopia, Magneto arrives on the island professing his desire to join and support the X-Men in their effort to unite the world's remaining mutants. The X-Men reluctantly let him stay, remaining wary of him despite his efforts to gain their trust. In

22035-571: The center only to discover it empty. The missile is fired, causing Kitty to pass out inside of it as Beast discovers too late that due to its shape, trajectory, and lack of internal circuitry, the Breakworld's weapon is not a missile, but a bullet. As the bullet hurtles toward Earth, Kitty lies unconscious within it. As the situation becomes increasingly dire, Emma establishes mental contact with Kitty, reassuring her that she will come out of this fine, though it eventually becomes clear to both that

22230-703: The character in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018), and Dark Phoenix (2019). Harry Lloyd portrayed the character in the third season of the television series Legion . Stewart returned to the role again, portraying an alternate version of the character in the 2022 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness . Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby , Professor X first appeared in X-Men #1 (September 1963). Stan Lee has stated that

22425-419: The character in the first three films in the 20th Century Fox X-Men film series and in various video games, and James McAvoy portrayed a younger version of the character in the 2011 prequel X-Men: First Class . Both actors reprised the role in the film X-Men: Days of Future Past . Stewart would reprise the role in the film Logan (2017), while McAvoy would further appear as his younger iteration of

22620-479: The character to slightly resemble an adolescent Sigourney Weaver . The fictional Kitty Pryde first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #129 (January 1980), by writer Chris Claremont and artist Byrne, as a highly intelligent 13-year-old girl. Claremont said several elements of the character's personality were derived from those of X-Men editor Louise Simonson 's daughter, Julie. Claremont and Byrne made

22815-489: The costumed identity of Sprite. Early in her career as an X-Man, Kitty's adult self from an alternate future took possession of her body in the present to help X-Men thwart the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly by the second Brotherhood of Evil Mutants . Kitty then singlehandedly defeated a N'Garai demon. Kitty also briefly attended the White Queen's Massachusetts Academy when her parents became convinced that she needed to be with students of her own age, but following

23010-461: The courtroom to attack Magneto and Xavier. Xavier is seriously injured. Dying, he asks a shocked Magneto to look after the X-Men for him. Lilandra, who has a psychic bond with Xavier, feels that he is in great danger and heads to Earth. There, she and Corsair take Xavier with them so Shi'ar advanced technology can heal him. Xavier leaves Magneto in charge of the school, but some of the X-Men are unwilling to forgive their former enemy. Cyclops loses

23205-518: The current ruler of Genosha, with an army to start the third World War. He demands Earth's governments accept him as their leader, and abducts and crucifies Xavier in Magda Square for all to see. A loyal member of Magneto's Acolytes , Amelia Voght, cannot stand to see her former lover punished in such a manner and sets him free. Jean Grey and rather untrained newcomers, as most of the team are elsewhere, distract Magneto and Wolverine guts him. Xavier

23400-597: The discovery that Jean Grey was still on the bottom of Jamaica Bay in suspended animation following the original shuttle crash and that the Phoenix entity had used her body and mind as a lens, creating an immensely powerful duplicate of Jean, but one which grew more corrupted and distorted the longer it remained separate from the true Jean. In 1982, Dark Phoenix resurfaced in the DC /Marvel intercompany crossover one-shot The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans , written by regular X-Men writer Chris Claremont . The story (which

23595-529: The dismay of Sebastian Shaw. Seeing Pryde as an obstacle to his complete control of the Hellfire Corporation, Shaw began plotting against Kate and her crew. After taking notice how Emma became overprotective of the newly crowned Red Queen, Shaw realized that for the same reason she can't travel through Krakoa's gates nor read or understand the Krakoan language until Emma implanted it in her brain,

23790-448: The employ of Frost and the Hellfire Club. The X-Men defeated their assailants, but were subdued by the White Queen's telepathic powers immediately after. In the confusion, Kitty was separated from the X-Men, and not captured along with them. She managed to contact Cyclops , Phoenix , and Nightcrawler . With the help of Dazzler and Pryde, those X-Men rescued their teammates from the Hellfire Club. The White Queen appeared to perish in

