We come into this world alone and we leave the same way. The time we spent in between - time spent alive, sharing, learning together... is all that makes life worth living.
Jean Grey is a mutant with vast empathic, telepathic and telekinetic abilities, being intimately associated with the Phoenix, an immensely powerful cosmic entity.[28] Her psychic powers were traumatically awakened during childhood when she witnessed her best friend's death. For years, Jean Grey was mentored by mutant specialist Professor Charles Xavier, a telepath himself.[29] When he started a school for mutants to prepare his students to carry on his dream of peaceful coexistence between mutants and humans, Jean Grey was enrolled as Marvel Girl, becoming the last of his first class of original X-Men, a group that fights for a world that hates and fears mutants.[2] Over time, Jean Grey has become Xavier's most trusted pupils, constantly acting as his right hand and close friend.[30]
She first ascended as the Phoenix after experiencing death.[31] Corrupted by the Hellfire Club, she was distorted into Dark Phoenix and caused immeasurable destruction. Jean Grey's conscience led the Phoenix to sacrifice herself to prevent further destruction.[32] Jean Grey's connection to the Phoenix, a force of annihilation and rebirth, inflicted a number of deaths[33][15] and resurrections.[34][35] Upon one of her returns, Jean Grey took the direction of a parallel X-Men team.[36] On the mutant-exclusive nation of Krakoa, she played a role[12] in the governing body known as the Quiet Council,[37] as well as part of the intelligence sector X-Force[38] and in the revival of the X-Men as a super hero team.[39]
After being murdered at the hands of the agents of Orchis,[23] Jean Grey has risen again as Phoenix due to Xavier's machinations. Now wielding unimaginable powers once again,[40] Phoenix has taken to the cosmos and, on a universal scale, she defends those in need. Travelling across planets and galaxies, she explores the potential of her god-level capacities, despite that distancing herself from her loved ones on Earth.[41]
Jean Grey is the youngest daughter of Elaine Grey and Professor John Grey. She was raised with her older sister, Sara,[42] on a farmhouse near Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where her father taught history. Reaching puberty, Jean Grey witnessed her closest friend, Annie Richardson, be struck by a car while they played. The shock of the tragic episode triggered Grey's mutanttelepathic powers, involuntarily creating an empathic link to her dying friend. This traumatic experience plunged Grey into deep withdrawal and desolation. Unable to master her newly awakened telepathic abilities, she isolate herself from social contact to preserve her mental stability.[29][43][44]
Mentored by Professor Xavier
A psychiatrist recommended her parents to consult Professor Charles Xavier, a specialist who was secretly a mutant with telepathic abilities of his own.[29] Xavier disclosed Jean Grey's nature as a mutant to her, but did not inform this to her parents. Concerned for her safety, he suppressed her overwhelming telepathic abilities by erecting psychic barriers that blocked them until she had developed the maturity required to manage them. Alternatively, Xavier assisted Grey in developing her telekinetic abilities, teaching her to levitate and manipulate objects through focused psionic force.[45]
Under Xavier's tutelage, Jean Grey employed her powers to assist him in calibrating Cerebro, a mutant-tracking machine.[46] During this period, she established psychic contact with the mind of the young orphan Scott Summers, forming a lasting bond manifested as a psychic rapport.[47] After years of treatment, Jean Grey made a full recovery.[29] Xavier advised John and Elaine Grey to enroll their daughter at his recently founded Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and, through his influence in Washington, D.C., persuaded the Greys to allow her to relocate to his institute.[48]
Xavier's School served as the headquarters of the X-Men, a team of mutants trained by Professor Xavier to fight for a dream of peaceful racial coexistence between mutants and humans. Operating out of public view, the group combatted threats posed by evil mutants who turned their powers against humanity. Jean Grey completed the first class alongside other four students: Cyclops – the mutant alias of Scott Summers –, the magnificent Angel, the brute Beast, and the whimsical Iceman. Adopting the codename Marvel Girl, Jean Grey relied on her telekinesis to move a wide range of objects during field action.[2]
As an X-Man, Marvel Girl faced hostile mutants, including Magneto[2] and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants,[49] the Vanisher,[5] and the Blob.[6] Although Jean Grey was initially harassed by her flirtatious male teammates,[2] the group gradually developed a sound friendship through their shared adventures and rigorous training in the facilities of the Danger Room at Xavier's School. Over time, Marvel Girl expanded the scope and efficiency of her powers by moving increasingly heavier objects with greater ease.[5] After graduation, Cyclops was appointed team leader. Secretly, he and Jean Grey nurtured romantic feelings for one another; however, as both youngsters were shy and reserved, their potential love story took no shape.[50][51]
The following section addresses stories featuring the X-Men stranded in the future. For the continuation of the historical publications, skip to the subsequent section.
All-New X-Men[]
Time Displacement[]
Unexpectedly, the first class of the X-Men was approached by a future version Beast who had traveled to their time in order to inform the mutant race faced an imminent doom and only the original X-Men could help fix it.[52] The X-Men accompanied Beast to an unrecognizable future where Jean Grey was dead and the school had been renamed after her as the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, an institution ran by the savage killer Wolverine. Moreover, a corrupted Cyclops was responsible for the death of Professor Xavier and running his own faction of X-Men as an ally of Magneto, while Beast was a victim of the deadly evolution of his powers. Without Xavier, Jean Grey's mental barrier were instantly deactivated and her telepathy ran unchecked, engulfing her with stranger thoughts. Wolverine and the X-Men were immensely dissatisfied with the Beast, but he collapsed before their eyes. Meanwhile, the X-Men from the past took the commotion to run away, with Jean Grey using her newfound telepathy to track future Cyclops and meet him by themselves.[53] The encounter with Cyclops and Magneto was extremely distressing to Jean Grey.[54]
Days of the future past life of Jean Grey
Recomposed, Grey returned to the school with her teammates,[54] where she used her telepathy to assist the past version of Beast save his future self from dying. During this experience, the Beast shared with her all his detailed memories about the uncanny life Jean Grey had had. The revelation motivated Jean Grey to refuse to return to her timeline, at least temporarily. Headmistress Kitty Pryde was charged with supervising and training the team of time-displaced X-Men.[55] Pryde established a connection with Grey, helping her deal with the struggles that emerged from her precocious telepathic awakening and appointing her to lead the team. Simultaneously, a very disappointed Jean Grey witnessed her special connection with Scott Summers erode. Emotionally, he learned and shared that their adult versions had been married before her demise.[56]
