Dark Phoenix Saga
| The Dark Phoenix Saga | |
|---|---|
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| Dates run: | January 13-21, 2015 |
| Run By: | Dex |
| Plots: | A Touch Of Brimstone, Fires From The Ashes, The Trial of Jean Grey, Reality Coming Down and The Dark Phoenix |
"Now, consider this is your reality. Broken; fragmented, and most importantly, on the point of collapse. Ready to join the other universes which shattered in the same way. Yet, there is something you have that others don't. The potentia of the energy of the Phoenix. She is gone but her energy exists to be harnessed. With it, there are... possibilities."
Beginning with a terrorist attack and ending with the near-destruction of the universe, the Dark Phoenix Arc follows the rise and fall of Jean Grey, and the attempts of her friends and fellow mutants to save her - and the world.
Timing
Arc Summary
A Touch Of Brimstone: An X-Men mission to Muir Island which ended in the destruction of the complex and the deaths of several members of the team resulted in Jean Grey manifesting the Phoenix Force and killing Magneto and the remaining Brotherhood of Mutants and Dark Riders before disappearing.
Fires From The Ashes: In the aftermath of their losses, Charles Xavier sent out various teams, gathered from X-Force, X-Factor and X-Corps, as well as the remaining uninjured X-Men, to locate Jean and to try to uncover the reasons for the Dark Riders bombing Muir. Despite strange encounters with violent alternate-dimension versions of themselves, the various teams discovered links between Apocalypse and the Phoenix, an ancient guardian entity, but before they were able to take down Apocalypse, he and the Dark Riders were inexplicably obliterated by the Phoenix, the entire city of Visakhapatnam being destroyed in the process.
Meanwhile, Jean was discovered in a telekinetic cocoon at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, where she had retreated from the horror of what she had done. She was raised to the surface and a specially-designed dampening collar placed on her, but before she could be returned to the mansion, the Imperial Guard arrived, intent on arresting her for genocide over the destruction of Visakhapatnam. Things went badly, with Namor Mazur being killed in the ensuing battle and Jean being taken.
The Trial of Jean Grey: Faced with increasing evidence of a massive disturbance between universes, potentially caused by the appearance of the Phoenix, the tough decision was made to rescue Jean from India, in order to determine the truth. It was a difficult mission, and with so many X-Men injured, the teams were forced to include trainees and students. Jean was rescued, but at a high cost as several mutants were killed during their battles with the Imperial Guard. They managed to escape largely due to a powers flare from Blink.
Reality Coming Down: Meanwhile, back at the mansion, Charles, Emma Frost and the remaining grads and students found themselves facing attack from more alternate versions of themselves, sent against them by the Dark Phoenix. More lives were lost in the defence, and as the tide was being turned in their favour, the Dark Phoenix appeared, intent on destroying the mansion to get at Cerebro.
The Dark Phoenix: The India teams arrived back at the mansion in time to dig out various survivors and wage a desperate battle against the Dark Phoenix. It was a lost cause, however, as the power-mad version of Jean tore apart the mansion and killed several of the defenders in her quest to get to Cerebro. Using the telepathy-boosting device, she tapped into and burned up the lives of 90% of the world's mutant population, before this universe's Jean was able to defeat her, losing her own life in the process.
In the aftermath, with dimensions bleeding into destruction as a result of the Dark Phoenix's rampage, Xorn abruptly appeared with a terrible deal - blend the broken universes together into one whole world, but be unable to talk about it to anyone.
Arc Plots
Related Links
Trivia and Meta
Trivia
The Dark Phoenix Saga was voted as the plot by which X-Project would relaunch, providing a reason for slates to be wiped clean, and features the deaths of a number of characters.
Meta
Plotrunner: Dex
The plot arc is loosely based on the comics plot of the same name, but incorporates a number of other comics concepts - Decimation, Apocalypse, and Inferno.
Poster by Mackinzie
Click on the image for the full-sized version.
