Uncanny X-Men #137: Jean Grey Dies (Again)

The Dark Phoenix crisis has been averted but we have one problem left. Jean did happen to blow up a whole inhabited planet. And the Shi'ar are here to see she is brought to justice for it.

Xavier calls for some obscure "trial by combat" that is allowed by the rules of the Shi'ar Empire, so instead of just Lilandra ordering Jean executed, instead the X-Men will have to fight the Shi'ar Imperial Guard for Jean's life.

There is a series of scenes in which each of the X-Men involved, including Beast and Warren, think about whether they SHOULD stand with her, considering the enormity of her crimes. In the end, they all decide to stand with her. I think my favorite of these scenes is actually Scott's. The fact that even when faced with the fact that Jean is the woman he loves, in Lilandra's place he might do the same. And that it isn't fair to end this way, but the people on that planet probably thought the same. In the end of course he decides to stand with her, but the fact that he thinks about it is always interesting to me.

The battle begins, and the X-Men are slowly picked apart one by one. In the end, it is just Jean and Scott left. And just when things are going the worst, the circuit breakers in Jean's mind break and she reemerges as the Phoenix at full power. She is clearly able to stop any of them, but instead she goads them into attacking her.

She tells them that the power can't be sealed forever. That being alive is basically her having to fight every second of every day to hold back the Dark Phoenix, and that if she ever fails she will cause untold destruction.

In the end, she uses a weapon that was placed on the battlefield to kill herself, telling Scott that a part of her will always be with him.

X-Tra Notes: This is honestly a really good ending for this arc. There is no way the X-Men can be the X-Men as they are written in this era if they didn't protect Jean, but there is also no way that you can have a character kill an entire planet and then just get to go back to life like nothing ever happened. It wraps up all the problems in a little bow. Also, I like that she chooses to fight in her old Marvel Girl outfit, even if I hate that costume. Symbolically I thought that was good.