Overwhelmed by her telepathy
Angel was particularly disturbed about being stranded in the future and crashed out. She telepathically subdued him,[57] worrying past and present X-Men about the reckless use of her psychic powers and the consequences of not being morally instructed by Professor Xavier. Another demonstration of Grey's inattentive use of her telepathy was drawing from Cyclops' mind he had met Mystique,[58] who had been carrying out terrorist attacks posing as the original X-Men for a mysterious agenda. The X-Men faction led by future Cyclops approached the Jean Grey School to offer a position in their ranks to those interested.[59] Angel accepted, prompting Jean Grey to once again control his free will. This time, however, Cyclops' psychic ally, Emma Frost, retaliated with the help of her pupils, the Stepford Cuckoos. The frustrated and embarrassing battle had Jean Grey reconsider her recent attitude and understand the responsibility that should come with her great power.[60]
Under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director Maria Hill's recommendation, the original team was tasked to intercept Mystique.[60] During their mission, they crossed paths with the Avengers Unity Division, an uncanny group of Avengers formed to carry on Xavier's dream. One of its members was the Scarlet Witch, who had been responsible for the mutant decimation. Accidentally accessing her mind, Jean Grey was horrified to learn about her acts against mutantkind and unleashed her rage upon her. Pryde and Wolverine de-escalated the conflict.[61] The X-Men found Mystique as she planned to make a deal with Hydra to gain control over the nation of Madripoor. The ordeal was intercepted by the X-Men, and Grey was targeted by the illusionist Lady Mastermind, being forced into confronting the possibility of getting corrupted.[62] As a strong developing psychic, Grey countered the mental attack, learning how to cast powerful illusions as well in the process. Mystique was defeated crucially due to Jean Grey's actions, who contained her opponents with her psychic powers.[63]
Partering up Cyclops instead of Beast when suspicious of the future X-Men
Emotionally, Jean Grey had to cope with her degrading relationship with Cyclops, being stressed by the apparently inevitable nature of their connection. She found solace in the Beast after accidentally learning from his future self about his hidden love for her as a teenager.[64] While in action, Cyclops almost got killed, prompting the X-Men to determine the interlopers from the past should return to their proper time to protect history. However, when activating the time machine, a future team of X-Men emerged, instead, claiming the arrival of the original X-Men had disastrous consequences to the timeline and returning them was an urgent task.[65] Unable to telepathic gather these future mutants' true intention, Jean Grey immediately became suspicious. She reached out to Beast for support, but he hesitated. Instead, she turned to Cyclops, who instantly trusted her. Grey psychically cloaking their escape. Aboard a Blackbird, the young Jean Grey and Scott Summers went on a run. One of the travelers from the future was Xorn, the adult version of Jean Grey who had never returned to the past.[66]
The all-new X-Men
In desperate need of support, Jean Grey contacted the revolutionary X-Men led by future Cyclops,[67] who decided to help them by fighting the future X-Men.[68] Frost and the Cuckoos joined Jean Grey in a telepathic battle against Xorn. As a result, Xorn ended up convince her younger self, Jean Grey, to surrender.[69] However, it was revealed the future X-Men were, in fact, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and that their claims were absolutely false.[70] Having been unmasked, Xorn put Jean Grey out of commission,[71] but the Brotherhood could not activate the time machine and accomplish their plan[72] and kidnapped the original X-Men instead, taking them to Santo Marco.[73] All factions of X-Men, past, present and future, joined forces against Xorn and the Brotherhood. Consumed by her frustration and unstable powers, Xorn perished in battle. Jean Grey suffered with witnessing her own death as well as with facing her potential for darkness. No longer trusting Wolverine and his X-Men, the original X-Men permanently turned to Cyclops' team, being supported and accompanied by Pryde.[74]
The trial of Jean Grey
Relocated to the New Xavier School, in the remote and frigid mountains of Canada, the original X-Men resumed their training with Pryde. In this setting, Jean Grey's complicated relationships with Cyclops and Beast only got worse, being exacerbated by her empathic powers.[75] From the X-Men's base, Jean Grey was captured by the Shi'ar to be put on trial for crimes perpetrated by the Phoenix.[76] Majestor Kallark announced the judgement to occur before a tribunal for the Shi'ar Empire and its Imperial Guard. In Chandilar, the psychic Oracle was chosen to counsel Jean Grey and exposed the genocidal actions of Phoenix and the interest of the Empire in executing her as a prevention, even though she had not actually been responsible for her future actions in the past.[77] Grey was shown to a legion of alien and accused of being a force of uncontrollable destruction.[78] During the trial, Jean Grey learned the Shi'ar had exterminated her lineage, killing every member of her family. This prompted her to escape, but in extreme turmoil she found herself alone in the Shi'ar Throneworld. The X-Men found allies in the form of the space bandits of the Guardians of the Galaxy and of the Starjammers for a rescue mission and battled Kallark and the Imperial Guard.[79] Weaponizing her hurt, Jean Grey gained the capacity of channelling ambient psychic energy while combining telepathy and telekinesis to enhance her powers. She was able to best Kallark in combat. Pointing out that she should not be held responsible for a future she may no longer be a part of, Jean Grey forced the Shi'ar to retreat.[80]
Trained in psychic combat by Emma Frost
Back to Earth, Cyclops declared he would leave to outer space with the Starjammers, irritating Jean Grey.[79] She related to his older self, seeing his perspective on their tumultuous lives after avoiding his presence. He informed her Emma Frost would train her in psychic combat from then on.[81] Contrary to the expectation of many, being mentored by Frost was a beneficial and interesting experience for Grey. The two telepaths bonded with their training sessions.[82] For one of those, Frost took Grey to Madripoor, which had been transformed into a twisted haven for mutants by Mystique with the use of the Mutant Growth Hormone drug. In the field, Frost blocked Grey's telepathy, instructing her to resort to telekinesis only. Grey was guided by her mentor to one of the drug distribution centers, run by the Blob. A challenging fight ensued between the frail Jean Grey and the gigantic Blob, but she managed to knock himself out. Afterwards, Emma Frost promised to be a help whenever needed.[83]
