Jason Aaron's Avengers run has redefined the X-Men's Phoenix Force forever. The Phoenix Force has always been considered one of Marvel's most powerful cosmic entities. According to The Phoenix Force Handbook, it was "born of the void that exists between states of being," a nexus of all the psychic energy in the entire Multiverse. Hela, the Asgardian goddess of death recently explained why the Phoenix involves both creation and destruction. "Existence is binary," Hela explained. "Alpha-Omega. Chaos-Order. Beginning-End. Life-Death. Phoenix is the passion of creation. Dark Phoenix, the cold fire that brings it to its end."
The Phoenix essentially serves as the guardian of evolution, and it possesses enough power to burn away civilizations that have become stagnant and even entire timelines where evolution has slowed to a crawl. For this reason, it has typically been drawn to Earth's mutant community, viewing them as the future of the human race; when the Scarlet Witch almost rendered the mutant race extinct, the Phoenix returned to Earth to reactivate the dormant X-gene. Every time the Phoenix exerts itself, though, there is a cost; it draws upon psychic power from elsewhere in the Multiverse, and the energy it uses prevents entire realities coming into being.
Jason Aaron's Avengers run has brought the Phoenix to Earth once again, with assorted heroes and villains competing to become the next Phoenix host. The main focus has been on the identity of this next host, now revealed to be the vigilante Echo, but Aaron has also rewritten the Phoenix's mythology.
Earth's First Phoenix Host Revealed
Jason Aaron's Avengers run introduced the Avengers of 1,000,000 BC, a surprising group that included what appears to be Earth's first Phoenix host. Her story was finally told in Avengers #39, which revealed that the X-gene has been triggering genetic mutation among the human race since the dawn of time. One redheaded girl stumbled upon a tribe of mutants living in a cave system, but tragically this prehistoric X-Men group were targeted by prejudiced humanity. The trauma of experiencing another person's death triggered the teenager's own psychic powers, and acted as a beacon to summon the Phoenix Force.
This powerful psychic chose not to burn the planet to ash in spite of all she had suffered, but instead she became the founder of the first Avengers. She drew together gods and sorcerers alike in order to wage war against Mephisto, who ruled the Earth in this ancient time. She even dared to explode on to Asgard, where she stunned Odin the All-Father. "I'm putting a team together," she told him. "To save the world. From itself. And from people like you and me. You in?"
Thor Is The Son Of The Phoenix
Odin was in, and not only because he found the idea enticing; he was deeply attracted to the Phoenix, and became her lover. In a shocking—and still only partially explained—twist, Marvel revealed that he and the Phoenix had a child. Thor is the son of the Phoenix as well as the son of Odin the All-Father, which perhaps explains why he has always seemed so much more powerful than his fellow Asgardians.
In truth, Aaron has probably been building up to this stunning revelation for quite some time; his Thor run included a number of occasions where various incarnations of the God of Thunder went up against the Phoenix Force, and they proved able to come close to matching it. This now makes sense, because not only were they wielding the power of the God Tempest contained within Mjolnir, they were also tapping into the inherited power of Thor himself. No doubt Aaron will continue to explore this idea throughout his run, explaining just what this means for Thor.
The Phoenix Is Tied To The Legend Of The Thunderbird
The Phoenix Force has chosen its new host, Echo. She appears to have been chosen in large part because she interprets the Phoenix through the lens of her Native American heritage, viewing it as the legendary Thunderbird. "The blood of the Cheyenne flows through my veins," Echo thinks as she is granted the power of the Phoenix. "Like many of the native tribes, my people have always believed in a winged spirit of change. A great bird of fire that brings the summer. That protects us from the things that would feed on us, in the darkness and the sea. In the long, cold winter. Today, for better or worse, I have become that change." This is a dramatic change in the Phoenix's mythology, because it means the legends of the Thunderbird can also be taken to point to the Phoenix Force.
In Native American mythology, the Thunderbird is a bird spirit that waters the earth; lightning flashes from its beak, and the beating of its wings was believed to be the source of thunder. Artwork typically shows the Thunderbird accompanied by lesser bird spirits, and indeed Javier Garron's stunning design for Echo as a Phoenix host evokes that imagery. It is as though the Phoenix itself has blessed Echo's interpretation of its nature, and it will be fascinating to see how Echo wields its power because of that fresh understanding.
The Thunderbird image is important for another reason, though; it helps draw Aaron's narrative more closely together, for it means Thor is not just the Son of Thunder (as he is sometimes called), but rather he is the Son of the Thunderbird. Just as the lightning flares from the Thunderbird's wings, so he commands the storm; just as the beating of its wings was thought to be the source of thunder, so he is lord of the elements. This shows just how much thought Jason Aaron has put into reinventing the Phoenix Force, and suggests his run will continue to redefine it. The Phoenix may have been traditionally associated with the X-Men, but this Avengers series is radically transforming it, expanding its mythology beyond anything the various X-Men writers have ever attempted. It's going to be fascinating to see where Jason Aaron goes from here.