The Dark Phoenix Saga - Editorial Controversy

Editorial Controversy

The ending of the story was a matter of intense controversy with the editorial staff. Jim Shooter's recollections on his blog relate that the original intent of the Dark Phoenix storyline was to introduce Dark Phoenix as a cosmic adversary for the X-Men who could serve as a secondary archnemesis after their primary foe, Magneto. This was what had been discussed originally amongst the creative team and Shooter, and this was the story development that had been approved. When Uncanny X-Men issues 136 and 137 were in the final artwork stages, Shooter happened to look at the proofs for the issues and noticed that the story included the destruction of an inhabited solar system, with an explicit mention of billions of lives lost, and that it ended with Jean being permanently depowered by the Shi'ar and released into the custody of the X-Men. Shooter disagreed with this development both from a storytelling standpoint as well as, secondarily, a moral standpoint, likening the ending to "taking the German army away from Hitler and letting him go back to governing Germany," and doubting highly that Storm and the other X-Men could remain on anything approaching friendly relations with a being who had committed genocide.

Shooter, during a conversation with Claremont, suggested a scenario where Jean would be permanently imprisoned as a compromise, and Claremont responded that such a scenario was unfeasable since in his opinon, the X-Men would want to continually try to rescue Jean from imprisonment. During a heated argument between Shooter and Claremont, Claremont reportedly then suggested that Jean either be killed or die by her own hand, and that the death be permanent. Although Shooter claims that the suggestion was a bluff by Claremont, playing on the unwritten rule that main characters were not to be killed permanently, he accepted the idea. Ultimately, it was decided by Byrne and Claremont to have Jean commit suicide after her Dark Phoenix persona resurfaces at the climax of the fight against the Imperial Guard. The original ending ultimately saw print in 1983 in a special edition reprint of Uncanny X-Men #137 called Phoenix: The Untold Story. Besides reprinting Byrne and Claremont's original version of Uncanny X-Men #137, it featured a transcript of a round-table discussion between (among others) Claremont, Byrne, and Shooter, discussing the story behind the original ending and why it was changed. The interview is also important for an exchange which shows how early Byrne had hatched plans to resurrect Jean.