Phoenix Saga I

It was already Christmas and Professor Xavier has recurring dreams about ships and battles in outer space. He decides to take a vacation, and the X-men see him off at the airport. Suddenly they are under attack by Alex Summers (Havok) and Lorna Dane (Polaris), who were assaulted in Rio Diablo and are apparently under some kind of mental hold. During the fight, Scott is about to get through to his brother, but the hold of Eric the Red, their attacker, is stronger. After both mutants are defeated, Eric grabs them and flies away. Elsewhere Dr. Lang watched the whole incident, but he too is watched by a mysterious figure.

Not long after the X-Men faced their toughest challenge Xavier had been in mental contact with an alien Princess Lilandra of the Shi’Ar and she told him of an attack of her People on Earth, lead by her bother D'ken. For the brief time that Lilandra was on Earth, Professor X found some relief from the pain and anguish he had been feeling for many months. However, when she is abducted by Eric the Red and taken away through the Stargate, the feelings return in force, driving him into a hallucinogenic sleep. In his dream, Xavier is tormented by visions of the original team of X-Men fighting his “new” X-Men. The teams go back and forth, neither seeming to gain an edge, but it soon becomes apparent to the new X-Men that the original X-Men aren’t being hurt because they aren’t real. They are all constructs of Professor X’s mind. The good part of Xavier’s mind has conjured his “new X-Men” and the evil part of Xavier’s mind has conjured evil versions of the original X-Men. The good Xavier regains control of his own mind and banishes the evil half of his mind, regaining his sanity in the real world at the same time.

Elsewhere also the other X-Men are enjoying Christmas in New York when Sentinels attack. Jean, Banshee, Wolverine are captured, as well as Professor Xavier, who was vacationing near the Bahamas with Dr. Peter Corbeau. The captives are taken to Dr. Lang’s base and are examined. They attempt to escape but to their surprise they are on an orbital station in space. Dr. Corbeau arrives at the mansion and helps the X-Men to locate their missing teammates. Corbeau and the remaining X-Men, rocket into space to rescue Wolverine, Banshee, Professor Xavier, and Jean Grey. Sentinels attack their craft and they are forced to crash into the space station, where they fight more Sentinels. Cyclops goes to fight Dr. Lang and rescue Jean and the Professor while he sends the other X-Men to rescue Wolverine and Banshee, who are held in another area of the station. Cyclops begins to knock Lang out but then is attacked by an unseen person.

Later when the other X-Men arrive, they run into the original X-Men. Professor Xavier then commands them to kill the new X-Men.

The X-Men battle the original X-Men and don’t do to well. Eventually Wolverine uses his enhanced smell to determine they are fakes and they overcome the phonies. Lang is upset, and when Cyclops breaks out of his containment tube, he tries to escape. Jean uses her telekinesis to make Lang’s shuttle crash. The X-Men have won, but the problem is to get back to earth, as their Shuttle’s shields are damaged and Peter Corbeau certainly would not survive the increased solar activity. Jean decides that she is the only one who can do the job, she telepathically absorbs the knowledge to pilot the shuttle and tries to screen out the radiation with her telekinesis. The other X-Men go into a life support chamber while Jean begins to pilot the shuttle towards Earth. Halfway through the flight, the radiation begins to seep through.

Xavier then sent the X-Men to an orbiting space station to try to stop the on coming invasion. When trying to flee the space station the shuttle was damaged so Jean Grey used her telepathic ability's to take the flight knowledge from the shuttle's pilot so she could fly the shuttle and use her telekinetic shield to protect the ship. The shuttle landed the in the water just off New York, the X-Men and the Shuttle's crew all unhurt.

During the thirty minute flight, radiation passed through, poisoning and killing Jean as she was suddenly approached by the Phoenix Force, the same for that had scanned her some time ago. It offered to help Jean but not without a price. Left with no other choice, Jean accepted, ensuring the save return of the other X-Men. The Force duplicated Jean’s body, infused it with some of her essence, soul and life-force and merged with it, while the original Jean was placed in a healing cocoon.

Intoxicated with the rich experience of life, friendship and love, Phoenix was overwhelmed by this passionate life-form. She denied her own consciousness and forced herself into totally believing to be the real and only Jean Grey. The shuttle crashed down in Jamaica Bay and Phoenix rose out of the wreckage, taking Jean’s place with the X-Men, while the cocoon sank to the ocean ground.

Jean rises out of the water with immense power calling herself as Phoenix, but then passes out.