With the emergence of the empowering item known as the Black Vortex in the darkest corners of the galaxy, the X-Men joined the Guardians of the Galaxy once again to address the crisis.[84] Cyclops reunited with his teammates.[85] Jean Grey avoided his presence initially, but they soon rekindled their connection.[86] To solve the issue, Jean Grey contemplated submitting to the Black Vortex to gain power, but was talked down by Peter Quill.[87] The crisis was averted[88] and the X-Men returned to Earth. Jean Grey privately shared with Iceman she was aware of his sexual orientation and offer her support.[89] Considering so many adventures and dangers were distracting, Jean Grey declared she wished to leave the X-Men. Before departing, she shared with Beast the feelings she had nurtured for him and they embraced in a kiss.[90]
M-Pox Crisis[]
The Inhuman catalyst roaming the atmosphere in the form of Terrigen Mists proved to be hazardous to mutants. Present-day Cyclops and his X-Men immediately planned to protect mutants from it, but the leader of the X-Men fell victim to its effects and died. This caused mutantkind to struggle in a poisonous world while having a silent war with the Inhuman leaderships.[91] The X-Men suffered with such a loss, that was added to the previous death of Wolverine.[92] Jean Grey wished to have no contact with mutant affairs, setting an ordinary life as a college student at the Empire State University, cutting ties with all the other X-Men. Storm reformed the X-Men in the protected realm of X-Haven to face this new threat to her people, personally asking Grey to join her initiative. She rejected the offer, but informed Storm that Logan, a version of Wolverine from a dystopic future had arrived to their timeline.[93]
Past Jean Grey and future Logan
Subjected to extreme prejudice for being a mutant, Jean Grey realized she could never have a normal life. She decided to contact Logan by herself to convince him to be part of Storm's X-Men.[94] Through telepathy, she had access to the horrors Logan had lived in his world, forming a bond between them. Initially, Logan rejected the offer arguing Jean Grey was destined to tragically die as an X-Man. She replied that the only predetermined fate she accepted was her alliance to the X-Men. Together, they rejoined the team[95] as they were targeted by the vile Mister Sinister and his Marauders. As one of his twisted experiments, Sinister produced an Inhuman clone of Cyclops. Grey confirmed the creature was mindless, which led to its destruction. Mister Sinister was defeated, and the X-Men announced their return to the planet as heroes for humans, mutants and Inhumans alike.[96]
The end of the Jean Grey School
As the team's psychic, Jean Grey assisted those in need as she could. She guided Nightcrawler in getting over the panic he had experienced when dealing with the effects of the Terrigen crisis[97] and freed Logan from a malicious symbiote that had bonded with him in a futuristic world designed by Apocalypse.[98] The Terrigen contamination became unsustainable, prompting the X-Men to go to war against the Inhumans.[99] Jean Grey was assigned to deal with Karnak, throwing him in a mental trap[100] in the controlled environment of the World.[101] He managed to find a crack in her fabricated scenario.[102] She joined the advanced cyborg Fantomex in battling Karnak, but they failed and Karnak escaped.[103] The substance in the atmosphere was neutralized[104] and the X-Men left X-Haven, marking the end of the Jean Grey School.[105]
ResurrXion[]
Striking a pact with Magneto
Reunited with her time-displaced comrades, Jean Grey learned from the young version of Beast that the past had no place for them as it had readjusted itself with duplicates of the original X-Men. Certain of their inability to return home, the X-Men looked forward to an open future independent from their alternate selves.[106] Grey proposed they should no longer be tied with the present version of the X-Men, assuming the position of the team's leader.[107] Parallel to this, she forged an alliance with Magneto, seeing the benefit the heroic all-new X-Men could have for his mission of saving mutantkind after being granted access to the hidden secrets of his mind. At a new X-Mansion in the secluded streets of Madripoor, the X-Men started a new chapter with Magneto as their mentor. Secretly, Magneto considered sending the X-Men back to their proper time.[108] With resources offered by Magneto, the X-Men performed missions across the globe to help mutants and put an end to the actions of their enemies.[109] Parallel to her activities with the X-Men, Jean Grey also explored the world by herself, accompanied by the teleporting Bamf, Pickles.[110]
Tormented by the Phoenix
Sensing the Phoenix Force was coming to her during a fight with the Wrecking Crew in Japan, Jean Grey refused to accept her older self's fate of being damaged by it,[110] but had little support from the X-Men as they could not find evidence for her claims. Using Cerebro, she consulted former hosts of the Phoenix for advice. Her first interaction was with Hope, the mutant messiah, who at the time battled the cyborgs known as the Reavers in Arizona. Others joined them in the fight, namely Colossus, Magik, and Quentin Quire, all sharing the dire after-effects of having contact with the Phoenix.[111] In the depths of the sea, Jean Grey reached out to Namor, who initially seemed unscathed by his experience with the cosmic raptor, but ended up being no different from the others.[112] Alternatively, she decided to prepare herself for the Phoenix's arrival, seeking for Thor in Jotunheim in order to learn how to be a warrior,[113] studying how to craft psychic weapons with Psylocke,[114] and explored her spirituality and astral projection with the guidance of Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme.[115]
With the X-Men, Jean Grey found the amnesiac Jimmy Hudson the son of Wolverine from an alternate reality. Lost in the wilderness of Colorado, Hudson had been used as a pawn by the vile Miss Sinister. As the X-Men intervened in his situation, Sinister telepathically interacted with Grey. Back to the X-Mansion, Jean Grey found herself in possession of a mysterious necklace.[116] In Hudson, Jean Grey found an intriguing figure as she bonded with him. Simultaneously, in Madripoor, she befriended and allied herself with the band of independent mutants of the Raksha.[117] As Hydra ascended to absolute power in America, mutants founded New Tian, occupying the territory that once belonged to California. Jean Grey noticed the fledgling state to have unfair treatment of mutant criminals and staged an insurrection with her X-Men. The secret ruler of New Tian was Emma Frost, who captured all the X-Men, but Grey and Hudson. In a sick scheme, Frost wished to rewrite the mind of the young Scott Summers with her own memories about his deceased older self. Grey engaged in psychic combat with Frost in order to release Cyclops, disrupting the telepathic control she exerted over the citizens of New Tian and allowing for the X-Men's escape. This intervention created a permantent psychic rapport between Jean Grey and Cyclops that interlocked their thoughts.[118] In Madripoor, Jean Grey and Cyclops struggled with the fact of being constantly connected to each other. The X-Mansion was raided by the Goblin Queen and her Hex-Men,[119] prompting Grey to seek help with the Raksha to fend the threat off.[120]
Refusing to reveal the tragic fate of the Phoenix
