Jean Grey
| Jean Grey-Summers | |
|---|---|
| File:Jeangre.png Jean Grey returns as Phoenix. Art by Greg Land | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | X-Men #1 (Sep 1963) |
| Created by | Stan Lee Jack Kirby |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | X-Men Phoenix Corps The Twelve X-Factor |
| Notable aliases | Redd Dayspring, Marvel Girl, Phoenix, Dark Phoenix, White Phoenix of the Crown |
| Abilities | Telepathy, Telekinesis, Phoenix Force grants:
|
Jean Grey is a fictional superheroine who lives in the Marvel Comics Universe. Using the codenames Marvel Girl and later Phoenix, Jean Grey is best known as a member of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, she first appears in X-Men #1 (September 1963).
Jean Grey is a mutant born with vast telepathic and telekinetic powers. Her powers were activated when she saw her friend getting 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 Professor X who is like a father to her and mentor, Wolverine who is a very good friend and at several points, a potential love interest; Storm, who is her best friend and a sister like figure; and her husband Cyclops. She is present for much of the X-Men's history, and she is featured in both X-Men animated series and several video games. Famke Janssen portrays Jean Grey in the X-Men films.
Fictional character biography
Background
Jean Grey is 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 twelve, 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; the trauma of experiencing her friend's death nearly kills Jean as well, but instead leaves her in a coma.
Jean's parents seek the expertise of specialists to rouse her out of her catatonic state, of which only Professor Charles Xavier is able to help. 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 13. 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.[1]
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 had feelings for Jean which led 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.[2] However, he believes that she could not reciprocate because he is a paraplegic; therefore he says nothing of it, instead channeling his energies into an increasingly intimate mentor/student relationship with Jean, forcing her to keep his secrets and, at one point, transferring 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 re-form, there are hints that they are more intimately involved, but the relationship is not "outed" for quite some time. It seems to be one of those "everybody knows about it but nobody talks about it" relationships that commonly happen in tight-knit communities.
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 he reasons it's because he no longer loves her. But 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.[3]
When Logan is introduced as part of the "next generation", he is immediately drawn to her, and harbours a secret love for her. 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, never consummates. In Grant Morrison's New X-Men stories, Jean increasingly talks to Logan about her marital problems, and Logan tries to help the married couple reconcile, even convincing Jean to return to Scott when Scott has an affair with Emma Frost. Immediately following Jean's death, Scott began to date Emma and now claims to no longer love Jean, although he does 'honor and respect her'.
Phoenix
After Xavier recruits a new team of X-Men to help save the others from Krakoa,[4] most senior members leave, including Jean. Scott feels that he belongs only with the X-Men, and this upsets Jean. She remains in contact with the X-Men and becomes good friends with Ororo Munroe (Storm).
While Jean and Scott are having a romantic evening in Manhattan,[5] they, 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 rescue them. During the space station's destruction,[6] 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 to learn how to pilot the shuttle and her telekinesis to block the radiation as she pilots the ship back to Earth. 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.[7]
In the "Dark Phoenix Saga", Mastermind aka 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 powers 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.[8]
John Byrne, penciller on Uncanny X-Men, had strong feelings against how powerful Phoenix had become and worked with writer Chris 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 had essentially committed an act of genocide) and also an unsatisfying ending from a storytelling point of view. 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.
The original ending, as well as an interview with Claremont, Byrne, Shooter, and then-Uncanny X-Men editor Louise Simonson which gives the full explanation for the changes, was published in the one-shot Phoenix: The Untold Story. In the original ending, instead of turning into Phoenix again during the X-Men's battle with the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, Jean is overpowered and captured. Lilandra has Jean subjected to what amounts to a psychic lobotomy, 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 more or less 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. 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.
Marvel editor Jim Shooter, in response to a question about the return of Jean Grey, responded, "Jean Grey is dead". And, 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).
Resurrection
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. 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.
Due to the Richards' technology, Jean is now without her telepathy, but her telekinesis is much more powerful. The former X-Men are contacted and she reunites with them.[9]. Jean finds 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 met a pilot named Madelyne Pryor. They marry and produce a son, Nathan Christopher Charles Summers (Cable). When Scott hears Jean is alive, he leaves Pryor. Shortly afterward, he joins Jean and the other founding X-Men to create X-Factor.[10]He 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.
