What If...Kitty Pryde Stole the Phoenix Force?

Marvel's What If...? #4

by Rebecca Podos

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.

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 She’s suddenly surrounded by friends she’s never known, living out events that never happened. Breathe 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.

Genres: Marvel, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Fiction, Young Adult, X Men, Comics

336 pages, Hardcover

Published October 14, 2025

About the author

Rebecca Podos is the Lambda Literary Award-winning author of YA and Adult novels. What If…Kitty Pryde Stole the Phoenix Force? is her latest. Homeward for a Spell, the sequel to her adult fantasy debut Homegrown Magic, co-written with Jamie Pacton, comes out next. By day, Rebecca is a Senior Agent at Neighborhood Literary. She serves as a co-director of the Communications and Fundraising Committee for Literary Agents of Change, and on the Board of Directors for QT Library, a nonprofit, queer and trans lending library based in Boston.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, so I didn't know this was actually a series and you needed to start with book 1. I thought it was like the What If comics and just random stories. this is NOT accurate.

However as long as you have some basic X-Men/Marvel knowledge you should be fine. Podos is an engaging author and Im now going to go search out her other books.

Kitty Pryde and Jean Grey continue to be the greatest X-Men/Marvel characters ever created.

[Jamie B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this, of the current 4, to be the most cohesive of all so far. The book ended where it began, and set up for the next story, and culmination of the series, in a way that didn’t take away from this story - as so happens quite frequently in Marvel projects. Oftentimes a season serves only to set up the next, a testament to Disney’s desperate clawing for continued interest and income. Podos, however, has created a story that yes, serves this purpose, but is ultimately a well written and well contemplated story.

What I found most comforting in this story is that, the X-Men feel exactly the same as they always have been. Welcoming, different, friendly, and loving. You can tell, as mentioned in her acknowledgements, that Podos really is a lover of the X-Men, and has captured exactly in her writing why they are such beloved characters.

Kitty Pryde herself is persistently shown to lack confidence in herself, and I do hope that if she appears in the next iteration, she realises her true worth and strength. She’s surrounded, eventually, by people that love her, which she of course more than deserves. The only reason that I docked a star from this story, is that the beginning of the story is a little convoluted (for me, at least) and I struggled sometimes with the vision-hopping and flashbacks (or forwards, or sideways). I reckon on a re-read, now with more understanding, that would be less of an issue. Podos has contributed a pretty strong next-step in the series, and has set a standard that I really really hope the next book can maintain!!

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an odd duck. It starts out solid, slows down for a bit, picks up in the "early middle", and then ends on a disappointing note. It had a decent pace from start to finish; it held my interest throughout and was easy to pick back up where I had left off. The character development was so-so.

Some random thoughts: It is funny - there were some stories in the comic book series I would have liked seen having continued in maybe a mini-series if not maxi-series. I am not sure how I feel about these books "becoming" a series of stories linked together (other than by the Watcher who ought to be telling the story). This story is better than the prior one (possibly because I am not a huge fan of either Venom or Moon Knight), so that is a good thing.

There were moments where I was reminded of The Chaos Engine trilogy from back when, so that was cool. I don't know if it had to do with Betsy constantly referencing the Citadel that Brian works out of (or whatever it is; I remember that Citadel being important in TCE trilogy and Brian Braddock stands out to me as well, as does Betsy). Perhaps that series colored my opinion of this book? That series ends with reality "being fixed" whereas in this book, reality is never fixed and it gets a little goofy.

I think the focus on "nexus beings" is a mistake and a "stupid" idea (not the author's fault; I assume she was given guidelines to work under AND they were brought up in the Deadpool v. Wolverine movie. Whattaya gonna do?). It does not make sense to me that the death of a single being (entity) can cause a reality "to fracture" and split into two or more pieces before all of the threads of that reality finally unravel and that strand for reality is forever destroyed.

