History ComicBook / TheDarkPhoenixSaga

* TheCameo: [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Mr. Fantastic, the Thing]], ComicBook/SpiderMan, ComicBook/DoctorStrange and ComicBook/SilverSurfer pop up in ''Uncanny'' #135 as the Dark Phoenix awakens

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: The Hellfire Club's Inner Circle was based on a RealLife 18th century secret club for decadent rich people.

Once Wyngarde's treachery is exposed, the X-Men get their [[HeroicSecondWind second]] [[HesBack wind]], defeating Hellfire and escaping into the night. But the damage to Jean's mind is done... even though she's free of Wyngarde's mind control, there's something inside her that's been broken.

* AGodAmI: "I am '''fire'''! And '''LIFE INCARNATE!''' Now and forever -- '''I am PHOENIX!'''"

* ApocalypseMaiden: Phoenix / Dark Phoenix.
* AscendedExtra: You notice the black-haired serving girl? The one taking the robe off Shaw while he gloats over the Hellfire Club's victory? She turns out to be a quite important aide to him, Sage. (And even later, a spy for Professor Xavier.)

* BadBoss: Emma Frost's introductory issue has her blowing up some goons for failing to beat the X-Men. Hey, the Hellfire Club pays good money on their goons, they expect ''results''.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Even before her final FreakOut, Jean shows Emma Frost why it's not a good idea to make a mutant with cosmic powers mad at you. Mastermind learns a similar lesson, though by then Jean isn't so 'nice' anymore. See also StartOfDarkness.

* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: The Prydes are initially furious at the thought of Kitty going to the Xavier Institute after the Hellfire Club's attack. Then Phoenix gives them a "little nudge" and they become a ''lot'' more agreeable. It serves as a sign of Jean's encroaching corruption (though in fairness, Kitty going to the X-Institute is far safer than going with Emma Frost). Also, this is not really any different from the way Xavier has been mucking about with the minds of ordinary people since the very first issues of the series, so it makes sense (in the context of his previous unquestioning acceptance of ''that'') that Cyclops is not all ''that'' alarmed by Jean taking after him.
* BroughtDownToNormal: The [[WhatCouldHaveBeen original, planned ending]] for the story had this happen to Phoenix. However, [[Creator/JimShooter the higher-ups]] felt that committing genocide wasn't the kind of thing a character should be forgiven for.
** Years later, Claremont admitted that this made the story truly unique (for its time).
* BullyingADragon: The Imperial Guard fight the X-Men in a trial by combat, leaving Jean the last X-Man standing. When Cyclops is knocked out before her eyes, she snaps and becomes Phoenix again, taking them all out in the space of seconds.

** The quote Jean gives in AGodAmI upon her transformation into Dark Phoenix is the same quote she gave upon first transforming into the Phoenix.

** Fittingly, a story four issues later featured Kitty alone in the X-mansion battling a demon that looked suspiciously like a [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Xenomorph]].

** And finally, the X-Men's beatdown at the hands of the Imperial Guard. In fairness, the X-Men were badly outnumbered, but watching Colossus go down ''hard'' in a one-on-one fight with Gladiator is when it becomes clear they have no hope of victory.

* GoneHorriblyRight: Mastermind wanted Jean to embrace her dark impulses. He succeeds, but fails to assert control over her mind and is driven insane when she viciously overwhelms his subconscious.

* HopeSpot: Charles Xavier uses his powers to [[RestrainingBolt seal the Phoenix away inside Jean's mind]], and Scott proposes marriage to her. They share a relieved kiss...and then get beamed onto a Shi'Ar Imperial cruiser.
* {{Homage}}: [[OlderThanTheyThink Not many people know this]], but the LogoJoke seen in the page image was based on the [[http://clzimages.com/comic/large/b6/b6_94511_0_UncannyXMen56WhatIsThePower.jpg cover to the first issue of the Roy Thomas / Neal Adams run]]. It might be something of a metafictional TheWorfEffect, given that the Living Monolith ''doesn't'' crack the logo or send the X-Men sprawling.