Art by Walt Simonson.
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.[11]
Jean becomes a member of the X-Men's "Gold Team" led by Storm when X-Factor joins with Xavier. Her telepathy had also been restored to her by the infant Nathan.[12] Jean is instrumental in saving Wolverine's life when Magneto rips the adamantium from his skeleton.[13] Using her telekinesis, Jean holds Logan's body together and supports his healing factor. 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.
Marriage
Scott proposed to Jean but she declined because the memories of him proposing to both Madelyne and The Phoenix kept haunting her. He told her he would wait for her. Later, Jean proposes to Scott and they marry.[14], but not before she apologized to Rachel and welcomed her into her life permanently. During their honeymoon, they are taken into the future to raise Scott's son Nathan.[15] 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, but was later revealed to have been lost somewhere in the timestream with the premature death of Apocalypse.
Art by Phil Jimenez.
During a battle with the aforementioned villain, 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 raptor effects as the physical manifestation of her powers. Jean learns that Cyclops is alive, and searches for him with her step-son Cable (Nathan). Jean uses her increased telepathic powers to separate Cyclops' and Apocalypse's spirits. Having her husband back helps Jean accept her role as host of the Phoenix Force and the telekinetic powers it recreates for her.
A combination of Jean's duties as headmistress of the Xavier Institute, her re-emerging 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 extra-marital affair.[16] 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.[17]
Later, 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 their teammate Xorn, who had revealed himself to be Magneto (This would later prove to be an impostor), 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.[18]
Here Comes Tomorrow
Scott Summers refusal of Emma Frost's offer to re-open Xavier's Institute creates a future timeline in which Hank McCoy re-opens 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 conscience of the phoenix force. Jean wears a white variation of her Phoenix/Dark Phoenix outfit and is revealed to be the "White Phoenix of the Crown". Jean reaches back in time and tells Scott to live. Instead of refusing Emma and leaving the institute, Scott chooses to be with Emma and keep the Xavier Institute alive.[19]
Endsong
X-Men: Phoenix Endsong.
Art by Greg Land.
In the 2005 X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong limited series, the Shi'ar resurrect the Phoenix Force prematurely in hopes of destroying it while it is relatively weak, but the Phoenix escapes to Earth where it resurrects Jean and bonds with her once more, and reveals that the Phoenix force and Jean are one. The X-Men battle the Phoenix at the North Pole until, with the help of Cerebro, Emma and the Stepford Cuckoos contact all of the X-Men around the world to focus their love into Jean. This enables Jean to gain control of her Phoenix power, and she returns to the White Hot Room to make herself and Phoenix whole again.
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." [3] 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 telepathic sisters known as 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 Jean Grey/Phoenix's consciousness that visited them at the end of the Endsong mini series. They merge with the fragment and gain Phoenix level abilities, but later must imprison the Phoenix fragment in their diamond hearts. Due to the fact that Jean and the Phoenix Force are searching for their 'missing fragments' at the end of Endsong, it is possible that Jean Grey will one day return to reclaim the parts within the Stepford Cuckoos.
Powers and abilities
Jean Grey is an Omega-level mutant, the physical embodiment of the vastly powerful Phoenix force and one of the most powerful mutants that ever lived. Without the Phoenix, Jean has potentially limitless psionic powers of telepathy, telekinesis, and fire manipulation. When bonded to the Phoenix, she is said to outclass mutants, becoming a telepathic/telekinetic godhead, granting her complete control over matter, energy, thought, and unlimited psionic energies. She can tap into reserved energies for future generations, denying them of existence, as well as tap into limitless cosmic power. When Jean became Dark Phoenix, she could telekinetically manipulate matter at sub-atomic levels and wield any form of energy at magnitudes mitigated only by her imagination and the strength of her will to utilize them. Jean also possesses the power of flight through her telekinesis without the Phoenix.
