Jean Grey

Jean Grey-Summers
Jean Grey-Summers as Phoenix. Interior artwork from Astonising X-Men vol. 2, 1 (Sept 1999). Art by Brandon Peterson.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	X-Men #1 (Sep 1963)
Created by	Stan Lee Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter ego	Jean Grey-Summers
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	X-Men Phoenix Corps The Twelve X-Factor X-Terminators
Notable aliases	Marvel Girl, Phoenix, Dark Phoenix, White Phoenix of the Crown, Redd Dayspring, Red
Abilities	Telepathy Telekinesis Phoenix Force grants: Ability to travel unaided through space and time Ability to psionically manipulate matter and any form of energy Ability to create powerful 'cosmic' fire

Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl and later, Phoenix and Dark Phoenix, and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with husband Cyclops, and for her central role and transformation in the classic X-Men storyline, "The Dark Phoenix Saga".

Jean Grey-Summers is a mutant born with telepathic and telekinetic powers. Her powers first manifested when she saw her childhood friend being hit by a car. She is a caring, nurturing figure, but she also must deal with being an Omega-level mutant and the physical manifestation of the cosmic Phoenix Force. She faces death several times in the history of the series, first in the classic "Dark Phoenix Saga" but due to her connection with the Phoenix Force, she, as her namesake implies, rises from death.

Jean is an important figure in the lives of other Marvel universe characters, mostly the X-Men, including her husband Cyclops; her mentor and father-figure Charles Xavier; her close friend and sometimes romantic interest Wolverine; Storm, who is her best friend and a sister-like figure; her daughter Rachel Summers; her son X-Man; and stepson Cable.

The character is present for much of the X-Men's history, and she is featured in all three X-Men animated series and several video games. Famke Janssen portrays Jean in the X-Men films. She is a playable character in X-Men Legends (2004), X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (2009), and appears as an enemy in the first Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. In 2006, IGN rated Jean Grey #6 on their list of Top 25 X-Men from the past forty years.^[1]

Publication history

Debut (1960s)

Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, Jean first appeared as Marvel Girl in X-Men #1 (September 1963). As the original team's sole female member, Marvel Girl was a regular part of the team through the series' publication. Initially possessing the ability of telekinesis, the character was later granted the power of telepathy,^[2] which would be retconned years later as a latent natural ability.^[3] She also begins a relationship with Scott Summers, which persists as her main romantic relationship throughout the X-Men franchise, though she would also harbor a secret attraction to fellow teammate Wolverine.^[4]

"The Dark Phoenix Saga" (1980s)

Marvel Girl becomes Phoenix. (X-Men vol. 1, #101) Art by Dave Cockrum.

Under the collaborative writing and artwork of Chris Claremont and John Byrne (respectively) in the 1980s, Marvel Girl would undergo a significant transformation from one of the X-Men's weakest members to one of its most powerful in the Uncanny X-Men extended storyline "The Phoenix Saga". In an attempt to save her fellow X-Men that renders her near death, Jean bonds with a cosmic entity called the "Phoenix Force" and gains immense powers, adopting the new codename "Phoenix". This new identity and her immense powers became the focus of another extended storyline, "The Dark Phoenix Saga", in which Jean becomes overwhelmed and corrupted by her immense, god-like powers and transforms into a force of total destruction, now called "Dark Phoenix", and jeopardizing the entire universe. The storyline ends in Jean Grey's suicide, in a moment of regained control, to ensure the universe's safety.^[5] "The Dark Phoenix Saga" (including the earlier "Phoenix Saga") would become one of the most well-known and heavily referenced stories in mainstream American superhero comics, widely considered a classic.^[6]

When the first trade paperback of "The Dark Phoenix Saga" was published in 1984, Marvel also published a 48-page special issue titled "Dark Phoenix: The Untold Story." The issue reprinted Uncanny X-Men #137, but with new artwork and dialogue with the originally intended ending by Claremont and Byrne. Along with the alternate ending were transcripts of the discussion between Shooter, Claremont, Byrne, and others involved in the creation of the new Phoenix persona, the story's creation that resulted in the story change, and also depicted Claremont and Byrne's plans for Jean Grey had she survived.^[6]

Phoenix consumes a star, inadvertently killing billions of people.

Claremont revealed that his and Byrne's motivation for Jean Grey's transformation into Phoenix was to create "the first cosmic superheroine" akin to Thor.^[7] The two hoped that like Thor had been integrated into the Avengers, Phoenix would also become an effective and immensely powerful member of the X-Men.^[7] However, both editor Jim Salicrup and Byrne had strong feelings against how powerful Phoenix had become, feeling that she drew too much focus in the book.^[7] Byrne worked with Claremont to effectively remove Phoenix from the storyline, initially by removing her powers. However, Byrne's decision to have Dark Phoenix destroy an inhabited solar system in Uncanny X-Men #135, coupled with the planned ending to the story arc, worried then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, who felt that allowing Jean to live at the conclusion of the story was both morally unacceptable (given that she was now a "mass murderer")^[6] and also an unsatisfying ending from a storytelling point of view.^[6] Shooter publicly laid out his reasoning in a 1984 roundtable with Claremont, Byrne, editors Salicrup and Louise Jones, and inker Terry Austin:

I personally think, and I've said this many times, that having a character destroy an inhabited world with billions of people wipe out a starship and then—well, you know, having the powers removed and being let go on Earth. It seems to me that that's the same as capturing Hitler alive and letting him go live on Long Island. Now, I don't think the story would end there. I think a lot of people would come to his door with machine guns... .^[7]