At the hospital, Jean’s doctor says she’ll be all right but needs to rest. Eventually, Jean leaves the group.

An Irish Vacation

Then Xavier tells the X-Men to go on an enforced vacation. They go to Banshee’s newly inherited Cassidy Keep in Ireland. Once there, they fall through a trap door. They confronted the Black Tom Cassidy (Banshee’s cousin) and Juggernaut.

While the X-Men fight Black Tom and the Juggernaut, Storm has a claustrophobic seizure. A flashback shows how she was buried alive when a plane crashed into the house of her parents who died that day. Later she became a master thief on the streets of Cairo. One by one the X-men are knocked out by the Juggernaut, while Black Tom and Banshee fight with their fists, immune to each other‘s powers. Lying in the shadows, Nightcrawler becomes partially invisible and is carried away by some elves.

In New York, Xavier senses the X-Men’s distress and sends Cyclops, but he refuses to go with Jean still in the hospital.

Leprechauns are carrying Nightcrawler when he wakes up. The leprechauns lead Nightcrawler to Black Tom’s laboratory where the X-Men are captive. Disguised as Xavier, Nightcrawler tricks Juggernaut in to punching a huge hole in the wall. Storm, relieved to see the sky, creates a huge hurricane, which frees the X-Men. Banshee and Black Tom have a sword fight and Black Tom falls into the water. Juggernaut jumps in after him.

Elsewhere, Eric the Red was watching the fight on a monitor. Shi’Ar Emperor D’Ken tells Eric the Red that he must not fail again, and Eric states that he has found a better ally – Magneto.

The X-Men (without Cyclops) are sent to Moira MacTaggert’s Island because she hasn’t heard from Jamie Madrox (Multiple Man), who she left in charge. As they approach, their hovercraft is pulled apart by some force from the island. They are attacked when they reach shore and Banshee speculates that only one person could attack them like this. Sure enough, Magneto appears and begins to pummel the New X-Men.

Multiple Man (James Arthur “Jamie” Madrox) an American who had an Ability to duplicate himself an unknown number of times, and reabsorb said "dupes".

Cyclops and Moira show up at the back of the island and get an injured Jamie Madrox’s flashback of Polaris, Havok, and Erik the Red showing up and turning baby Magneto into full-grown Magneto. Cyclops is worried, shows up at the battle just in time to stun Magneto and helps the rest of the X-Men retreat.

Somewhere in space, the Starjammers, together with brainwashed Polaris, Havok, and Erik the Red were about to ambush Professor X and Jean Grey.

As the X-Men return to their headquarters, they find Eric the Red waiting for them. They attack him, but are immediately ambushed by Firelord, whom Eric has tricked into thinking the X-Men are evil. Eric went to elsewhere. Firelord knocks out the X-Men and goes off to take care of their leader, Professor Xavier. Meanwhile in space above the planet, a Shi’Ar cruiser has caught up with Princess Lilandra’s fleeing scout ship and is able to blow it up. Fortunately, she is able to transport down to the planet just in time. Lilandra “beams" into Jean Grey’s apartment where a shocked Professor X finally meets the figure he has been seeing in his nightmares. They don’t have much time together, though, because Firelord has found them. Fortunately for Lilandra and Xavier, Jean Grey is now the Phoenix, and is more than a match for a former herald of Galactus.

As they battle over New York, Eric the Red takes out Professor X and Lilandra with a stun blast, and moves them to the roof. Here, the rest of the X-Men show up just in time to get knocked out of the sky by Eric, and watch him take Lilandra through a star-gate to the other side of the universe. However, after Phoenix defeats Firelord, she calmly points out that she is now powerful enough to power the Stargate herself, so the X-Men can follow Eric through the Stargate and hopefully save the universe!

Marvel Girl however would never be the same again she flew out of the water calling herself Phoenix she now had what seemed to be limitless Power.

The Starjammers and Shi’Ar Empire

After being transported through a star-gate by Phoenix the X-Men find themselves on an ancient planet that is home to the M’Kraan Crystal, surrounded by several members of the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard serving evil emperor D’Ken. When Cyclops announces that they are there for Lilandra an enormous battle commences between the two sides. Despite the number of Imperial Guardsmen the two teams are evenly matched. When Lilandra is saved from The Soul Drinker unleashed on her by D’Ken she reveals that he plans to use the M’Kraan Crystal to gain power absolute and that is why she escaped to Earth. The tide of the battle is turned by the arrival of the Starjammers, a group of interstellar pirates who aid the X-Men against the Guardsmen. Jean mind-probes their leader Corsair (Major Christopher Summers) and is shocked to discover that he is Cyclops’ father. Suddenly the M’Kraan Crystal powers up and reality for a fraction of a second ceases to exist.