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.[citation needed] This is why in Jean's debut appearance as Marvel Girl, she is only capable of using her telekinetic powers.[citation needed] 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, indicating that writers perhaps did not initially intend for Jean to have telepathic powers[20]
Jean is considered to be one of the Earth's most powerful telepathic minds. Jean Grey will eventually outclass Professor Xavier, who is widely considered to be the most powerful telepath on Earth. Jean's telepathy allows her to communicate with others telepathically, read the thoughts of others, influence and control 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,[21]dogs,[22] and ravens[23]).She can also telepathically take away 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 total recall - she remembers everything[24]. 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 can telekinetically lift several tons of matter at once, and has learned to use her power both aggressively and defensively, as blasts of focused telekinetic force or defensive shields strong enough to withstand massive ballistic impacts.
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. Jean can use her amplified telepathy to increase temporarily the speed of neural signals in the brain, which allows her to boost a mutant's powers to incredible levels. 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.
The Phoenix can revive, absorb, rechannel, and preserve the lifeforce of any kind of lifeform, 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, and generate massive destructive blasts and atmospheric disturbances. 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. When she engages her Phoenix powers, Jean is surrounded in a flame-like energy corona that takes the form of a large bird of prey. As the Phoenix, Jean can resurrect herself after death and is unaffected by the passage of time.
Jean also showed in Endsong that she, as well as the Phoenix, has the ability to absorb Cyclops' optic blasts and feed off them.[citation needed]
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
- Born in 1946[citation needed] (she would be in in her early 60's by now if aged in real time, she appears to be in her early to mid 30's due to a floating timeline).
- Jean is 5'6" and 110 lbs with fire red hair and green eyes.[25]
- Religious Affiliation is Episcopalian[26]
- Claims to compensate for unnaturally thin wrists and ankles with an extremely buff mind[27].
- As phoenix Jean once turned a tree into solid gold.
- Jean Grey's essence and part of her soul is in a holempathic crystal which can manifest a empression of Jean and is now possessed by her daughter Rachel.
Ancestry
Introduced in Uncanny X-Men #125 (September, 1979) Lady Grey is the look-alike ancestor of X-Men member Jean Grey and a member of the Hellfire Club during the 18th century. During this issue the villain Mastermind attempted to turn Grey (then under the guise of the Phoenix) 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. However, whether this ancestor was a real person or a creation of Mastermind was left uncertain.
This question was finally answered in X-Men: Hellfire Club #2 (February, 2000), part of a mini-series on the history of the Club. This particular issue was scripted by Ben Raab and drawn by Charlie Adlard. Lady Grey was revealed to have been an influential member, possibly a Queen, of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania branch of the Club during the American Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783).
Other versions
1602
In the Marvel 1602 miniseries, Jean Grey poses as "John Grey" and is a member of the "witchbreed" led by Carlos Javier (the Charles Xavier of the 1602 universe). Like her Marvel Universe counterpart, she has telekinetic powers. She is a traditional Shakespearean girl posing as a boy. She sacrifices her life for her comrades during their battle against Otto Von Doom (Doctor Doom). She is given a burial at sea. When her corpse is cremated, the fire forms a giant Phoenix raptor before disappearing. Besides Javier and Sir Nicholas Fury, the only one who knows of Jean's deception is Scotius Summerisle (Scott Summers), who is attracted to her. "John" also has a close friendship with Werner (Angel) who learns of the deception after her death. He reveals to Scott that he was also attracted to Jean, but this was when he believed Jean to be male.
Age of Apocalypse
In the "Age of Apocalypse" storyline, Jean is a student of Magneto who falls in love with fellow student Weapon X. Weapon X rescues her after Mr. Sinister kidnaps her and combines her extracted DNA with that of Cyclops to clone the perfect mutant (X-Man). Weapon X and Jean live happily together until Jean learns of a plan to drop nuclear bombs on the United States to kill Apocalypse. Jean confronts Weapon X over this. He agrees with the plan to drop the bombs and comes close to almost killing Jean over it but relents at the final moment. Jean tries to stop the attack with the aid of Cyclops and holds back the nuclear bombs with her telekinesis. She dies at the hands of Cyclops' brother Prelate Havok.