After the fall of Hydra, the personification of the Cosmic Cube, Kobik, caused Jean Grey to time travel. She emerged in Kirinos, Greece, where she found the Phoenix before her corruption at the hands of the Hellfire Club. The young Jean Grey took the opportunity to gather information for her quest to investigate her connection with the Phoenix. To answer her queries, Phoenix traveled to a distant planet with her younger self to protect it from being consumed by the world-eater Galactus. They teamed up to fend him off, as the Phoenix presented herself as a good force of life. The teenage Jean Grey contemplated informing the Phoenix about her upcoming challenges to change her future, but Uatu, the Watcher, convinced her otherwise. Realizing she had made the correct choice and that she had control over her fate, Jean Grey gained her blessing to return to the future.[121]
Reduced to ashes
The spirit of the deceased Jean Grey started to appear to her alternate version[115] and they conversed about how to receive the Phoenix. At adult Jean Grey's behest, the young psychic invaded the mind of Emma Frost to collect a sliver of the Phoenix Force hidden within it.[122] The process knocked Jean Grey out, causing Frost to seek attention to her with the assistance of the Stepford Cuckoos.[123] They were interrupted by the arrival of the Phoenix Force. Despite all of her preparations, the cosmic entity immolated Jean Grey by reducing her to ashes.[13] The murdered Jean Grey surfaced within the White Hot Room, the realm outside reality where the Phoenix connected with its hosts. She was tormented by different manifestations of past wielders of the Phoenix Forces. In her struggle, she realized that she had control over the illusory setting and dismantled it. Her following act was forcing the Phoenix Force to resurrect her, with success. After returning to Madripoor, she was shockingly approached by her resurrected older counterpart.[14]
Cross Time Capers[]
Resolving to return to the past with the other X-Men
In secrecy, Magneto worked on a time machine to return the past versions of the X-Men back to their reality, being influenced by a request sent by the past version of Xavier. The time-displaced X-Men learned about his intent when experiencing the collapse of the timestream, which triggered the rewriting of reality and challenged their previous assumption that they could stay in the present. To address the crisis, the X-Men hopped across timelines using the device, first emerging at the end of the century.[124] In contact with the X-Men of 2099, the group realized the effects of their presence dislocated from time and how their adventure was not random. After a subsequent time jump, they happened before Generation X, one of the classes of mutants of Xavier's School.[125] There, Jean Grey conversed with headmistress Emma Frost, only to learn the original X-Men had become tyrants and thrown the world into a dystopia. Their next stop had them back to their original timeline.[126] There, they discovered the divergent versions of themselves in the past were in reality their deadly enemies from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants of the future, who impersonated them to take advantage of the void they left and manipulate mutant history.[127] Teamed up with the Magneto from the past, the young X-Men banished the Brotherhood, and Jean Grey saved Professor Xavier from their clutches. Returned to the present, which had been repaired, the X-Men got the knowledge that they would ultimately have to return to the exact moment they had left eventually.[128]
Consumed by the Poisons
To investigate the abduction of the Starjammers by symbiote criminals led by Killer Thrill, Jean Grey and the X-Men approached Venom, the lethal protector. Aboard Danger, they flew to space to find the Starjammer.[129] During the mission, the X-Men bonded with symbiotes.[130] The experienced proved to be corruptive, forcing Jean Grey to constantly reinforce the purpose of the X-Men to keep the creature in check.[131] While Cyclops went for the liberation of the Starjammers, Jean Grey personally dueled Killer Thrill in deep space. During their exchange, Jean Grey was consumed and completely replaced by a Poison, giving rise to Poison Marvel Girl in her place.[132] As a member of the Poison Hive, she rebelled against her allies to carry out the plan of infecting the universe with Poisons through symbiotic connections.[132] The Poisons took their assault to Earth, with the corrupted Jean Grey finding Cyclops and the X-Men through their shared psychic rapport.[133] However, Jean Grey was able to psychically resist the Poison Queen, analyzing her weaknesses and disrupting her influence. She executed the Poison Queen, ending the invasion after reconstituting her body out of psionic energy and stray genetic material. While having expressed concern that she was no longer human, she was nevertheless happy to be reunited with her friends.[134][135] Following the death and resurrection experience of being turned into a Poison, Jean Grey's rapport with Cyclops was broken.[136]
Another victim of the Poisons was Jimmy Hudson, whose healing factor enabled him to keep the infection partially at check. Jean Grey telepathically tracked him down to invite him back to the X-Men, with no success. Before they could restore Hudson's psyche, an agent of Magneto, Daken, mercilessly attempted finish his life.[137] Jean Grey allowed Hudson to depart, sensing part of him was the friend she once had. However, Daken's intervention disrupted Jean Grey's trust for Magneto, leading to the end of their partnership.[138] She led the X-Men to oppose his ruthless agenda, whose next target was Emma Frost and the Hellfire Club. Frost rejected Grey's offer of help.[139] Still, in Paris, Magneto unleashed his rage upon his former pupils regardless after seeing them alongside Frost. Seeing no hope, Grey restrained Magneto and had Pickles teleport Frost away from the battle. Refusing to attack Jean Grey, Magneto abandoned the fight.[140] Having visited a future in which the X-Men had never returned to their correct timeline, Magneto was certain of the catastrophic consequences to the universe of their stay.[141]
Extermination[]
Jean Grey came to the conclusion the return of the time-displaced X-Men was imperative. She discussed her decision with the future adult version of herself, coming to terms with the life she was supposed to have.[135] The X-Men bid farewell to their loved friends and allies as they prepared for their return.[136] However, before they could take action, the time-traveler mutant-hunter Ahab targeted them, attempting to bring forth a dire world for mutants by killing the original X-Men. A teenage version of Cable set out to send the young mutants to the past on his own in order to protect their lives and the timeline using whatever means necessary. His first hostage was Iceman. At the Xavier Institute, Jean Grey used Cerebro to scan for Iceman with no success. Instead, she psychically felt the death of the adult version of Cable, murdered by his own younger self. The X-Men united to address the crisis, with the two versions of Jean Grey joining forces and their respective teams of X-Men to do so.[142]
The time-displaced X-Men return home