Corsair (Christopher Summers) the lost father of Scott and Alex Summers, usually brings fencing sword, pulse blasters stored within the pocket dimensions of his gauntlet gems

Princess Lilandra Neramani, the Majestrix of Shi’Ar Empire, she have a peak human strength, speed, agility, endurance and reflexes, limited telepathic powers, Shi'Ar imperial body armor, ceremonial staff

On Earth Dr. Peter Corbeau warns that if the cosmic blinks continue, the universe will die. In space the M’Kraan Crystal is going crazy and it’s effects are felt on Earth with various super-teams having to accept that they can do nothing but await the end of existence. In Space, a small alien called Jahf suddenly attacks the X-Men. He is the guardian of the Crystal whose punch sends Wolverine flying into Orbit. He is finally defeated when Banshee realizes that he is a robot and fries his circuits with his scream. The battle is not over however because another guardian then attacks. Before the battle takes off however the X-Men, Starjammers and D’Ken are all transported inside the Crystal where they all experience their worst nightmares. Phoenix overcomes this and enters the sphere at the heart of the Crystal where she senses that if the lattice within the Crystal dies so will the entire universes. By using Storm and Corsair’s life forces as anchors Phoenix succeeds in knitting the lattice back together and experiences amazing levels of power. The universe saved, the X-Men return home along with an exiled Lilandra.

The X-Men return to the mansion following their adventure in space. There Jean Grey has to try and explain to her parents about her life as a super-heroine and she reminisces about how Corsair pleaded with her not to tell Scott he’s his father. Meanwhile Kurt talks to Scott about how no one can change what they are so there is no point in brooding about it.

Later Colossus, Storm, Banshee and Moira have a picnic and Wolverine is in the forest tracking a doe, a man calling himself as Weapon Alpha suddenly attacked him. The two men know each other and they have fought before but Weapon Alpha now wears a suit that gives him super strength and flight. He knocks Wolverine to the lake where there others are having a picnic. Colossus and Storm quickly attack Weapon Alpha who sends an energy beam in their direction but it bounces off Colossus and hits Moira. This makes Banshee go crazy who attacks with very high frequency sonic beams. Weapon Alpha decides to escape but Wolverine warns the others that this battle was merely the beginning.

Sunfire the Zealot

Caught in a raging storm, the X-Men are found by a passing Japanese freighter and allowed to board. However, they are not allowed to communicate with the outside world, as the ship is on a mission.

The X-Men arrive at the Jinguchi Maru’s home port of Agarashima and witness a city in flames. They quickly move into the city to help out, before continuing to the ancestral mansion of Shiro Yashida, who may be their only way out of Japan. Shiro doesn’t welcome their appearance, especially at this time, but the prime minister’s aide welcomes all the aid they can get. He refers also to Colleen Wing, who is there with her friend, Misty Knight.

Cyclops finds that the Professor X has shut down all the phone lines back in Westchester and really wants to get home quickly.

Wolverine, meanwhile, meets a woman called Mariko Yashida, who overwhelms him with her beauty. They are getting along well but a localized earthquake suddenly shatters their peace. As they try to escape from the estate, several Mandroids appear, coming to kidnap the government officials. The X-Men fight them alongside Sunfire and soon manage to best them. However, as the police take them away, a hologram appears from one of the Mandroids battle suits and the image of Moses Magnum appears. He warns the prime minister to acclaim him absolute ruler of the island nation in twenty-four hours, or he will sink Japan.

Professor Xavier, meanwhile, leaves Earth with Lilandra to begin a new life in the Shi’Ar Empire.

Flying over the Kuril Islands near Japan, Storm lets Nightcrawler drop and he teleports to a volcanic island below, the headquarters of Moses Magnum. Magnum has threatened to sink Japan unless he is made absolute ruler of the country. Kurt takes out a guard and enters the complex. He is there because Mr. Osama, the Japanese prime minister’s aide, explained that it is from here that he will trigger his so-called ‘Magnum Force.’