In a tenth-anniversary limited series, Sinister, who had also been killed in the "Age of Apocalypse" event, finds that Jean's DNA contains special properties and that she should have access to the powers of "Mutant Alpha", the legendary "first mutant". He resurrects her, and she displays the powers of "Mutant Alpha", which look like Phoenix Force powers. At first Jean doesn't remember her old life, but Logan is able to reach her. Jean turns on Sinister and incinerates him. Jean and Logan reunite, and she becomes leader of the X-Men at Magneto's behest.
Marvel Mangaverse Jean Grey
In the original Marvel Mangaverse X-Men and X-Men Ronin stories, Jean is a powerful telepath and telekinetic and calls herself Marvel Girl, but she also has access to the Phoenix Force. The three-issue X-Men: Phoenix - Legacy of Fire limited series, involves a separate character based on Jean Grey named "Jena Pyre". Jena and her sister Madelyne are the guardians of the "Phoenix Sword", whose power Jean absorbs. The miniseries infamously depicts the lead characters in near-nudity. The series' rating was raised from PG to PG+ before issue #1 was released, and the series was moved to the MAX mature readers imprint for issues #2 and #3.
Ruins
In the Ruins miniseries, Jean Grey never developed her mutant powers and lives as a prostitute. Shortly after being introduced, proposing to Ben Urich, she was shot twice and killed by an insane Nick Fury.
Shadow-X
New Excalibur battles an evil counterpart of the Jean Grey, who is a member of the Shadow-X, the X-Men of an alternate reality in which Professor X was possessed by the Shadow King. They are brought to Earth-616 as a result of M-Day.
Ultimate Jean Grey/Marvel Girl
Art by Adam Kubert.
In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Jean Grey is a responsible but extroverted teenage girl. She has a very different personality from the original Jean: in Ultimate, Jean likes to gossip, and secretly reads other people's minds, particularly the other X-men's minds. Early in the series, she has short cropped hair and prefers to dress more like a goth/punk, but later, she turns much more mature and wears clothes that are much more her age, and grows her hair longer. She has a brief affair with Wolverine, but when Wolverine reveals how he was originally sent to kill Professor X, Jean is angry and ends the relationship. She later begins to date Cyclops although she is occasionally frustrated by his shyness. Xavier found Jean Grey while she was in a mental hospital, having problems controlling her telepathy and having troublesome visions of a Phoenix raptor. She was Xavier's second student after Cyclops.
The exact nature of the Phoenix in the Ultimate Universe has not been revealed, but very often Jean is haunted by visions and hallucinations of the Phoenix early in the Ultimate timeline. The powers seem to reveal themselves when Jean gets angry. It appears, due to tests conducted in Ultimate X-Men #71 that the Phoenix is an actual entity and not an uncovered aspect of Jean's own mind. According to the Fire and Brimstone story arc, Jean's Phoenix powers come from the Phoenix God, although Xavier does not believe this. Jean kills many members of the Hellfire club in a fit of Phoenix powered rage, but Xavier calms her down. Much later in the story Jean uses her Phoenix powers often. She starts with her powers out of her control due to her anger, accidentally killing two mercenaries who were attacking the X-Men. She feels guilty over the incident for weeks, but after a while she gains better control of her powers. Jean then confidently uses the Phoenix Force to help the X-men, injuring Sunspot atop a New York skyscraper. It has recently been revealed that this version of Jean Grey envisions imaginary tiny, green goblins carrying out her telekinetic activities - a possible reference to the Goblyn Queen, Madelyne Pryor.
In other media
Television and visual media
TV Apperances
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). [28] She also appears a flashback in an episode, "The Origin of Iceman" of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends in the early 1980s.
X-Men
Jean Grey is a character in the X-Men animated television series of the mid-1990s, voiced by Catherine Disher. Like in the comics, she was in a relationship with Cyclops, eventually marrying him while being the target of Wolverine's unrequited affection. The third season of the series featured an adaptation of the Phoenix saga.
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. 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 [4].
Wolverine and The X-Men
Jean Grey has been confirmed as a part of the cast of Wolverine and the X-Men. She will be voiced by Leigh-Allyn Baker.
