The X-Men #137
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe X-Men #137 (cover-dated September 1980) is the concluding chapter of 'The Dark Phoenix Saga' and one of the most consequential single issues in American superhero comics history: it marks the death of Jean Grey, a founding X-Man and one of Marvel's earliest prominent female heroes, at a time when major characters were essentially never killed off permanently. By having Jean choose a suicidal sacrifice on the Moon rather than surrender control of the Phoenix Force, writer Chris Claremont and co-plotter/artist John Byrne — nudged decisively by editor-in-chief Jim Shooter — demonstrated that narrative actions could carry irreversible moral weight, a creative precedent that reverberated across the entire industry. The issue also helped transform the X-Men from a cult favorite into Marvel's dominant franchise, with the shock of Jean's death generating the kind of sustained fan conversation that turned the title into a sales powerhouse throughout the following decade. Historians and peers have placed the issue alongside the Lee/Kirby 'Galactus Trilogy' as a defining high-water mark for what serialized superhero storytelling could achieve.
In "The Fate of the Phoenix!", the X-Men find themselves on the Blue Area of the Moon, caught between the Imperial Guard and the fate of Jean Grey, now branded a murderer by Lilandra. With the Phoenix Force seemingly purged but still a threat, Xavier demands a trial by combat—leading to a clash between the X-Men and the Imperial Guard. Written by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, with Byrne’s dynamic art and Terry Austin’s sharp inks, this pivotal issue sees Jean make a final, heart-wrenching choice in a battle that will echo through the mutant legacy. Cover by John Byrne and Terry Austin.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 20 grades ▾
This exact issue on ebay
CGC 9.8 ▾ $490–$1,100 3 listings
CGC 9.6 ▾ $150–$200 5 listings
CGC 9.4 ▾ $120–$425 7 listings
CGC 9.2 ▾ $99.99–$129 2 listings
Raw — NM ▾ $49.99–$130 5 listings
Raw — NM- ▾ $45–$99.99 2 listings
Raw — VF+ ▾ $59.49–$127 3 listings
Raw — FN ▾ $29.95–$34.99 2 listings
Raw / ungraded ▾ $3.75–$195 22 listings
More listings for this title
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Claremont and Byrne's original plan for the issue's climax was not Jean's death at all: the Shi'ar were simply going to strip her of her powers and release her into Xavier's custody, an ending that had been fully drawn, lettered, and readied for print. Shooter intervened, arguing that because Dark Phoenix had destroyed an inhabited star system and killed an entire civilization, anything short of death was a moral non-sequitur — he reportedly likened the proposed resolution to letting a genocidal dictator keep governing once his army was taken away. After a tense back-and-forth in which Claremont allegedly suggested killing Jean somewhat as a frustrated bluff, Shooter accepted the idea over objections from both Claremont and Byrne; the last five pages were entirely rewritten and redrawn, and Claremont revised dialogue and captions throughout the rest of the issue to reinforce the new thematic through-line. Because the replacement ending ran one page longer than what was cut, Byrne's planned behind-the-scenes text piece was dropped from the issue entirely — it eventually surfaced in Spanish comics press before seeing wider publication decades later.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published cover-dated September 1980 (also sourced as June 1980 per one reference); written by Chris Claremont, co-plotted and penciled by John Byrne, inked by Terry Austin — the creative team's credited collaboration on the series ran from issue #108 through #143.
- The issue's official story title is 'The Fate of the Phoenix!' and it serves as the final chapter of 'The Dark Phoenix Saga' (Uncanny X-Men #129–137).
- Jean Grey/Phoenix dies in this issue — the first death of a founding Marvel mutant hero, and at the time one of the most significant permanent character deaths Marvel had published.
- First appearances of four Imperial Guard members: Warstar (the composite being B'nee and C'cil), Hussar, Manta, and Earthquake — all new additions to the Shi'ar Imperial Guard roster introduced for this battle on the Blue Area of the Moon.
- First appearances of Kree observer Bel-Dann and Skrull observer Raksor, who are sent to witness the trial by combat and whose skirmish with each other during the battle was later resolved in Fantastic Four Annual #18.
- This issue marks the first time the Kree and the Skrull empires — Marvel's two major alien races — are brought into the X-Men's corner of the Marvel Universe.
- Marvel published the original, unaltered version of this issue — with Jean surviving — in the 1984 one-shot Phoenix: The Untold Story, which also included a roundtable transcript featuring Claremont, Byrne, Shooter, editors Jim Salicrup and Louise Simonson, and inker Terry Austin discussing why the ending was changed.
- The saga and this issue have been adapted multiple times: for X-Men: The Animated Series (1992), partially in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), and as the primary source for the film Dark Phoenix (2019); it has been collected in numerous trade paperbacks and omnibuses including the X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga TPB (multiple printings since the early 1990s), the Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 2, and a Facsimile Edition published in September 2019.
Cast · 31 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in The X-Men Companion #1 (1982), Crazy Magazine #88 (1982), Marvel Superheroes [Marvel Super-Heroes] #393 (1983), Marvel Superheroes [Marvel Super-Heroes] #394 (1983), Spécial Strange #33 (1983), Patrulla-X #6 (1983), The Dark Phoenix Saga: The Uncanny X-Men #[nn] (1984), The Uncanny X-Men #[nn] (1984), Phoenix #1 (1984), Marvel-Comic-Sonderheft #22 (1985), X:en #8/1985 (1985), Prosjekt X #9/1985 (1985), Die Gruppe X #8 (1986), The Official Marvel Index to the X-Men #7 (1988), L'Uomo Ragno #17 (1988), L'Uomo Ragno #18 (1988), L'Uomo Ragno #19 (1988), Classic X-Men #43 (1990), El Asombroso Hombre Araña Presenta #166 (1991), El Asombroso Hombre Araña Presenta #168 (1991), X-Men #1/1993 (1993), Essential X-Men #2 (1997), Marvel Collectible Classics: X-Men #3 (1998), The 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time #8 (2001) + 35 more
Key issues in The X-Men
Variants (1)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.