Jean Grey in other media
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Jean Grey is a member of the X-Men, and has been included in almost every media adaptation of the X-Men franchise, including film, television, computer and video games.
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[edit] Television and visual media
[edit] TV appearances
- Jean Grey as "Marvel Girl" made her first ever animated appearance on the 1966 Marvel Super Heroes episode of The Sub-Mariner with the original X-Men line-up (Angel, Cyclops, Iceman, and Beast). [1]
- She also appears a flashback in the episode, "The Origin of Iceman" of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and in the later of "The Education of a Superhero", in the early 1980s.
[edit] X-Men
Jean Grey-Summers is a character in the X-Men animated television series of the mid-1990s, voiced by Catherine Disher. As in the comics, she was in a relationship with Cyclops, eventually marrying him while being the target of Wolverine's unrequited affection. The entire saga of the Phoenix is retold and adapted in the third season of the X-Men animated series, subdivided into the five-part "Phoenix Saga," in which Jean acquires the power of the Phoenix and the battle for the M'Kraan Crystal occurs, and the "Dark Phoenix Saga", showcasing the battle with the Hellfire Club, the Phoenix's transformation into Dark Phoenix, and the battle to decide her fate. These particular episodes are as close as the cartoon came to directly duplicating the comic book storylines - the "Dark Phoenix Saga" is so accurate to the original stories that the episodes have the additional credit, "Based on stories by Chris Claremont." Notably, however, as the Phoenix Force retcon had occurred before the creation of the series, the episodes were made with this change in mind - rather than having Jean develop her powers independently (as was the original implication of the comics), or be replaced by the cosmic Phoenix Force entity (as events were later retconned), the two concepts were merged, into Jean's actual body being possessed by the Phoenix Force, leading to a true struggle between two independent entities. Rather than destroying an inhabited system -- which was the cause for the decision to kill off the character in the comics -- the animated story had her destroy a deserted system and only disable the attacking Shi'ar cruiser. These changes made it possible for aspects of the original ending of Uncanny X-Men #137, in which Jean survives, to be used. Jean does still commit suicide (taking control of the Shi'ar's laser beam to fire on herself, rather than finding an ancient weapon), but with her death, the Phoenix Force is purified, and then uses its powers to resurrect Jean, drawing on the combined lifeforce of the assembled X-Men to bring her back to life. Jean retained her original basic powers, whereas in the aborted comic book ending, she would have been lobotomized by the Shi'ar and lost them entirely.
- She also guest starred in Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the 1990s in first the fourth and fifth episodes of Season 2, along with the rest of the X-Men.
[edit] X-Men: Evolution
In the animated TV series X-Men: Evolution, Jean, voiced by Venus Terzo, is a stunning and popular soccer player. Her personality was cheerful, slightly tomboyish, quick-tempered, with a sort-of jealous streak and some insecurity issues that would appear later in the series. Her powers are similar to those in the early comic books; she possesses telepathy and telekinesis, initially only able to move objects telekinetically that she could move by hand. By the third season, she can levitate objects as heavy as a helicopter without difficulty. When her powers surge, she suffers from what have come to be known as 'Growing Pains'; finding herself losing control, overhearing thoughts without effort. The X-Men help her to regain control, leading her to form a psychic rapport with her teammate Scott Summers with whom she later starts dating. In season 4 she helped defeat Apocalypse by fighting the horseman of Death, Professor X. The series ends with glimpses of the future for various characters, and Jean is shown transforming into Dark Phoenix. Had the show been renewed for a fifth season, this subplot would have been further developed [1].
[edit] Wolverine and the X-Men
According to a recent preview trailer for the new animated TV series Wolverine and the X-Men, Jean will appear, and will supposedly die during the pilot. Whether she will appear again in the series is unknown.
[edit] Film
Famke Janssen portrays Jean Grey/Phoenix in the feature films X-Men, X2: X-Men United, and X-Men: The Last Stand.