In The Dark Phoenix Tapes, Claremont suggested that one of the creative team's questions that affected the story's conclusion was whether the Phoenix's personality and later descent into madness and evil were inherent to Jean Grey or if the Phoenix was itself an entity merely possessing her.^[7] The unclear relationship between Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force would continue to be a topic subject to different interpretations and explanations by various future writers and editors at Marvel Comics. At the time of the Phoenix's creation, Byrne viewed it as an entity that entirely possessed Jean Grey, therefore absolving her of its crimes once it was driven out.^[7] Conversely, Shooter viewed Phoenix as an inherent and inseparable aspect of Jean Grey, meaning that the character was fully responsible for her actions as Phoenix.^[7] As a result, Shooter requested that Claremont and Byrne rewrite the last chapter of issue #137, to explicitly place in the story both a consequence and an ending commensurate with the enormity of Phoenix's actions.^[7]

The original ending was published in the one-shot Phoenix: The Untold Story in April, 1984. In the original ending, Jean is overpowered, captured, and subjected to a "psychic lobotomy," permanently leaving Jean without any of her telepathic or telekinetic powers. The concept that Byrne and Claremont had in mind was that her powers ended up being permanently suppressed, but with the threat always in the shadows of Phoenix returning. In the end, Jean is allowed to return to Earth with the rest of the X-Men, "cured" of the power and madness of Dark Phoenix.^[7] Later plans stated by Claremont and Byrne also involved Magneto offering Jean the chance to restore her abilities, but with Jean proving herself in a heroic moment by choosing to remain depowered and eliminate the threat of Dark Phoenix returning to power.^[7] The one-shot also reveals the original splash page drawn for Uncanny X-Men #138, which shows Jean and Scott in a happier time, contrasted with the splash page actually published in issue #138 that shows Jean's funeral.^[7]

Return to publication (1986)

The unfinished cover for X-Factor #1, before Bob Layton and Jackson Guice decided on the fifth female team member. (X-Factor vol. 1, #1) Art by Jackson Guice.

After several years, Marvel decided to revive the character, but only after an editorial decree that the character be absolved of her actions during "The Dark Phoenix Saga".^[8] She reappears six years after "The Dark Phoenix Saga" in Avengers #263 (January, 1986) and is revived in Fantastic Four #286 (January, 1986), with the events of "The Dark Phoenix Saga" being retconned. The events explain that the real Jean Grey was hidden away to heal from her injuries while the Phoenix Force inhabited a copy of her body, believing itself to be Jean Grey. Future issues would further explore the details of the interaction and connection between Jean and the Phoenix Force.^[9][10] The real Jean Grey awakens when her injuries are healed (though with lost access to her telepathy) and with no recollection or involvement in the events that occurred after meeting the Phoenix Force.^[11]

Writer Kurt Busiek is credited as coming up with the plot to revive Jean Grey.^[8] At the time, Jim Shooter ruled that the character could not be revived unless she was absolved of her genocidal actions.^[8] Busiek, a fan of the original five X-Men, was displeased with the character's death and formulated various storylines that would have met Shooter's rule and allowed the character to return to the X-Men franchise.^[8] He eventually shared his storyline idea with fellow writer Roger Stern who mentioned it to Byrne, who was in charge of illustrating the Fantastic Four at the time.^[8] Both series writer Bob Layton and artist Jackson Guice had yet to settle on their fifth character for the X-Factor team, initially considering Dazzler.^[12] Layton opted to fill the open spot with Jean instead, and both he and Byrne submitted the idea to Shooter, who approved it.^[8] Jean Grey's revival became a crossover plotline between the Avengers under Stern, Fantastic Four under Byrne, and X-Factor under Layton.^[8] Busiek later found out that his idea had been used thanks to Layton, and was credited in Fantastic Four #286 and was paid for his contributions.^[8] The decision to revive Jean Grey was controversial among fans, with some appreciating the return of the character and others feeling it weakened the impact of the "Dark Phoenix Saga"'s ending.^[8] Busiek maintains that the idea that lead to Jean Grey's official return to Marvel Comics was merely a case of sharing his ideas with friends as a fan, and that he cannot be blamed by those who disliked her return because he neither pitched the idea to anyone nor gave it the final go ahead.^[8]

In the comics, having been fully established as separate from the "Jean Grey" copy created and taken over by the Phoenix Force, Jean is "absolved" of involvement in the atrocities of "The Dark Phoenix" storyline, and she returns in the first issue of X-Factor (1st Series) only to find that the other members of the original X-Men have retired.^[13] Jean convinces the retired X-Men to found a new team, X-Factor, to respond to growing anti-mutant sentiment and reuses the "Marvel Girl" codename.^[13] The series also reunited Jean with Cyclops, who abandons his wife, Madelyne Pryor—a woman who looks uncannily like Jean—and their infant son, Nathan Christopher, to run the X-Factor team.^[13] Upon discovering that her former lover had established a family during her absence, Jean encourages Cyclops to return to his wife and child.^[14][15] However, finding their home abandoned, he believes Madelyne has left him and taken Nathan with her, prompting Scott to return to X-Factor and continue his relationship with Jean.^[15]

The team's adventures continue throughout the series, culminating in the line-wide Inferno crossover. Madelyne resurfaces, now nearly insane and with powers awakened by a demonic pact, calling herself the Goblyn Queen.^[16] During the crossover, the X-Men discover that Madelyne was a clone of Jean created by Mister Sinister and brought to life by the Phoenix Force after the events of "The Dark Phoenix Saga". Sinister created her with the purpose of having a child with Scott Summers, as their genetic pool carried the potential to produce powerful mutant offspring. This drives her completely insane, planning to sacrifice her son to achieve greater power and forge her own destiny.^[17] Inferno reunites Jean with the X-Men, who are happy to learn that she is alive, particularly Wolverine, reminding Jean of her unaddressed feelings for him. At the conclusion of Inferno, Jean and Madelyne confront each other, with Madelyne attempting to mind meld with Jean and kill them both. Jean manages to survive only by absorbing the remnant of the Phoenix Force housed within Madelyne, giving her both Madelyne's memories and the Phoenix's memories from "The Dark Phoenix Saga".^[18]

