Merge:Jean Grey

Jean Grey, originally codenamed Marvel Girl and later Phoenix, is a Marvel Comics superhero best known as a member of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, she first appeared in X-Men #1 (September 1963).

Jean Grey is a mutant born with vast telepathic and telekinetic powers. She is a caring, nurturing figure but also must deal with being an Omega-level mutant and frequent host of the cosmic Phoenix Force. She has died several times in the history of the series, such as the classic "Dark Phoenix Saga," but due to her connection with the Phoenix Force, she, as her namesake implies, always rises from death.

Jean was the last of the original X-Men and an important figure in the lives of Professor X, Wolverine, and eventual husband Cyclops. She has had a consistent presence in X-Men-related comics throughout the years, and was featured in both X-Men animated series and several video games. Jean Grey is portrayed by Famke Janssen in all three X-Men films.

Origin
Jean Grey was born to Dr. John Grey and Elaine Grey. She had an older sister named Sara Grey and they lived in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where Dr. Grey worked as a history professor at Bard College. Her father, mother and sister were all normal humans but Jean turned out to be a mutant.

Jean's mutant psionic powers first manifested at the age of ten. They were prematurely triggered when her best friend, Annie Richardson, was hit by a car. As Annie lay dying, Jean instinctively linked to her mind and the trauma of experiencing her friend's death nearly killed Jean as well. The incident left Jean in a coma.

For three years, her parents sought the expertise of specialists to rouse Jean out of her catatonic state but only one, Professor Charles Xavier, was able to help. One day while they were training on the astral plane, Jean was able to sense a presence that Xavier was not able to detect. An aspect of Jean's subconscious mind manifesting as the Phoenix in the form of young Jean in a golden glow with a phoenix raptor effect reached out to this presence and briefly touched the mind of young Scott Summers who was then living in an orphanage. Xavier realized that Jean's young mind could not cope with her telepathy yet so he decided to mentally block her access to this ability, allowing it to evolve at the natural pace it would have, save for Annie's tragic death. Even though Jean continued living with her parents until she was a teenager, she had many training sessions with Xavier. Jean Grey would develop her telekinetic powers at the age of thirteen.

When she became a teenager, she left her parents and began attending Xavier's "School for Gifted Youngsters" and became the first of the female X-Men under the name of Marvel Girl. Although it had been stated early on that Jean could only use her telekinesis to lift an equivalent weight to what she could lift physically, Jean was shown levitating the Beast and guiding streaming missiles into the bay in her very first mission.

Romance
Jean and Scott both had a crush on each other, but neither were aware of the other's feelings and both were too shy to make a move. Cyclops thought his optic blasts could severely hurt her or anyone that he cared about for that matter. He also felt that he was no match for Warren, whom he thought Jean was dating at the time. Jean once had a date with Warren, but insisted on taking Scott along which confused and frustrated both men. When Jean left to pursue tertiary education at Metro College, it further served to widen the gap between Scott and Jean.

Warren decided that Jean was not actually interested in him and started a relationship with his old friend Candace "Candy" Southern. Jean and Scott later admitted they were in love with each other and started dating openly.

Professor X and Jean Grey seemed to have some romantic feelings for each other in the beginning of the X-Men series. However, she did not think he could care for her because she is only a young girl, and he believed that she could not care for him because he is a paraplegic. This part of the storyline seemed to have soon been abandoned, as Jean later developed feelings for Scott.

Jean also felt drawn to Logan, who fell in love with her, yet Scott seems to be the love of her life. Most of the time Logan respects Jean in this, and the two share a deep friendship which - despite emotional and physical attraction - doesn't downplay her own feelings towards her husband in any way (physical or emotional). In the New X-Men series, Jean comes to Logan increasingly to talk about her marital problems, and Logan seems genuinely concerned to help the married couple reconcile, even trying to convince Scott to return to Jean when Scott had an affair with Emma.

Recently, Emma Frost forced Scott to confront his fear that Logan, and not Scott, might have been the love of Jean's life.

Leave of absence
Requiring seclusion while he prepared to deal with a forthcoming invasion of Earth by the alien Z'Nox, Xavier had the mutant Changeling impersonate him in order to supervise the X-Men in Xavier's absence, telling only Jean of his plan and swearing her to secrecy. However, the Changeling, as Xavier, died heroically in action and Xavier felt obliged to continue the pretence of his death.

