White Hot Room

White Hot Room
Name	White Hot Room
Aliases	The Above-place, Alpha and Omega, Beyond the Beyond, Core of Creation, Elemental Cosmic Heart, Excelso Prae Omnibus Aliis, The Heart of All Things, The Heart of Creation, The Heart of the Phoenix, Home to the Phoenix, Hospital, Light Place, Mysterium Tremendum, The Mystery, The Nexus of All Realities, The Room Where the Phoenix Is Made, The Very Core of Creation Itself, White-Hot Room, White-Hot Room of Secret Fire, WHR
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Chris Claremont, John Bolton, Grant Morrison
First	Classic X-Men #8 (January, 1987)
First	Classic X-Men #8 (January, 1987)

Marvel Girl	What is this?! Where am I?
Phoenix Force	You're in the White-Hot Room.
Marvel Girl	The White-Hot what now?
Phoenix Force	It is a nexus between all Phoenix hosts and our eternal flame. A place of rest and contemplation. Home to every being with whom I've merged. Every Phoenix host leaves a piece of itself here with me.

The White Hot Room is a realm that serves both as the afterlife and a base of operations for the Phoenix and its hosts. It simultaneously exists within the M'kraan Crystal, a nexus of all realities, and also beyond the Far Shore thus outside the Multiverse.

History

Phoenix Saga

To save the X-Men from a massive solar flare, the young mutant Jean Grey volunteered to pilot the space shuttle they were in with only her psychic abilties as protection. She valiantly withstood the storm for 20 minutes but succumbed near the end, causing her to crash the shuttle into Jamaica Bay. The X-Men survived, and when they surfaced, the woman they knew as Jean Grey emerged as Phoenix, fire and life incarnate.

Phoenix saving Jean Grey

However, the Phoenix that rose that day was not the real Jean Grey. When Jean's psi-shields failed and the deadly radiation began killing her, the Phoenix Force came to her aid, bringing her into the White Hot Room. Jean and the Phoenix Force joined hands; the Phoenix became an exact duplicate of Jean and encased her dying body in a cocoon to heal. The original Jean Grey would not come out of the cocoon until much later.

When Phoenix and the X-Men found themselves inside the M'kraan Crystal, Phoenix felt as though she was connected to it.

Dark Phoenix Saga

After Phoenix turned dark, she consumed a star which resulted in the annihilation of D'bari IV and its people. Phoenix's Jean Grey aspect regained control, but out of fear and shame, she sacrificed her own life.

White Phoenix in the afterlife

Phoenix, now White Phoenix, woke up in the afterlife and met a construction worker who was busy building a massive tower. When she lent a hand, she had a vision of all those she had killed as Dark Phoenix. She identified the construction worker as Death and he described the realm as "the alpha and the omega, the beginning and end of all--where the physical universe merges with the domains of the spirit and imagination." He explained that life is part of death and death is the frame that gives life form and structure. White Phoenix parted after their talk. Jean Grey possessed memories of this encounter.

When the sentient Celestial ship Prosh sent Jean Grey back in time, he brought her to the aftermath of Dark Phoenix. Jean's mind was seemingly split between her real body in the cocoon under Jamaica Bay and the Phoenix duplicate that killed herself. Jean woke up in the tower in the afterlife as White Phoenix and met the construction worker, who knew she was time-displaced. He explained to Jean that his tower is compartmentalized and that all beings go there to experience their own version of the afterlife. He informed her of her predicament before Prosh sent her further back in time.

Here Comes Tomorrow

Following Jean Grey's death, she went to the White Hot Room. Meanwhile, her death caused Cyclops to leave the X-Men. This led to a series of events that resulted in a disastrous future after Sublime infected the Beast.

White Phoenix amputating and fixing the future

150 years after Jean's death, the Sublime-infected Beast stole a Phoenix Egg from its keeper and hatched it. The Phoenix emerged as an amnesiac Jean Grey who remarked that she was in the White Hot Room and she had to fix something that was dying. Sublime/Beast manipulated her into working for him. Phoenix killed Bumbleboy and absorbed him into the White Hot Room; he felt like he had died before and Phoenix replied that he was always waiting for himself to arrive there. Logan caused Jean to remember, but the X-Men were attacked and most of them were killed by the Phoenix-enhanced Sublime. No-Girl said it was okay because they were going to the White Hot Room. Phoenix disinfected Beast of Sublime and then "amputated" the entire future. Entering the "hospital" that is the White Hot Room as White Phoenix of the Crown, she nurtured a new future where Cyclops did not abandon the X-Men and got together with Emma Frost.