Kitty Pryde decided to split the original X-Men up in order to slow Ahab's attack down. The time-displaced mutants disagreed with the decision, which allowed Cable to seize Angel next. The young Jean Grey chose to join Cable's former team, X-Force, by herself, distancing her efforts from those of the X-Men.[143] Seeking revenge for their former leader's demise, X-Force ended up being attacked by Ahab and his ruthless Hounds, who proved to be immune to Grey's telepathy. Being able to evade Ahab, Jean Grey led X-Force to confront the teenage version of Cable in his safehouse.[144] Trusting him, she learned Iceman was meant to be slain Iceman, which would irreversibly disrupt history and experienced the hopeless future ahead of this event. As such, Jean Grey and X-Force teamed up with Cable to return the original X-Men to the past.[145] Amidst a brutal fight against Ahab, the time-displaced X-Men declared their return. First, Cable took the team to a few days in the past, allowing Jean Grey to interact with Manon, a psychic from the Xavier Institute with the capacity of altering memories. Their next stop was mere seconds after they had been originally taken by Beast. With the practice she had acquire in the future, Jean Grey was able to seal off the memories of her and her teammates' time-displacement and program them to be reactivated in present-day. This allowed adult Jean Grey to have knowledge on how to defeat Ahab. Meanwhile, the teenage Jean Grey and the first class of X-Men resumed the lives they were supposed to lead with no direct recollection of their adventures across the timeline.[146]
Telepathic Awakening[]
Psychic assistant
Facing a wave of anti-mutant sentiment, the X-Men were forced to adapt to a world that hated and feared them.[147] Through numerous missions, Jean Grey realized the prospect of an ordinary life was distant.[148] Her continued studies and training enable her to apply her powers to her own body, achieving control over self-levitation, an ability proved effective against the mechanical anti-mutant constructs known as the Sentinels.[149] In the X-Men, Jean Grey assumed a position as Xavier's collaborator, assisting him in his telepathic work while honing her own psychic powers.[150] This role earned her his unconditional trust, forging a connection based on mutual confidence that would endure forever.[151][30]
Leaving Xavier's School for Metro College
Unaware of her double life as a mutant activist, Jean Grey's parents had her transferred to the conventional Metro College, requiring her to leave Xavier's School and suspend her training.[152] There, Grey befriended fellow student Ted Roberts, putting a strain in her immaterial romance with Cyclops and leading her to consider an ordinary lifestyle among humans.[153] Although no longer a constant presence with the X-Men, Marvel Girl still went into action whenever she could conciliate their missions with her studies.[154] Growing closer to Roberts, Grey learned of his unhealthy rivalry with his brother,[155] who was, in fact, the unstable Cobalt Man. Marvel Girl and Cyclops assembled the X-Men to defeat him,[156] which exposed Grey's true identity to Roberts. He asked her for the X-Men's help in rescuing his brother from Tyrannus; she accepted his request, but the episode caused them to part ways.[157] Meanwhile, Cyclops was able to be more emotionally open with Marvel Girl,[158] and they began a romantic a relationship.[33]
Worried about Professor Xavier
The X-Men unveiled a global conspiracy orchestrated by Factor Three and rescued Professor Xavier from their clutches. Their victory was celebrated with the adoption of vibrant costumes designed by Jean Grey, symbolizing the X-Men's growing independence and maturity.[159] Satisfied with her progression, Xavier began working with Grey privately on a secret project,[160] during which he removed the psychic blocks that suppressed her telepathic abilities.[161][162] Their cryptic interactions raised suspicions among the X-Men, but, before they could get explanations, Professor Xavier was seemingly killed in battle against the creature Grotesk.[163] In fact, Xavier had staged his own death to prepare, in seclusion, a response to the imminent invasion of Earth by the alien Z'nox, leaving the mutant shapeshifter Changeling impersonate him before the X-Men. Jean Grey was entrusted with the truth of his plan, being oriented to keep it secret. With Changeling's murder, she allowed the other X-Men to believe their mentor was gone.[151]
Marvel Girl's telepathic might
No longer protected by Xavier, the X-Men were ordered to disband by FBI agent Fred Duncan following the funeral, going their separate ways.[164] Jean Grey became a photographic model, while Scott Summers found employment as a radio reporter. The two maintained their regular dating life away from the adventures of the X-Men. They briefly donned their identities of Marvel Girl and Cyclops to battle the robot Computo.[165] The team reunited to oppose Mesmero's creation of a mutant congregation near San Francisco, with Marvel Girl besting him in psychic combat.[166] In subsequent missions, she proved to be a central figure within the team by telepathically directing the X-Men in the field.[167]
Among the stars
When the Z'Nox fleet entered the Solar System, Professor Xavier resurfaced to organize a defense against the invasion by intensely training the X-Men to repel aliens by acting in unison.[151] Xavier was incapacitated after psychically linking the minds on all humans on Earth to channel their collective compassion through Marvel Girl and deter the Z'Nox. Grey monitored his condition[168] until his recovery through exposure to gamma radiation. Jean Grey and her mentor remained in continuous telepathic contact.[169] As Xavier became determined to eradicate the Z'Nox threat, Marvel Girl questioned his judgment. Teaming up with the Fantastic Four, the X-Men traveled into outer space, where Jean Grey was subtly contacted by the Phoenix, a cosmic entity of immense power with an intrinsic connection to the young psychic mutant.[170] The X-Men caused the Z'Nox to abandon their plan to invade Earth,[171] but Jean Grey openly confronted Xavier's troubling schemes.[162]
Bidding farewell to the X-Men
During a reconnaissance mission, Marvel Girl and the X-Men were captured by the sentient mutant island of Krakoa. Xavier aseembled a new team of X-Men led by Cyclops to rescue his students.[172] The new recruits were experienced mutants, which led to tensions with the original team. Jean Grey was particularly affected by the presence of Wolverine, whose frank demeanor and lethal reputation unsettled her. Uneasy with the torment she had on Krakoa and with her conflicted attraction for Wolverine, she chose to leave the X-Men after discussing her decision with Xavier.[173] The remaining original members also departed, except for Cyclops, who stayed on as deputy leader. Before leaving, Jean Grey professed her love for Cyclops and they shared a goodbye kiss.[174] Although no longer an active X-Man, Grey kept ties to the team.[175] Having moved to Manhattan, she shared an apartment with private investigator Misty Knight and developed a close friendship with the new X-Man Storm.[176]
Fire and Life Incarnate[]
Jean Grey's sacrifice
The X-Men celebrated Christmas Eve along Fifth Avenue, when ambushed by Sentinels who captured Jean Grey, Wolverine, Professor Xavier, and Banshee. Sent by Steven Lang, the robots imprisoned the mutants aboard an orbital space station.[177] The other X-Men went to their rescue using a shuttle piloted by Dr. Peter Corbeau.[178] The confrontation ended up with Lang's death and left the damaged. During the escape, the shuttle's autopilot was disabled, requiring manual control; however, the cockpit lacked adequate shielding[179] against lethal cosmic radiation produced by nearby solar flares.[180] Heroically, Jean Grey concluded that only she could guide the X-Men to safety. She telepathically absorbed Corbeau's piloting knowledge and hoped to protect herself with her telekinetic powers, fully aware that the attempt would likely be fatal.[179]
The Phoenix is reborn!