I have been an off-again, on-again, reader of the X-Men and it has been a LOOOONG time since I read any of their stories at length. I dabbled around the time of the "AvX" abomination and the "Eternals v X-Men v Avengers" idiocy. So while I enjoyed the moment involving storylines I was familiar with (probably back to around Uncanny X-Men issues 440-460-ish? and earlier), there were some definite changes with which I was not familiar, hahahah! Like Betsy and Rachel becoming a couple, or what had happened to Kitty over the years. During the time I read the X-Men comics (between Uncanny #200~#500 as well as X-Men vol. 2 #1-250), I never had the impression that Rachel or Betsy swung that way, and I always felt Betsy and Warren were a better fit. I never realized that the Rachel Summers in the 616-universe had no "duplicates" or iterations of herself in any other reality. That was interesting to learn, and kind-of makes her similar to (or the same as) America Chavez in some respects.

It's kind of odd that America is a "Watcher" in these books since I don't remember her being a Watcher in the comics (not that I have followed her closely since she was first introduced). It feels like the "America Chavez" in this series of books is actually a variant of the one who appeared in the second Doctor Strange movie as well as a variant of the character in the 616-Universe. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next novel and if it "wraps up" this series of "What if?" stories.

More random thoughts: I liked Kitty's "time slips" ("reality slips"?) when she was momentarily seeing images and people and having experiences that were out of her frame of reference but still felt very real. Those were well-done moments, I thought, and I missed them once they were gone, hahahah!

I think the best moments in this book are when the author "novelized" moments from the comics, to be honest. Those were so well done I would love to see the author do some "novelizations" of some of the X-Men storylines from the comics. I think she would do an excellent job. I liked the moments when America showed Betsy aspects of the life she had in the "correct timeline/reality" (or whatever you want to call it).

I also thought it was interesting how Kitty "used science" at the end to help her control the Phoenix Force by keeping the Phoenix Force contained in the space between the atoms that make up her body. I thought that was pretty clever and unique. One of the better (and original) moments in the book. I did not feel like Kitty actually "stole" the Phoenix Force (unless it is because she "stole it" from Doom by preventing Doom from merging with the Phoenix Force). At the same time, I find myself wondering how valid such a merger would be or if it would be able to take place since the Doom that would have merged with the Phoenix Force is from a different reality; would the two be able to merge?

Despite my disdain for "nexus beings", I think it's hilarious that in all the multiverse there is no Victor von Doom who is a "nexus being". Serves the pompous tinbag right. Still, though, has to be bitterly hard pill to swallow for this "Whispering Doom" who is using a shard of the M'Kraan crystal to travel the multiverse that as great and above humanity his arrogance has him believing himself to be, he's not nearly as important as he thinks he is.

Final random thoughts: Kitty's character is interesting because she is not very likable in this book. I realize a lot of that probably has to do with how this Kitty's "timeline/reality" has been splintered and fractured due to Jean Grey dying before her time at the hands of Doom, but Betsy also had a rough life and did not turn out like Kitty did, so I think it has more to do with Kitty's choices and how she handled what life sent her way versus blaming it on the change in the timeline. I think she kind-of grows by the end of the book, but that growth also seemed forced in some ways.

I enjoyed Betsy's depiction in this book. I thought how she was presented was believable based on my limited familiarity with her. She was hopeful and hope-filled; she did not give up on other people (including Kitty) even when nobody would have blamed her if she had. She wanted to make things right by protecting a woman she did not know from dying at the hands of a villain. I liked her character in this book.

It was weird to me that Kitty left "this universe" after absorbing the powers of the Phoenix. Would that not cause some kind of problems or calamity if this universe's Phoenix were removed from existence? Or will another Phoenix Force be birthed from the White Hot Room now that Kitty has left with America Chavez? I would think that whoever takes on the Phoenix Force "next" would be equally important in the grand scheme of things for this universe, so Kitty leaving made zero sense. Well, maybe a smidge because of how alone she feels, but that is also her fault. In any case, it will be interesting to see how things change for Kitty now that she is a host body for the Phoenix Force.