[edit] X-Men
In X-Men, Jean was introduced as the team’s medical doctor (reportedly as a substitute for Dr. Hank McCoy, who would have required prosthetic makeup) and is involved in a long-term relationship with Cyclops. A love triangle develops between her, Cyclops, and Wolverine. Jean's powers are mild compared to her teammates' and her telepathy is not as powerful as that of Professor X, who is still teaching her to develop it. She can levitate small objects, and in the Statue Of Liberty battle scene she is able to cease Toad's momentum very briefly, keep Wolverine steady as Storm propels him through the air, and lift Cyclops' visor into the air. Although it is not known until X2, the effects of Magneto's "Mutant-Creating Machine" helped to further Jean's true telekinetic potential; likely due to the breakdown of the mental blocks placed in her mind by Professor Xavier.
[edit] X2: X-Men United
In X2: X-Men United, at the Science Museum, Jean expresses her concerns to Cyclops about her experiences of frequent bad dreams and headaches. She states that her powers have been increasing since the events of "Liberty Island" but the exact cause is never mentioned. Jean begins to exhibit Phoenix-like powers as she uses her telekinesis to deflect the missiles fired at the X-Men while trying to escape from the US Air Force. Her eyes glow fiery red as she successfully destroys one missile, and also in another incident, when she fights Cyclops who is under William Stryker's control, and is able to telekinetically shield herself from Cyclops' optic beam before dispersing it and scattering the energy about, causing it to destroy the dam's structural integrity. After the destruction in Alkali Lake, Jean sacrifices herself to save her teammates from the ruptured dam. Her power reaches to the maximum level as she sends the inoperative X-Jet away, telepathically cancels Nightcrawler's teleportation to prevent him from rescuing her, as she momentarily holds back the resulting tidal wave that eventually claims her mortal body. At that point, Jean is engulfed by fire, as she closes her eyes and lets the waters crash onto her. At the end of X2, a vision of a Phoenix raptor is seen glowing underneath the lake where Jean seemingly died, as she narrates an explanation of evolution to the audience.
[edit] X-Men: The Last Stand
In X-Men: The Last Stand, Jean's death severely affects Cyclops, who has frequent nightmares of her, and is unable to move on due to constant telepathic messages from her. He returns to Alkali Lake, where he angrily releases the full force of his optic blasts into the waters, only to see Jean Grey rise from the water, alive. They begin to kiss and she insists he remove his glasses as she is able to control his powers, but then apparently kills him by atomizing him with her telekinesis (his clear, outright death is not shown on screen, but referred to repeatedly following the event; during the kiss). Unconscious, she is taken back to the mansion by Storm and Wolverine. There, it is revealed by Professor X that since childhood, Jean had powers that were beyond all known limitations. Fearing that Jean could not control her vast powers, Charles Xavier put psychic blocks around her subconscious mind to keep Jean's immense powers at bay. As a result while growing up, Jean has developed a dual personality - one being her usual self and the other being her powerful and uninhibited side which calls itself the 'Phoenix' which emerges when she gets angry. Jean's Dark Phoenix powers began to manifest as she uses her telekinesis to attack Xavier. Her eyes turn black (with a subtle amount of fire in her irises), her hair goes from dark red to a fiery orange color, and her skin darkens and becomes veiny (almost zombie-like) as she disintegrates Xavier and joins Magneto's Brotherhood. Upon attacking Alcatraz Island, Jean, in her Dark Phoenix form, unleashes her Armageddon-like fury and destroys much of Worthington Labs, the X-Jet, and kills both mutants and humans along the way. Wolverine tells Storm to get everyone to safety while he stays behind, as he is the only one who can stop her (due to his healing factor). He manages to get Jean, who burns through his skin multiple times, to re-surface long enough to plead for him to stop her from causing any more harm. Wolverine says to Jean he loves her however she does not expresses the same. This is believed to show that, despite her love for Logan, her heart has and always will belong to Cyclops. After his profession of love Wolverine reluctantly stabs her with his claws. With that, Jean's destruction ceases and she smiles thankfully to Logan before she dies. Her gravestone is later seen next to Cyclops' and Xavier's.
Despite drawing from the comic's iconic 'Dark Phoenix Saga' the film takes many liberties. The name Phoenix is used only once in the film when Xavier describes to Logan Jean's dual personalities. Jean is never called the Phoenix, let alone the Dark Phoenix, in the entire movie. In X2: X-Men United Jean's growing power manifested itself into the iconic 'Phoenix Raptor' consumed by fire- true to the X-Men comic. However, in X-Men: The Last Stand Jean's fire wielding powers were completely disregarded despite being established in the previous film.