Claremont later commented on how Jean's revival affected his original plans for Madelyne Pryor, stating that the relationship between the two women was intended to be entirely coincidental.^[19] He intended Madelyne only to look like Jean by complete coincidence and exist as a means for Cyclops to move on with his life and be written out of the X-Men franchise, part of what he believed to be a natural progression for any member of the team.^[19] Claremont expressed dismay that Jean's resurrection ultimately resulted in Cyclops abandoning his wife and child, tarnishing his written persona as a hero and "decent human being", and the "untenable situation" with Madelyne being dealt with by transforming her into a prolicidal demonic villain and killing her off.^[19]

Soon after the beginning publication of X-Factor, Marvel also reprinted and released the original X-Men series under the title Classic X-Men. These reissues paired the original stories with new vignettes, elaborating on plot points. One such issue, Classic X-Men #8 (April 1987), paired the original X-Men #100 (August 1976) story of Jean Grey's disastrous return flight from space immediately preceding her transformation into Phoenix ("Love Hath No X-Man...") with the new story "Phoenix". The story further supported the retcon establishing Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force as two separate entities. The vignette elaborated on the events between X-Men #100 and X-Men #101: facing certain death from radiation poisoning, Jean Grey cries out for help to save the lives of her fellow X-Men. Hearing her cry and sensing her intense passion for life and love for Scott and her friends, the Phoenix Force—the "sum and substance of life"—responds, offering to save her by bonding to her, coupling her humanity with its incredible power. Jean accepts and immediately finds her consciousness in a duplicated body. She places her former dying body, still containing a spark of her soul, in a healing cocoon. The duplicate, now calling itself Phoenix proceeds to the events depicted in the original X-Men #101 (October 1976) story "Like A Phoenix, From The Ashes!" with the cocoon sinking to the bottom of the Jamaica Bay to be discovered in '"Avengers #263.^[9]

Return to the X-Men (1990s)

Following the conclusion of Inferno, Jean continues to be a mainstay character throughout the rest of X-Factor, rejecting a marriage proposal from Scott and meeting her alternate future daughter Rachel Summers, whom she also rejects out of the feeling that they both suggest her life is predetermined.^[20][21] She also regains her telepathy during a battle with the villain Psynapse.^[22]

X-Factor (1st Series) ended its run featuring the original X-Men with X-Factor #70 (September, 1991), with the characters transitioning over to Uncanny X-Men, explained in continuity as the two teams deciding to merge together. The fourteen X-Men divide into two teams—"Blue" and "Gold"—led by Cyclops and Storm, respectively. Jean is added to the Gold Team beginning in Uncanny X-Men #281 (October, 1991).^[23] During this time, she is no longer given a codename, instead referred to by her full name, Jean Grey. In Uncanny X-Men #308 (January 1994), Jean accepts a second marriage proposal from Scott and the two marry in X-Men #30 (March, 1994). Jean and Scott were immediately featured in the four-part miniseries The Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix, where the two were psychically transported 2000 years into the future to raise Scott's son Nathan, who had been transported to the future as an infant in hopes of curing him of a deadly virus. The series depicted the couple assuming the names Redd (Jean) and Slym (Cyclops) and raising Nathan Christopher for twelve years before being sent back into their bodies on their wedding honeymoon. Before their return, Jean learns that Rachel had transported them to the future to protect Nathan, and per her request adopts the codename Phoenix once again to establish it as a symbol of good after all the bad it had caused.^[24]

Jean continued to appear as a mainstay character in both X-Men and Uncanny X-Men including franchise-wide crossovers like "The Phalanx Covenant" and the line-wide crossover Onslaught, which featured the manifestation of Charles Xavier's dark half. The crossover revisited long untouched issues between Xavier and Jean, including Xavier's secret love for Jean mentioned in the original X-Men comic series decades earlier.^[25][26] Jean also meets another alternate future child of hers and Scott—the immensely powerful Nathan Grey, who accidentally revives the psionic ghost of Madelyne Pryor, leading to another confrontation between the two women.^[27] While appearing in Uncanny X-Men and X-Men, Jean grows more comfortable with her immense psychic powers and begins using the iconic green and gold Phoenix costume again.^[28] She also brings together a quick team of X-Men in the three-issue revival of the Astonishing X-Men title.^[29]

New X-Men (2000s)

Following Cyclops' possession by the mutant villain Apocalypse and disappearance in the conclusion of the crossover storyline "Apocalypse: The Twelve,"^[30][31] Jean loses her telekinetic abilities and is left with increased psychic powers, the result of the "six month gap" in plot across the X-Men franchise created by the Revolution revamp. During the Revolution event, all X-Men titles began six months after the events of Apocalypse: the Twelve, allowing writers to create fresh situations and stories and gradually fill in the missing events of the previous six months of continuity. Due to editing decisions following the success of the 2000 X-Men, an explanation for Jean's altered powers was never explicitly made, though writer Chris Claremont revealed in interviews that it was intended to be an accidental power switch between fellow X-Man Psylocke, explaining Psylocke's new telekinetic powers as well.