Jean Grey's body suffered with the effects of radiation, and the Phoenix manifested to preserve her friends. To survive, Jean Grey had to enter into communion with the Phoenix, resulting in a complete merger between the two from that moment on. The psychic mutant's very essence, including her form, memories and personality, was transferred to the Phoenix inside the shuttle, as her moribund body collapsed. The Phoenix encased the decayed body within an energy cocoon for recovery.[28] Jean Grey's sacrifice saved the lives of the X-Men, who returned safely to Earth. Upon re-entry, the spacecraft crashed into Jamaica Bay. In a magnificent display of power, following death and resurrection, Phoenix emerged from the sea, introducing herself to the X-Men as a transformed Jean Grey.[31]
At the core of creation
Placed under medical treatment,[31] Phoenix recovered and contended with her death and return to life.[181][182] Returning to her apartment, she was welcomed by Professor Xavier, Misty Knight, and her parents.[183] As a target of the Shi'ar agent Erik the Red under the orders of Emperor D'Ken, the dissident princess Lilandra sought refuge with Xavier, prompting Erik the Red to dispatch the flaming rage of the cosmic herald Firelord. As her apartment was assaulted, Phoenix unleashed the unlimited extent of her power to effortlessly subdue Firelord. Erik the Red captured Lilandra and escaped through a Stargate to the Shi'ar Galaxy, being followed by Phoenix under Xavier's orders for he asserted the universe was at risk.[184] Arriving at the M'kraan Crystal, a nexus of all realities which D'Ken recklessly wished to harness, the X-Men dueled the powerful Shi'ar Imperial Guard. The timely intervention of the Starjammers enabled the X-Men to defeat D'Ken and the Imperial Guard.[185] Phoenix repaired the collapsing M'kraan Crystal, tapping into the fundamental forces of creation to stabilize it and prevent the detonation of the galaxy.[186]
Returned to Xavier's School, Phoenix was questioned by her parents about the events they had witnessed when she fought Firelord. She revealed the truth both about her status as a mutant as well as about the circumstances that had connected her to the Phoenix, horrifying them.[187] With her secret exposed, Jean Grey connected with her older sister, Sara, during a sailing trip near Shelter Island. The sisters were abducted by a cadre of water-breathing Atlanteans led by the ruthless Attuma, being genetically transformed into Atlanteans. Phoenix defeated the tyrant and, through a telepathic connection with Sara Grey, reversed the metamorphosis. This adventure allowed Sara Grey to better understand the extraordinarily unusual life her dear sister led, strengthening their bond.[29]
The day the X-Men died
Mesmero resurfaced and seized control of Jean Grey's mind. Through her, he exerted influence over all the X-Men but Wolverine, by conditioning them to humiliatingly perform as circus entertainers.[188] Jean Grey assumed the role of the unscrupulous acrobat Miz Destiny. When the Beast visited Xavier's School and discovered the absence of his allies, he found them in this degraded state and restored Phoenix to her senses alongside Wolverine. Mesmero was incapacitated, but Magneto took opportunity of the ordeal[189] to imprison the X-Men within a secret lair situated inside a volcano. In Magneto, Phoenix finally encountered an adversary whose power matched her own. Although she could not overcome him,[190] the X-Men ultimately escaped. However, the conflict had destabilized the case and caused its structure to collapse. Phoenix and the Beast were separated from the rest of the team and came to believe their beloved friends died in the catastrophe.[191] Upon returning, Jean Grey informed Professor Xavier of what she believed to be the tragic death of his pupils. The X-Men were no more.[192]
Dark Phoenix![]
Jean Grey left Xavier's School and traveled abroad to stay away from memories of those she had lost.[193] Her journey started on Muir Island, Scotland, where Xavier's associate Moira MacTaggert directed a research facility.[194] On the streets of Stornoway, Jean Grey stumbled upon the charmingly mysterious Jason Wyngarde, with whom she shared a brief conversation that left her intrigued. Wyngarde was in fact the indecent and disgusting Mastermind, a former member of the Brotherhood of the Evil Mutants, who sought to draw Phoenix towards the Hellfire Club, a secret group of influential elites.[195] Meanwhile, Moira assessed the Phoenix's power levels and grew increasingly concerned by their apparent lack of limits. Continuing her trips, Jean Grey ended up on the paradisiacal Greek island of Kirinos. During her vacation, she interacted with several different men, each a projection cast by Mastermind, design to exploit her grief and the ensure the constant corruption of her soul.[196][197]
Blocking Cyclops' deadly optic blasts
At various moments, Phoenix began experiencing illusory scenarios in which she and Wyngarde enjoyed a seductive, aristocratic life in the eighteenth century. Without notice, she gradually welcomed the role of the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. Her delusional blackouts were concealed from her associates. On Muir Island, Phoenix became a victim of the parasitical mutant son of Moira, Proteus.[196] Cyclops came to her rescue, revealing that the X-Men had survived their encounter with Magneto. During their separation, both Cyclops and Phoenix had changed.[198] Despite her struggle with the fabricated illusions, Phoenix reconciled with Cyclops and resumed their relationship, openly acknowledging their mutual loss and longing. The X-Men returned to Xavier and his institute.[199] Phoenix's corruption at Wyngarde's hands deepened when he encountered her in person again during an X-Men mission. Caught within another illusion, she kissed him in front of Cyclops, who became unsettled.[200]
The Black Queen of the Hellfire Club strikes
In the field, Phoenix started to demonstrate ruthless behavior. The X-Men confronted members of the Hellfire Club who were attempting to recruit other mutants to their cause. One of those was Emma Frost, the White Queen, who subjected her rivals to torture. Showing no mercy, Phoenix engaged Frost in a psychic duel and violently put her out of commission, which alarmed Cyclops and Storm.[201] Still, on a canyon in New Mexico, near the Angel's chateau, Jean Grey and Scott Summers had an intimate moment together during which she restrained his deadly optic blasts with her powers. Days later, the X-Men launched an assault on the Hellfire Club by infiltrating its mansion in Manhattan. Wyngarde seized the opportunity to fully initiate Phoenix as the Black Queen. Following her betrayal, the X-Men were swiftly subdued and restrained by the sadistic leaders of the Hellfire Club.[202] The cruel Black Queen subjected her former friends to miserable treatment, torture and humiliation, culminating in Cyclops' apparent demise after he had fallen in psychic battle against Wyngarde.[203]
Dark Phoenix obliterates a star system
Wolverine remained free in the dungeons below the Hellfire Club, turning his berserker rage against its members. The ensuing chaos, combined with the psychic rapport shared with Cyclops, caused Jean Grey to break Wyngarde's hold on her. She helped the X-Men break free from captivity, while, acting by herself, got revenge on Wyngarde by dismantling his illusion and exposing him as the grotesque Mastermind. Although released from his direct influence, Phoenix had been irrevocably corrupted; her soul had permanently embraced cruelty and evil. Sensing the fear the X-Men now nurtured for her, she ascended as Dark Phoenix[204] and viciously overpowered them. In a burst of instability, she marched to outer space and consumed an entire star system, annihilating the five-billion inhabitants of one of its planets.[3] The murderous Dark Phoenix returned, appearing at her family's home, where the terror her parents and sister felt further tormented her psyche. The X-Men intercepted and restrained her with a mental inhibitor designed by Beast and Xavier to neutralize her uncontrollable power. Through Cyclops' love and Xavier's telepathy, Jean Grey reasserted control. Believing the crisis was over, the X-Men celebrated, and Scott Summers proposed to Jean Grey.[42]
Phoenix must die!
