When does phoenix force (in marvel comics) actually appear for the first time (and what was the original origin of phoenix)?
Marvel wikia retcons its first appearance as xmen#101, but phoenix force isn't in this issue, phoenix is. At some point between its publication and now the story must've changed to involve a cosmic god, but I wonder if before then phoenix's origin was intended to be an extreme version of fantastic 4's origin beyond just an homage.
I just started reading xmen#125 and once again in a flashback this is how the event is described:
Her body was consumed by the intense radiation. But her mind refused to die. Driven by her love for Scott Summers, she achieved her full potential as a psi --becoming, briefly, an entity of pure thought-- before finally reforming as Phoenix.
So when does phenix force actually bocme a thing? Were there any other out of universe (as I'll reach the in universe ones eventually) explanations of the phoenix's power before then? Shouldn't the wiki at least mention if a part of an article is a retcon?
Hey just a heads up, this community does welcome this sort of discussion about comic books, but it's mostly about comic strips and webcomics. Not trying to dissuade you from posting here, but I did want to let you know about !comicbooks@lemmy.world which while smaller may be a better source of information regarding comic books specifically. And I don't want this to sound as if I'm looking down on this comm or webcomics/strips, I love them that's why I'm on both comms!
Unfortunately I don't get into the big two myself at all, my big two are Dark Horse and Image lol, so I can't answer your actual question. But I bet someone there can!
My reply from Comic Books in case anyone else is interested:
As with any good comics story, it's complicated. :)
Jean crashes into the bay and emerges as Phoenix in X-Men #101
The cosmic threat of Phoenix is explored up until X-Men #108.
Then you have Dark Phoenix from #129 to #138.
But the idea of Jean and Phoenix as separate entities was a retcon from much, much later, starting in Avengers #263 when a strange pod is discovered at the bottom of the bay, which is then opened in Fantastic Four #286.