23985-579: The end, both the personal crisis of the Fantastic Four and the life of Shadowcat were saved after Franklin Richards , with the help of Lockheed, brought both teams to their senses. Kitty has since recovered from this state and now has full control over her power again. Among the others injured and brought to Muir Isle were Colossus and Nightcrawler, although Colossus left the United Kingdom shortly after being released from MacTaggert's care to join

24180-512: The entire franchise, The Dark Phoenix Saga remains a watershed moment in pop culture." Will Friedwald of Vanity Fair called "The Dark Phoenix Saga" one of the "classic comic book story arcs that everybody has heard of, even if they haven’t read it," saying, "It’s no wonder the Dark Saga has inspired so many imitators. It took the big issues of cosmic narrative—even the very nature of existence—and stretched them as far as they would go. It cast

24375-525: The extent of his psychological damage, which only leads to Cain becoming more aggressive toward him and the young Xavier feeling Cain's pain firsthand. Sharon dies soon after, and a fight erupts between Cain and Charles that causes some of Kurt's lab equipment to explode. Mortally wounded, Kurt drags the two children out before dying, and admits he was partly responsible for Brian's death. With help from his superhuman powers and natural genius, Xavier becomes an excellent student and athlete, though he gives up

24570-427: The final barriers on her power. Experiencing this power in its totality overwhelms Jean, and she renames herself "Dark Phoenix". Enraged at Mastermind, she uses a telepathic illusion to make him experience godhood, driving him insane. To break her ties with her less powerful identity as Jean Grey, she strikes down the X-Men and departs for a distant galaxy. However, her power proves to be far more limited than she thought;

24765-422: The greatest superhero stories ever told," while Chris Arrant ranked it 2nd in their "Best Marvel Comics Stories of All Time" list. David Harth of Comic Book Resources ranked "The Dark Phoenix Saga" 1st in their "X-Men: 10 Story Arcs Every Fan Should Read" list, stating, " The Dark Phoenix Saga introduces so many things to X-Men lore, like the Hellfire Club and Kitty Pryde, concepts that would pay dividends over

24960-504: The grieving Sharon. When Xavier's telepathic mutant powers emerge, he discovers Marko cares only about his mother's money. After the wedding, Kurt moves in with the Xaviers, bringing with him his son Cain . Kurt quickly grows neglectful of Sharon, driving her to alcoholism, and abuses both Charles and Cain. Cain takes out his frustrations and insecurities on his stepbrother. Charles uses his telepathic powers to read Cain's mind and explore

25155-510: The group, filling the role of literary foil to the more established characters. She occasionally used the codenames Sprite and Ariel , cycling through several uniforms until settling for her trademark black-and-gold costume. During the miniseries Kitty Pryde and Wolverine , she was renamed Shadowcat , the alias she would be most associated with, and shifted to a more mature depiction in her subsequent appearances. Pryde would eventually abandon her nickname, "Kitty", and switch to "Kate". She

25350-560: The help of Skrull mutants, Xavier goes with the young Skrulls known as Cadre K to train them and free them from their oppressors, and eventually returns to aid in Legacy Virus research. Mystique and her Brotherhood start a deadly assault on Muir Isle by releasing an altered form of the Legacy Virus, all in retaliation against the election campaign of Robert Kelly , a seeming mutant-hater. Mystique blows up Moira MacTaggert's laboratory complex, fatally wounding her. Charles goes to

25545-493: The heroes' commitment to doing the right thing even when the world (or galaxy, in this case) hates and fears you." Jesse Schedeen of IGN ranked "The Dark Phoenix Saga" 2nd in their "25 Greatest X-Men Stories" list and called it "one of the most iconic Marvel stories of all time," saying, "The sheer variety of this story sets it apart, but not as much as the raw emotion and the satisfaction of seeing Claremont wrap up so many loose ends at once. John Byrne delivered his finest work on

25740-421: The home of Marvel writer Roger Stern . In conversation, both writers' longtime interest in the X-Men came up, and Stern expressed regret that there was no way to bring Jean back, not while satisfying Shooter's edict. Busiek told Stern his idea, not expecting it to amount to more than idle conversation. Later, Stern told the idea to John Byrne , then writer/artist of Fantastic Four . In 1985, Jim Shooter greenlit