Also, with Betsy now being in two places at once (her younger self vs. her older self), does that mean the X-Men won't die after all like they apparently will due to Jean having been murdered before the team went into space? Also, how does the younger Doom being removed from this timeline affect this timeline? Does that cause any additional repercussions "down the road" considering he had to have had some kind of influence of the last five years or so (or however long it had been between the X-Men dying and Betsy and Kitty going back through time). The ending to this book left a lot of questions unanswered, hahahah, but that is okay. On the one hand, it would be kinda cool if the "younger" Doom was able to figure out how to escape from the pocket universe where he had been trapped and pursue a vendetta against the "other" multiversal Doom, but I really do not see that happening. I suppose it could happen, and maybe both Dooms will kill each other, but I doubt it. The "title" (or "promo") for the next book sounds like it might be the last book in the series, OR it could (obviously) be a springboard into a new series of What if....? books/stories. I think I would rather have Uatu or another Watcher introducing any subsequent stories as I still do not understand why America Chavez was chosen to be a Watcher when she is clearly not of that race (nor do I think it was ever revealed - maybe that revelation is coming in the next book?).

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it more than the prior books and thought this one was fairly well-written (overall. There were some parts/moments that were definitely better than other parts). I am glad I took a chance and read this book as I could see myself reading it again.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite there being some familiarity in some of the back-story/origin-story plot points, this has a pretty good pace, above-average prose, and is a solid multiversal adventure.  Littered with familiar characters and a fun villian that are all central to the conflict, the writer is clearly a fan of the comics and definitely knows how to write an action scene.  Loyal fans will also be happily rewarded with a few callbacks to the other books in the series that add some additional perspective.

[Notrab · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I really, REALLY, did but honestly I found the majority of the book deeply unsatisfying. I will now go into detail why, spoilers be damned.

First, the portions of the book that I personally found the most compelling were literally moments from X-Men comic history that the author basically transcribed from the original comics and slapped into the narrative at ‘pivotal’ moments. Now, I have mad respect for some of the deep cuts that happened here. But for a book that’s supposed to focus on an alternate continuity, I don’t think it’s a great sign that the book’s strongest moments literally come from Marvel’s mainstream.

Second, of our three characters Miss America was the most effectively fleshed out. Which is probably because three other authors have spent three other novels drawing out the nuances of this iteration’s role as a Watcher and her growing frustration with how powerless she is. Meanwhile the titular Kitty Pryde doesn’t stand out very much and doesn’t have a ton of characterization beyond ‘long suffering queer Jewish woman’. She wasn’t the cold hearted ruthless mutant that you’d expect the Hellfire club to produce in a world without the X-Men and her willingness to embrace a different life felt WAY too easy. Finally we have Betsy Braddock, one of my personal favorite comic characters, who in most versions of the character is a badass mutant with an epic backstory, and here is merely reduced to a wreck of a woman seemingly because she never met her ‘one true love’ in the story’s altered timeline. Personally I don’t find that premise anywhere feminist, nor did I find her sudden heel turn at the end into someone vaguely competent to be terribly believable.

Finally, the entire book is more plot than character driven. Dr Doom kills Jean Grey. Kitty Pryde winds up with the phoenix force. We knew this was all going to happen, hell the characters all knew it was going to happen, and their best plan was to just wait around at the mansion and wait for him to show up? They didn’t even bother to call the fantastic four, the avengers, or the rest of the X-Men’s reserve members like Beast? How stupid do you expect us to believe Xavier and the rest of the team are? These are people who at this point in time allegedly clashed with numerous heavy hitters; Magneto, Apocalypse, and god knows who else. And the best they could come up with dealing a dimension hopping Dr. Doom with their heads up their asses?