Fred Duncan, the X-Men's FBI liaison, considered the united team to present an easy target for "the ever-growing population of evil mutants" and felt the X-Men would be more effective acting as individuals and spread across the United States. At the same time, Professor X's will confirmed that his estate would serve as a charitable trust with each of the five active X-Men a trustee, to ensure that they would need to stay in contact with each other. Jean and Scott remained in New York while Hank and Bobby relocated to California. Warren remained mobile across the United States.

Jean later completed her college education and found employment as a model. Her first assignments were swimsuit presentations. At this time, Jean was introduced to Lorna Dane (Polaris) and they soon became friends. Jean was also introduced to Alexander "Alex" Summers, Scott's younger brother, who was just graduating from college. He would soon serve with the X-Men as Havok.

Xavier was revealed to the others to be alive, as he helped them defeat the Z'Nox. Later the Fantastic Four would team up with the X-Men to have a final encounter with the Z'Nox hoping to eliminate their bid for the Earth. While flying in space Jean Grey had a brief subconscious encounter with the Phoenix

Phoenix
Many months later, after Xavier had recruited a new team of X-Men to help save the others from Krakoa, most senior members left, as did Jean, who involuntarily found herself attracted to new member Wolverine. Cyclops, however, refused to leave, feeling that he would be incapable of leading a normal life due to the uncontrollable nature of his powers. He felt that he belonged only with the X-Men, which upset Jean. She still remained in contact with the X-Men and became good friends with one of her new teammates, Ororo Munroe (a.k.a. Storm).

Sometime after this, Shi'ar agent, Davan Shakari, in the guise of Erik The Red appeared, charged with the mission of killing Professor Xavier in order to prevent him from coming into contact with an alien refugee (who would later be revealed as Lilandra) to whom Xavier's mind had been connected. He brainwashed Havok and Polaris into serving him to accomplish this, but was thwarted by the X-Men. Weeks later, while Jean was having a romantic evening in Manhattan with Scott, she, along with Wolverine and Banshee, were abducted by Sentinels. They were taken to an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. orbital platform under the command of the anti-mutant activist Steven Lang, who was plotting to unleash a new generation of Sentinels modelled after the X-Men themselves. The other X-Men came and rescued the three from Lang.

During the destruction of the space station, the X-Men and one of Lang's captives, Dr. Peter Corbeau, who had also helped the X-Men reach the station to begin with found themselves in a perilous situation: the shuttle they had arrived in had been damaged in an earlier fight with the Sentinels, leaving the hull exposed and the auto-pilot completely destroyed. Compounding the problem was the impending threat of a gigantic solar flare, as well as one of the worst solar storms in history. A decision was made that someone would have to stay at the controls and pilot the ship, while everyone else would remain in the shuttle's heavily-shielded life cell. Knowing nobody else had a chance of surviving long enough to pilot the ship to safety, Jean used her telepathy to absorb Dr. Corbeau's piloting knowledge, and planned to use her telekinetic powers to screen out the radiation as she piloted the ship back to Earth. Cyclops, who had attempted to stop her, was knocked out by Jean's mental bolt and carried into the life cell by Banshee. Jean valiantly piloted the ship until her telekinetic shields started to give way under the onslaught of the intense radiation.

The strain of holding the solar radiation at bay with her powers had destroyed the psychic shields Xavier had placed in her mind as a child. In order to save the lives of her friends, her beloved Scott, and herself Jean "achieved her full potential as a psi, becoming briefly a being of pure thought before reforming herself as the Phoenix". The shuttle crashed into Jamaica Bay. Jean emerged from its remnants, imbued with vast cosmic powers announcing, "Hear me, X-Men! no longer am I the woman you knew! I am fire! And life incarnate! Now and forever I am Phoenix!" It was later revealed that Jean's original body was actually placed into a healing cocoon in the depths of Jamaica Bay and the Phoenix Force helped Jean psionically clone a new body using her genetic template, and then transferred almost all of Jean's mind and soul (save for a few fragments of her spirit which refused to leave Jean's original body) into the cosmically created clone's body. It was the stubborn soul fragments which prompted Phoenix to place her old body in the healing cocoon, as she could not bear to extinguish their spark. Because the Phoenix Force replicated Jean's body so perfectly (and because Phoenix had transferred Jean's mind and soul to her new body), not even Professor X could detect the difference between Jean and the Phoenix. As Phoenix, Jean's psi-powers became stronger and stronger, "backed by the power of the Sun itself". She began to manifest a fiery bird-shaped energy aura whenever she used her powers to their fullest extent.