Jean was next featured in the six-issue miniseries X-Men Forever written by Fabian Nicieza, which was designed to tie up remaining plot lines. During the series, Jean revisited many of the events involving the Phoenix Force and introduced the concept of "Omega level mutants", a category for mutants with unlimited potential, including Jean herself.^[32] Cable and Jean were the central characters in the 2001 miniseries X-Men: Search for Cyclops where the two believe Cyclops to be alive. The two track Cyclops down and Jean is able to psychically free him from Apocalypse's possession. The couple then return as mainstay characters in X-Men (2nd Series) once again.^[33]

In June 2001, X-Men was retitled as New X-Men under writer Grant Morrison. The title consisted of a smaller team featuring Jean, Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Emma Frost, and Charles Xavier. The overarching plot focused on the team assuming the roles of teachers to a new generation of mutants at the Xavier Institute while navigating their personal relationships and dealing with newly emerging pro- and anti-mutant political sentiments.^[34] The series sees the return of Jean's telekinesis, her emerging ability to tap into the powers of the Phoenix Force once again, her assumption of the duties as headmistress of the Xavier Institute, and the failing of her marriage to Scott following his traumatic experience being possessed by Apocalypse.^[34] Jean and Logan address their long-unspoken mutual attraction, deciding it is best not to act on their feelings, while Scott begins feeling further alienated from Jean and seeks consolation from Emma Frost to address his disillusionment and his experiences while possessed by Apocalypse.^[34] These interactions lead to a "psychic affair" between Scott and Emma. Jean's discovery of the psychic affair results in a confrontation between her and Emma, though ultimately Jean realizes that her marriage to Scott has run its course.^[34] Jean also makes minor appearances in other titles during the New X-Men run, such as Chris Claremont's X-Treme X-Men, occasionally lending support to the characters.^[35]

New X-Men concluded with Jean fully realizing and assuming the powers of the Phoenix under her complete control. However, in the final chapters of New X-Men, she is killed in battle by an impostor posing as Magneto.^[34] The series also explored a dystopian future caused when Scott chooses not to run the Institute with Emma following Jean's death. This alternate future timeline, called "Here Comes Tomorrow", was the closing chapter of Grant Morrisson's run on New X-Men.^[34] The story is eventually resolved by a resurrected Jean becoming the fully realized White Phoenix of the Crown and using the abilities of the Phoenix Force to reach back in time and influence Scott to accept Emma's offer to run the school together.^[34] Scott and Jean's relationship ends with her death and he and Emma assume the duties of co-headmaster and co-headmistress of the Xavier Institute under writer Chuck Austen's take over of New X-Men and its change over to X-Men under the editorial X-Men ReLoad decision.

Jean and her connection with the Phoenix Force was examined again one year after the conclusion of New X-Men in X-Men: Phoenix – Endsong written by Greg Pak in 2005.^[36] In it, a fragmented Phoenix Force attempts to resurrect Jean, resulting in a struggle between herself and the X-Men as she attempts to control the "Dark Phoenix" persona. The miniseries concluded with Jean resolving her relationship with Scott and moving on to a higher plane of existence with the Phoenix Force.^[36] The Phoenix Force as its own entity continued to be explored in other later titles, such as X-Men: Phoenix – Warsong (2006) and Matt Fraction's run on Uncanny X-Men, with brief references to Jean.^[37] At the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con X-Men panel, when asked whether or not Jean would return, editor Nick Lowe responded by saying "She's dead."^[38]

"Re-return" to publication

Regarding Jean's actual return to the X-Men franchise, Marvel indicated that Jean's eventual return was being discussed, but also stated that the return of Jean Grey was "a story Marvel does not want to rush."^[39] Marvel also loosely tied questions regarding Jean Grey's eventual return to the events in 2007's X-Men: Messiah Complex in which a mutant girl named Hope—who has red hair, green eyes, and immense mutant powers—is born^[40] and 2010's X-Men: Second Coming which sees both Hope's return as an adult and the return of the Phoenix Force.^[41][42]

Fictional character biography

Background

Jean Grey was born the daughter of Dr. John Grey and Elaine Grey. Before joining the X-Men, she lived with her family in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where Dr. Grey worked as a history professor at Bard College.

Jean is the only member of her immediate family with mutant abilities (her niece and nephew, Joey and Gailyn, are also revealed as mutants). Her powers first manifest at the age of ten, prematurely triggered when her best friend, Annie Richards, is hit by a car. As her friend lies dying, Jean instinctively links to her mind and senses what Annie feels when she dies, in doing so, the trauma of experiencing her friend's death nearly kills her, leaving her in a coma.

Help from Xavier

To rouse her out of her catatonic state, Jean's parents seek the expertise of specialists, of whom only Professor Charles Xavier is able to help. Xavier uses Jean to help locate mutants with his Cerebro Machine. During one fateful session on the astral plane Jean senses young Scott Summers in the orphanage and an aspect of her mind, manifesting in the form of a golden Phoenix raptor, reaches out to him.^[43] Xavier realizes that Jean's young mind cannot yet cope with her abilities, so he telepathically blocks her access to them, allowing her powers to evolve at a more natural pace. Jean develops her telekinetic powers at the age of 10.

Original X-Men

Xavier with the original team of X-Men. Art by Jack Kirby.

As a teenager, Jean leaves her parents to attend Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and, using the codename "Marvel Girl", becomes the first female X-Man, joining the team on its first mission against Magneto.^[44] With the X-Men, she battles the team's earliest and most enduring threats, including Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants,^[45] the Juggernaut,^[46] and the Sentinels.^[47] She briefly leaves Xavier's school to attend Metro College.^[48] Back with the X-Men, she helps end the Factor Three conspiracy.^[49] It is also revealed that she secretly aided Professor Xavier in his preparation to thwart the Z'Nox invasion.^[50] While on a mission that took them into space, Jean is observed by the Phoenix Force which is drawn to Jean's unlimited potential. Jean envisions her transformation into Phoenix but within an instant she cannot remember what she foresaw.^[51]

Second Genesis

The original team of X-Men is held captive by Krakoa the Living Island, so Xavier recruits a new team of X-Men to help save the others from Krakoa.^[52] Most of the team's senior members then leave, including Jean.^[53] Scott feels that he belongs only with the X-Men, and this upsets Jean. However, she remains in contact with the X-Men and becomes best friends with Ororo Munroe (Storm).

