Phoenix in Popular Culture - in Film and TV

In Film and TV

• In the daytime soap opera Dark Shadows, the character of Laura Murdoch Collins returns to Collinsport, Maine after a ten-year absence to gain custody of her son from her estranged husband, Roger. It is revealed that Laura is an "immortal phoenix" in human form and is nearly at the end of her 100-year lifespan, as she is granted in this storyline. To make a successful completion of the reincarnation process, she must bring another person - her son - into the fire with her. The character of Laura the phoenix is reincarnated a few times into the plotlines of the show, with later episodes showing her to be a worshipper of the god Ra, which may explain the lack of survivors of those she brings into the fire with her, reframing her victims as a divine sacrifice for favor and power rather than as companions for eternity.
• In the television series Charmed a line of power-binding witches are called "The Phoenix". They share the same ability to rise from their ashes.
• In season 6 of Supernatural (TV Series) Sam and Dean travel back in time to recover the ashes of a phoenix to kill the season's antagonist Eve. In this instance the phoenix is able to burn a person to death merely by touching them, in the end he is killed by Dean using the Colt.
• In the 1978 anime Battle of the Planets (the American dub of Kagaku ninja tai Gatchaman), the main ship of the G-Force team is named Phoenix. It is an amphibious craft capable of flying, underwater travel and minor spaceflight, and serves as a travelling dock for each of the team members' individual vehicles. Of particular relevance is the Fiery Phoenix mode in which the ship takes the form of a giant, flaming bird with tremendous destructive potential.
• In the short-lived (4 episodes) 1982 sci-fi television series The Phoenix, Judson Scott played a fugitive ancient astronaut named Bennu (the Egyptian name for the Phoenix) who used the sun's rays to charge a phoenix-emblazoned medallion that provided special powers he used to save those he befriended on his journeys.
• In the Star Trek universe, Phoenix is the name given to the first man-made spacecraft to travel faster than light. It is named Phoenix because in the Star Trek timeline, the Earth was still recovering from the ravages of World War Three, and represents a reborn and bright future for humanity. There was also a Federation Starship called the U.S.S. Phoenix.