The Phoenix continued Jean's relationship with Cyclops. Later, after having her mind tampered by Mastermind, she lost control of her powers and became the Dark Phoenix, attacking her friends and teammates, and destroying the D'Bari star. Jean was able to regain her sanity long enough to commit suicide in the Blue Area of the Moon rather than risk becoming the Dark Phoenix again and killing anyone else. The "Dark Phoenix Saga", the lengthy story of the decline and fall of Phoenix, by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, is regarded as one of the best comics stories of the era, and ultimately established the X-Men title as one of the best selling.

Jean Grey would wake up in the Afterlife (later, continuity would re-name it the White Hot Room.) She found herself on top of a tower floating in a space-like realm wearing a white version of her Dark Phoenix outfit. She was greeted by Death in the form of a Cosmic Construction Worker. Death allowed Jean to build onto his tower. Jean discovered that she was building the towers for her victims as Dark Phoenix and was made to relive the deaths of the D'Bari. Death explained to Jean that it was her destiny to become Phoenix. Jean is an avatar of the Phoenix due to her spirit being "most closely carved from it." Jean questions why didn't the Phoenix leave her when all was said and done. Death tells her that she is where the Phoenix came from. Death says that she wasn't far wrong when she thought it was a figment of her imagination. The Phoenix, he tells her, is the sum and substance of all that lives and is not a being nor an entity but only a force (later retcons would portray the Phoenix as a sentient cosmic being however). Death tells Jean Grey that her "unique ability" is to be the one to wield the power. He tells her that it belongs to her in the same fashion that the sword Excalibur belonged to King Arthur and that it would come to her children. In the end, Jean Grey is sent back to life and her soul is returned to her original body in the cocoon (which is almost fully healed), but the fragment of Jean's soul that remained in her original radiation-poisoned body rejected the memories of the Dark Phoenix, so those memories were accidentally transferred to the Madelyne Pryor clone. For now, Death says, she will not remember what she has learned.

Phoenix: The Untold Story
Originally, Jean Grey was to survive the "Dark Phoenix Saga", but editorial concerns led to a re-write of the ending of Uncanny X-Men issue 137. The original ending, as well as an 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. 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 revealed the original splash page drawn for Uncanny X-Men 138, which would've shown Jean and Scott in a happier time, contrasted with the splash page actually published in issue 138, showing Jean's funeral.

The reason for Phoenix's fate changing at this time was an editorial one. John Byrne, penciller on Uncanny X-Men, had strong feelings against how overpowered Phoenix had become, and working with writer Chris Claremont, they devised a way 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 caused some consternation with the editors, notably then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter. They felt that since Jean (as Dark Phoenix) had now become a mass murderer on a global scale, her "punishment" at the end of issue 137 was now deemed too light. As a result, the last chapter of issue 137 was completely rewritten, with Phoenix's powers returning and escalating out of control, forcing her to end her own life rather than risk destroying any more worlds.

Return
The Avengers had detected unusual energy readings at the bottom of Jamaica Bay and sent Prince Namor to investigate. He found a strange pod lying on the bottom of the bay. The Avengers sent the pod to the lab of Reed Richards, the leader of the Fantastic Four. During Richard's analysis, the pod cracked open and Jean emerged. Jean, seeing differences between the members of the Fantastic Four she knew versus the ones before her, attacked them. They eventually convinced Jean to calm down. Jean had no memories from the time she flew the shuttle until she hatched from the cocoon. Unfortunately, due to the technology Reed used to hatch her, she was now without her telepathy, but as a side-effect, the power of her telekinesis had increased dramatically. Also, a large portion of Jean's Phoenix powers had left her while she was healing, and merged with Jean's future daughter Rachel Summers, who had assumed the mantle of Phoenix in Jean's absence. Jean would later go to her home and touch a Holoempathic crystal that the Shi'ar had made and given to her parents after Dark Phoenix died. Once Jean touched the crystal, she relived the experience between her and the Phoenix on the shuttle. The former members of the X-Men were contacted and she reunited with most of them.

Cyclops, in the meantime, had moved to Alaska to be near his grandparents and met a pilot named Madelyne Pryor, the clone of Jean Grey. They married, producing a son, Nathan Christopher Charles Summers. When Scott heard Jean was alive, he left Pryor to see for himself that Jean was alive. Shortly afterwards he joined Jean and the other founding X-Men to create X-Factor. He called Madelyne to try to persuade her and their son to come to New York. When he received no answer, he assumed that his wife had left him.

In truth, Madelyne and their son had been kidnapped by the villain, Mr. Sinister. It is revealed that Mr. Sinister had created Madelyne from the DNA of Jean Grey. His clone was perfect except that she did not become conscious until the Phoenix's death on the moon sparked the clone's mind. He thought the offspring of Jean Grey and Scott Summers would be a genetically superior mutant who possessed incredible powers.