I came to this book with such high hopes, I loved the Scarlet Witch and Spider-Man what-if, but in the end all I am is disappointed and a tad infuriated.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been very excited about this book since its announcement. A prose novel featuring a time-travel team-up between three of my favourite Marvel heroes - hell, three of my favourite fictional characters overall - going through one of my favourite eras of comics? I knew I needed to read this.

It was genuinely everything I wanted and more.

The basic premise here is simple: In another world, Kitty Pryde is the depressed, cynical White Knight of the Hellfire Club, working under Emma Frost as the White Queen. Occasionally, she phases out of that world and into another one that more closely resembles Earth-616, full of friendship and love with the X-Men. When Betsy Braddock turns up with a theory about their world being broken and a plan to fix it, Kitty gets pulled into a time-travel adventure about found family, cosmic love, and preventing utter Doom.

Podos makes brilliant use of Marvel continuity to tell an original story, picking and choosing what aspects of canon to highlight and what to discard wonderfully - the complete omission of Betsy's body-swap era is especially appreciated. The references range from the expected to the obscure, with some of the continuity pulls blowing my mind - including a full recreation of the romantic history of Rachel/Betsy, with a surprising amount of narrative weight coming from the iconic-to-me-but-nobody-else Uncanny X-Men #462. It even capitalized on things that I think the comics themselves have struggled to do, especially in its use of America's revised backstory, which was established in America Made in the USA and hasn't really been used in any meaningful way since then.

The book had a good balance of metaphorical and non-metaphorical content in its discussion of marginalization, with Kitty talking about her experiences both as a queer Jewish woman and as a mutant. America's overlapping identities was also given nice focus and there was even a moment that highlighted Doom's underdiscussed Romani heritage, which was nice to see.

The tease of a possible romantic relationship between America and Kitty was lovely and I hope that does get followed up on in the sequel. They work shockingly well together.

This book probably isn't for everyone, but for me? This is immediately one of my favourite Marvel stories of the 2020s. I read it in one sitting and spent so much of it crying in all the right ways. I'm honestly just so happy this book exists - especially in this political climate.

[Michael Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

So...this one was fun but ultimately I felt like this book was more of a set up book for the 5th book more than anything else, which was the biggest let down for me.

Honestly, I also think the whole "Kitty Pryde stole the Phoenix Force" aspect is a bit misleading. Yes it happens but not until the very end, and then nothing happens because of it. So this is less "What If..." and a lot more "How come?". Which would have been great to know before I was halfway through the book and I kept having to ask myself "When are we getting to the fireworks?!?".

I also thought there were large sections of this book that weren't needed, and almost redundant. The strained friendship between Kitty and Betsy got tiresome after a while, as I kept waiting for Kitty to have her own revelation about her friend or something.

I think in the end, I kept waiting for things to happen in this book, but nothing really did. I felt the same way with the Wanda/Scarlett Witch What If... book.

I will say, I love how Marvel is trying their hands again with printed books, I just hope in the future they're a little bit more cohesive.

[Josh Reinhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This actually turned out better than I anticipated. The title is a bit misleading, but the story really makes up for it. Though the main focus is on Kitty Pryde, Betsy Braddock/Psylocke and America Chavez, both have plenty of supporting storylines in this compelling mystery, interwoven with splintering timelines and jumbled memories. Like the Marvel Animation tv show of the same name, this book is the latest "episode" in the series. While standalone, this one leans into the larger interconnection than the previous ones, no doubt leading to a gathering of previously introduced characters coming together in a climatic battle against Doom in whatever the final book will be. I also particularly enjoyed how they portrayed Doom and perhaps an indication of the direction the MCU will go in the upcoming Avengers movies.

[Madelyne · Rating 2 out of 5]

In an alternate universe where the X-Men died decades earlier, Kitty Pryde begins having visions of her life in the reality where they survived. This leads her on a journey through time alongside Betsy Braddock and America Chavez to discover the truth behind these visions and save the X-Men.