Storm and Banshee create a diversion, which allows Nightcrawler to go deep into the complex. He sends Cyclops a homing signal, which lets his team, including Sunfire, to punch through the rock below the base and emerge in the right place. Unfortunately, when they finally break through, Moses Magnum himself is there to deal with them. He takes out both Colossus and Wolverine with ease before setting two Mandroids onto them. They are soon taken out by a furious Colossus, but Magnum departs to begin his destruction of Japan. Banshee knows he must act fast and uses his sonic blast to counter the Magnum Force’s effect. He scream is so powerful that he manages to destroy the base by shaking it to its very foundations. The X-Men and Sunfire manage to get free and return to Japan, while Sean recovers from a coma, induced by his exertions. Later, he emerges from his coma and returns to Sunfire’s house to be warmly greeted by the team.

Jean Grey, meanwhile, visits Scotland and meets up with friends, gradually moving on with her life.

Further north, a stranger who is roaming Muir Isle kills Angus MacWhirter.

Canadian Heroes

The Canadian prime minister wants Wolverine caught and Vindicator is once again given the task of bringing him home. He contacts Alpha Flight to help him. The X-Men leave Japan by plane, but the pilots find themselves in a storm that seems to have an intelligence all its own. They are forced to land at Calgary in Canada and, there, Vindicator calls for Wolverine to hand himself over to them, or he won’t be responsible for what happens. Before the X-Men can respond, Sasquatch acts over-eagerly and destroys the plane. The X-Men protect the innocents aboard by escaping in a blizzard controlled by Storm.

In Calgary, they split up and agree to rendezvous later. Northstar and Aurora quickly catch Nightcrawler.  And Wolverine finds himself ambushed by Sasquatch. Vindicator, though, is fought off by Storm, but this leaves Cyclops and the rest of the X-Men with the task of rescuing their two colleagues.

Having lost Wolverine and Nightcrawler in Calgary, the remaining X-Men track them down to the stampede ground. Storm, Cyclops and Colossus break in and discover their comrades tied up in the center of the field. They approach them and are suddenly confronted by Alpha Flight. Vindicator argues the finer points of what they’re doing with Cyclops, as Colossus notices Northstar acting strangely. He reacts by causing a Shockwave, which unsettles the Canadian heroes. This is the catalyst for battle and, surprisingly, Wolverine and Nightcrawler join the fray, having being playing possum the whole time. Shaman has created a force field around the grounds and now creates some mystical creatures, which join the fight. Cyclops picks them off but the distraction allows Northstar to land a solid punch on the back of his head. Nightcrawler tussles with Aurora, while Colossus is matched with Sasquatch. Snowbird takes to the skies to keep Storm out of the fight, morphing into the form of a giant Arctic owl. The blizzard created by Shaman grows and grows and Ororo knows that she must act. She gets rid of Snowbird and heads above the clouds. She uses all her energies and skills to concentrate on the patterns created by the weather, and, slowly but surely, disperses the storm. Returning to the stampede grounds, Northstar attacks her but Scott quickly deals him with. After tussling with Vindicator, Wolverine decides to hand himself over to bring matters to a close and Vindicator acknowledges his wise choice. He is placed in a truck, which has a supposedly escape-proof cage inside it. The X-Men are escorted out of Canadian air space but soon agree to return and recover their friend.

In the Danger Room, Colossus is having doubts about his role as an X-Man, and it takes Wolverine’s left-field approach to snap him out of it. Scott is spending the day with Colleen Wing but can’t help thinking about Professor Xavier. Their day goes well but Colleen has to leave for work and she hands him a letter with a key to her place inside. He’s welcome anytime. Charles, meanwhile, arrives in the Shi’Ar galaxy, where a huge crowd greets Lilandra, welcoming her as their new Empress.

Jean Grey is on Stornoway in Europe and she bumps into Jason Wyngarde, who unknown to her is actually Mastermind. She clearly finds him interesting but he has more sinister plans for her. Wolverine and Storm head into New York. Logan drops Storm off before spotting Mariko Yashida but, frustratingly, he is unable to catch her in time to say hello.

Storm returns to the apartment, where her mother and father fell in love, only to find it inhabited by young drug addicts. After a scuffle in which her hand is cut, Luke Cage intervenes to bring the fight to a close.

Elsewhere, flying from London-Heathrow Airport, Black Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut meet their new employee, Arcade, who plans to take the X-Men down.