With her purpose fulfilled, he turned Madelyne over to the Marauders to dispose of. She was then rescued by the X-Men and joined them where she was presumably killed in Dallas defeating the Adversary. Roma, the celestial guardian, resurrected Madelyne and the X-Men. Wanting to rescue her son from Mr. Sinister, Madelyne made a pact with the demons S'ym and later N'astirh from Limbo. The goblins used her despair to make her the Goblyn Queen. Because of her deep mental depression from before, the transformation drove her over the edge. Deciding to use her newly recovered son, Madelyne attempted to sacrifice him in a ritual that would bring the demons of Limbo into our reality and thus bring about a permanent Inferno. The joined forces of the X-Men and X-Factor fought the Goblyn Queen. Madelyne died in a climactic battle with Jean after she linked their minds together and willed herself to die-- hoping the link would kill Jean as well. It did not, as the small amount of the Phoenix Force that Maddy still retained awoke, and helped Jean separate from her. However, Jean gained all the memories of both Madelyne and the Dark Phoenix. Later, Jean expelled the personas of Madelyne and Dark Phoenix but kept the residual memories.

The X-Men Gold Team
Jean became a member of the X-Men again when the original X-Factor decided to join with Xavier. In her blue and gold uniform, Jean was part of the "Gold Team" that was led by Storm. This allowed her to stay away from both Scott and Logan who were on the "Blue Team". However, the Blue and Gold teams mixed members on certain missions. In particular, Jean was instrumental in saving Wolverine's life when Magneto ripped the adamantium from his skeleton. Using her telekinesis, Jean kept Logan's body from falling apart and supported his healing factor. Jean also "died" while she was on the Gold Team, but she managed to survive even without using any Phoenix powers. She transferred her psyche over to the body of Emma Frost when her natural body was being attacked by Sentinels. While in Emma's body, Jean was able to use telekinesis, an ability that Emma never used before. Jean was later restored to her original body with the help of Xavier and Forge who had it in cryogenic storage.

Marriage to Cyclops
Jean Grey proposed to Cyclops and they finally married. During their honeymoon, they were taken into the future to raise the baby Cable. Shortly after returning, she resumed using the name Phoenix as an attempt to redeem both the entity and herself in her mind and also to honour her daughter, Rachel, who had been announced dead.

Eventually, the X-Men find themselves fighting Apocalypse, who has a list of the twelve most powerful mutants on earth. The list of the Twelve had both Phoenix and Cyclops on it. They decided to help the X-Men in this turning-point battle. In the end, Cyclops apparently perished as he merged with the villain Apocalypse. During this time Phoenix and Psylocke switched powers, with Jean adding Psylocke's shadowy telepathic powers to her own telepathy, while losing her telekinetic powers to Psylocke. Phoenix had to deal with having to rely on her fighting skills to handle enemies who were immune to telepathy, and began manifesting fiery raptor effects as the physical manifestation of her powers.

Later, Prosh would recruit Phoenix along with Mystique, Juggernaut, Iceman, and Toad for a special mission. During this mission, the X-Men would relive key events in their past. Jean would relive her experience as Dark Phoenix in the afterlife as well as learn that Xavier knew all along that she was an Omega-level mutant  and the most powerful entity in the Marvel Universe. Jean would also reawaken the Phoenix Force to talk to and touch Eternity so that she and the others could defeat The Stranger, as shown in X-Men Forever. Soon after, Jean learned that Cyclops was alive, so she began a search for her lost husband with her step-son Cable. They found him and Jean used her newly increased telepathic powers to separate Cyclops from Apocalypse's spirit. Having her husband back gave Jean the strength to accept her role as host of the Phoenix Force, and access the telekinetic powers it had recreated for her.

Marital problems
A combination of Jean's new duties as headmistress, her re-emerging Phoenix powers and Scott's temporary merger with the evil mutant Apocalypse drove a wedge between the couple. Scott and Jean started to have marital problems; Jean had attempted time and again to rebuild their relationship, but Scott remained constantly distant, refusing to even sleep with her. The one time that Scott did speak, he attempted to explain to Jean about his feelings of dissatisfaction with his own personality after being possessed by Apocalypse. Their relationship became further strained when Jean began showing signs of the Phoenix Force, which Cyclops thought would lead to another disaster, though he made little effort to aid Jean. Scott eventually turned to Emma Frost to talk. Emma took advantage of Scott's emotional problems which led to a telepathic extra-marital affair, which Jean eventually uncovered.