25935-510: The image of a stern teacher, Xavier makes his students endure a rigorous training regime. Xavier's first five students are Cyclops , Iceman , Angel , Beast , and Marvel Girl who become the original X-Men. After he completes recruiting the original team of X-Men, he sends them into battle with Magneto. Throughout most of his time with the team, Xavier uses his telepathic powers to keep in constant contact with his students and provides instructions and advice when needed. In addition, he uses

26130-498: The innocent girl they once knew, and officially adopts the codename Shadowcat. While trying to save Rogue, Kitty was badly injured by Harpoon 's energy spear during the Mutant Massacre story arc, in the massacre of the Morlocks, with the result that she lost control of her power and was stuck in an intangible state and could not regain her solidity. She was rushed to Muir Island along with other surviving casualties of

26325-435: The intergalactic trip leaves her almost completely drained. To recharge, she devours the energy of the nearby D'Bari star, causing a supernova which kills the entire population of the only civilized planet orbiting the star. A Shi'ar vessel attacks to prevent her from destroying other stars. Dark Phoenix easily destroys the vessel, but not before they alert the Shi'ar Empress Lilandra . A council of intergalactic associates

26520-402: The issues over they agreed with Shooter that from the reader's perspective, she did not seem to be possessed, and Claremont admitted that while writing the Dark Phoenix Saga he was never clear in his own mind whether Jean Grey was possessed or her actions as Dark Phoenix were her own. Shooter, during a conversation with Claremont, suggested a scenario where Jean would be permanently imprisoned as

26715-691: The largest number of (attempted) adaptations over the years, including the upcoming Dark Phoenix . All of that is because The Dark Phoenix Saga is the X-Men at their best: fighting as and for their found family and the fate of the world, backs to the wall, in the face of impossible odds. It’s got pretty much everything that makes the X-Men great: not just high-stakes superpowered fights, but also high drama, found family, and some pretty spectacular science fiction." Anubhav Chaudhry of Sportskeeda ranked "The Dark Phoenix Saga" 1st in their "10 Best Comic Book Storylines of Marvel Comics" list, saying, "With stunning artwork and gripping storytelling, The Dark Phoenix Saga

26910-695: The latter, believing his powers give him an unfair advantage. Due to his powers, by the time he graduates from high school, Charles loses all of his hair. He enters Bard College at age 16 and graduates with his bachelor's degree in biology in only two years. In graduate studies, he receives Ph.D.s in Genetics , Biophysics , Psychology , and Anthropology with a two-year residence at Pembroke College , University of Oxford . He also receives an M.D. in Psychiatry while spending several years in London . He

27105-469: The location of their secret cache of gold. Magneto attempts to kill Strucker but Xavier stops him. Realizing that his and Xavier's views on mutant-human relations are incompatible, Magneto leaves with the gold. Charles stays in Israel for some time, but he and Gabrielle separate on good terms, neither knowing that she is pregnant with his son, who grows up to become the mutant Legion . In a strange town near

27300-726: The main X-Men books in 2004 under the pen of Joss Whedon in Astonishing X-Men . She remained a part of the X-Men books until 2008 when she left again for roughly 2 years. After coming back, she was featured in Jason Aaron's Wolverine and the X-Men and Brian Michael Bendis' All-New X-Men books. In early 2015, she joined the Guardians of the Galaxy . After the Secret Wars event, she adopted her new alias, Star-Lord (first believed to be Star-Lady). In 2020, Kitty Pryde

27495-452: The mission, the older team of X-Men, except for Cyclops, leave the school, believing they no longer belong there, and Xavier mentors the new X-Men. Xavier forms a psychic bond across galaxies with Princess Lilandra from the Shi'ar Empire. When they finally meet, it is love at first sight. She implores the professor to stop her mad brother, Shi'ar Emperor D'Ken , and he instantly aids her by deploying his X-Men. When Jean Grey returns from

27690-473: The moment they had landed on the Moon. The story ends with Uatu the Watcher commenting that "Jean Grey could have lived to become a god. But it was more important to her that she die...a human." According to Byrne, it had become a problem storywise that Claremont kept writing Phoenix stronger and stronger, making her the dominating element of the X-Men book. Steven Grant then suggested they should make her

