Few Marvel Comics stories are as important to the publisher’s history as “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” which began in Uncanny X-Men #129, released October 16, 1979. That one storyline, by the iconic creative team of Chris Claremont and John Byrne, kicks off founding X-Man Jean Grey’s descent into madness, which has now been adapted multiple times in film and television. To commemorate the issue’s anniversary, Marvel has just released a short “Today in Marvel History” animated video. It’s hosted by the TVA’s Miss Minutes from Loki, and retells how Phoenix went oh so dark. You can watch it down below:
This single comic helped propel Uncanny X-Men from a series with a cult following into Marvel’s number one comic book. Back then, bad guys becoming good guys was the norm, but good guys going bad? Almost unheard of. This storyline ended with the death of Jean Grey, which rocked comics fandom at the time. And all that alone wasn’t enough to make this issue so special. Because it also introduced two major characters in X-Men lore, Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost, the White Queen. The animated interpretation of ’70s era X-Men in this video is so cool, it makes us want an X-Men ’79 to go with X-Men ’97 on Disney+.
Marvel Comics
Twentieth Century Fox adapted “The Dark Phoenix Saga” twice in live-action, in X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Dark Phoenix. But neither film version did true justice to the story, a tale best told in a long-form format. That’s probably why the only truly faithful adaptation was in the ’90s X-Men: The Animated Series. Will the MCU attempt it again, hoping the third time is the charm? We kind of hope not. But hey, they eventually did a Galactus do-over in the MCU in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. And that turned out ok. In the meantime, the comics will always be there to be read and re-read forever.