When confronted by Jean, Scott claimed that they had shared 'only thoughts' and that he had done nothing wrong. Jean, however, vehemently disagreed and demanded that Emma explain herself, but Emma only jeered and insulted her. Enraged, Jean unleashed the Phoenix power on Emma, rifling through her memories and forced her to confront the truth about herself that Emma herself did her best to deny. Scott meanwhile had run away, unable to face his wife or his fellow X-Men in light of his transgressions.

Later, while dealing with internal strife (which eventually turned out to be the work of Xorn), Wolverine and Phoenix were propelled towards the sun while on Asteroid M. About to die, Wolverine reluctantly stabbed Phoenix so she would not have to die in the intense solar heat. Seconds before they were to collide with the sun however, the Phoenix Force fully manifested within Jean and she saved them both. She tells him that by killing her, he helped her release the "Phoenix Consciousness." Arriving back on earth, they encounter Magneto, who mortally injures Phoenix by transferring a large amount of electro-magnetic energy to her brain, inducing a "planetary-scale stroke." As Phoenix died in Scott's arms, she told him to live.

Here Comes Tomorrow
A future timeline grew out of Scott Summers refusal of Emma Frost's offer to re-open Xavier's Institute. As a result, Hank McCoy took up the burden of re-opening the school and under the pressure, begins taking the drug "Kick". "Kick," however, is revealed to be the aerosol form of the villain John Sublime, who possesses Hank McCoy and drives him insane. 150 years later, the near-immortal Beast tried to resurrect and use Phoenix to destroy the world, only to be defeated by Phoenix. Phoenix then carries out her disinfection and absorbs the future universe into the White Hot Room. She then transcends into the "White Hot Room," a higher plane of reality with all the other Phoenix hosts. She once again wears a white variation of her Dark Phoenix outfit and is revealed to be the "White Phoenix of the Crown". After saying she 'amputated' the future, Jean reached back in time and told Scott to live. Back at the turning point in the past that started the whole storyline, instead of refusing Emma and leaving the institute, Scott chooses to be with Emma and help keep the Xavier Institute alive.

Endsong
In the X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong miniseries published in 2005, the Shi'ar resurrect the Phoenix Force prematurely in hopes of destroying it while it is relatively weak, resulting in a fragmented Phoenix. The Shi'ar references Jean Grey as the Phoenix's Heart and a part of its very Self and hopes to kill her for good. The entity manages to escape and flee to Earth, however, where it needs a host to sustain itself. After possessing a firefly, the entity resurrects Jean and bonds with her once more. Jean knows something is wrong and this is not the way.

Jean realizes that the Phoenix Force was resurrected too early and is mentally unbalanced. She has a confrontation with the X-Men before teleporting Wolverine to the North Pole where she has him stab her several times, leaving the Phoenix weakened and allowing her to once again gain control. When Wolverine asks her whether she is Jean or the Phoenix, Jean responds "I am always Jean and always the Phoenix." Jean says that she was scattered in a trillion directions and that she is "out of balance and must try again". Jean then plunges herself through the ice, freezing instantly.

When the X-Men arrive, Wolverine tells them that "Jean is dead. Or as close as she can get." When the Phoenix Force returns from the ice, she possesses Emma Frost as Scott Summers' new love. Emma, however, is consumed by the Phoenix Force because she is unable to contain it. As the Phoenix Force prepares to destroy the world, Scott, left with no other choice, fires his optic blasts at the ice encasing Jean. Recharged by the solar energy, she immediately rises out of the ice and into the sky.

The revived Jean telepathically assaults the Phoenix-possessed Emma, forcing her to the ground. The Phoenix Force, shocked, exclaims, "Jean Grey, how are you doing that, without me... without my power?" Jean responds "I am you. Don't you remember?" Jean then exorcises the Phoenix Force from Emma, telling the Phoenix Force she'll understand everything once all their pieces are together in the White Hot Room. The Phoenix Force admits "Because you and I are One." She then starts to go mad since the Phoenix is still unstable. But with the help of the Stepford Cuckoos, Emma Frost contacts all of the X-Men around the world to focus their love into Jean. Jean's costume turns white as she tearfully exclaims "my friends." As White Phoenix, she saves the team from a black hole event horizon created by the exploding Shi'ar ship. Before returning to the White Hot Room, Scott tells her to remember who she is. She asks Scott to remove his visor because she wants to see his eyes. Enveloped in his optic blast, she departs, giving Scott one last "goodbye."