[edit] Video games
[edit] X-Men game appearances
Jean Grey-Summers appears as "Marvel Girl", a playable character in 1990s X-Men II: The Fall of the Mutants for the PC. Jean is a supporting character in X-Men for the Sega Genesis, who levitates living characters from falls into fatal pits. She appears as "Phoenix" in her blue-and-gold uniform, a playable character in X-Men: Gamemaster's Legacy for the Sega Game Gear; she is one of the games flying characters, and fires powerful psi-blasts. Jean also appears as "Phoenix" in the X-Men: Mutant Academy games for the Sony PlayStation and also as "Dark Phoenix" in X-Men: Next Dimension for the PS2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube. Jean appears as a playable character in X-Men Legends and its sequel X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse. She also appears as "Dark Phoenix" exclusively for PSP version of the game. Jean has a small part in the video game X-Men: The Official Game.
[edit] Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Phoenix appears as a NPC in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for PS2, Xbox, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, and is a striker character in the Game Boy Advance version of the game. She is voiced by Sarah Waits. In the PC and next-gen console versions, she is initially kidnapped by Arcade who puts her under mind control and forces her to battle the player's team. After she is rescued, she assists the player's mission to rescue Nightcrawler from Mephisto's realm, only to be captured by Blackheart in the process. After defeating Blackheart, the player has the choice to save either Jean or Nightcrawler, since saving one results in the other's death. If Nightcrawler was rescued, then Jean will be resurrected by Mephisto as the Dark Phoenix and return to kill the heroes for not saving her (that will occur during the game). After you defeat Phoenix during the fight against Mephisto, Jean Grey-Summers dismisses herself as an echo of her past self and sacrifices her life to defeat Mephisto. In the end of the game it is revealed if the player saved Jean, Mystique will avenge Nightcrawler by infiltrating the X-Mansion at night to vent her frustration upon Professor X where he will die in a coma months later and the X-Men will disband forever. If Nightcrawler is saved, Jean Grey doesn't die in the Infinity Vortex but returns to Earth as the Dark Phoenix to exact vengeance on those that didn't save her. On a side note, she has special dialogue with Wolverine, Invisible Woman, and Cyclops.
[edit] Toys
Jean Grey-Summers has appeared in several X-Men toy lines, including the popular Marvel Legends line. Her first figure appeared within the Shi'ar assortment of X-Men figures, with her wearing her green Phoenix costume and included an electronic light up hair and eyes feature. Eventually a Jean in her 90s outfit was offered as part of an exclusive line called She-Force (Subsequently, the figure was only a repaint of a previous figure). Later, she was a part of the Onslaught assortment, this time wearing he blue and yellow costume that she wore for most of the 90's, which was oddly preposed with very little articulation. Following this figure, she was a part of the X-Men Space Riders assortment, wearing a variation of her 90's costume that also included added space suit parts. After this, a better looking, more articulated version of Jean in her 90's outfit was designed and shown at Toyfair. Unfortunately, the line had later been canceled and the figure never saw release.
In Marvel Legends series 6, she appeared in her Phoenix(green) costume, with a Dark Phoenix variant. The Phoenix figure was later re-released as part of the X-Men Classics Line. A figure of Jean Grey from X-Men: The Last Stand was released in the second series of Marvel Legends from Hasbro with a Dark Phoenix variant as well.[2]
A Phoenix figurine has also been released as part of the "Superhero Squard" line of non-articulated figurines. These small scale figurines depict famous Superheroes in "kiddie" variations. Phoenix is released as a two-pack with the brown and orange costumed Wolverine. A Dark Phoenix variant has also been released as a Toys 'R' Us exclusive boxset.
A Phoenix toy was created based on the first X-Men movie. Three different variants were released. The first had her with an open top, no bra, and her hair down. The second had a redesigned head with her hair tied back, and a bra painted on underneath her open top. The third had the same tied back hair do, but the chest was redone and closed up, making it the most accurate of the three variations.
A Jean Grey-Summers figure was also created as part of Toy Biz's Famous Covers assortment. The figure depicted her in her blue and yellow 90's outfit.
