10 Best X-Men: The Animated Series Episodes
4. The Phoenix Saga, Part 5: Child Of Light
The Phoenix Saga is perhaps the perfect comic book story line to weave into a children's cartoon. Epic space battles and new characters expanded the X-Men's world, showing us intergalactic threats which were a nice change from the typical "the future is in danger" trope.
The entire Phoenix Saga was solid, but Part 5’s Child of Light was one of the heaviest moments in the series. Although it's not too different from Morph's supposed death and comeback, this was the first time that one of the X-Men were truly in grave peril.
In the finale, the Phoenix Force sacrificed itself to save existence by flying Jean's body straight into the sun. With a few cameos from Spider-Man, War Machine, and other non-X-Men characters tucked in there, Child of Light was one of the most memorable, most surprising, and added a new depth of emotion to a children's cartoon that poignantly dealt with adult themes.