Possibly the biggest WTF ever in comics history, is both the story and surrounding circumstances of the death of Jean Grey in X-MEN 137, in 1980.


Phoenix, after killing the 6 billion asparagus people, by eating the star that kept their planet alive (X-MEN 135), was planned by writer Claremont to get a "psychic lobotomy" to reduce her powers and eliminate the threat of Dark Phoenix.
The story for X-MEN 137 was completely written, pencilled, inked, and sent to the editor to go to press.

But at the last minute, then-editor-in-chief Jim Shooter read the story, pre-press, and said: No way Jean Grey lives! She killed 6 billion asparagus people, she can't be allowed to just go back to being Jean Grey.
Or words to that effect.

But the issue was already planned to go out, so they (Claremont, Byrne and Austin) were instructed to re-do the five-page conclusion of X-MEN 137, and have Phoenix die. And as I recall, the book was two or three weeks late, but still came out, with much controversy.

Claremont had originally planned to have Scott Summers and Jean Grey marry and have children. So this "death" really screwed things up for Claremont's long-term planning of the series over the next three or four years.

Claremont finally brought his original ideas back into the series, despite Jean Grey's death, by having Jean and Scott's daughter (Rachel) "time-slip sideways" into Marvel continuity from an alternate reality where Scott and Jean still married and had their daughter.
And she (Rachel) escaped armageddon in her world to take up residence in the Marvel universe (sometime during the Claremont/Sienkiewicz run of NEW MUTANTS).

I thought this was a fit of genius on Claremont's part ! He got to have his cake and eat it too, as far as exploring his original ideas for the X-men characters.

Claremont was apparently hugely pissed off at X-MEN editor Jim Salicrup for whatever glitch kept Shooter from knowing all along what was planned for Phoenix, and forcing the X-MEN creative team, at the absolute last minute, under tremendous deadline pressure, to come up with an alternate ending.
Salicrup was soon replaced by Louise Jones as editor of the X-titles.

The original ending for X-MEN 137 finally saw print in 1983/1984 in a one-shot Baxter book, PHOENIX: THE UNTOLD STORY.



A WTF and a half !