• In the animated series Conan the Adventurer Needle is Conan's fledgling phoenix sidekick. He possesses the ability to enter flat surfaces and magically transforms into a phoenix design (although he needs all his magical tail feathers to accomplish this feat, and loses this power if he loses one of them). He spent most of his time on Conan's shield as a phoenix design. When in public Needle, who has the ability to speak, is often asked to impersonate a parrot in order to not arouse suspicion, an act which he greatly resents.
• In the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, based on the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis, a phoenix bursts into flame and flies low over the grass in front of the White Witch's lines, forming a wall of flame to guard Peter's retreat to safer ground.
• In the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, one of the more popular cards is called Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, and has what is fundamentally a phoenix-like "rebirth" power-whenever it is destroyed by some sort of card effect, it is revived from the Graveyard (discard pile). It is worth noting that Nephthys is an Egyptian goddess, drawing on the Egyptian symbolism and theme of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. Aside from the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, there is also Cyber Phoenix, which grants power after its destruction in battle by way of an extra card draw. Many other Phoenix cards also have a similar birth of either power after death, or recursion after being destroyed. The Winged Dragon of Ra, one of the Egyptian God Cards illegal in normal play, was used in the anime/manga to transform into its "Phoenix" mode. The Harpy Lady cards used a "Phoenix Formation" magic card in the anime/manga as well.
• In a Japanese series Honey Honey no Suteki na Bouken, a famous jewel burglar uses the name Phoenix.
• In the anime series Beyblade, characters battle using a form of spinning top, many of which contain "bit-beasts" which are based on animals including mythological creatures. One such bit-beast is named Dranzer and is based on the Phoenix.
• In the Super Sentai and Power Rangers franchises, there have been many mecha and Zords based on the phoenix. In Gosei Sentai Dairanger (footage used in the second season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), the HououRanger controlled Legendary Chi Beast Star Phoenix, which became the Pink Power Ranger's Firebird Thunderzord was based upon the phoenix. However, both of these are based on the Chinese phoenix. In Chōriki Sentai Ohranger (footage used in Power Rangers: Zeo), OhRed piloted the SkyPhoenix, which became Zeo Ranger V – Red's Zeozord V. In Seijuu Sentai Gingaman (footage used in Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy), the mecha GigaPhoenix was at one time StarBeast GigaPhoenix a blue phoenix before it was mechanized. This became the Stratoforce Megazord which was formally the Phoenix Galactabeast before it became a zord.In Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger (footage used in Power Rangers Wild Force) The mecha Gaofalcon is meant to resemble a phoenix, especially when she flies out of a volcano and is covered in flames. In In Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger (footage used in Power Rangers Ninja Storm) The red ranger's hawk zord's main attack engulfs it in flames and flies around an enemy, meant to resemble a falcon. Mahou Sentai Magiranger (footage used in Power Rangers: Mystic Force) MagiRed's power comes from the Phoenix and had both a Majin (humanoid) and Majuu (animal) Phoenix form, entitled MagiPhoenix and MagiFirebird (the latter is based on the Chinese phoenix). These forms became the Red Mystic Ranger's Mystic Phoenix and Mystic Firebird Mystic Titan forms. In Juken Sentai Gekiranger, Rinjuu Chameleon Fist User Mele is reborn as a Genshou and gained Genjuu Phoenix Fist after Long infused her with Gengi. After certain events, she voluntarily expelled her Gengi and lost her Genshou form permanently. In Tensou Sentai Goseiger, Gosei pink's main mecha is a phoenix like fighter jet.
• In the X-Men series, the character Jean Grey, who was thought to have perished, eventually resurfaces as the new character Phoenix. In the film series, the second movie ends with Jean Grey's apparent death, followed by the third film resurrecting her as Phoenix (see also Comics, below)
• In Fantasia 2000, a Phoenix-like fire bird comes alive to the music of The Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky. Fiery destruction is followed by glorious renewal.
• In Kamen Rider Ryuki, a Rider by the name of Kamen Rider Odin has a phoenix Contract Monster named Goldphoenix. Even his weapon, the GoldVisor, carries the design of a phoenix.