Phoenix

While Jean and Scott are having a romantic evening in Manhattan, she, Wolverine, and Banshee, are abducted by Sentinels. They are taken to an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. orbital platform under the command of the anti-mutant activist Steven Lang, who is plotting to unleash a new generation of Sentinels. The other X-Men, with the aid of Dr. Peter Corbeau, rescue them.^[54] During the space station's destruction, the X-Men find that their shuttle has been damaged in an earlier fight with the Sentinels. The X-Men decide that someone must stay at the controls and pilot the ship, while everyone else remains in the shuttle's heavily-shielded life cell.

Knowing no one else could survive long enough to pilot the shuttle to safety, Jean uses her telepathy on Dr. Corbeau to learn how to pilot the shuttle and her telekinesis to block the radiation as she pilots the ship back to Earth.^[55] Her telekinetic shields give way under the onslaught of the intense radiation. The strain of holding the solar radiation at bay with her powers destroys the psychic shields Xavier placed in her mind as a child, and Jean assumes her ultimate potential as a psychic, becoming an entity of pure thought. The shuttle crashes into a bay, and Jean telekinetically reforms her body and emerges from the water. Taking the code name of Phoenix, Jean's psi-powers are now vastly stronger, and she manifests a fiery bird-shaped energy aura whenever she uses her powers to their fullest extent.^[56] Phoenix healed the M'Kraan Crystal to keep the universe from being destroyed.

Dark Phoenix

In "The Dark Phoenix Saga", Mastermind a.k.a. Jason Wyngarde tampers with Jean's mind, convincing her she's a Victorian aristocrat (and the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club) and that he is her husband. She turns on her friends, but then loses control of her emotions and becomes the Dark Phoenix, attacking her friends and teammates and destroying a populated solar system's star. Jean regains her sanity long enough to commit suicide rather than risk becoming the Dark Phoenix again and killing anyone else.^[57] After killing herself on the moon, Jean's soul awakens in the afterlife and is dressed in a White Phoenix costume. Death greets Jean and tries to help her understand the Phoenix before fragments of her soul are sent back to Earth.^[58]

Marvel editor Jim Shooter, in response to a question about the return of Jean Grey, responded, "Jean Grey is dead". For a while, Marvel stuck to this, although the interview in The Untold Story shows that Byrne had already given thought to a possible way to revive Jean (although the idea as it existed then was not expanded upon in the interview).

Return

A few years later, there was a desire to bring Jean Grey back to life, as part of the launch of the new X-Factor series. Editorially, it was decreed that this would only be allowed if Jean could be utterly absolved of the evil deeds of the Dark Phoenix Saga.

This absolution begins when the Avengers find a strange pod lying on the bottom of Jamaica bay, which they send to Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. The pod cracks open and Jean emerges, with no memories from the time she flew the shuttle until she hatched from the cocoon, but the truth of Phoenix is now revealed. While dying upon the shuttle, Jean was, in fact, approached by a cosmic psychic entity known as the Phoenix Force, which duplicated Jean's form and merged with a portion of her soul/consciousness, while Jean herself was sealed in a pod at the bottom of the bay to heal.^[59] It was the Phoenix Force which became the Dark Phoenix and committed those evil actions, hence Jean was absolved of them and went on to found X-Factor with her original X-Men teammates.

Jean is now without her telepathy, but her telekinesis is much more powerful. The former X-Men are contacted and she reunites with them.^[60] Jean learns that the Phoenix Force merged with Rachel Summers, her daughter from an alternate timeline. Jean initially rejected Rachel because of this, as she felt Rachel's existence was a constant reminder of the dark future she came from and feared could still come to pass. During the time in which Jean is thought dead, Scott meets a pilot named Madelyne Pryor. They marry and gave birth to a son, Nathan Christopher Charles Summers. When Scott hears Jean is alive, he leaves Pryor. Shortly afterward, he joins Jean and the other founding X-Men to create X-Factor.^[61] Early in X-Factor's career, Jean first battles the mutants' nemesis, Apocalypse.^[62]

Inferno

Scott calls Madelyne to try to persuade her to come to New York. When he receives no answer, he assumes that his wife had left him. In truth, Mister Sinister kidnapped Madelyne and Nathan. Mr. Sinister had created Madelyne from Jean Grey's DNA, believing the offspring of Jean Grey and Scott Summers would be a genetically superior mutant who possessed incredible powers.

With her purpose fulfilled, Sinister turns Madelyne over to the Marauders. The X-Men rescue her and she joins them. Wanting to rescue her son from Mr. Sinister, Madelyne makes a pact with demons, and using her despair, the goblins make her their queen, driving her insane. Madelyne attempts to sacrifice Nathan in a ritual that will bring the demons of Limbo into the world. Madelyne dies in a climactic battle with Jean after she links their minds and wills herself to die—hoping the link will kill Jean as well. Madelyne dies, and then the piece of Jean's consciousness that had merged with the Phoenix Force (which had migrated into Madelyne Pryor upon the death of the Phoenix) returned to Jean, granting her all the memories of both Madelyne and the Dark Phoenix.^[63] Jean now also contained a spark of the Phoenix Force but would later expel it while helping an alien world fend off a Celestial.^[64] Her telepathy had also been restored to her by the villain Psynapse.^[65]

Gold Team

Jean becomes a member of the X-Men's "Gold Team" led by Storm when X-Factor joins with Xavier.^[66] When her physical body dies in a Sentinel attack, Jean survives by transferring her psyche into the body of the comatose Emma Frost. While in Emma's body, Jean uses telekinesis, an ability that Emma never used. Jean is later restored to her original body with the help of Xavier and Forge.^[67] Jean is instrumental in saving Wolverine's life when Magneto rips the adamantium from his skeleton.^[68][69] Using her telekinesis, Jean holds Logan's body together and supports his healing factor.