House of M

Psylocke and Rachel in the White Hot Room

When the Scarlet Witch rewrote reality, Psylocke and Rachel Summers were pulled into the White Hot Room by Jean's holoempathic crystal. Rachel referred to the White Hot Room as the Heart of the Phoenix. While Psylocke could manifest alternate versions of herself, Rachel could only manifest herself in different time periods of her life and deduced that she was unique. Eventually, Psylocke's brother Jamie sent them back and they found themselves in an altered Earth.

Phoenix Endsong

Jean Grey as White Phoenix

Upon her most recent death, Phoenix was scattered and went to the White Hot Room to incubate. The Shi'ar brought it back early and without a host in an attempt to destroy the Phoenix for good. Severely weakened and driven mad, the Phoenix went Cyclops so she could feed upon the energy from his optic blasts, and then forcibly revived Jean Grey so Cyclops could open his eyes for her. As Cyclops knew his wife was dead, the Phoenix went inside his current love Emma Frost instead. Jean awakened and pulled the Phoenix from Emma back to herself. The X-Men poured all their love into Jean, causing her to become White Phoenix, and she returned to the White Hot Room with the Phoenix.

Before her eventual true resurrection, Jean in the White Hot Room occasionally appeared to her allies, such as Emma Frost when she was against the Sisterhood of Mutants, and Dark Phoenix Cyclops so he would let go of the Phoenix.

The Void

Some time after Thor tossed the charred body of the Sentry into the Sun, the Void got bored of his host's body being constantly destroyed only to be regrown again and left for the "Light Place," the side lands of the White Hot Room.

The Executioner

After receiving a fatal blow from Thor's Jarnbjorn, Exitar the Executioner died and his energy returned to the White Hot Room to await rebirth.

Asgard/Shi'ar War

Upon losing to Thor (Jane Foster), the Shi'ar gods K'ythri and Sharra summoned the Phoenix to destroy Asgard. The Asgardians recruited Kid Omega to help stop it. Kid Omega attempted to enter the White Hot Room but Thor was brought in instead. After giving Phoenix a smack from Mjolnir, Kid Omega was able to infiltrate the White Hot Room and made a deal with the Phoenix to temporarily become its host.

Past Jean Grey

Past Jean confronting the Phoenix

A time-displaced Jean Grey from the past had a vision that the Phoenix was coming for her, but instead of bonding, the Phoenix destroyed her. She was brought to the White Hot Room after her death; however, the Phoenix did not want her there and tried to use other Phoenix hosts to stomp her out. According to the Phoenix, the original Jean was a "perfect host" who had embraced the Phoenix power; the time-displaced Jean was "flawed" for rejecting it at every turn. The past Jean took control of the White Hot Room and brought herself back to life.

S.W.O.R.D.

The Six procuring mysterium in the White Hot Room

With the power of the Six, S.W.O.R.D. was able to cross over the Far Shore to get to the White Hot Room, where they condensed kirbons into mysterium for mutantkind.

Enter the Phoenix

The White Hot Room served as the waiting area for the participants of the Phoenix's tournament. Former host Firehair spoke to T'Challa while he was there. The tournament ended with Echo as the next Phoenix.

Echo would later use the White Hot Room to destroy the Adversary.

Defenders

In their journey into the Mystery, the Defenders entered the White Hot Room after leaving the Beyond. The Phoenix took over Taaia and attempted to kill Loki once she realized he was time-displaced. The other Defenders resisted and Tigra called upon the Tiger God to distract the Phoenix, allowing the Defenders to escape further beyond into the Land of Couldn't-Be-Shouldn't-Be.

Fall of X

Following Orchis' attack on Krakoa during the Hellfire Gala, most of the mutant population was banished through the Gateways that had been hacked by Orchis. All of the banished mutants ended up in the White Hot Room which took the form of a vast desert, where Exodus began leading them. As they used their powers to survive in this hostile environment, the mutants came into conflict with hostile copies of Wolverine, saving Mother Righteous from the feral Wolverines as her magic did not work well in this place. Mother Righteous decided to aid the mutant population by sheltering them in a piece of the Krakoa island she had taken with her. The mutants were able to form a new society in the desert, and soon The Five were regrouped and the revived Jean Grey was found. However, the Wolverine and Bishop replicas led by a replica of Apocalypse arrived to attack them, revealing that they were created by the minds of both Exodus and Hope Summers affecting the White Hot Room to play a role in Exodus' prophecy. Hope used the power of the Phoenix to slay the fake Apocalypse.