Prodigal Son

The X-Men take the Blackbird to Muir Island to investigate strange goings-on there. Upon their arrival, everyone takes off in different directions, with Nightcrawler and Colossus both entering the research facility. Kurt finds the mummified body of Angus MacWhirter, but also finds that Lorna Dane is fine. Cyclops heads off to find Jean, and is assisted by Storm, who carries him to the lab. Nightcrawler moves through the building in pitch darkness, as all the fuses have blown.

Out of nowhere, Havok blasts at him, missing by inches. He orders the intruder into the open and, as Kurt prepares to slip away, Colossus grabs Havok and explains that the X-Men are alive and well, and there to help. Scott discovers Jean, who is also fine, and the team moves to Moira’s house for a meeting. Jamie Madrox explains that Lorna had attacked Mutant X and blown the lights, but their foe had taken one of his dupes, which literally tore the soul out of Jamie. Logan wants to go after Mutant X immediately, but Cyclops wishes to know more about him. Moira reluctantly explains that the man they’re after, is her son Proteus. One of his weaknesses is metal.

The X-Men head to Stornoway on Mutant X’s trail. He has discarded the Multiple Man dupe body and replaced it with a local named Ferdie Duncan. As the X-Men then search the mainland of Scotland for him, Mastermind once again plays with Jean’s mind, this time making her believe she is on a stag hunt. When faced with a man in stag’s clothing, surrounded by dogs, she comes back to reality and sees Ferdie Duncan’s body.

Logan, using his animal tracking senses, discovers Mutant X disguised as a police officer and tackles him. Mutant X senses the metal inside Wolverine and, despite this being the one thing that can harm him, he proceeds to toy with both Logan and Nightcrawler, twisting reality around them. They enter a surreal world with nothing to latch onto to keep them sane, and their torment is only broken when Storm attacks. She creates a hurricane to try to drop Mutant X, now calling himself Proteus, and both Kurt and Logan find they are helpless to assist her, as Proteus moves in for the kill.

Proteus (Kevin MacTaggert), he can generate enormous amounts of psychic force from his energy state that allows him to restructure reality in any manner, can merge with human bodies to contain his vast energies

Storm is saved from Proteus by the timely intervention of Moira MacTaggert. Despite Proteus being her beloved son, Kevin, she shoots at him through the hurricane winds that Storm has conjured up. Cyclops stops her, but is taken out by the headstrong Scot. Proteus manages to escape, but Moira has an inkling where he might be headed, and decides to pre-empt him. The X-Men sort themselves out. Cyclops has seen Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Storm all become psychologically unnerved at Proteus’ hands. He uses a little improvised Danger Room session to snap them out of their worries, much to Wolverine’s approval.

Proteus, meanwhile, takes a new host body en route to Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital city. Moira reaches the city before him and visits her husband, Joe MacTaggert. He left Moira twenty years earlier and, despite his violence towards her then, she warns him about his son’s imminent arrival. He is shocked to learn they have a son, but Moira is no longer interested in his feelings. As she cries in her Jeep outside Joe’s townhouse, Proteus attacks his father and takes his body as his new host. It is strong, and Proteus feels it will serve him well. The X-Men arrive in Edinburgh and confront Proteus, whose reality-warping powers again give them a difficult time. He grabs Moira and threatens to kill her, or maybe even take her body as a new host. She calls for the X-Men not to worry about her and Cyclops comes to the conclusion that she is right. Proteus must be stopped, no matter what, or who, it costs.

The reality-warping Proteus has Moira MacTaggert captive, and the X-Men have to tread carefully not to injure her, while taking the fight to her son. Proteus makes use of the fact that there are civilians to protect, to keep the X-Men at bay. Through teamwork, however, they manage to save everyone. Cyclops has an idea about how to stop Proteus. As he, Colossus and Banshee head in his direction, Storm leads the attack by creating a pea-soup fog around their foe. Unfortunately, Proteus manages to get a psychic fix on her, and encases her in amber. Wolverine saves her by slicing through it, but it leaves him open to attack. As Proteus is about to strike, Banshee shoots him in the shoulder, but is dropped down a pit that is created beneath him for his trouble. Although Nightcrawler saves him, it takes both of them out of the fight. Phoenix is next to attack but, despite the ferocity of her attack, Proteus resists. He eventually overcomes her by making her believe she is dead. Wolverine is up next, and he strikes Proteus in the chest with his claws. The villain is vulnerable to metal, so Logan’s attack hurts.