27885-464: The mutant gene. Xavier's pacifist and assimilationist ideology and actions have often been contrasted with that of Magneto , a mutant leader (initially characterized as a supervillain and later as a complex antihero ) with whom Xavier has a complicated relationship. Writer Chris Claremont , who originated Magneto's backstory, modeled the politics of Xavier on David Ben-Gurion and that of Magneto on Menachem Begin . Patrick Stewart portrayed

28080-530: The name Shadowkat . In the 20th Century Fox X-Men film series , Kitty Pryde was initially portrayed by young actresses in cameos; Sumela Kay in X-Men (2000) and Katie Stuart in X2 (2003). Later, Elliot Page portrayed the character in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) in full-length appearances. Kitty Pryde was introduced into the X-Men title as

28275-477: The new character a full-fledged X-Man in issue #139, where she was codenamed "Sprite". She was the main character in issues #141–142, the " Days of Future Past " storyline, where she is possessed by the consciousness of her older self, "Kate", who time travels from a dystopian future back to the present to get the X-Men to help her prevent an eventual mass extermination of mutants. The six-issue miniseries Kitty Pryde and Wolverine (1984–1985), written by Claremont,

28470-482: The night Scott Summers moves into Xavier's mansion, Amelia leaves him, believing Charles would have changed his view and that mutants should lie low. Yet he is recruiting them to what she believes is a lost cause. Charles tries to force her to stay with his mental powers, but immediately ashamed by this, lets her go. She later becomes a disciple of Magneto. Over the years, Charles makes a name for himself as geneticist and psychologist, apparently renowned enough that

28665-551: The physical inspiration of Professor Xavier was from Academy Award-winning actor Yul Brynner . Writer Scott Lobdell established Xavier's middle name to be "Francis" in Uncanny X-Men #309 (February 1994). Xavier's goals are to promote the peaceful affirmation of mutant rights, to mediate the co-existence of mutants and humans, to protect mutants from violent humans, and to protect society from antagonistic mutants, including his old friend, Magneto . To achieve these aims, he founded Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters (later named

28860-414: The proofs for the issue and noticed that the story included the destruction of an inhabited solar system, with an explicit mention of billions of lives lost. Louise Simonson feels it was Shooter's outrage over this plot element which led to him taking editor Jim Salicrup off the series several issues earlier than he had been scheduled to. Upon questioning Salicrup about where the plot went from there, he

29055-632: The rest of the X-Men on their mission to battle the Adversary . The X-Men sacrificed their lives to defeat the Adversary, the battle and their sacrifice was televised and broadcast across the world. The X-Men were resurrected later in the same issue, unknown to the world at large, but chose to keep a low profile and perpetuate the belief that they were still dead. This strategy was enforced to more effectively fight their enemies. This meant avoiding contact with friends and family, including Kitty. Thinking

29250-406: The result of a Marvel Comics editorial dictate that the series depict a school for mutant children. The Uncanny X-Men artist John Byrne named Kitty Pryde after a classmate he met in art school (Canada's Alberta College of Art and Design ) in 1973. Byrne had told Pryde he liked her name and asked her permission to use it, promising to name his first original comics character after her. Byrne drew

29445-459: The royal and standard languages of the alien Shi'ar and Skrull , and has moderate expertise in Gaelic, Hebrew, and German. Kitty also shares a mental/empathic connection with her pet dragon Lockheed ; both she and the alien dragon can "sense" each other's presence at times and generally understand one another's thoughts and actions. When Kitty used the Black Vortex, her powers were augmented to

29640-444: The same moment that Jean died. Pryor's transformation into Dark Phoenix is revealed to be an illusion by Mastermind , seeking revenge for what Jean Grey did to him during the Dark Phoenix Saga. In issue #175, Cyclops and Madelyne repeat the dialogue he exchanged with Jean Grey after Professor X locked away her Dark Phoenix powers, marking the parallel with the dissolving of Mastermind's Dark Phoenix illusion. The story (issues #129–137)

29835-483: The script with no connection to the ending; for instance, in the original version of the day of rest, the individual X-Men are each thinking of their own personal issues, while the published version shows them reflecting on their decision to protect Jean. The original ending ultimately saw print in 1984 in Phoenix: The Untold Story . Besides the original version of Uncanny X-Men #137, it featured

