Warning! This article contains spoilers for Avengers #51

Across the cosmos of the Marvel Universe, the Phoenix reigns as one of the most powerful entities to ever exist, a fact that has never been properly translated to X-Men films. The Phoenix has appeared in two X-Men movies, X-Men: The Last Stand, and, more recently, X-Men: Dark Phoenix. The latter film did a better job at capturing the character as a powerful cosmic force, whereas the first gave the impression that the Phoenix was a repressed portion of Jean Grey’s psyche before killing her off in a manner that would have never happened in the comics. But the Phoenix has finally now redeemed that defeat.

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In Avengers #51 by Jason Aaron and Juan Frigeri, an evil variant of the Phoenix Force is traveling the multiverse killing all of Marvel’s heroes. She makes her explosive appearance on Asgard of Earth-616, taking the main universe’s Phoenix (who is inhabiting Echo), Thor, and Iron Man completely off guard. Along with the villainous Phoenix variant is a mind-controlled variant of Wolverine, who is in full berserker mode while fighting the Avengers. When the Wolverine variant goes toe-to-toe with Earth-616 Phoenix, she gets revenge for the wrongful death of her worst X-Men film adaptation. 

When the Wolverine variant attacks Echo’s Phoenix, she creates three Weapon X-like energy claws and stabs Wolverine, killing the variant with that attack. In the climax of the film X-Men: The Last Stand, Jean Grey becomes a version of the Phoenix and is annihilating her surroundings, killing everyone near her by turning them to dust. Wolverine is the only one who can stop her as heals as fast as he is being ripped apart by the power of the Phoenix. He painfully makes his way to Jean to end her reign of terror once and for all. In the film, Wolverine stabs Jean in the stomach and kills her, successfully killing the Phoenix as well. 

While it’s satisfying to see the tables turned and the Phoenix having the upper hand in the comics, there’s one important distinction to be made between the movie and comic versions of the Phoenix. The Phoenix in the film is not a cosmic entity, but a repressed power hidden within Jean Grey’s mind. All of the power that was exhibited in the movie and credited to the Phoenix was just Jean, without any cosmic interference at all. So, because the Phoenix wasn’t at all the same Phoenix that exists in the comics, it is possible that Wolverine could kill the force by killing Jean Grey as they were essentially one and the same. While Wolverine has killed Jean Grey while she was possessed by the Phoenix before in the comic X-Men: Phoenix – Endsong, that death didn’t exactly stick as it did in the film, proving the movie took some major liberties.

In the Avengers’ latest conflict, the Phoenix makes it clear that Wolverine could never truly destroy her by not only killing Wolverine, but by using her version of his signature weapon to do so. Just as Wolverine killed the Phoenix with his claws in X-Men: The Last Stand, the Phoenix killed Wolverine with her energy claws in Avengers #51, effectively redeeming her death that took place in her worst X-Men movie.

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Spencer Connolly
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Spencer Connolly is a Staff Writer for Screen Rant. With years of writing and journalism experience under his belt, Spencer joined Screen Rant in 2020. Prior to writing for Screen Rant, Spencer was a Photojournalist and News Producer. Throughout his career as a journalist and even his entire life, Spencer always had a deep love for comics and is now applying everything he has learned throughout his career to the fun and informative articles he writes for Screen Rant. You can follow Spencer on Twitter: @TheSpencerVerse.

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