Before he recovers, Havok and Cyclops attack from either side, pummeling Joe MacTaggert’s decaying body with huge amounts of energy. Again, Proteus resists and dissolves, leaving the two brothers to strike each other. Proteus heads off after his mother, whom Wolverine is taking to safety. He retrieves her, leaving Wolverine to fall to his death. Luckily, Scott uses pulsed beams to slow his fall, and his Adamantium-laced body survives the experience. As Proteus prepares to take Moira’s body as his host, Colossus appears, and hurls Proteus against a wall. His body crumbles, leaving only an energy form in its place. Colossus transforms into his steel form and strikes. The impact of his metallic body on Proteus causes a massive short circuit, and his molecules are spread to the far corners of the Earth. Moira is relieved, but also a little numb. She loved both Kevin and Joe, and feels unnecessarily guilty for the part she played in this tragedy. She and Sean hug each other, as a painful chapter in Moira’s life closes forever.

The Banshee left the X-Men due to injuries. As time goes by, he fell in love and got married with Dr. Moira MacTaggert. They lived in Muir Island. Later he knew that he had a daughter named Theresa Rourke, later be known as Siryn. Black Tom Cassidy secretly adopted Theresa thinking someday she will have superhuman ability that can be used to destroy Banshee. He is Banshee's cousin and a member of the Hellfire Club. They fought together to destroy Black Tom Cassidy. But later, Sean Cassidy come back and joined the team once again to fight for the Dark Phoenix.

The Inner Circle: Phoenix Saga II

The X-Men return from Scotland without the powerless Banshee (who stays behind with Moira MacTaggert), only to find that Professor Xavier has returned home from the Shi’Ar Empire. Jason Wyngarde (Mastermind) causes another "time slip" for Phoenix, and the Hellfire Club learns through a bug planted within the mansion, that Cerebro has located two new mutants. The White Queen-Emma Frost is sent to Chicago to retrieve Katherine Pryde before the X-Men can do so. She offers the Pryde’s to have Kitty join her Massachusetts Academy, but Xavier too offers scholarship at his School for gifted Youngsters. Ororo, Logan and Piotr take Kitty to a malt shop, where they are attacked and defeated by Hellfire troops. Only Kitty can escape by instinctively using her power to phase through solid objects. Secretly she enters the Hellfire Club’s hovercraft without knowing how to help her new friends.

Phoenix and Cyclops visit a Manhattan disco to look for a new mutant while Nightcrawler waits in the car. He receives a call from Kitty Pryde, who has escaped the clutches of the White Queen and informs him that the other half of the team is captured in Chicago.

The next moment, a Mandroids attacks Nightcrawler. Inside the disco, Jean “accidentally” meets Jason Wyngarde again, which causes another time flash for her. In that vision, she sees herself marrying Wyngarde and being turned into the Black Queen. After she slips out of the vision, she and Cyclops are also attacked by a group of Mandroids, who know their powers intimately.

The two X-Men find themselves saved by the mutant they were looking for – Dazzler, a singer with light-based powers. After having helped Nightcrawler, the X--Men and Dazzler decide to head for Chicago.

Kitty Pryde is chased by the White Queen’s agents, but is saved by Cyclops’ group of X-Men; more specifically, Phoenix, who takes out the men and her vehicle with frightening ease. After some misunderstandings, Kitty starts trusting the X-Men and leads them to Frost’s complex. Using the old Trojan Horse gambit, the X-Men get inside through the front door, while Kitty phases to the chamber where Wolverine and Colossus are being held and frees Wolverine. While the X-Men make short work of Frost’s agents, the White Queen intends to retaliate by destroying the captive’s Storm mind.

Finally, it came down to a telepathic battle between the White Queen and Phoenix, after Emma had tried to destroy the mind of her prisoner, Storm. At first, it seemed that the two women were evenly matched, but finally Emma was overpowered and the building crashed in on her. She is prevented from doing so by Phoenix and the two telepaths engage in a psychic battle. Just as Phoenix is about to win, Emma detonates the lab. Phoenix saves herself and Storm, but Frost apparently didn’t escape.

Later, the X-men say their goodbyes to Dazzler.

As they went home, Kitty changes costumes and wanted to be called as Sprite as inspired by Dazzler after watching the concert. Kitty’s parents are about to make a scene, until Phoenix, annoyed, modifies their memories, an act which leaves Cyclops and Storm worried about the changes in Jean.