Jean/Phoenix combining every single mutant against Enigma

Taking advantage of Jean Grey's damaged psyche, Mother Righteous attempted to sacrifice Jean in order to ascend to Dominionhood but she was blocked by Enigma, the Dominion of the original Nathaniel Essex, who had been completed by Mother Righteous' attempt. Facing this new threat, the mutants planned to rekindle the dying Phoenix. When Enigma found out that Hope was leading the effort, he went to meet Hope's mother in the past in an attempt to make Hope his own progeny, but Jean/Phoenix stopped him and impregnated Hope's mother with the Phoenix. In the White Hot Room, Hope with Legion's help killed the dying Phoenix and Hope sacrificed herself to force its rebirth, thus making this moment both the Phoenix's end and beginning. Jean/Phoenix were restored, and in response, Enigma summoned all the Dominions to confront them, but the Dominions abandoned him and Jean/Phoenix combined the power of every mutant in existence to defeat Enigma.

Meanwhile, some of the notable mutants were able to return to Earth-616 from the White Hot Room using the metaphysical connection between the Atlantic Krakoa and Pacific Krakoa and Sinister's No-Place technology. Everyone else remained in the White Hot Room. With nothing but time, they used the Resurrection Protocols (which was still possible due to the White Hot Room) to resurrect everyone from Genosha, and they returned to Earth soon after to merge the Atlantic and Pacific Krakoas, though 15 years had passed for them and their society had prospered. The next day, the completed Krakoa returned to the White Hot Room.

Points of Interest

• Krakoa

Residents

• Exitar the Executioner
• Phoenix Force
• All past and future Phoenix hosts
  • Firehair
  • Jean Grey
  • Rachel Summers
  • Rook'shir
  • Magik; presumably others of the Phoenix Five
  • Kid Omega
  • Vulcan of Earth-8020
• The Void (formerly)
• 15,250,000+ mutants on Krakoa
• Grey Family (presumably)

Notes

• The White Hot Room is often drawn as a blank white space, but it can appear as anything. One of its alternate looks is a tower floating in a space-like realm that is continuously being constructed by a mysterious builder. This place was not originally the White Hot Room but was stated to be a part of it later.
• When Quentin Quire overdosed on Kick, he developed a secondary mutation. He stated he ascended to "outside rooms bigger than the whole world," where he experienced both the past and future.
• Jean Grey seemingly ushered her family into the White Hot Room after they were slaughtered by the Shi'ar Death Commandos.

"Inside [the M'kraan Crystal] exists the White Hot Room."

• Traditionally inside the M'kraan Crystal, the White Hot Room was later revealed to be in the "Mystery" beyond the Far Shore thus outside the Multiverse entirely. When Al Ewing mapped out the Mystery in Defenders: Beyond, he associated each realm with one of the Sefirot and the White Hot Room is Tiphareth.
  • Even after this retcon, the White Hot Room is still stated to be inside the M'kraan Crystal, so it seems to be paradoxically both.

Trivia

• The White Hot Room is called the "Above-place" in S.W.O.R.D. (Vol. 2) #7, which was written by Al Ewing. This is notable because Al Ewing is the creator of the Below-Place.
  • In an interview, Ewing confirmed that the wording choice was intentional. However, he also alluded that it might not be just for the White Hot Room. In the interview, he stated "the Mystery is the Above Place," and the exact quote from the issue is "the Above-place. The White Hot Room. The Mystery." Ewing's Defenders: Beyond series clarified that the White Hot Room is only a section of the Mystery.

See Also

• 38 appearance(s) of White Hot Room
• 3 minor appearance(s) of White Hot Room
• 15 mention(s) of White Hot Room
• 21 image(s) of White Hot Room
• 2 article(s) related to White Hot Room

Recommended Reading

• Classic X-Men #8 - introduces the Phoenix Force's realm (unnamed).
• Classic X-Men #43 - introduces a construction site that Phoenix goes to after her death (later retconned to be an aspect of the White Hot Room). This is also the first appearance of White Phoenix.
• X-Men Forever #3 - expands upon the construction site (see above).
• New X-Men #148–154 - notable Phoenix story where the White Hot Room is named. Reveals that the White Hot Room is an afterlife where residents wait for themselves. Connects it to the M'kraan Crystal. Reintroduces White Phoenix.
• X-Men Phoenix Endsong #1–5 - notable Phoenix story with the White Hot Room.
• Uncanny X-Men #462 - notable appearance of the White Hot Room.
• What If? X-Men - Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire #1 - notable alternate reality Phoenix story with the White Hot Room.
• Jean Grey #11 - notable appearance of the White Hot Room.
• S.W.O.R.D. (Vol. 2) #1 & 7 - establishes that the White Hot Room is beyond the Far Shore and outside the Multiverse, where kirbons exist and the Six harvest mysterium.
• Defenders: Beyond #2–3 - reaffirms that the White Hot Room is outside the Multiverse (see above) by revealing that it is also "beyond the Beyond."
• Immortal X-Men #14–18; X-Men: Forever #1–4 & Rise of the Powers of X #4–5 - notable Phoenix story with the White Hot Room. Expands Jean Grey and Hope Summers' connection to the Phoenix.