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In 2012, two of Marvel’s most prominent teams met in the biggest superhero battle since Civil War. Avengers vs. X-Men was a pivotal event for Marvel’s mutants, ushering in several important changes to the X-Men’s status quo. One big moment came when five of the X-Men divided up the power of the Phoenix Force, which transformed an unlikely selection of mutants into the Phoenix Five.
Despite having a powerful cosmic entity like the Phoenix at their disposal, the Phoenix Five were ultimately defeated over the course of the event. While they had the power to reshape the world — and briefly did — each of these mutants was taken down by other Marvel heroes who knew exactly how to hit them. Now, we’re taking a closer look at how each of these ultra-powerful Marvel mutants was taken down and lost their cosmic power.
Namor
The Sub-Mariner was the first of the Phoenix Five to go down, in 2012’s Avengers vs X-Men #8, by Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman, Adam Kubert, John Dell, Laura Martin, Larry Molinar and Chris Eliopoulos. Namor took the X-Men’s hunt for the Avengers a little too far when he laid waste to Wakanda, where Earth’s Mightiest Heroes were hiding.
In the ensuing battle, it took the combined might of all the Avengers to take him down, and Namor only had one-fifth of the Phoenix Force’s power. It was only due to the Scarlet Witch’s intervention that the Avengers won the day, since Wanda’s hexes were the only things that could harm the Phoenix. Of course, with Namor’s defeat, his power transferred to the rest of the Phoenix Five, making the others even stronger.
Colossus and Magik
The Rasputin siblings were the next to be defeated, taking down two of the Phoenix Five simultaneously. When the Avengers went to rescue their teammates from imprisonment in the Verkhoyansk Mountains, Piotr and Illyana Rasputin were there to stop them. Making a major sacrifice play, Spider-Man decided to hold off the Rasputin siblings while the rest of the Avengers got to their teammates.
Despite his best efforts, the web-slinger was no physical match for Colossus and Magik. Still, there was a burgeoning rift between Piotr and Illyana. Colossus believed that Magik was being corrupted by the Phoenix, while Magik thought that Colossus was showing weakness in sparing Spider-Man’s life. Taking advantage of this tension, Spider-Man subtly convinced the Rasputin siblings to take each other out, each hoping they would gain the other’s power.
Emma Frost
The White Queen lost her portion of the Phoenix Force in 2012’s Avengers vs. X-Men #11, by Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman, Olivier Coipel, Mark Morales, Laura Martin and Chris Eliopoulos. In the penultimate issue of Avengers vs. X-Men, all of the heroes on both teams united to fight Cyclops and Emma Frost, the last remaining members of the Phoenix Five.
The increase in power between both Scott Summers and Emma Frost made them both mentally unstable, causing a great amount of tension between the two lovers. With the odds stacked against him, and a growing fear of what Emma had become, Cyclops decided to attack Emma and steal her half of the Phoenix Force for himself.
Cyclops
As the last remaining member of the Phoenix Five, Cyclops met his defeat in the climactic pages of 2012’s Avengers vs. X-Men #12, by Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman, Adam Kubert, John Dell, Mark Morales, Laura Martin, Justin Ponsor and Chris Eliopoulos. With the full power of the Phoenix at his disposal, Cyclops totally lost control and became Dark Phoenix.
This unchecked power killed Professor X and caused a series of disasters around the globe. Thankfully, Hope Summers and the Scarlet Witch managed to defeat Cyclops. Wanda’s hexes could hurt the Phoenix, while Hope mimicked Wanda’s powers and channeled them into a version of the Iron Fist. This attack gave the rest of the heroes an opening to help defeat Cyclops, before the Phoenix Force was transferred to Hope Summers. Working with the Scarlet Witch, Hope released the Phoenix, using it to reignite the mutant population on Earth.
Ultimately, the Phoenix Five were beaten by their own mental instability and a lack of control over their powers. These factors caused a large amount of tension within the group, leading to the collapse of the Phoenix Five and Cyclops’ defeat at the hands of both the Avengers and the X-Men.
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