I've mostly enjoyed the What If novels up to this point, but I really wasn't vibing with this one. I've never been much of an X-Men fan, so I didn't have a connection with any of the characters in this book. These books have been their own thing, unrelated to the movies, but with all the talk of Nexus beings in this book, and the ending teasing Doom going after Franklin Richards, it really feels like they're trying to tie it into the MCU now. It sounds like the next book in this series is going to be the last one, and I just hope that it will be better than this book.

[Shayla Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 rating! It's been a while since I've read the other What if books so it took me a minute to get back into the story. I liked that this one continued to have America Chavez in it as she is a crucial part of the entire Multiverse. Kitty Pryde is a character that I have only vague knowledge of in Marvel but I thought her story here was very well fleshed out. I knew that anything multiverse wise would include the X-Men (especially Jean Gray) and the story moved along in a quick pace. With the announcement of the final book in the series focusing on Doom primarily, I interesting to see where this all ends.

[Matt Leicht · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this one for its seamless rep of queer women. There was no attempt to justify who these women were. They just get to be themselves. I like seeing my community in both spectacle and normalcy, but this book was already extremely spectacular. The queer representation just exists and doesn't feel the need to justify itself. Anyway, I love Betsy and Rachel! Kitty was such a thought provoking lead and I have loved getting more America than this series allowed in the past. Let's go book 5!!!!

[Christian Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

And because, of all the infinite Betsy Braddocks in the Multiverse, there is only one Rachel Summers. How impossibly wondrous is it that she is the Betsy who gets to love her?

God damn I love how this book treats Rachel and Betsy’s relationship. I’d love to read a proper full length R/B romance action book by the author.

[Cecilia Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beginning in 1990, Kitty Pride is a mutant.
She is under the control of Emma Frost, the White Queen.
America Chavez has broken from the Watchers and is trying to save Jean Grey, the host for the phoenix force.

This is the perfect novel to read while waiting for the December theatrical release of Avengers: Doomsday

[E.J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a struggle for me. Idk if it’s because of my general lack is of X-men knowledge (I’ve seen all the movies but not as much as the mainline MCU films) or if it was the confusing time travel, but I could not enjoy this book.

[Hayley Hobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series! Can’t wait for the next one.

[Eric Olmeda · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if kitty pryde..???

Outstanding book! Totally enjoyed it.
Going back to read first to books in series.
Can't wait for next new book.
🙏😎❤️🇵🇷

[Jim Cira · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this series, numbers two and four are the best (this being number four)! I truly enjoyed this multiversal deep dive into X-Men lore!

[Michael Castro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably my favorite marvel novel series. Great read, but this was weakest so far in the series. seemed to be set up for more and im hoping there is.

[William Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great easy read. I feel like a few descriptions could have been shortened but I am a huge krokoa era x-men fan. Can’t wait for book 5!

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't want to give this 2 stars, but its maybe barely a 3. All of the different timelines and POVs were too messy for my taste, especially in the beginning, but once you settle into the primary storyline in 1975, it does get much, much better. I loved all the character appearances and I'm now a fan of Kitty Pryde and Betsy Braddock, so I have to be grateful to the book for that. It's also got some fun action sequences, too. Overall, it's an averagely decent read.

[Foxglove]

I think authors that like a darker book will really like it, but I just found it too depressing. Kitty has always been a symbol of hope to me, and seeing her so beaten down and alone, really made it a hard read, even when she found friendship, it just felt bleak. Hence why I didn’t score it, I think this was more my tastes not meeting the book.

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, though it was not my favorite in the series. There were times when I had trouble following the story. Maybe that just means I need to reread it (oh the horror 😂 jk).

I guess the story is not over yet. No idea what the next book will entail, though I guess we’re headed to the Baxter Building?

Here’s hoping that world is fixed and the baddie is defeated properly.