Later on after the death of Colossus' sister, Jean greatly comforts Jubilee showing a caring relationship between the two.^[70] When Sabretooth comes to the mansion Jean once more comforts Jubilee as well as confronting Xavier about his decision. She then confronts Sabretooth and badly beats him while attacking him with her powers.

With Cyclops, Jean later encounters Stryfe for the first time. Stryfe kidnaps the two and tortures them with the two later on escaping. They soon discover that Stryfe is in fact a clone of Cable, Scott's son.^[71] Around this time Jean and Cyclops reconcile as Jean noticed that Cyclops was greatly attracted to Psylocke and was often thinking of her.

Around this time Jean also places mental blocks in the mind of Jessica Jones to keep her from psychic trauma and influence from enemies like the Purple Man.

Marriage

The wedding of Scott Summers and Jean Grey. X-Men #30, art by Andy Kubert.

Scott proposed to Jean, but she declined because the memories of him proposing to both Madelyne and The Phoenix kept haunting her.^[72] He told her he would wait for her. Later, Jean proposes to Scott at Thanksgiving and he agrees with the two announcing it at dinner time.^[73] At the wedding Jean is saddened that Wolverine won't attend, but unknown to her, he watches from a distance. Scott and Jean get married, with Jean sharing a dance with Xavier while telekinetically holding him in the air. The two bid good-bye to the X-Men, and Jean throws the flowers, which are caught by Rogue,^[74] but not before Jean apologized to Rachel and welcomed her into her life permanently.^[75]

Honeymoon

During their honeymoon, they are taken into the future to raise Scott's son Nathan.^[24] After returning, Jean resumes using the name Phoenix as an attempt to redeem both the entity and herself and to honor Rachel, who was presumed dead at the time,^[76] but was later revealed to have been lost somewhere in the time-stream with the premature death of Apocalypse.^[24] She also adopted the classic green and gold Phoenix costume to signify this. Scott and Jean then head off to Alaska after Scott is greatly injured during Operation: Zero Tolerance.

Power Switch

During a battle with Apocalypse, Scott merged with the immortal mutant. Jean and Psylocke switch powers, and Jean adds Psylocke's telepathic powers to her own telepathy, as well as her shadow astral-form, while Psylocke gets Jean's telekinesis. Jean begins to manifest fiery Phoenix raptor effects as the physical manifestation of her powers. Jean also uses the Phoenix Force to witness humanity's possible evolution into Eternity and converses with Eternity itself when Prosh recruits her to help stop the Stranger from destroying the universe.^[77] Jean learns that Cyclops is alive, and searches for him with her stepson Cable (Nathan). Jean uses her increased telepathic powers to separate Cyclops' and Apocalypse's spirits.

Marital Problems

Jean enters Emma's mind interrupting Scott and Emma's telepathic affair.
Art by Phil Jimenez.

A combination of Jean's duties as headmistress of the Xavier Institute, her reemerging Phoenix powers, and Scott's temporary merger with Apocalypse drives a wedge between the couple. Jean attempts to rebuild the relationship, but Scott remains distant, refusing to sleep with her. Scott turns to Emma Frost, who takes advantage of Scott's emotional problems, which leads to a telepathic extramarital affair.^[78] When confronted by Jean, Scott claims that they shared "only thoughts" and that he had done nothing wrong; Jean, however, disagrees and demands that Emma explain herself, but Emma only jeers and insults her. Enraged, Jean unleashes the Phoenix power on Emma, rifling through her memories and forcing her to confront the truth about herself.

Later, one of the Stepford Cuckoos shatters Emma's diamond form. Beast, under the belief that Emma can be saved, attempts to rebuild her from the shattered diamond. Jean arrives and informs Hank that despite her malicious nature, Emma had truly fallen in love with her husband, and understanding that Emma can offer Scott something she can't, she uses her powers to fuse the diamond pieces of Emma's body together again and revives her.^[79]

Death

Later, tricked by Xorn, Wolverine and Phoenix are propelled towards the sun while on Asteroid M. About to die, Wolverine reluctantly stabs Phoenix so she will not have to die an agonizing death in the intense solar heat. Seconds before they collide with the sun, the Phoenix Force manifests within Jean, and she saves them both. She tells him that by killing her, he helped her release the "Phoenix Consciousness." Arriving on Earth, they battled Xorn (who had revealed himself to be Magneto but would later be retconned into an imposter), who then mortally injures Phoenix by transferring a large amount of electro-magnetic energy to her brain, inducing a "planetary-scale stroke." As Jean dies in Scott's arms, she tells him to live.^[80] It was revealed later that before she died, Jean created a holempathic matrix crystal for Rachel and imprinted it with her essence so that, no matter what happened to her physically, her soul would always be with her.

