As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

PHOENIX #6
Writer: Stephanie Phillips
Artist: Marco Renna
Colour artist: David Curiel
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Annalise Bissa

PHOENIX

Jean’s attempts to go into space and perform cosmic acts of heroism have simply set off a chain of events that led to Perrikus escaping and Thanos gaining control of the Galactic Council, and she’s starting to think that maybe this was a mistake.

Thanks to Thanos, Jean is now hated around the universe, partly for genuine reasons and partly thanks to his use of the Warlock’s Eye (see below).

SUPPORTING CAST

Adani. In the previous issue, Phoenix met Adani, and “created a psychic barrier” to block out the voices of people around the universe in need of help, which were overwhelming Adani. Their scene ended with Adani threatening to kill Phoenix, but evidently she agreed to tag along back to Phoenix’s ship after all. As Phoenix suggested in the previous issue, Adani’s dreams indicate that she’s torn between Perrikus and Phoenix; she also has visions of herself as an innocent trying to persuade her to follow Jean.

Nova, last seen in issue #1, returns to ally himself with Phoenix. He briefly succumbs to Thanos’s mind control but manages to resist.

Cyclops shows up for another long-distance conversation with Jean; she turns down his offers of help. She claims that it’ll take him too long to get there, but given the allies that she does accept, she may just want to keep him out of harm’s way.

Captain Marvel shows up as one of Phoenix’s allies; we saw her before in issue #4, so in fairness, she seems to have been in the area.

Rocket Raccoon also shows up – curiously, on his own, and without the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Finally, Sif shows up to join the fight, on the grounds that Perrikus has been a threat to Asgard in the past (i.e., when he was a Thor villain in the 1990s). Sif is currently serving the traditional Heimdall role with the Rainbow Bridge, which explains how she would be able to get here. But she could just as easily have fetched heroes from Earth if Jean had asked.

VILLAINS

Perrikus has somehow or other come into possession of the Warlock’s Eye, an artefact which first appeared in a Tales of Asgard story in Thor #129 and #131. It was indeed a mystical mind control weapon. Heaven knows how Perrikus got it – it was last seen hanging in an armoury in War of the Realms #3 (2019).

Perrikus has given it to Thanos, who uses it in this story to shield himself and Perrikus from Phoenix. Thanos has indeed been given control of the Galactic Council, as Perrikus demanded last issue. Possibly the Warlock’s Eye is supposed to explain this otherwise incomprehensible decision, but Thanos didn’t have it in the previous issue. He’s already using the Council’s resources to attack inhabited planets, as any any fool could have predicted. He seems to regard this as an alliance of convenience. Thanos is also using the Eye to corrupt the military into putting down rebellions, but he claims this is jus speeding up the decisions that people would have aken anyway. For some reason, the Eye is ineffective against Phoenix.

Corvus Glaive appears as the commander of a Galactic Council fleet, as Thanos has evidently put the Black order members in positions of authority.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Page 4 panel 1: “Our story began with fire and ash, and soon fire and ash consumed my soul.” Adani’s narration is presumably referring to Phoenix saving her world from the explosion of its star in issue #1, and Perrikus killing Adani’s father at the end of the issue; however, the art is showing a dream scene of Adani at a later point in life, after being aligned with Perrikus.

Page 4 panel 2: The Dark Gods seen in this panel are all from the original Thor storyline where Perrikus appeared. Their identities don’t really matter, but if you’re wondering:

• The one on the left is D’Chel the Deceptor.
• Perrikus should be familiar, but note that he appears here with both arms.
• The woman in black and red is Majeston Zelia, the ruler of the pantheon.
• The murky black shape, whose hand appears between Perrikus and Zelia and whose head is to the right of her legs, is Slototh.
• The flying character with the demon wings is Tokkots.
• The one on the right in the yellow armour with the strange helmet is Adva.

Page 9: “If Jean hadn’t fought Gorr the God Butcher when he called to her…” Issues #4-5.

“If she hadn’t freed the souls of the imprisoned Asgardians or faced off against the Black Order or listened to the rogue pirate Corsair…” Issues #2-3.

“If Jean Grey had never prevented a black hole from collapsing…” Issue #1.