30030-561: The sea. While Lockheed was able to survive, Kate sank helplessly, and once her head dropped under the surface, she had no air left and drowned instantly. Her death is later confirmed by Bishop as he retrieves Kate's body, as it was also established that the Resurrection Protocols indeed do not apply to Kate, as the Five, for reasons unknown, cannot resurrect her. However, she is later resurrected, as Emma Frost realized that it

30225-484: The series with this long arc, culminating in the battle royale against the Imperial Guard and the tragic sacrifice of the Phoenix." David Caballero of Screen Rant asserted, "The storyline remains influential and is one of the most referenced in American superhero comics. Thanks to excellent writing, compelling and flawed characters, inspired and often-imitated artwork, and consequences so extreme they reshaped

30420-405: The situation will be grim. Kitty and Emma come to an understanding and reconciliation, Emma stating that she never wanted something like this to happen to her. Kitty then phases the bullet through Earth, but is trapped within. At the end of Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men , Scott Summers mentions that Doctor Strange , Reed Richards , and some "top men" tried to save her, but believe she has fused to

30615-617: The space-time continuity. Eventually, this leads Kitty to take the decision of abandoning the school with the time-displaced X-Men and join Cyclops's X-Men at the New Xavier School. During the first few weeks at the New Xavier School, Jean Grey is abducted by the Shiar Empire to stand trial for her future self's crimes. Kitty and the time-displaced X-Men team up with the Guardians of the Galaxy and succeed in rescuing Jean from

30810-429: The start of Joss Whedon 's run on Astonishing X-Men , Kitty once again rejoins the X-Men, despite having extreme reservations about working with the former White Queen , given their history. This was the primary reason why Frost herself wanted Kitty on the team, as a sort of "safety" should Frost ever revert to type. Frost reasoned that the person who trusted her least would be most likely to spot such behavior. On one of

31005-536: The story is in the final pages of Uncanny X-Men Omnibus, Volume 1 , which includes Giant-Size Uncanny X-Men #1, The X-Men Annual #3, and The X-Men #94–131; it concludes in Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Volume 2 , which continues through issue #153 and also includes Annual #4–5, Avengers Annual #10, Marvel Fanfare #1–4, Marvel Treasury Edition #26–27, Marvel Team-Up #100, Bizarre Adventures #27, and Phoenix: The Untold Story . The saga

31200-437: The story was a matter of intense controversy with the editorial staff. Jim Shooter's recollections are that the intent of the Dark Phoenix storyline was to introduce Dark Phoenix as a cosmic nemesis for the X-Men. This was what had been discussed amongst the creative team and Shooter, and this was the story development that had been approved. When Uncanny X-Men issue 135 was in the final artwork stages, Shooter happened to look at

31395-472: The story. Had there been a fifth season of the animated series X-Men: Evolution (2000), its own version of the four-part Dark Phoenix would have been adapted. The live-action X-Men film Dark Phoenix (2019) is an adaptation of the Hellfire arc of the story. Returning from a mission in space, Jean Grey is exposed to the deadly radiation of a solar flare, and briefly attains her ultimate potential as

31590-441: The storyline has been featured in various other Marvel-licensed products. It was adapted for X-Men: The Animated Series (1992). It was later alluded to in the live-action film X2 (2003). The live-action film X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) contains some elements from the saga. The animated series Wolverine and the X-Men (2009) adapted "The Dark Phoenix Saga" at the end of its first season, though it changed many elements of

31785-422: The surface area of the palms of her hands and then immediately phase both her palms and the weapon. Besides her mutant powers, Kitty is a genius in the field of applied technology and computer science . She is highly talented in the design and use of computer hardware. She is a skilled pilot of piston and jet engine aircraft, and a competent pilot of certain advanced interstellar vehicles. She has previously shown

31980-415: The team prepares to end the confrontation with the Breakworld leader, the team splits up—with Kitty on the team appointed to stop the missile pointed at Earth. Kitty phases into the missile to disrupt its circuitry noting that it is composed of the same material as the rest of Breakworld, a material that is difficult and exhausting for her to phase through. After phasing for a mile into the missile, Kitty finds