Here Comes Tomorrow

Scott Summers' refusal of Emma Frost's offer to reopen Xavier's Institute after Jean's death creates a future timeline in which Hank McCoy reopens the school. Under the pressure, he takes the drug "Kick", which is revealed to be the aerosol form of the villain Sublime, who possesses Hank McCoy and drives him insane. 150 years later, the near-immortal Beast tries to resurrect Phoenix and use her to destroy every lifeform on Earth, except for the creatures created by Sublime itself, only to be defeated by Jean. Phoenix then carries out her disinfection and absorbs the future universe into the "White Hot Room", a higher plane of reality with other Phoenix hosts and 'home' to the consciousness of the Phoenix Force. Jean wears a white variation of her Phoenix outfit and is revealed to be "a White Phoenix of the Crown". Jean reaches back in time and telepathically urges Scott to live. Instead of refusing Emma and leaving the institute, Scott chooses to be with Emma and keep the Xavier Institute alive.^[81]

Endsong

The Shi'ar resurrect the Phoenix Force in an attempt to destroy it while it is weak. The Phoenix flees to earth and resurrects Jean in an attempt to make itself whole. Wolverine arrives and the two battle until they find themselves at the North Pole. Wolverine repeatedly kills Jean, weakening her and allowing her to gain control of herself and imprison herself in an iceberg. The Phoenix leaves Jean and takes control of Emma Frost, however Emma is not powerful enough and starts to burn up from controlling it. The X-Men free Jean from her prison with her ripping the Phoenix out from Emma. Jean reveals herself to be one being with the Phoenix saying they are the same and the two merge together once more. This causes her to become Dark Phoenix, but Emma Frost and the Stepford Cuckoos link all the past and present X-Men together to show their love for Jean. This causes Jean to become the White Phoenix and she saves the X-Men from the Shi'ar before returning to the White Hot Room.^[82]

Warsong

Writer Greg Pak has said that Warsong "is not another Jean Grey resurrection story. It's an essential Phoenix story, and therefore ultimately an essential tale for understanding Jean Grey." ^[83] Pak also stated that Warsong will lay the groundwork for the future of both Jean and the Phoenix. However the story only featured her telepathic voice talking to the Stepford Cuckoos as they flew over her grave and a flashback in the first issue. The rest of the series involved the Cuckoos encountering the fragment of the Phoenix's consciousness that visited them at the end of the Endsong miniseries. They merge with the fragment and gain Phoenix-level abilities, but later must imprison the Phoenix fragment in their diamond hearts, an ability they manifest after their origins—as cloned daughters of Emma Frost—are revealed.

X-Men Messiah Complex

Since the events of M-Day, when most of mutantkind was depowered and no new mutant births occur, mutantkind is on the verge of extinction. Cerebro then detects a new mutant baby born in Cooperstown, Alaska. Cerebro detects her and is partially destroyed by a tremendous outburst of power from the child. As the child has aged and grown, she has developed features distinctively similar to Jean Grey, including crimson red hair and green eyes. As seen in Cable #5, a closeup of the baby's eyes show twin reflections of the Phoenix emblem in them.

Sisterhood of Mutants

Jean's clone, Madelyne Pryor, reappears in her new alias as the Red Queen, incorporeal and seeking to revive Jean Grey's body so that she may possess it and live again.^[84] The Red Queen forms a Sisterhood of Mutants, consisting of Lady Mastermind, her sister, Martinique Jason, Spiral, Chimera, Lady Deathstrike, and a brainwashed Psylocke, attacking the X-Men at their new base in Graymalkin, with the goal of stealing a lock of Jean's hair that belongs to Wolverine.^[85][86] During the attack, Lady Mastermind manages to hold Emma Frost within a psychic trap, however in the astral plane, Emma encounters a woman who resembles Jean Grey. Emma believes she is Madelyne, but the woman says that she isn't her, but is often confused to be her. She then uses her powers, a piece of the Phoenix Force, to free Emma from the psychic trap before disappearing.^[86] Having retrieved the lock of hair, the Red Queen uses it as a talisman to locate Jean's deceased body and arrives back at Westchester where she attempts to resurrect Jean's body and possess it. Unbeknown to her, Domino, under Cyclops' orders, switches the bodies in Jean's grave before Madelyne arrives, and since any body besides Jean's cannot hold Madelyne's essence, the ritual fails and the Red Queen is sucked inside to an unknown fate.^[87]

Future Return

A recent interview panel at the San Diego Comic-Con confirmed that there are discussions going on at Marvel involving Jean's eventual return, however it also stated that it's a story Marvel doesn't want to rush.^[88] At the San Francisco Wondercon, when asked about Jean's future Matt Fraction told the audience "There's a little girl with red hair and green eyes in the future that you should keep your eyes on" in reference to Hope Summers.^[89] In X-Men - Kingbreaker #4, Korvus' Blade of the Phoenix loses its power and Rachel's connection to the Phoenix Echo is somehow lost. As yet, no explanation was given for what happened except for Rachel who says "Please, not now… Mom.".^[41] What happened to the Phoenix Force will be examined after “War of Kings” is over^[38] as additional vestiges of the Phoenix Force, including those housed within the Stepford Cuckoos, suddenly leave their hosts.^[90]

Romance

At the beginning of the series, Jean and Scott harbor a mutual crush for a long time but neither is aware of the other's feelings (though the readers are made aware early on) and both are too shy to make a move. Jean once has a date with Angel, but insists on taking Scott along, which confuses and frustrates both men. For a while, Angel has feelings for Jean which lead to some bad moments between him and Scott. When Jean leaves to pursue tertiary education at Metro College, it further widens the gap between Scott and Jean; however, Jean and Scott later date openly. At one point, Professor X seems to have some romantic feelings for her.^[91] However, he believes that he is not in a proper position to tell her; so he says nothing of it, instead channeling his energies into an increasingly intimate mentor/student relationship with Jean. This forces her to keep his secrets and, at one point, transfer his own power into her.

Jean and Scott's relationship takes a brief step forward when the X-Men temporarily disband. Jean works as a swimsuit model and Scott works as a radio announcer, and the two "pretend" to date. After the X-Men reform, there are hints that they are more intimately involved, but the relationship is not "outed" for quite some time.