Warsong
At the conclusion of Endsong, one of the Stepford Cuckoos (Emma Frost's telepathic students) is shown to be in communion with a small "firefly" of the Phoenix Force. Recently it was announced that this cliffhanger will be addressed in the sequel: X-Men : Phoenix - Warsong. Available in September 2006, Greg Pak is returning as writer. He 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." Pak also stated that Warsong will lay the groundwork for the future of both Jean and the Phoenix.

Powers and abilities
Jean Grey is classified as an Omega-level mutant, one of the most powerful mutants in the universe and is the physical avatar of the powerful Phoenix Force. Jean Grey's dual psionic potential gives her the mutant gifts of telepathy and telekinesis. Her telepathy allows her to read the thoughts of others, project her thoughts into the minds of others to influence decisions, control minds, manipulate or change memories, place one under her telepathic command, cast her mind into the astral plane or fire stunning "mental bolts" capable of knocking out or turning someone brain-dead. Jean is also one of the few telepaths skilled enough to communicate with animals (but mainly animals with high intelligence, such as dolphins, dogs, and ravens). When Phoenix absorbed the specialized telepathic powers of fellow X-Men member Psylocke, her own telepathy was increased to the level where she could physically manifest her telepathy as a psionic firebird; whose claws could inflict both physical and mental damage. Phoenix also learned that by using her amplified telepathy to increase the speed of neural signals in the brain, she could increase another mutant's powers to incredible levels, but the effect was only temporary. She also briefly developed a psychic shadow form like Psylocke had, but instead of a red tattoo over her right eye, Jean had a gold Phoenix emblem. Phoenix is considered to be one of the Earth's most powerful telepathic minds, rivalling Professor X. Owing to the fact that Professor X once said she would be more powerful than himself, she will with time, become the most powerful mutant in the universe. She also has telekinesis of an unparalleled level, capable of latching onto objects in orbit and manipulating hundreds of components in mid-air in complex patterns. Her telekinetic ability can be manifested in many ways, some of which include levitating herself, objects, or other people or projecting a telekinetic shield capable of withstanding missile blasts. By focusing her mental energy at a specific target, she can release devastating force blasts. Phoenix can also revive, absorb, rechannel and preserve any kind of lifeform, since the Phoenix is the sum of all lifeforce.

Jean's Phoenix powers manifested later and boosted her psi-powers on a quantum scale allowing her to rearrange matter at a subatomic level (allowing her, for example, to turn trees into gold or instantly change her costume), fly unaided through space, create intense heat and thermal energy blasts by stimulating molecular activity, manipulate the voluntary and involuntary responses in the human body. She manifested a "telekinetic sensitivity" that let her feel the texture of objects she had a telekinetic hold on, feel when other objects came into contact with them and probe them at a molecular level to identify alien materials or feel when two things she "held" were similarly composed. In addition to this, when the power of the Phoenix force is engaged, she is surrounded in a flame-like energy corona that takes the form of a large bird of fire.

Later, Jean learned that not only was she the physical embodiment of the Phoenix Force, but she was the "White Phoenix of the Crown" and as such; had the power to manipulate limitless amounts and forms of energy at magnitudes limited only by her imagination, to control and repair entire timelines, and to travel to other dimensions and historical periods by creating portals between realities. Also, it was revealed in ''What If? The X-Men'' by Xavier that Phoenix's mind resonates across the multiverse and may be a nexus of realities, similar to that of the M'Kraan Crystal. As the Phoenix, Jean can resurrect herself after death. Sometimes she resurrects almost immediately while at other times she stays for an extended period in the White Hot Room to allow the Phoenix to do "Phoenix Work" (affecting timelines, repairing realities, etc.). She can resurrect later within a new body formed from a Phoenix Egg/cocoon.

Namesake ancestor
Jean Grey has an ancestor that lived during the time of the American Revolution, and was herself also a member of the Hellfire Club.

Age of Apocalypse


In the Age of Apocalypse, Jean was a student of Magneto (and never had a codename), and never learned to fully master her telepathy. She fell in love with fellow student Weapon X, who later rescued her after she was kidnapped by Mr. Sinister and had her DNA extracted and combined with that of Cyclops) to clone the perfect mutant. The couple lived happily together until Jean learned of an attempt to drop nuclear bombs on the USA to kill Apocalypse. Jean went to stop the attack with the aid of Cyclops (and held back ALL of the nuclear bombs with her telekinesis), but died at the hands of Cyclops' brother Prelate Havok.

