In 1980, Chris Claremont ensured Jean Grey’s iconic position in the X-Men canon with the publication of Dark Phoenix. There have been several adaptations of this tale, beginning with X-Men The Animated Series in 1993, and Dark Phoenix finally made it to the big screen in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). Sadly, X3 was a misogynistic train wreck. The most recent cinematic production, Dark Phoenix released in June of 2019, managed to avoid some of its predecessor’s mistakes, but director Simon Kinberg’s adaptation was a far cry from a success. In this paper I will argue one cause for that failure is a misunderstanding of the source material. Jean Grey, transformed into Dark Phoenix, is a tragic hero—perhaps the only classically tragic female hero in popular western literature. Sexist associations of women and insanity, women as evil, and our own cultural discomfort with women who are, literally, uncontrollable have prevented a successful cinematic adaptation of Claremont’s narrative but Dark Phoenix, an unstoppable being whose tragic flaw develops from emotional abuse, heroically stops herself before she can hurt anyone else, and represents the precarity, chaos, and unexpected nobility of a consciousness that does not run from what it has become. As Uncle Ben told Peter Parker, “With great power comes great responsibility”—the narrative of Dark Phoenix explores the difficulties, and necessities, of accepting responsibility when great power has made unforgiveable mistakes.
About the presenterJessica McCall
Dr. Jessica McCall is a Professor of English at Delaware Valley University. She received her Ph.D. in Early Modern Literature from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas under the guidance of Dr. Evelyn Gajowski. Dr. McCall’s research interests involve the functions of myth and its intersections with gender, power, and who gets to be fully human. Her first monograph, “Myths of Warrior Women from the 16th Century to the Present” is forthcoming from De Gruyter.