Watched X-Men 2 the other day.  It’s been out a long time so if you haven’t watched it yet I’m going to assume you don’t plan to.   And yet, let me warn you now about the spoiler nature of this entry.

So here is my quick rant:

 Logan’s love interest, Jean, was not killed in the massive water that engulfed her in the first X-Men movie.  Her powers shielded her from the weight of the water.  She comes out from under the water with her powers restored.  Immediately she encounters her grieving husband, Scott.  They embrace and she proceeds to, by accident, disintegrate Scott into individual atoms.  Not good for Scott.  She’s pretty upset by the outcome as well.   

The Problem:

It turns out that she is the most powerful mutant of all of them.  Magnito is able to move metal, Logan can heal himself and cut anything with his claws, and Xavier has psychic ability, but Jean can do anything she chooses.  She stops bullets of “The Cure” from barraging her.  She directs the wind and water.  She is telepathic, and can disintegrate matter.  With control and respect for life, this is a great deal for Jean.  Big problem though, she can’t control it.  So when she loses control there is only one left who can get near her.  We’ll get to that.

Jean has a split personality.  One personality, Jean, is good and loving and follows the social convention.  The other is named Phoenix.  Phoenix is ruled by emotion, and is royally pissed off that she was relegated to the dark recesses of Jean’s mind instead of the light of day.  Phoenix kills Xavier for having subordinated her alter ego for so long.   Xavier pleads with her to come back to the safety of the mansion, and tells her they can work on her “control issues”.  Well, not in so many words, but I’m paraphrasing drastically here.  It’s not a literary discourse, after all, just a rant.

Xavier was like a father figure to her, and was completely well meaning in helping Jean suppress her great ability.  It was his belief that suppressing her ability was the only way to control it’s vast potential.  Magnito, the other father figure, doesn’t agree.  He looks at mutant powers as a chance to control others for his own ultimate goals.  But by this time, Phoenix is out, and she is not going to go back into hiding.  Xavier’s pleadings for Jean to suppress Phoenix again are useless.   Phoenix is in full rage mode and decides to disintegrate him with her thoughts. 

Is it just me, or have we all dreamed of being able to do that to a man at some point in our lives?  But I digress.  With the Phoenix side of her personality fully in control after offing Xavier she decides to go with the evil father figure, power hungry Magnito.  But she is also aware of his desire to use her.  She resists being under his control as well.  It’s a great deal when you finally unleash to power.  Once expanded, you just can’t get back into the small cage.

Then there is Logan.  The man she loves.  He is the only one who can get near her when her wrath is unleashed due to his quick healing ability and her feelings of attraction to him.  He battles toward her in the middle of the chaos she is creating.  He has to get to her in order to stop her from disintegrating the whole world around her.  He finally reaches her. He tells her he loves her.  She cries out to him, “save me” and he buries his claws into her body killing her.

The Solution:

Really Logan, did you have to kill her?  Couldn’t you talk her off the ledge?  Draw out Jean as the woman you love to make peace with Phoenix?  So great a power, and yet the only solution for this dualistic goddess is to kill her?   Well screw that.  Don’t kill the “dark” side.  You have to embrace it and join it to the princess.  Together they are capable of untold greatness.  Suppress her, and eventually it will destroy your fairy tale in a blaze of glory.

You’ve heard the saying “Well behaved women rarely make history.”  Awe, more of the same.  Suppress and deny.  Misbehaving is a way to challenge mediocrity.  It is our nature, and I can’t suppress it, and still live my best life.  Have you chatted with your Phoenix lately? Dig deep to find your alter ego before she explodes your life and gets taken out.  We need both.  And don’t hand that power to anyone else.  

Bring on the Chaos!

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