Ten years later, in the "anniversary" miniseries, Sinister (who had also been killed, at the hands of X-Man in the event) found that Jean's DNA contained special properties, and that she should have access to the powers of "Mutant Alpha", the legendary "first mutant". He resurrected her, and she did display the powers of "Mutant Alpha" (which looked like a Phoenix Force effect). He tried to use her to kill Magneto and his X-Men, but she turned on him and incinerated him with a psi-blast. At Magneto's behest, Jean became leader of the X-Men.

Ultimate Jean Grey/Marvel Girl
In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Jean Grey was reimagined as a responsible yet outgoing teenage girl. She had a passionate affair with Wolverine, but soon dropped him for Cyclops after Wolverine admitted to her that he first joined the X-Men to act as a mole for Magneto and ultimately assassinate Professor X.

Ultimate Jean Grey had spent time as a child in a mental hospital due to having problems controlling her telepathy and having troublesome visions of a Phoenix raptor. Professor Charles Xavier found Jean Grey while she was in the mental hospital.

Marvel Mangaverse Jean Grey
Although Marvel's Mangaverse line sometimes seemed to be reimaginings of the regular Marvel line, it also seemed completely confused on what characters were doing what. In the first volume of Mangaverse, Jean is indeed a powerful telepath, telekinetic and does call herself Marvel Girl, but also has access to the powers of the Phoenix Force. Most people mistakenly think that these powers were bestowed upon Rogue because she absorbed Jean's powers in the first volume of Mangaverse, but it was a sequel to the later X-Men Mangaverse volumes. This version of the X-Men and Jean Grey have not been seen since the X-Men: Ronin storyline presented under the Mangaverse universe.



However, the three issue X-Men: Phoenix - Legacy of Fire miniseries, also set in the Mangaverse, involved a separate character, also based on Jean Grey, named "Jena Pyre" and her sister Madelyne (the surname "Pyre" is derived from Madelyne Pryor and/or from the funeral pyre of the mythical phoenix) are the guardians of the "Phoenix Sword", whose power Jena absorbs at the end of the miniseries, and have to combat a Mangaverse version of the Shadow King.

The miniseries infamously depicted the lead characters (Jena and Madelyne) in costumes that amounted to near-nudity, and which caused the rating of the series to be raised from PG to PG+ before issue 1 was released and to the MAX mature readers imprint for issues 2 and 3, despite the otherwise fairly tame content.

X-Men: Fairy Tales
Jean appears briefly in X-Men: Fairy Tales limited series' first issue, never saying anything and never named, but the similarities that imply it is her (red hair, her kimono is her costume colours, and she completes the original X-Men team). She is supposed to be the daughter of the Emperor/Professor X, who has been kidnapped by a group of demons (Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Magneto, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Toad), and freed by the X-Men team.

In the third issue, Jean is also a princess, and again in the green-and-yellow costume colours, who is awoken from a glass coffin by a blind tailor (Cyclops). She has no memory of her past, but the tailor (who gets a brief vision of her face) falls in love with her. The local butcher (Wolverine) recognises her as a princess that was posessed by an evil immortal sorceress. At the tailor's house, the princess/sorceress changes into a dark red gown, while the butcher hurries to warn him.

Marvel 1602
In Marvel 1602, Jean is disguised as John Grey to attend Carlos Javier's College for the Sons of Gentlemen (the Xavier Institute). She is loved posessively by Scotius Summerisle (Cyclops), who knows she's female, and quietly by Werner (Archangel) who doesn't.

She pushes her telekinesis to the limits to transport the galleon Eagle's Shadow, and dies. Her funeral pyre briefly takes the form of a pheonix.

Appearances in other media
Jean Grey was a character in the X-Men animated television series of the mid-1990s and was voiced by Catherine Disher. She also appeared, in flashback only, as Marvel Girl in one episode of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends in the early 1980s.

In the feature films X-Men, X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand, Jean is portrayed by Famke Janssen. She is introduced at the outset as the team's medical doctor and is involved in a long-term relationship with Cyclops. The love triangle which soon develops between her, Cyclops, and Wolverine plays an important role in all three films. In the first two films, she is not as powerful as her comic book counterpart. In the beginning of X3, a flashback scene shows a young but powerful Jean Grey in a meeting with Xavier and Magneto which her parents arranged. She is seen reading their minds and then telekinetically lifting cars outside of her house.