32175-516: The team's first missions, Shadowcat discovered Colossus was alive. After some initial awkwardness, Kitty and Colossus resumed dating. Kitty Pryde appeared alongside Colossus in the "Blinded by the Light" arc in X-Men. They are the two X-Men left to look after the students while the rest of the X-Men leave for Mystique 's home in Mississippi to check up on Rogue , during which they are ambushed by

32370-405: The three of them discuss "losing her." To cope with Kitty's loss, Colossus takes down a group of Russian criminals dealing in human trafficking, and gets a tattoo of the name 'Katya' on his chest. Emma begins having a recurring dream in which she hears a voice whom she believes is Kitty's trying to reach out to her. It was later confirmed by Abigail Brand that Kitty Pryde was still alive within

32565-574: The trapped consciousness of Cassandra Nova, the apparent ringleader of this new Hellfire Club. A newly awakened Cyclops revealed that the new Hellfire Club, including Perfection and Nova, are actually mental projections created by a piece of Cassandra Nova's consciousness; which became lodged in Emma's mind during the X-Men's last confrontation with her, playing on her survivor's guilt over the Genoshan massacre, and utilizing Emma's telepathy to both confound

32760-428: The true, unreformed Emma Frost. Under this delusion, Kitty was made to believe that she and Colossus had conceived a child, which was later taken away by the X-Men because its potential mutant abilities were supposedly dangerous. Kitty reacts in the delusion by attempting to rescue the child from a near-inescapable "box" in the depths of the school, unaware that in reality she is freeing an alien entity, Stuff, who contains

32955-563: The two, the White Hot Room, in which both entities reside between resurrections. At the conclusion of the Inferno event, Jean absorbs all the memories of Phoenix's experiences from its first appearance as Jean through the end of the Dark Phoenix Saga. Writer Grant Morrison would ultimately establish that only by merging with Jean at her most powerful as the "One True Phoenix" could the Phoenix realize its full potential in physical form as

33150-449: The various warp gates leading to Krakoa. It is implied that she has done something to anger Krakoa, but that restriction does not mean Kitty cannot use other means to reach the mutant homeland. She steals a boat and sets sail for the island. Kitty's time on Krakoa proves to be just as fruitless, as the island's natural resources (like flowers that grow into biome homes) are similarly prohibited to Kitty. Emma Frost comes asking Kitty to take up

33345-681: The villain Apocalypse saves him. As a temporary side-effect, he gains full use of his legs and devotes his precious time to the youngest recruit on his team, Jubilee . With all his students now highly trained adults, Professor Xavier renames his school the Xavier Institute For Higher Learning. Also, he assumes control of a private institution, the Massachusetts Academy, making it a new School for Gifted Youngsters. Another group of young mutants

33540-422: The war, he receives a letter from Moira telling him that she is breaking up with him. He later discovers that Moira married her old boyfriend Joseph MacTaggert, who abuses her. Deeply depressed when Moira broke off their engagement without explanation, Xavier began traveling around the world as an adventurer after leaving the army. In Cairo , he meets a young girl named Ororo Munroe (later known as Storm), who

33735-487: The whole Solar System in hopes of eliminating Dark Phoenix in the process. Xavier orders the X-Men to subdue Jean to preempt Lilandra's emergency measure. They battle her until she regains her senses. Running inside one of the Blue Area's ruins, Jean, struggling to keep control, activates an ancient Kree weapon that disintegrates her after an emotional good-bye to Cyclops. He deduces that Jean had planned her sacrifice from

33930-414: The world (only east or west) to another seemingly instantaneously. At the climax of Astonishing X-Men , Kitty phases a 10 mi (16 km) long "bullet" composed of super-dense alien metals through the entire planet Earth. This feat caused her considerable strain, but she is unable to phase out of the bullet. Moreover, originally Kitty found it difficult or impossible to phase only part of her body at

34125-412: The world, something he needed to do but did not want to sully his reputation over, before going into space and crippling the Shi'ar Empire. The X-Men restore Xavier, but Lilandra, believing that too much disaster has come from the Shi'ar's involvement with the X-Men, annuls her marriage to Xavier. Lilandra previously had gone insane and tried to assassinate Charles on a trip to Mumbai . During this period,