• In Days of our Lives, Stefano DiMera is referred to as the Phoenix.
• In the manga and anime series Fushigi Yugi, the main character is drawn towards a historic fairy tale book which is ruled by four gods; the god that lured her to the book (and the god that seems to inundate the side of good in the series) is a phoenix named Suzaku that the main character is destined to summon primarily to save its land from war.
• In the anime series Kaleido Star, the second OVA is named "The legend of Phoenix". One of the characters, Layla Hamilton, talks about her past, and then about her present life, mentioning that her mother, which died, used to read her "The legend of Phoenix" when she was little. Relying on this, she discovers true strength in being the same as a phoenix, always reborning from her ashes.
• In the anime series Bleach, the Soul Society uses a weapon called the Sōkyoku for execution, which is a halberd that when released takes the shape of a phoenix (Kikōō) used to destroy a soul on contact. Also, in the spin-off game, Shattered Blade, the main antagonist uses a weapon called Fénix, which is Spanish for phoenix.
• The British television series Phoenix Nights part-written by and starring comedian Peter Kay centres around a Northern club called The Phoenix which is rebuilt after a fire.
• On the show John Doe, John sees a lot of phoenix images & a statuette in red and someone tells him that he is the phoenix.
• In the animated series, Storm Hawks, the phoenix is portrayed as a giant flaming bird capable of breathing fire.
• In the animated series Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, the pilot episode (even though it aired third) was named "Phoenix", as was the doomed ship of the episode's protagonist, Zachary Foxx. Appropriately, the character's life as an ordinary Ranger and family man was destroyed by an attack from his nemesis. At the end, he is "reborn" as a cyborg leading an experimental team.
• An episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy features a phoenix, which was hidden in a giant box of the fictional cereal "Frosted Golden Apple Scraps". The characters keep trying to kill it but constantly reappears in a burst of fire.
• In the anime Flame of Recca, Recca's elder brother Kurei possesses the black flame in the original form of a phoenix which is considered as a sacred flame.
• The Phoenix is the symbol for the Twelve Colonies of Kobol in the Reimagined Battlestar Galactica
• In the anime One Piece, Usopp has an attack called "Hissatsu Hi no Tori Boshi" (必殺火の鳥星(ファイアーバードスター), Sure-Kill Fire Bird Star) that, when fired, takes the form of a bird made up of fire. Also Whitebeard Pirate Commander Marco has the power of a Mythical Zoan devil fruit that lets him become a Phoenix.
• During the first part of the series finale of Avatar: the Last Airbender, the main Antagonist, Fire Lord Ozai, declares that he will both end and win the 100 years war with the world by burning most of the Earth Kingdom to the ground via the power of a comet called Sozin's Comet (Ozai's Grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin). He also stated that he will have a new world rise from the ashes of the old, having only a Fire Nation world. He then dubs himself the Phoenix King (complete with a golden Phoenix motif for armor and having a phoenix in his banners), to compliment his sinister plan and to make himself ruler of the entire world.
• In both the 1965 and 2004 versions of "Flight of the Phoenix", a small cargo aircraft carrying some people and cargo crashes in the Sahara Desert after a violent sand storm forces them to land. The aircraft is wrecked but one passenger proposes to rebuild the aircraft with the one remaining engine and eventually the airplane flies again. The aircraft is "reborn" just like the mythical phoenix creature.
• In the Stargate universe, Phoenix is the name of a Daedalus-class battlecruiser which belong to the Tau'ri before being rename General Hammond. It also appears in an alternate timeline
• In the Japanese anime Saint Seiya, the character Ikki was born under the Phoenix constellation and inherited the mythical bird's power of rebirth.
• In the anime "Bakugan Battle Brawlers", a character named Shun Kazami owns the Bakugan "Skyress" which was based on a phoenix.
• In the animated series Gargoyles, a magical shield amulet known as The Phoenix Gate can transport the user through time by thinking of another place and time and chanting in Latin, "Burn down the walls of time and space!" The emblem on the shield is a gold phoenix against a blue sky.
• In the children's movie Big Bird in China, Big Bird and his dog Barkley travel to China to seek Fenghuang, the Phoenix bird of China, also called "the Empress of the Southern Skies". They must seek her out with the help of a young Chinese girl, the monkey king, and four clues on an ancient scroll. When they find her, Big Bird asks her to tell him all about China, but she says that she had planned all along for him to learn about China by seeking her. She then sings the song he had heard of in a story, that she supposedly had sung to demons who stole the sun (for it was her job to carry the sun into the sky every dawn).
• In the animated TV series My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, one of the episodes is based around Princess Celestia's royal pet, a phoenix named Philomena. Another episode reveals that some dragons like to hunt Phoenixes and their eggs for sport (this episode also shows off some of the bird's various abilities, such as being able to impair opponents with a flash of blinding light).
• In the BBC TV series Merlin Series 3 Episode 8 entitled Eye of the Phoenix. Morgana gives Prince Arthur a

bracelet with a Phoenix Eye placed on it. She told him it was for luck, but her true intention was to have the Phoenix Eye slowly drain Prince Arthur of his strength. Making him vulnerable on his quest to the Fisher King's lands. Merlin finds out about Morgana's plan and rushes to save Prince Arthur.

• In Yu Yu Hakusho, the protagonist, Yusuke Urameshi, is more than once associated with the phoenix, from the form his energy takes when he unleashes it while fighting against Younger Toguro during the Dark Tournament, to the form Puu (his spirit counterpart) takes when Yusuke resurrects as a demon on the Chapter Black Saga.
• In anime Dennou Boukenki Webdiver, there is a robot named Phoenixon, who transforms into a bulllet train, and takes a fighter mode form of a phoenix.
• One of Kamen Rider OOO's forms, TaJaDol Combo is based on the Phoenix

• A "Phantom" named Phoenix is one of the main villains in Kamen Rider Wizard