Film
Famke Janssen portrays Jean Grey/Phoenix in the feature films X-Men, X2: X-Men United, and X-Men: The Last Stand.
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.
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. 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. After the destruction in Alkali Lake, Jean sacrifices herself to save her teammates from a ruptured dam. Her power reaches to the maximum level as she controls the waters while getting the X-Jet off the ground. Jean is then engulfed in a massive fiery glow of energy, as she closes her eyes and let 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. It is speculated that the events of X-men The Movie, more specifically her experience with Cerebro, caused her powers to resurface. She states that her powers have been increasing since the events of "Liberty Island" but the exact cause is never mentioned.
X-Men: The Last Stand
In X-Men: The Last Stand, Jean's death severely affects Cyclops who keeps having nightmares of her. He returns to Alkali Lake, where Jean Grey rises from the water, alive. They begin to kiss and it appears she seemingly kills him by atomizing him with her telekinesis (this is never shown, thus leaving Cyclops' fate in question by fans). 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 is her powerful and uninhibited side which calls itself the 'Phoenix' that 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 to re-surface long enough, and she pleads for him to stop her from causing any more harm. Wolverine expresses his love for Jean, and then stabs her with his claws. Her gravestone is later seen next to Cyclops' and Xavier's.
The 'Dark Phoenix' is significantly different from the comic's version. Phoenix in the film was merely a concealed side of Jean Grey that manifested into a dark persona as the years passed. Whereas in the comics, the Phoenix Force was actually a cosmic entity that chose Jean, not another personality. While Brian Singer's version alludes to the Phoenix of the comics (with it's manifestation as a fiery glow around Jean, or a bird of prey in other circumstances)the Jean Grey in this film does not portray the fiery bird, or any of the entity's traits. The film only takes the name and concept, but none of the Phoenix Force's actual capabilities, nor its personality, otherwise the chances of the Force allowing Jean to permanently die would be slim (in reference to the comics).
Video Games
X-Men Game Apperances
Jean Grey 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. 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 as both "Phoenix" and "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 it's sequel X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse. She also she 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.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Jean appears as a NPC in the recently released 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. 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. In the end of the game it is revealed if the player saved Jean, that Mystique will kill Professor X causing the X-Men to permanently disband. 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. Contrary to popular belief, you do fight her alongside Mephisto. Once she is snapped out of it and declares herself an echo of her former self and sacrifices her life to defeat Mephisto.
Toys
Jean Grey 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.[29]
A Jean Grey 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 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.
References
- ^ X-Men (Vol. 1) #1, 1963
- ^ X-Men (Vol. 1) #3, 1964
- ^ X-Men #133
- ^ Giant-Size X-Men #1, 1975
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #98, 1978
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #100, 1978
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #101-108, 1979
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #129-138, 1980-1
- ^ Fantastic Four (Vol. 1) #286
- ^ X-Factor (Vol. 1) #1
- ^ The X-Men: Inferno crossover, 1983
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #281, 1992
- ^ "Fatal Attractions": X-Men (Vol. 2) #25, Wolverine (Vol. 2) #75, 1994
- ^ X-Men (Vol. 2) #30, 1994
- ^ The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1-4, 1994
- ^ "Riot at Xavier's": New X-Men #138, 2003
- ^ "Murder at the Mansion": New X-Men #139, 2003
- ^ "Planet X": New X-Men #150, 2004
- ^ "Here Comes Tomorrow": New X-Men #151-154, 2004
- ^ "X-Men (Ist Series) #42
- ^ Classic X-Men # 13, 1987
- ^ X-men Unlimited # 44, 2003
- ^ Uncanny X-Men # 357, 1998
- ^ Unncanny X-men #344
- ^ http://www.marveldirectory.com/individuals/j/jeangrey.htm
- ^ "The religion of Jean Grey
- ^ "New X-Men 116
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
See also
External links
- Articles with trivia sections from June 2007
- American comics characters
- Fictional Anglicans
- Fictional avatars
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- Fictional models
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- Marvel Comics characters who can fly
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- 1963 introductions