34320-410: The years. Claremont and Byrne kill it in this one, presenting a tale that is not only considered the best X-Men story of all time but one of the best comics of all time in general." Joe Garza of /Film ranked "The Dark Phoenix Saga" 1st in their "15 Best X-Men Comics You Need To Read" list, writing, "The "Dark Phoenix Saga" is quite possibly THE signature X-Men storyline, the one that perfectly embodies

34515-666: Was again published in its entirety, Uncanny X-Men #129-138, along with various other issues, including Phoenix: The Untold Story , in X-Men Epic Collection Vol. 7: The Fate of the Phoenix in March 2021. Kitty Pryde Katherine Anne " Kitty " Pryde is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics , commonly in association with the X-Men . The character first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #129 (January 1980) and

34710-447: Was attracted to Rachel. Later, she was romantically involved with former Black Air agent Pete Wisdom . At some point Kitty was recruited by the international law enforcement agency S.H.I.E.L.D. to repair the computer system of their flying headquarters. Kitty discovered the problem was due to Ogun's spirit having infiltrated the computer system, and with the aid of Wolverine, she managed to purge Ogun's presence. During this time, Kitty

34905-448: Was attracted to a S.H.I.E.L.D. intern her own age, and this made her begin to doubt her relationship with Wisdom. Soon after, she broke off their relationship. After Excalibur's dissolution, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, and Colossus return to the X-Men. While returning, they faced a group of imposters following Cerebro, in the guise of Professor X. While tracking Mystique , she stumbles onto prophetic diaries that belonged to Irene Adler ,

35100-544: Was born in Deerfield , Illinois , to Carmen and Theresa Pryde. She is an Ashkenazi Jewish-American and her paternal grandfather, Samuel Prydeman, was held in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II . Kitty started to have headaches at age thirteen, signaling the emergence of her mutant powers. She was approached by both the X-Men's Charles Xavier and the Hellfire Club's White Queen, Emma Frost , both of whom hoped to recruit her for their respective causes. Kitty

35295-635: Was born in New York City to the wealthy Dr. Brian Xavier, a well-respected nuclear scientist, and Sharon Xavier. The family lives in a very grand mansion estate in Westchester County because of the riches his father's nuclear research has brought them. He later grows up to attend Pembroke College at the University of Oxford , where he earns a Professorship in Genetics and other science fields, and goes on to live first in Oxford and then London for

35490-419: Was co-created by writer-artist John Byrne and writer Chris Claremont . A mutant , Pryde possesses a "phasing" ability that allows her to pass through objects, hence she is intangible while using this ability. This power also disrupts any electrical field she passes through, and lets her simulate levitation . The youngest to join the X-Men , she was first portrayed as a "kid sister" to many older members of

35685-473: Was decided by Byrne and Claremont to have Jean commit suicide after her Dark Phoenix persona resurfaces at the climax of the fight against the Imperial Guard. Issue 137 was left largely unchanged, but the last five pages were completely rewritten and redrawn for the new ending, and Claremont also took the opportunity to write a second draft of his script. Because of this, comparison of the original and published versions of X-Men #137 reveals numerous differences in

35880-404: Was due to the nature of Kate's intangibility powers that her mindless body was unable to break out of the egg. Kitty is a mutant with the ability to pass through solid matter by passing her atomic particles through the spaces between the atoms of the object through which she is moving. In this way she and the object through which she is passing can temporarily merge without interacting, and each

36075-607: Was first collected as a trade paperback in 1984. The first edition featured a cover painting by Bill Sienkiewicz . To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Phoenix Saga, the storyline was reprinted in an oversized trim hardcover. The X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga hardcover (352 pages, July 2010, Marvel, ISBN   978-0-7851-4913-2 ) collects The X-Men #129–138, Classic X-Men #43, Bizarre Adventures #27, Phoenix: The Untold Story (one-shot), and What If? #27. The story ( The X-Men #129–137) has been collected into