After monitoring Dark Phoenix's actions in space, the Shi'ar abducted the X-Men and declared the dangerous mass murderer had to be destroyed. Offended by Majestrix Lilandra's judgment, Xavier, being well versed in Shi'ar culture, invoked for a duel of honor. Obliged to accept, the Shi'ar arranged a contest between the X-Men and the Imperial Guard on the Blue Area of the Moon, with the fate of the Phoenix at stake. Jean Grey clung to her identity as Marvel Girl, but the intense battle triggered Dark Phoenix to rise once again. Faced with the inevitability of an endless cycle of corruption and opposed by the X-Men themselves, Phoenix sacrificed herself, bidding Cyclops an emotional farewell as she had previously prepared herself for this outcome.[205] A somber funeral for Jean Grey was held, being attended by the X-Men and the Greys, after which Cyclops withdrew from his position as an X-Man. As a gesture of gratitude, Majestrix Lilandra gifted John and Elaine Grey with a Holempathic Matrix Crystal containing the essence of Phoenix.[33]
X-Factor[]
Jean Grey's funeral
The portion of Jean Grey's essence bound to the Phoenix awakened within the White Hot Room, a plane where physical reality intersected with the domains of spirit and imagination. She conversed with the embodiment of Death, who compelled her to confront both the good acts and the atrocities Phoenix had committed, arguing history unfolded with purpose rather than chance. Coming to terms with her role, Phoenix returned to the cosmos.[206] A fragment of it attempted to bond to Jean Grey's dormant body on the ocean floor. Sensing the devastation Phoenix had wrought upon the universe, Jean Grey rejected it, remaining in stasis.[207] Instead, the spark of the Phoenix was attracted to a genetic clone of Jean Grey created by Mister Sinister, a failed and abandoned experiment christened Madelyne Pryor.[43] Released into the world, Pryor met Scott Summers, who grew infatuated with her resemblance to Jean Grey and came to regard her as a reincarnation.[208] Summers and Pryor got married[209] and had a son. Moving past the X-Men, they settled for a tranquil life in Alaska.[210]
The return of Jean Grey
Following reports of bizarre activity in Jamaica Bay, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers, investigated the area and recovered the energy coffin in which Jean Grey had been encased.[211] The Fantastic Four examined the pod, prompting Jean Grey to release herself into a world she no longer recognized – with Professor Xavier absent and the X-Men aligned with Magneto. Distressed by the revelations, she was taken to her family's home, where she activated the Holempathic Matrix they owned to revive memories of her bond with the Phoenix. From that moment forward, Jean Grey rejected the influence of the creature with which she had shared an existence.[180] Her harrowing slumber cost her her telepathic abilities, but the strength of her telekinetic powers had significantly increased on another hand. The original X-Men were informed about her return and gathered in New York. Affected by the revelation, Cyclops abandoned his wife and child without explanations, being likewise unable to tell Jean Grey about his family. Disturbed with how the dynamics between mutants and humans had been tainted by intolerance in her absence, Jean Grey determined that Xavier's first class was responsible for keeping his dream alive.[34]
Left in the dark
Inspired by her motivation, Angel proposed the creation of X-Factor, an organization designed to take benefit from anti-mutant hysteria. By posing as mutant hunters, X-Factor provided asylum and training to the very individuals seen as menaces to society they appeared to pursue, being based in the facilities of a state-of-the-art complex.[34] Despite no longer sharing a psychic rapport with Cyclops, Jean Grey felt his hesitation and emotional distance, experiencing loneliness. She devoted herself to mentoring the young mutants taken in by X-Factor.[212] Unable to figure out the truth, Jean Grey struggled with knowing that Phoenix had lived moments inaccessible to her and felt diminished.[213] She ultimately pieced together the truth about Madelyne Pryor[214] and confronting Summers, shockingly learning about Pryor's uncanny resemblance to herself. She urged Summers to contact the wife he had abandoned,[215] finding support and gentleness in Angel, whose closeness to her[216] was mistaken by some for a romantic connection.[217]
Sara Grey speaks up for mutants
X-Factor's activities soon proved harmful to the mutant community, contributing to rising anti-mutant sentiment,[218] leading Jean Grey to question their purpose. The crisis escalated when the sewer-dwelling Morlocks were brutally exterminated by the Marauders, prompting X-Factor to intervene into the tunnels in an attempt to save them. During the fight, Angel was severely injured and lost his wings.[217] Although Jean Grey's return remained largely unknown was alive, Wolverine identified her presence in the mutant massacre.[219] Jean Grey learned through the news that her sister, Sara Grey, had become an activist for mutant rights. Concerned for her sister's safety, Jean Grey chose to reveal herself to her to explain her convoluted return. At Sara Grey's house, Jean Grey and Cyclops were caught in an anti-mutant bombing that destroyed the building. Sara Grey was nowhere to be found, so was Madelyne Pryor, who had also gone missing.[220] In response, Cyclops left X-Factor to search for his wife, which both wounded and relieved Jean Grey.[221]
Jean Grey vs. Scott Summers
Unable to locate his wife and son, Cyclops returned to X-Factor, with Jean Grey advising him to assume leadership to guide the team through the difficulties they faced.[222] Peace did not prevail between them, however, as Cyclops' repeated mood swings, paranoia and accusations that Jean Grey was the Phoenix drove her to confront him. The dispute went physical when, to prove himself correct, Cyclops attempted to strike Grey with his optic blasts, convinced Phoenix had the capacity to neutralize them. The intervention of Leech, a mutant child capable of negating powers, prevented a tragedy. Horrified with Cyclops' mental instability, Jean Grey soon learned that his torment had been incited by holograms programmed by Cameron Hodge, X-Factor's manager, who secretly hated mutants and schemed for their ruin.[223] Realizing they had been manipulated by an external influence allowed Jean Grey and Scott Summers to reconcile.[224] On the Blue Area of the Moon, they visited the site of Phoenix's death, coming to terms with that chapter of their lives.[225]
In addition to Hodge and his paramilitary militia, the Right,[226] X-Factor faced an immediate threat from the ancient mutant Apocalypse, who brought onslaught with his Horsemen to provoke a war between mutants and humans. His most deadly soldier was a transformed Angel.[227] During their battles against Apocalypse's forces, Jean Grey and Cyclops rekindled their romance. Although Apocalypse was driven back, his massive sentient Ship crash-landed onto X-Factor's complex, while they worked to prevent the impact from devastating the city. In the aftermath, X-Factor publicly introduced themselves as mutant heroes instead of mutant hunters,[228] earning immense acclaim and being honored with a parade.[229]
The X-Men's sacrifice in Dallas to stop the Adversary was announced on television alongside Madelyne Pryor's final message urging Cyclops to find their missing son. X-Factor mourned the loss of their allies, with Jean Grey being particularly devastated by the death of her dear friend Storm.[230] In truth, the X-Men had staged their end to operate in the shadows.[231] Their apparent death caused Jean Grey to reach out to her parents, an encounter that had her prioritize the search for her sister.[230] She also pledged support for Cyclops to recover his baby.[232] In Dallas, Destiny provided cryptic orientations to return to their origins,[233] which Cyclops interpreted as a return to the orphanage in which he had grown up in Nebraska. Jean Grey accompanied him[234] and felt a telepathic connection to baby Christopher, who was kept in an incubation pod with other mutant infants in an underground laboratory. Their discovery was interrupted by the deranged Nanny and her enforcer, Orphan-Maker. Obsessed with protecting mutant children, Nanny abducted them after murdering their guardians. While battling Nanny, Jean Grey recognized her sister's children, Gailyn and Joey Bailey, among the brainwashed youth. Despite their efforts, Nanny escaped with the orphans.[235]