* JerkassBall: The Professor grabs the ball hard in the first issue of the storyline. He puts the X-Men through training, which is fair enough, but treats them like children, even though by this point the X-Men have more than proven themselves as a team. Scott tries pointing out to the Professor that what he's doing just won't work. The Professor then somehow comes to the conclusion that this is Scott's ''fault'', and he'll need to "correct" it. Scott doesn't manage to get through to him before Cerebro goes off.
** It's later [[JustifiedTrope justified]] when Charles admits that he's fully aware the X-Men have grown without him, and Scott's become the leader the professor always wanted him to be, but has left the older man unsure of where his place in the team is anymore, and his lashing out is just from Xaver's frustration and uncertainty.

* LostAesop: The X-Men's usual "protect a world that fears and hates them" schtick was pretty much forgotten about for this story, as their antagonists were either mutants, former teammates, or aliens. However, the {{Aesop}} of the story itself, that [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity power corrupts]], was firmly held onto. Also, see FridgeBrilliance on the [[YMMV/TheDarkPhoenixSaga YMMV page]].
* ManipulativeBastard: Emma Frost, Sebastian Shaw, and ''especially'' Mastermind.

* MoreThanMindControl: Mastermind again. On her way down the slippery slope, Jean even calls him on it.
-->"You made me trust you...perhaps even ''love'' you...and all the while, you were '''using me!'''"
* MindRape: The White Queen does this to Storm while she's holding her hostage.
** Jean herself gets in on the act while she's punishing Mastermind, by [[MySkullRunnethOver granting him omniscience]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation to drive him insane.]] Of course, what he did to her first was really just another form of MindRape.

* NowItsMyTurn: Wolverine say this after everyone's gotten their asses kicked by the Hellfire Club, and he's been launched straight into their basement sewer.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: In [[WesternAnimation/XMen the 1992]] cartoon, Jean survives the ordeal with no catch and the Phoenix Force flies of into space peacefully.

* SupermanStaysOutOfGotham: Subtly lampshaded, as Marvel heroes from all over the universe pick up on Dark Phoenix's manifestation, but the whole story happens too quickly for anyone to respond to it.
** And just before that, the Beast deliberately invokes the trope. Hank was an [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avenger]] at the time, and happened to be on monitor duty when the [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCityCops [=NYPD=]]] alert about the X-Men fighting at the Hellfire Club came through. Instead of alerting his current teammates, he took a Quinjet out by himself to come to his former team's aid.
*** Though in fairness, the Avengers had been called in specifically to aid the VillainWithGoodPublicity Hellfire Club against the [[HeroWithBadPublicity those dirty]] [[FantasticRacism mutie]] [[HeroWithBadPublicity outlaw]] X-Men. And Beast [[EnforcedTrope later attempted to fix it]] by taking Lilandra's offer to leave because he was not technically an X-Man, planning to come back [[TheCavalry with all of his fellow Avengers to help]], only for Angel to declare that [[NiceJobBreakingItHero there was no way he and Beast would abandon their friends in their time of need]].

* TookALevelInBadass: Sure, the Imperial Guard was pretty tough when they first appeared. In that fight the X-Men were gradually losing, least until Corsair and his team dived in. But the second battle....OW! Cyclops was off on his strategy. And more importantly Mastermind goes from being a guy who goes 'boo' with fake monsters to almost destroying the X-Men all by himself.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: All the members of the Hellfire Club save the Black Queen, a band of evil mutants (and one cyborg) who "pass" as influential, wealthy humans.

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Dark Phoenix is the ''poster child'' for this trope.

* CurbStompBattle: ''Loads'' of them:

** The Hellfire Club's ambush of the X-Men, and in turn, the X-Men's retaliatory strike against Hellfire.
*** Of particular note is the NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Wolverine delivers to the ''entire Hellfire Club'' after having been smashed through several stories and into the sewers.
** Dark Phoenix's first fight against the X-Men.

