The author feels impelled to write about the real phoenix having read about the phoenix force in the X-men comics and seen it portrayed in the movies. The phoenix force is greatly exaggerated. The phoenix is part of the history of the early earth and real events now long forgotten have forged folklore.
Long ago the phoenix (phoenix in the plural sense) visited the Earth with disastrous effects. The Phoenix are literally a fire-bird their bodies made up largely of flame. They are quite large perhaps 30 feet tall, and highly intelligent. And the Earth was one place that they could potentially live. Unfortunately the phoenix communicate through planetary distances with high power psionics. When they came to Earth and tried to communicate with people the psionics killed everyone for miles around. A number of people particularly in the military at the time felt the phoenix birds were trying to invade the Earth. The viewpoint at the time was that the phoenix was an unintelligent invasive species from space. So the military went about designing “phoenix-proof” suits that would allow personnel to approach the phoenix in order to kill them. One scientist didn’t believe the phoenix were properly classified by the military. In particular he felt they may be a highly intelligent species. Not actually on a mission to take over the earth, instead he believed they were simply trying to communicate. The scientist built a phoenix compatible suit, that would allow one to approach closely and communicate psionically with the phoenix. The phoenix suit was roughly the same size as the phoenix, had a psionic amplifier on it, and could withstand the hundreds of degrees temperature close to a phoenix.
The scientist managed to convince the military personnel to allow him the opportunity to try and communicate intelligently with the phoenix. Timing came right down to the wire. The scientist was able to communicate with the phoenix at the last moment before the military would start a war. Part of the problem was that the phoenix were far more intelligent than men are. Men were unable to comprehend what the phoenix was trying to communicate. In the last moments before a war started however men and the phoenix were finally able to communicate. The phoenix realizing there was some intelligence to man, agreed not to populate the planet, and to leave it to the men. The scientist’s family was gifted by the phoenix with some psionic ability, should it ever be needed in the future.
In the folklore the phoenix force is an uber-powerful force. It harkens back to a fearful time when men may have been wiped out. In reality it was just high-powered psionics that scared the living daylights out of men a long, long time ago.