In the first film X-Men, Jean's powers are somewhat tamed compared to her teammates and her telepathy is "not anywhere near powerful" compared to Professor X, who is teaching her to develop it. In one of the deleted scenes, Jean asks Xavier if she can use Cerebro but he refuses, saying he doesn't want to see her get hurt. She responds she can feel her power evolving everyday. This could be seen as a reference to the mental blocks Xavier put in Jean's mind and that he is afraid that Cerebro might damage them. Jean later uses Cerebro to find Magneto and is seen in pain afterwards. In X2: X-Men United, Jean is having trouble with her powers as they seem to have expanded somewhat since the Liberty Island incident. She exhibites Phoenix-like powers, first when she tries to deflect missiles fired at the Blackbird jet when they were escaping. For a brief moment, her eyes turn fiery red and she destroys one missile. This happens again when she fights Cyclops when he attacked her under William Stryker's control. At the end of X2, Jean sacrifices herself to save her teammates from a ruptured dam. Just before the waters crash into her and drown her, Jean is engulfed in the fiery energy of the Phoenix, now fully manifesting itself. At the end of X2, A Phoenix like firebird is seen under Alkali Lake, suggesting that Jean is, in fact, alive. Professor X seems to be the only one who is aware of her survival. Interestingly, near the beginning of X2 she is seen wearing a phoenix-shaped pendant and later is seen wearing a coat with a phoenix design on the back. In X-Men: The Last Stand, she appears in a form similar to Dark Phoenix, but is merely called the Phoenix and exhibits Phoenix-level powers. When using her Phoenix powers, Jean's appearance changes considerably. Her skin darkens to an almost dead appearance and her eyes turn black. In the movie, Callisto tells Magneto that Jean is a "Class 5" mutant with unlimited potential, saying Grey is even more powerful than him. Her unlimited potential resided in her subconscious. Fearing that Jean could not control her vast powers, Xavier put up psychic blocks around her subconscious mind to keep Jean's immense powers at bay. Because of Xavier's decision to do this, she developed a split personality, one, the conscious, controlled and balanced Jean Grey and the other, the subconscious, unbalanced and wild Phoenix.

In a fit of rage, Cyclops fires his optic beams into Alkali Lake and inadvertently revives Jean Grey, persumably because his optic beams are solar powered and the Phoenix feeds on solar energy. Jean reappears at Alkali Lake in front of Cyclops, who was deeply affected by her supposed death, and apparently kills him while kissing (atomizing him). She is brought back to the mansion where Xavier tries to fix the mental blocks.

Wolverine unintentionally disrupts her therapy and brings out the Phoenix, causing her to escape the mansion. Later she is confronted by Magneto and Professor X at her childhood house. She attacks the Professor telekinetically (everything is moving around in the house) and then atomizes him in her Phoenix form. She then joins Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants. During the attack on Alcatraz Island she destroys much of Worthington Labs, and kills both mutants and humans alike in her full Phoenix form. Wolverine tells Storm to get everyone to safety and he's the only one who can stop her. He is able to get Jean Grey to surface long enough to allow herself to be killed right after he professes his love for her. Her gravestone is later seen next to Cyclops' and Xavier's.


 * In the animated TV series X-Men: Evolution, Jean was voiced by Venus Terzo. Jean is portrayed as very beautiful and popular.  Her powers are similar to the early comic books; she possesses telepathy and telekinesis, initially only being able to move objects with her mind that she would normally be able to move by hand.  Professor X, the world's greatest telepath, later trained her to use and refine these powers.  When her powers surged, Jean found herself losing control, overhearing thoughts without effort.  The X-Men helped her to regain control, leading her to form a psychic rapport with her teammate Scott Summers.  After recently graduating from Bayville High, Jean has taken an instructor's position at the Institute.  She is also currently romantically involved with Scott (Cyclops). The series ended with glimpses of the future for various characters, and Jean was shown transforming into Dark Phoenix.  Had the show been renewed for a fifth season, this subplot would have been further developed.


 * Jean Grey had made rare appearances in early video game spinoffs (as Marvel Girl, a playable character in 1990s X-Men II: The Fall of the Mutants for the PC, Jean Grey as a support character in X-Men for the Sega Genesis, and Phoenix (in her blue-and-gold uniform) in X-Men: Gamemaster's Legacy for the Sega Game Gear), but recently has had much bigger video game roles, when she appeared as Phoenix in both X-Men: Mutant Academy games for the Sony PlayStation, and as Phoenix and Dark Phoenix in X-Men: Next Dimension for the PS2, Xbox, and Nintendo Gamecube. She also appeared as Ultimate Jean Grey in X-Men Legends and its sequel X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse as an important playable character.


 * In the webcomic The Wotch, Jason is turned into a near duplicate of Jean Grey. His last name, Grey, is also a reference to her and his redhead obsession.