Instead of returning home, Cyclops brings the X-Men to Angel’s New Mexico home, where he discusses matters with Angel and learns that he too is a member of the Hellfire Club, a club for millionaires. After Jean and Scott share a tender moment, Angel gets them invitations for the Club’s next big bash and four of the X-Men attend. The club’s Inner Circle acts and Wyngarde finally gains complete control over Phoenix, turning her into the Black Queen and making her attack Cyclops. The other club members beat the rest of the surprised X-Men, only Wolverine seemingly perishes in the fight. While the Inner Circle congratulates itself and power struggles between the members are already looming, an exhausted but angry Wolverine claws his way back, spoiling for a rematch.

There comes the Dark Phoenix Saga, the aristocratic Hellfire Club seduced Phoenix, using Mastermind's mutant ability to create complex illusions. Now the Hellfire Club consists of Sebastian Shaw, Donald Pierce, Jason Wyngarde, Shinobi Shaw, and White Queen.

Dark Phoenix: Phoenix Saga III

The Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club has shackled the X-Men but kept them alive, presumably to later use them as guinea pigs. Cyclops tries to snap Jean Grey out of her role as Black Queen by telepathically reaching her through the newly created rapport between them. However, impossibly, Mastermind is aware of this, co-opts the rapport and kills Cyclops on the astral plane, as a result of which the X-Men’s leader collapses in reality. Wolverine, in the meantime, attacks and badly injures several Hellfire Club mercenaries. Trying to find a way to his captured teammates, he eventually runs into several Club servants, who attack him with clubs while he is loath to harm them.

On Muir Isle, Moira fears for Jean, as the latest tests show that Phoenix is now tapping into nigh-limitless power levels. Xavier, in the meantime, admits his mistakes in leadership to Angel.

Cyclops has survived his encounter with Wyngarde on the astral plane, albeit barely. However, their battle has had another effect, outguessed by either, as Jean – the Black Queen – looks at both of them strangely. When Wolverine crashes into the room, intent on freeing his friends, Wyngarde orders Jean to stop him. She complies, but secretly also uses her powers to free Cyclops – she has shaken off Wyngarde’s control. Cyclops acts quickly and decisively, freeing the other X-Men. Now, with surprise on their side, the X-Men handle the Club members astonishingly well, though they get split up in the process. Wolverine does Leland a grievous injury, as the other mutant uses his gravity-increasing power on him. Colossus destroys one of Donald Pierce bionic arms and Shaw only barely escapes from Storm and Nightcrawler. He vows grimly that the X-Men will pay for this.

Elsewhere, Mastermind was trying to slip away unnoticed, but Jean easily confronts him and, in revenge for what he has set in motion within her, drives him mad, by forcing upon him the powers and perceptions of a god. The X-Men flee in their plane, intent on getting back to New Mexico, but they are too late as the aftermath of Mastermind’s manipulations is a startling change in Jean. She transforms into an evil version of herself – Dark Phoenix – and blows up the X-Men’s plane.

In the meantime, Avengers’ Mansion has been alerted to the goings-on at the Hellfire Club. Currently on monitor duty is the former X-Man, Beast, who decides to ignore his duty and help his old friends instead.

Jean Grey, now Dark Phoenix, attacks her teammates over Central Park and dispatches them with ridiculous ease. In a display that alerts sensitive all over New York, she leaves Earth and, having flown to the edge of the solar system, creates a Stargate that throws her into the heart of the galaxy.

Ravenous, she searches for sustenance by entering and imploding a star, soaking up its energy, uncaring that she dooms an inhabited world circling the sun with that act. The destruction of the D’Bari Sun does not go unnoticed, as a Shi’Ar battle cruise attacks Dark Phoenix. She easily destroys them, but not before they send a transmission to Chandilar: Empress Lilandra is now aware of what has happened to Phoenix and knows she must act.

On Earth, the X-Men, joined by their former teammates, Banshee and Beast, lick their wounds and wonder what they can do – what they have to do, as it turns out, since Cyclops senses through the vestiges of their rapport that Phoenix is returning to Earth – and she is hungry.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the X-Men’s fight with the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, Sebastian Shaw suggests to his friend, Senator Robert Kelly that Sentinels should be built again as a deterrent to mutant activity.

After the destruction of D’Bari, Majestrix Lilandra decides to take action against Dark Phoenix, who has, in the meantime, returned home. What starts as a visit to her parents quickly escalates into a hostile situation, which the X-Men join, trying to bring Phoenix down with the help of a psionic scrambler. Phoenix quickly burns the device out, however, and renders all X-Men but Cyclops helpless.