36270-441: Was inside. Despite this and the High Evolutionary 's apparent ability to retrieve the bullet and Kitty, Magneto chose to focus on regaining his powers, secretly keeping tabs on the bullet until his decision to draw it back to Earth. During her time trapped inside the bullet, Kitty keeps herself and the bullet phased to avoid collisions with any inhabited objects in its path. Magneto brings Kitty Pryde safely down to Earth by cracking

36465-436: Was marked out with black tape to create an air of mystery about the revelations that the crossover would involve, and Busiek thus found himself taping over all mention of his idea. While the retroactive depiction of Jean Grey and Phoenix as separate entities remains canon, later stories have established a middle ground regarding the unique relationship between the two. Claremont would establish an extradimensional mutual home for

36660-418: Was no chance of Kitty being allowed to attend the school and join the X-Men. Phoenix then used her considerable telepathic power to erase the memories of Kitty's parents and plant false ones, resulting in a complete shift in their attitude towards Xavier. Kitty was then allowed to enroll at Xavier's school with her parents' blessing, becoming the youngest member of the team. Kitty joined the X-Men, and assumed

36855-615: Was one of the main cast of characters depicted in the original Excalibur title. After momentarily joining the Guardians of the Galaxy , she assumed her then-fiancé's superhero identity as the Star-Lord ( Star-Lady ). In the series Marauders , she was informally known as Captain Kate Pryde and the Red Queen of the Hellfire Trading Company . After rejoining the X-Men in the " Fall of X " relaunch, she assumes

37050-557: Was printed in hardback form for issue 2 of The Official Marvel Graphic Novel Collection , a graphic novel series based in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, in January 2012. Another omnibus edition, X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga Omnibus , was published in August 2018, and included Uncanny X-Men #97–105, 107–108, 125–138, Bizarre Adventures #27, Phoenix: The Untold Story , What If? #27, and material from Classic X-Men #6, 8, 13, 18, 24, 43 (688 pages, ISBN   978-1302912123 ) The "Dark Phoenix Saga"

37245-795: Was revealed to be bisexual. Her co-creator, Chris Claremont, said he had always intended this to be the case, considering Rachel Summers as a possible love interest for Pryde. However, Claremont said he was not allowed to show this at the time, as he claimed on the "Xplain the X-Men" podcast in 2016. Shadowcat's popularity had a profound effect on the real-life Kitty Pryde: the latter became so overwhelmed by attention from Shadowcat fans, she abbreviated her name to K.D. Pryde to avoid association with her fictional counterpart. She has since stated she has mixed feelings about her fame, saying she values Byrne's comics for their entertainment and artistic value, but wishes more people would appreciate her as more than just Shadowcat's namesake. Katherine Anne "Kitty" Pryde

37440-422: Was sent to rescue the original X-Men from Krakoa. However, after rescuing Cyclops, McTaggert's former students were seemingly killed. Upon Cyclops' return, Xavier removed Cyclops' memories of the death of Vulcan and his teammates; and began assembling yet another team of X-Men. Xavier's subsequent rescue team consists of Banshee , Colossus , Sunfire , Nightcrawler , Storm , Wolverine , and Thunderbird . After

37635-495: Was the Hellfire Club's Black Queen and the lover of one of Wyngarde's ancestors. Phoenix eventually accepts the Black Queen as her actual identity, a decadent role that allows her to relish the extremes of human emotion and begins to break down the barriers that she had erected. She helps the Hellfire Club capture the X-Men , and Jean's true love Cyclops faces Mastermind in a psychic duel. When Mastermind kills Cyclops' psychic image, it breaks his hold over Jean's psyche and shatters

37830-437: Was told that issue 137 ended with Jean being permanently depowered by the Shi'ar and released into the custody of the X-Men. Shooter disagreed with this development both from a storytelling standpoint as well as, secondarily, a moral standpoint, likening the ending to "taking the German army away from Hitler and letting him go back to governing Germany," and finding it out of character for the X-Men to retain friendly relations with

38025-488: Was unnerved by Frost, observing that the White Queen looked at her as if she were "something good to eat." She got along better with Xavier and the three X-Men who escorted him, quickly becoming friends with Ororo Munroe . Ororo told Kitty who she really was and about the X-Men, which made the teenager even more enthusiastic about attending Xavier's school. Their conversation was cut short when they (along with Wolverine and Colossus ) were attacked by armored mercenaries in

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