By Bad Man | Follow on Twitter
In keeping with a theory presented to us a while back by comics historian and fan theorist supremo Nathan Adler of Fan Fix the recent New Avengers preview adds serious credence to his theory that Hope Summers isn’t a new Jean Grey like phoenix host, but the Iron Fist character – Jade – reincarnated from Feng-Tu as the Fire Bird:
Which completely explains Iron Fist’s involvement as a Guardian Of The Fire Bird.
Here’s Nathan’s Theory below, as detailed on one of our previous posts:
Back in 1975, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #19, written by Chris Claremont, introduced us to the Firebird which represented the soul and potential goodness for the Earth!
Before the Great Cataclysm just after the N’Garai were banished from ruling the Earth, a woman known as Jade was physically and sexually assaulted by a band of men and left for dead in the woods. When she recovered she was so mentally anguished that she prayed for death and in response, she was exposed to a blinding light which set her afire, and transformed her into the Firebird, the mystical embodiment of all that is good, kind, decent and noble in humanity.
And this all looks very Kung Fu don't you think?
In this way Jade represented all that is best, and served as humanity’s soul, and thus lifted humanity out of the charnal pit the N’Garai had dug for it, allowing it to rise above its damned infancy.
Millennia later, the demon sorcerer, Dhasha Khan, sought to power of the Firebird directing a group of people to assault its human manifestation, Jade, in Feng-Tu, the realm of the dead for the people of K’un L’un.
This assault was prevented by Iron Fist, who it was suggested was Firebird’s protector.
With this in mind, it’s interesting that the upcoming Avengers Vs X-Men is suggesting that Iron Fist is the protector of the Firebird.
Given Bendis and crew are fans of Marvel’s 70s period, I wonder if the plot is a thruline from this story…
So perhaps Hope Summers isn’t Jean Grey, but Jade reincarnated from Feng-Tu.
And K’un L’un’s Book of the Dead reveals that the duty of each Iron Fist down the ages has been to protect each incarnation of her!
Now, regardless of the possibility of the Fire Bird re-emergence the Phoenix is definitely coming…
Just ask Thor
…but the question is, could in an unseen twist, the mutants be backing the wrong horse, as Hope turns out to be the re-incarnation of Jade (with the Firebird manifesting through her giving all the signs of the Phoenix), and not an actual host for the phoenix as suspected? The Fire Bird is described power wise as:
Jade represented the soul and potential for goodness on Earth. She possessed minimal offensive abilities, but her soul, the Firebird was what helped mankind stave off its baser instincts. Without Jade, humanity would descend into unknown darkness and depravity. In addition, the power of her soul could be harnessed by others to perform massive, planet-wide, changes in reality.
But apparently the similarities to the Phoenix end there, as the pair are similar but largely treated as different entities.
So could it also be the case that AVX is planning on bringing them together as the same entity?
It’s just a theory folks, but it’s an interesting one. What do you think?