Cyclops appeals to her human side and may very well have succeeded, if not for the intervention of the newly arrived Professor X, who telepathically attacks Phoenix. The two telepaths fight and it is only with the help of Phoenix’s human side that Xavier manages to bind her awesome power, seemingly forever. Jean is returned to normal and Cyclops proposes to her. The X-Men are barely able to take a breather, when they are all suddenly teleported away.

Dangerous Impact

This tampering with her mind unleashed Phoenix's dark side and she went on to destroy an entire planet. While the X-Men tried to bring her under control and apparently succeeded, Lilandra had them captured as a means of punishing Phoenix while she was empowered. The X-Men find themselves on a Shi’Ar dreadnought and are ordered by Lilandra to give up Jean, as the threat that Phoenix poses has to be destroyed. Xavier utters a ritual challenge, which Lilandra cannot decline. Xavier called for a duel of honor for the right to not surrender Phoenix. Lilandra, with agreement of the Kree and Skrull as long as the superheroes' defeat was guaranteed, agreed to the challenge. The result was on the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard in a battle against the X-Men for Phoenix's life on Earth's moon.

The X-Men have one night left before the duel begins, to recover and to decide whether they actually want to fight for Jean. Despite some doubts, they all decide to stand by her. The next morning, both the X-Men and the Imperial Guard are teleported to the moon’s Blue Area, where the battle begins. Despite doing their best, all the X-Men are slowly beaten, until only Cyclops and Jean remain. The X-Men were eventually overwhelmed, but the stress of the battle overcame Phoenix's mental restraints against her Dark persona and it flared up. At that point, Lilandra gave up the soft touch and ordered the solar system destroyed in hopes that the Phoenix might be killed in the process and Xavier regretfully ordered the X-Men to kill their teammate to prevent that scorched earth measure. They battle with Dark Phoenix outside Earth. The Dark Phoenix was pure evil; it destroyed a star system with millions of live with out a second thought.

When Cyclops, too, is struck down, the shock causes Jean’s Phoenix power to destroy the limits Xavier placed in Jean’s mind. Phoenix is back. The X-Men decide they have to fight her, something Phoenix actually wants. After she’s weakened enough, she kills herself in front of Cyclops, unwilling to take the risk of ever harming another life again.

With Frost back at full health and Phoenix having committed suicide, the Hellfire Club wanted a rematch with the X-Men. The White Queen telepathically forced Kitty Pryde’s parents to transfer her to the Massachusetts Academy. Since Kitty was still a minor, she had to obey and Ororo agreed to drive her over. Once there, Emma Frost switched minds with Storm.

Meanwhile, Shaw’s Sentinels attacked the rest of the X-Men. After "Storm" helped to defeat them, she turned on the X-Men, who ended up as helpless prisoners of the Hellfire Club. However, the real Ororo, stuck in Frost's body, was able to get a handle on her telepathic powers and took Kitty back to the mansion. In the final battle, Storm proved to be the better woman and got her body back. She calmed the small blizzard Emma had created and saved her from falling from a great height. When the Queen again used her telepathy for another attack, Storm fried her with an electric bolt and was ready to kill her, but her fellow X-Men held her back. Instead, they made Emma promise to leave Kitty and the X-Men alone.

The X-Men and the Grey's are at Jean’s funeral and Scott Summers finds himself remembering their lives as X-Men from the beginning and all the events that led to this day. Afterwards, he takes a leave of absence from the X-Men. In the meantime, then arrived new members who joined were Katherine "Kitty" Pride, also an 13 yrs. old student and an adolescent Sprite, (later change her name as Shadowcat after her return from Japan with Wolverine), who was the team's youngest member at that time, who the Hellfire Club is trying to recruit. This is the first that Jean had died and Scott mourns for her for the first time.

Sprite/ Ariel (Kitty Pryde), a Jewish-American who can "phased" through solid objects. She was first named as Shadowcat.

Before Lilandra left Earth she gave a gift to Xavier through the medical technology of the Shi’Ar she transferred the Professor's mind into a new, younger, cloned body. This gave him the ability to walk again.

The Angel had returned and during the danger room session they give the code name to Kitty as Sprite. Wolverine also decided to return to Canada and make peace with Alpha Flight and the Department H, he come along with Kurt Wagner. In Canada, they helped his old comrades to fight with Wendigo.

The Alphans' Shaman and Snowbird have discovered the human form of Wendigo who is Georges Baptiste and they helped to release his prisoners.