When Jean "dies" and becomes Phoenix, her relationship with Scott changes because she has changed. After they are separated in the Savage Land and each thinks the other is dead, Scott is unable to mourn her, and reasons it's because he no longer loves her. Yet upon their reunion, to fight Proteus at Muir Island, the passion and relationship is rekindled. Soon after, they psychically "marry" - joining parts of their minds together in a psychic bond.^[92]

When Logan is introduced as part of the "next generation", they are both immediately drawn to one another, though Jean keeps her attraction to him secret in favor of her relationship with Scott.^[4] Through the series, Logan generally respects Jean's choice to be with Scott, and the two share a deep friendship which, despite a powerful emotional and physical attraction, is never consummated. In Grant Morrison's New X-Men stories, Jean increasingly talks to Logan about her marital problems, culminating in a kiss between the two. Immediately afterward, Logan tells her that it would never work between them and tries to help the married couple reconcile, even convincing Jean to return to Scott when Scott has a psychic affair with Emma Frost.^[34] Immediately following Jean's death, Scott begins to date Emma due to a psychic suggestion left by Jean encouraging Scott to move on with his life and "live."^[34] The other X-Men have difficulty eventually accepting Scott and Emma's relationship, due to their loyalty to Jean and a belief that Scott is disrespecting his marriage to Jean.^[93]

Powers and abilities

Jean Grey is an Omega-level mutant, and is one of the physical hosts of the Phoenix Force.

When her powers first manifest, Jean is unable to cope with her telepathy, forcing Professor X to suppress her access to it altogether. Instead, he chooses to train her in the use of her telekinesis while allowing her telepathy to grow at its natural rate before reintroducing it. This is why in Jean's debut appearance as Marvel Girl, she is only capable of using her telekinetic powers. When the Professor hides to prepare for the Z'Nox, he reopens Jean's telepathic powers, which was initially explained as Xavier 'sharing' some of his telepathy with her.^[94]

Jean's telepathy allows her to read, influence, control, and communicate with the minds of others, project her mind into the astral plane, and generate telepathic force blasts that can stun or kill others. Jean is one of the few telepaths skilled enough to communicate with animals (animals with high intelligence, such as dolphins,^[95] dogs,^[96] and ravens^[97]). She can also telepathically take away or control people's natural bodily functions and senses, such as sight, hearing, smell, taste, or even mutant powers. A side effect of her telepathy is that she is gifted with an eidetic memory.^[98] Jean was able, through telepathic therapy with the comatose Jessica Jones, to grant Jessica immunity to the Purple Man's mind control abilities, despite his powers being chemical in nature rather than psychic.

Her telekinetic strength and skill are both of an extremely high level, capable of grasping objects in Earth orbit and manipulating hundreds of components in mid-air in complex patterns. She uses her telekinesis to often lift herself and others giving her the ability of levitation and flight. She also uses her telekinesis to create durable shields and energy blasts.

When Jean absorbs Psylocke's specialized telepathic powers, her own telepathy is increased to the point that she can physically manifest her telepathy as a psionic firebird whose claws can inflict both physical and mental damage. Phoenix discovers that she can telepathically enhance the powers of other mutants. She briefly develops a psychic shadow form like Psylocke's, with a gold Phoenix emblem over her eye instead of the Crimson Dawn mark possessed by Psylocke, Jean briefly lost her telekinesis to Psylocke during this exchange, but her telekinetic abilities later came back in full at a far stronger level than before.

The Phoenix can revive, absorb, rechannel, and preserve the life-force of any kind of life-form, meaning that she can take life energy from one person and give it to others, heal herself with the same life energy, or even resurrect the dead, since the Phoenix is the sum of all life and death. As Phoenix, Jean's powers escalate to an incalculable level: allowing her to rearrange matter at a subatomic level, fly unaided through space, survive in any atmosphere, manipulate electromagnetic and cosmic energies for various effects and atmospheric disturbances. She also demonstrates this sub-molecular telekinetic power to change her Phoenix clothes into a set of street clothes.^[99] At this level, she is powerful enough to easily defeat a herald of Galactus.^[100]

She manifests a "telekinetic sensitivity" (called "the Manifestation of the Phoenix") to objects in her immediate environment that lets her feel the texture of objects, their molecular patterns, feel when other objects come into contact with them, and probe them at a molecular level. She can also create stargates that can transport her to anywhere in the universe instantaneously. As the Phoenix, Jean can resurrect herself after death and is unaffected by the passage of time. Though initially perceived as "borrowing" the powers of the Phoenix Force, due to original status as a host for the Force, they are entirely her own; Death itself has said that Jean is the rightful owner of those powers.^[58] Further evolution allowed her to actually become one with the Phoenix Force (as opposed to serving as its host) due to her status as an Omega-level mutant with unlimited potential, in which it was revealed that Jean was the White Phoenix of the Crown.^[81] As the White Phoenix, Jean can manipulate and control whole timelines, as seen when she brought the alternate future of Here Comes Tomorrow into the White-Hot Room.^[101]

Jean Grey is also a college graduate from Metro College with a select education in psychology. Years later she finished her masters in Columbia University during her membership with the original X-Factor.

Ancestry

Introduced as a concept during Uncanny X-Men #125 (September, 1979), the villain Mastermind attempted to turn Grey into the Black Queen of the modern Hellfire Club by creating the illusion that she was living in the body of an ancestor named Lady Grey.

Later, Ben Raab and Charlie Adlard revisited the concept and in X-Men: Hellfire Club #2 (February, 2000) made Lady Grey a real ancestor of the character rather than simply an illusion. Her back story, as recounted by the narrative, places her as an influential member, possibly a Queen, of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania branch of the Club during the American Revolutionary War.

Other versions

As a fictional character in the Marvel Universe, Jean Grey appears in various alternate plot lines and fictional universes.

In other media

Jean Grey also appears in various media, such as animated programs, video games, films, and is sometimes referenced in pop culture.

See also

• End of Greys
• Phoenix Force

References

External links

• Jean Grey at the Marvel Universe wiki