Kitty Pryde, Betsy Braddock, and America Chavez race against time itself to save Jean Grey and the X-Men in this epic Multiversal adventure reimagining Marvel origin stories. “A true love letter to the X-Men, Rebecca Podos channels the friendship, action, and character-driven power of the best X-Men comics.”—Alex Segura, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Daredevil: Enemy of My Enemy and Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow So many worlds, so little time. Infinite possibilities, creating infinite realities. Long have I watched generations of mutants live in a world shaped by Jean Grey’s legacy. But what if . . . that legacy was cut tragically short, dooming the world to a future without the X-Men? What if . . . a watcher must do more than watch? The year is 1990: The X-Men all perished more than a decade ago, and Kitty Pryde is no hero. Emma Frost rescued Kitty from an obscure existence as a mere rebellious teen kicked out of boarding school, terrified of ever being discovered as a mutant. After growing up under the tutelage of the White Queen, Kitty is an apex predator of a superior species, yet she lives alone in a tiny, rundown apartment, preferring isolation to a knife in the back. What is her alternative? The world is what it is. But sometimes Kitty isn’t so sure of that. Sometimes it feels like she phases right out of her own life. Breathe in: She’s suddenly surrounded by friends she’s never known, living out events that never happened. Breathe out: It’s all back to normal. Kitty always shoves these flashes down, until someone from that other life finds her. This familiar stranger, Betsy Braddock, is a rambling confirmation that something is wrong with their world. Betsy has a wild theory and if it’s right, Kitty’s only shot at changing the present is to free-fall into the past. The girls follow a tenuous psychic trail back to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters in its glory days and embed themselves with the X-Men. There they discover that the inflection point that will unravel their future revolves around a certain omega-level mutant, destined to become the Phoenix. But little do Kitty and Betsy know, they’re not alone in their search. The year is 1975: Jean Grey has weeks left to live. The Whisperer is coming. He has recruited an ally and accounted for every foreseeable variable. He will leave nothing to chance. He will lead this reality to its Doom. “In her true love letter to the X-Men, Rebecca Podos channels the friendship, action, and character-driven power of the best X-Men comics, all through the eyes of Kitty Pryde. A book for the casual X-fan or diehard resident of Graymalkin Lane, I couldn’t put this one down—a fun What If story that feels epic and intensely personal. If you love the X-Men or have been curious to dive into the mythos, this is the book for you.” —Alex Segura, USA Today bestselling author of Daredevil: Enemy of My Enemy and Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow “ What If . . . Kitty Pryde Stole the Phoenix Force? is a time-twisting tale that effortlessly phases between legendary comic book stories and inspired new takes on Marvel heroes. Rebecca Podos gets inside these beloved characters’ heads as if she were Jean Grey herself. It’s a must-read for X-Men fans!” —Kelly Knox, author of Marvel Crafts and Marvel Monsters “This is a captivating gut punch of an adventure that feels like having a time-traveling and world-saving slumber party with your super powered besties. . . . A free fall into universes of possibilities and twists, anchored by the responsibilities of powers, having to the be the ones to save the day, and the definitions of loyalty and friendship.” —Amy Ratcliffe, author of Hulk Not Smash Rebecca Podos is the Lambda Literary Award–winning author of YA and adult novels. Homegrown Magic , her adult fantasy debut co-written with Jamie Pacton, is their latest. Chapter 1 Jean Grey August 1, 1975 Welcome to the last moments of a young woman’s life. Her name is Jean Grey. Breathless with fear on the flight deck of the Starcore One, she stares through the shuttle’s windshield. The solar flare ahead of them—a massive arc of electromagnetic radiation bursting from the sun’s atmosphere—makes for an impossible obstacle in their path back to Earth. Impossible for anyone but Jean . . . or so she promised her team. Promised that she alone could save them all and survive. Even in his steel-like Colossus form, Peter couldn’t have withstood the onslaught of radiation for this long. Regardless, he couldn’t have piloted the shuttle. And her teammates who know how to fly would’ve died quickly, horribly. Scott would have died. But not Jean. By sifting through the memories of Dr. Corbeau—the shuttle’s creator—she made herself a capable enough pilot to take the yoke and steer the damaged shuttle through the flare without the help of their malfunctioning flight control computer. Blocking the worst of the rays with her telekine