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: The Hellfire Club's Inner Circle, again.
** The club itself was based on a RealLife 18th century secret club for decadent rich people.

* EvilCostumeSwitch: Jean Grey's Black Queen and Dark Phoenix outfits represent this.
* FaceHeelTurn: One of the most famous in comics history.

* {{Fanservice}}: Jean briefly winds up naked in issue #136 after her clothes are destroyed during Professor Xavier's battle with the Dark Phoenix.

* FateWorseThanDeath / GoMadFromTheRevelation: Jason Wyngarde is left mindless and catatonic after Jean breaks free from his control. "Enjoy your trip, Jason... you '''won't''' be coming back."

* GoneHorriblyRight: Mastermind wanted Jean to turn to the dark side...and boy, did she.
* HeroicSacrifice: Alas, poor Jean.

* NarratingTheObvious: The narrator frequently and meticulously describes the characters' actions, regardless of how obvious they may be to the reader. For example, one panel shows Dark Phoenix laughing maniacally while extending her arms upwards to conjure a lightning bolt, and is accompanied by the narrator explaining that "she reaches for the sky, summoning lightning, laughing as the awesome bolts of lightning caress her body like a lover".

* {{Expy}}: In the [[WesternAnimation/XMen 1990s cartoon]], Rogue is this for Colossus.

* OfCorsetsSexy: Every female member of Hellfire, natch.
** Justified, given the club's origins.
** According to writer Chris Claremont, Marvel's Hellfire Club and the Black Queen's outfit and hairstyle are an homage to ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'' episode "A Touch of Brimstone" (which also dealt with the Hellfire Club's evil machinations and Mrs. Peel's transformation into their "Queen of Sin").

* CoversAlwaysLie: The cover of #136 shows [[PietaPlagarism a crying Cyclops cradling Dark Phoenix's lifeless body in his arms while Jean's parents and the rest of the X-Men are shown mourning]]. Jean's death wouldn't occur until the following issue.

The corruption takes her over swiftly, and she transforms from Phoenix to Dark Phoenix a thousand feet over Central Park, destroying the X-Men's aircraft [[RunningGag for about the dozenth time]]. [[note]]Technically, it wasn't even really ''their'' jet, but an Avengers Quinjet that then-Avenger Beast had "borrowed" in an attempt to come aid his old team, but Quinjets get blown up even more often than the Blackbird anyway.[[/note]] After a fight with those she loved, which can only be described as a CurbStompBattle, Dark Phoenix leaves Earth altogether, triggering the [[MySignificanceSenseIsTingling Significance Sense]] of everyone from Comicbook/DoctorStrange to ComicBook/SpiderMan to the ComicBook/SilverSurfer. Zipping through the universe on a cosmic joyride, she finds herself getting hungry... and the nearest source of food is [[ApocalypseHow a star]] in the Shi'Ar Galaxy.

** According to writer Chris Claremont, Marvel's Hellfire Club and the Black Queen's outfit and hairstyle are an homage to Series/TheAvengers episode "A Touch of Brimstone" (which also dealt with the Hellfire Club's evil machinations and Mrs. Peel's transformation into their "Queen of Sin").

*** Of particular note is the NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Wolverine delivers to the ''entire Hellfire Club'' after having been smashed through several stories and into the sewers (see EstablishingCharacterMoment below).

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: #132, after everyone's gotten their asses kicked by the Hellfire Club, and Wolverine's been launched straight into their basement sewer.
-->'''Wolverine''': [[http://dailypop.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/uncanny-x-men-132-pic1-wolverine.jpg Okay, suckers -- you've taken yer best shot!]] ''NowItsMyTurn!''

** According to writer Chris Claremont, Marvel's Hellfire Club and The Black Queen's outfit and hairstyle are an homage to Series/TheAvengers episode "A Touch of Brimstone" (which also dealt with the Hellfire Club's evil machinations and Mrs. Peel's transformation into their "Queen of Sin").

