X-Men’s Decades-Old Phoenix Mystery Is Finally Solved

A decades-old mystery concerning one of Marvel’s most powerful characters, the Phoenix, has now been solved as readers finally learn what exactly the White Hot Room is. Introduced as an otherworldly realm that connects all the hosts of the Phoenix Force and also serves as a form of afterlife, the White Hot Room is, in fact, what remains of the very first incarnation of the Multiverse after its destruction.

The Phoenix is one of Marvel’s cosmic entities, beings that personify the principles that regulate the existence and functioning of the universe. The Phoenix Force represents the duality between creation and destruction, the need for things to die before new life can be born. Built on pure psionic energy, the Phoenix Force operates by possessing “hosts,” mortal beings who become its avatars. The most famous of these is the X-Men’s Jean Grey, a powerful mutant whom the Phoenix considers her perfect host. Jean was the first to access the White Hot Room, calling it “the heart of the Phoenix,” which exists outside the realms of Death herself. However, the true nature of this realm was never clearly explained, until now.

In Defenders: Beyond, by Al Ewing and Javier Rodrìguez, a team assembled by the last spell of Doctor Strange to protect the Multiverse travels back to its precedent iterations (Marvel’s cosmology is based on the periodical destruction and rebirth of the Multiverse, which is currently in its eighth iteration). In issue #2, the team travels back to the Second Cosmos, discovering that it’s home to the Beyonders, a race of all-powerful beings who have the job of overseeing the entire Multiversal process, and for this reason destroyed the Seventh Cosmos during Secret Wars. To escape from them, the Defenders travel even further back to the First Cosmos, landing in the White Hot Room where the Phoenix Force takes possession of Taaia, Galactus’ mother.

Identifying the White Hot Room with the remnants of the First Cosmos perfectly explains everything about the mysterious home of the Phoenix. The First Cosmos is where the Celestials were created, and they later destroyed it during a civil war, creating the Multiverse as a consequence. The Celestials then moved into the Multiverse, abandoning their shattered home reality. If this “empty space” is where the Phoenix resides, it explains why it is considered outside the realm of Death, which is still part of the Multiverse. It also explains why, in Uncanny Avengers #22, after the Celestial Exitar the Executioner was killed by Thor, his energy returned to the White Hot Room to await rebirth, as that is actually his place of origin. This is also coherent with what was shown in the series S.W.O.R.D. (also written by Al Ewing), where the White Hot Room was placed beyond the Far Shore, the realm that stands outside the edge of the Multiverse.

The White Hot Room is also where the rare metal called Mysterium is harvested, created by condensing Kirbons, primordial elemental particles that are the building blocks of reality. This makes sense if they come from the first iteration of the universe. However, there are still many questions to be answered. If the Phoenix is deeply connected to the First Cosmos, this means that this primordial force is immune to the cyclical process of death and rebirth of the Multiverse that other cosmic entities are subject to, even the most powerful ones such as the Living Tribunal. If confirmed, this would make the Phoenix way more powerful, and important, than all other Marvel cosmic beings.