It appeared as if Jean died in the explosion up in space. But the explosion was weirdly in the shape of a phoenix (ha, get it?). Of course, her friends down on the ground couldn’t see that and assumed she had died. They ended up renaming Xavier’s school for mutants in Jean Grey’s honor as a memorial. Hank took over as headmaster after Xavier’s mistakes with Jean’s childhood came to light (he lied about her father being alive and mentally blocked her memories of her mother’s death). Hank still mourned Raven. Students became teachers. Life went on. Erik left his mutant colony safehaven to find Xavier in Paris as the former leader of the X-Men was trying to find his new purpose in life. Xavier rejected Erik’s offer to come and live in his colony but the two former friends did begin to play a game of chess, “for old times’ sake.” It all felt like a very final ending.