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Senator Robert Kelly makes his first appearance in this arc as a Club guest who witnesses the X-Men's escape from the Hellfire Club, which cements his fear of mutants. Sebastian Shaw gets him to fund a new Sentinels program, setting up both the Days of Future Past storyline several issues later and [[spoiler: the creation of Nimrod]].

* SeriesContinuityError: In the final issue, when performing their reverse FastballSpecial mentioned above, Wolverine basically tells Colossus to kill Phoenix, which Colossus thinks is "something I have '''never''' done." This despite the climax of the arc immediately preceding this one having Piotr being forced to be the one to put down Moira [=MacTaggert=]'s son Proteus[[note]]Though Proteus later turned out to have survived, neither Moira nor any of the X-Men had any reason to believe otherwise at the time[[/note]].

* CallBack: For the final fight on the Moon, Jean dons her old Marvel Girl outfit, symbolizing her rejection of everything relating to the Phoenix.

In between Jean's "timeslips," she helps the X-Men rescue new mutants [[NaiveNewcomer Kitty Pryde]] and [[FadSuper Dazzler]] from the Hellfire Club: [[WomanInWhite White Queen]] [[ManipulativeBitch Emma Frost]], [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Black King]] [[EnergyAbsorption Sebastian Shaw]], White Bishop [[HollywoodCyborg Donald]] [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Pierce]], Black Rook [[FatBastard Harry]] [[GravityMaster Leland]], and probationary member Wyngarde. However, when the time comes for the final showdown with them, she mysteriously [[FaceHeelTurn switches sides]], fighting alongside Wyngarde and Hellfire against the team. As a result, the X-Men are soundly trounced, and Phoenix is named Hellfire's Black Queen.

* AGodAmI: "I am '''fire'''! And '''LIFE INCARNATE!''' Now and forever[=--=] '''[=--=][[AC:I am PHOENIX!]]'''"

* ComicBookFantasyCasting: John Byrne based the original designs for all the Hellfire Club characters on famous actors (most of whom they're partly named after), and Kitty Pryde on an adolescent Sigourney Weaver.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Scott comes to realize Jean's HeroicSacrifice/Suicide was done out of her unable to live with the fact that as the Phoenix she was responsible for genocide on a galactic scale, killing billions of sentient aliens when she feasted on its sun.

* AGodAmI: "I am '''fire'''! And '''life incarnate!''' Now and forever! '''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis I! Am! PHOENIX!!]]'''"

** It's later [[JustifiedTrope justified]] when Charles admits that he's fully aware the X-Men have grown without him, and Scott's become the leader the professor always wanted him to be, but has left the older man unsure of where his place in the team is anymore

** It's later [[justified JustifiedTrope]] when Charles admits that he's fully aware the X-Men have grown without him, and Scott's become the leader the professor always wanted him to be, but has left the older man unsure of where his place in the team is anymore

* JerkassBall: The Professor grabs the ball and hard in the first issue of the storyline. He puts the X-Men through training, which is fair enough, but treats them like children, even though by this point the X-Men have more than proven themselves as a team. Scott tries pointing out to the Professor that what he's doing just won't work. The Professor then somehow comes to the conclusion that this is Scott's ''fault'', and he'll need to "correct" it. Scott doesn't manage to get through to him before Cerebro goes off.

** Years later, Claremont admitted that this made the story truly unique (for its time.)

*** Of particular note is the NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Wolverine delivers to the ''entire Hellfire Club'' after having been smashed through several stories and into the sewers.
-->'''Wolverine''': [[BadassBoast Okay, suckers--you've taken yer best shot!]] NowItsMyTurn!

Since its original publication, this story has been adapted in two films of the ''[[Film/XMenFilmSeries X-Men]]'' film series: 2006's ''[[Film/XMenTheLastStand The Last Stand]]'', and 2019's ''Film/DarkPhoenix''. While the former only incorporated part of the Saga into its plot, [[TruerToTheText the latter used a bit more elements from it]] while being more grounded than the comics' epic scale.