The X-Men Movies Can’t Do This Story Justice the Way the Animated Show Did

The X-Men have built up one of the most impressive mythologies in comic book history, which makes fertile ground for film and television adaptations. X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men ’97 have drawn upon plenty of comic book storylines, including Storm losing her powers and Cyclops having enough family drama to rival anyone on Game of Thrones. On the film side, X2: X-Men United and X-Men: Days of Future Past are built on some of the most iconic storylines by prominent X-Men writer Chris Claremont. Yet there’s one storyline that’s fared far better in animation than it has in live action: The Phoenix Saga and the Dark Phoenix Saga.

‘Phoenix Saga’ and ‘Dark Phoenix Saga’ Chronicle Jean Grey’s Struggle With Cosmic Power

The Phoenix Saga begins when the X-Men travel into space following a battle with the mutant-hunting Sentinels. Jean Grey flew the space shuttle that brought them home, but she was exposed to a solar flare and seemingly died…or so the X-Men thought. Jean was reborn as the Phoenix, with her psychic powers ramped up to godlike levels. She first uses these powers to save the entire universe when the X-Men battle the Shi’ar Empire, sealing the M’Kraan Crystal before it can wipe reality. The X-Men were split into two teams following a battle with Magneto — with each faction believing the other dead. Jean soon starts falling for a mysterious man named Jason Wyndgarde and starts having flashes of a past life where her ancestor was married to Wyndgarde’s.

Jean reunites with the rest of the X-Men, but tragedy strikes when they encounter the Hellfire Club. Wyndgarde was, in reality, the mutant illusionist Mastermind, and convinced Jean to become the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. But his psionic meddling had an unintended side effect as Jean became the Dark Phoenix, hellbent on amassing even more power. She destroys an entire solar system, drawing the wrath of the Shi’ar upon her — and in order to save her life, Charles Xavier demands a trial by combat. Despite the X-Men’s best efforts to defeat the Imperial Guard, Jean starts slowly slipping into her Dark Phoenix form…but she decides to telekinetically trigger a weapon that kills her, once again saving the universe. Over the years, Jean would return to life and even reconnect with the Phoenix Force.

‘X-Men: The Animated Series’ Was Able To Properly Adapt the Phoenix Saga in a Way the Films Couldn’t

With X-Men: The Animated Series drawing heavily from Claremont’s stories, it was only a matter of time until it reached the Phoenix Saga. Season 3 spread the Phoenix Saga and Dark Phoenix Saga out over five episodes each, which truly encompassed the epic scale of the comic stories. Elements like the X-Men’s battle with the Shi’ar, the appearance of the Hellfire Club (referred to as the Inner Circle due to broadcast standards and practices), and the epic final fight make it into the animated series.

In contrast, X-Men: The Last Stand — the first X-Men movie to adapt “The Dark Phoenix Saga” — keeps most of the action on Terra Firma and reduces the Phoenix Force to a split personality. While Dark Phoenix would introduce more cosmic elements, the alien race known as the D’Bari are a far cry from the Shi’ar’s Imperial Guard. It’s a shame because, in the comics, the D’Bari lived in the star system that Dark Phoenix wiped out; there was plenty of room to craft an epic tale. Both films also seem to want to rush to the Dark Phoenix part of the storyline, forgetting that in both the comics and the animated series it took time for Jean to cope with her newfound abilities.

X-Men: The Animated Series also hit upon the major element of both Phoenix storylines that Last Stand and Dark Phoenix missed: It made Jean the true center of the story. In Last Stand, the issue is about the men in Jean’s life, rather than her dealing with her newfound power: both Wolverine and Cyclops are in love with her, while Xavier seeks to stop her powers from growing out of control and Magneto sees her as a weapon. Likewise, Dark Phoenix puts more of the focus on Xavier and Magneto’s struggle over whether to kill Jean or help her rather than what Jean is going through.

In contrast, X-Men: The Animated Series explores Jean’s struggles with the power she has. She willingly enters the M’Kraan Crystal to save her friends, and then she confesses to Cyclops about fearing the Phoenix. The series makes one major alteration to the original storyline: the X-Men combine their psychic energies to purge the Phoenix Force from Jean, which returns her to her human state. While this might be a case of network censors rearing their heads as Jean originally died in the comics, it fits with the X-Men’s love for Jean and her desire to be human. If anyone attempts to adapt the Phoenix storylines in the future, they should look to X-Men: The Animated Series for pointers.

X-Men: The Animated Series, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Dark Phoenix are available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S. New episodes of X-Men ’97 premiere on Wednesdays.

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