The end of Madelyne Pryor
Amid the chaos, demons from Limbo kidnapped the mutant babies. Telepathic linked to Christopher, Jean Grey desperately followed him[235] to the city of New York, which had been engulfed in a demonic invasion.[236] Fueled by abandonment and betrayal, Madelyne Pryor descended into madness and struck a pact with the demon N'astirh. As the Goblin Queen, she cast infernal corruption upon the city, planning to sacrifice her child as part of a dark ritual.[237] N'astirh had hold of the infant, whom Pryor rebaptized Nathan. Jean Grey finally met Pryor, recognizing her as a distortion of herself.[238] The X-Men intervened, and Wolverine greeted Jean Grey with an impulsive kiss upon their reunion. They were interrupted by her parents, who had been transformed by Pryor into monstrous creatures as punishment. Saved by Cyclops at the cost of Pryor's escape with Nathan, Jean Grey was glad to reencounter the leader of the X-Men, Storm, who asked the team's telepath Psylocke to link the teams through Jean Grey. Initially uncomfortable, Grey was exhilarated to experience telepathic communication once more. Atop the Empire State Building, the Goblin Queen restrained Jean Grey,[239] revealing her shared origins. Devastated with her identity being appropriated again, Jean Grey sympathized with Pryor's anguish. Consumed by darkness, Pryor took her own life, echoing the traumatic event that had first activated Grey's mutant powers. The spark of the Phoenix within Pryor reacted with Jean Grey, protecting her from death and intertwining the memories and essences of all three. At last, Jean Grey reclaimed the fragments of her life usurped by Phoenix and Pryor. With Madelyne Pryor's demise, the devilish inferno over the city was undone.[207]
Resisting Mister Sinister's psychic attack
The ordeal inflicted mental pain to Jean Grey, leading Psylocke to ventured into her psyche, only to discover Mister Sinister trying to destroy her mind. Drawing on her inner strength, Jean Grey managed to expel him. She traced his physical presence to the abandoned Xavier's School, where the X-Men and X-Factor were ambushed by the Marauders followed by Mister Sinister unexpectedly detonating the mansion and capturing Jean Grey.[240] Having a long-standing obsession with creating an offspring from Jean Grey and Scott Summers, which had driven him to engineer Madelyne Pryor after the death of the Phoenix, Sinister confessed to running the orphanage where Summers had been raised. Witnessing these revelations and Jean Grey's violation, Cyclops fired a devastating optic blast that obliterated the villain.[241]
Bonding with baby Christopher
Baby Christopher was taken aboard X-Factor's Ship with John and Elaine Grey, while Pryor was laid to rest in a small cremation ceremony. While escorting the babies previously captured by demons, X-Factor once again encountered Nanny. This time she was defeated, and Gailyn and Joey Bailey were placed in the care of their grandparents since Sara Grey remained missing.[242] Jean Grey's profound bond to the baby had her assume a maternal role[243] and bring him along on X-Factor's missions as the most prudent decision considering the adversities they had faced.[244] As a mutant psychic, the baby instinctively projected a protective force field whenever threatened.[245]
Fragmented personality
Having incorporated the residual personas of Dark Phoenix and Madelyne Pryor, Grey demonstrated erratic behavior, such as when the Ship was summoned into deep space by the Celestials and these suppressed aspects took control over her. X-Factor ultimately landed on a distant planet under Celestial judgment, a world divided into rigid castes locked in an endless war.[246] Falling unconscious during battle and being incarcerated by the Rejects caste,[247] Jean Grey was believed to be one of the Chosen, who in turn held Christopher in custody. She continuously shifted between manifesting Dark Phoenix and Madelyne Pryor,[248] while afflicted to reunite with the baby.[249] With the aid of the telepath Ryest, Jean Grey integrated her fractured persona and united the different castes to prevent the Celestials from destroying the world. Although she preserved memories of Dark Phoenix and Madelyne Pryor, Jean Grey emerged free, in body and soul.[250]
Endgame[]
Questioning the X-Men's role in the world
Jean Grey and Scott Summers happily enjoyed their renewed romance free from outside interference. When Summers proposed, Grey turned him down, admitting she felt bound to him by forces beyond her choosing and haunted by his past connections with both Phoenix and Pryor.[251] Seeking clarity, she took a leave of absence from X-Factor to reflect on her identity away from Cyclops.[252] While visiting the ruins of the X-Men's mansion, she was attacked by extremist Morlocks led by the vicious Masque and knocked out by a her doppelgänger, Bliss.[253] Rescued by the X-Men Forge and Banshee, Grey joined them in investigating the activities of the Morlocks in the sewers beneath the school's grounds. The perverted Masque altered Grey's body, replacing her arms with repulsive tentacles.[254] With his defeat, Forge restore her form to normalcy.[255] The ordeal brought Jean Grey closer to the X-Men and led her to question the missions diverse mutant teams played in the world.[256]
Tormented by the legacy of the Phoenix
Back to X-Factor,[257] Jean Grey joined with the X-Men and the Fantastic Four to oppose Ahab, a vile cyborg mutant slaver from the future whose target was Rachel, a former X-Man who had adopted the powers and mantle of Phoenix. Recognizing the signature of the Phoenix, Jean Grey became distressed and confronted Rachel about her identity, only to learn she hailed from a dystopian future in which Jean Grey and Scott Summers were married and had born her as their child. The revelation disturbed Jean Grey immensely, who instantly rejected the notion of a predetermined future, refusing to accept Rachel as her daughter.[258] Despite her discomfort, Jean Grey fought to protect Rachel. Ahab was driven back, but Jean Grey remained unable to relate to Rachel or to accept their connection as hosts of the Phoenix.[259]
Succumbing to her passion for Wolverine
Through her continued involvement with the X-Men, Jean Grey rekindled her friendship with Storm.[260]
When Storm and some of the New Mutants were abducted by the government of Genosha, X-Factor assisted the X-Men,[261] negotiating with authorities to secure their release.[262] Assigned to infiltrate the government's citadel to free the hostages,[263] Jean Grey was captured with her allies by Cameron Hodge, who had made his way withing Genosha's political structure. To torture her, Hodge confined her with a gravely injured Wolverine, causing her to succumb to their attraction for each other, part of Hodge's plan to undermine Cyclops' leadership.[264] Jean Grey and her teammates broke free and rose in rebellion[265] when she managed the simultaneous presence of Cyclops and Wolverine in the final act against Hodge, who was destroyed, leading to a change in Genosha's regime.[266] At the ruins of Xavier's School, Jean Grey supervised the X-Men's reorganization, using Cerebro alone for the first time to locate missing members. Reconnecting with the astral plane, she was assaulted by the vile Shadow King, but was rescued by Psylocke.[46]
Emitting a telepathic cry
Seeking revenge, Apocalypse dispatched his Dark Riders to corrupt his former Ship. Jean Grey was psychically subdued by the telepath Psynapse, forcing to relive her traumas; the stress reawakened her telepathy, enabling her to mentally link and coordinate X-Factor.[267] Ship was entirely compromised by a cybernetic infection and choose to self-destruct in Earth's orbit.[268] X-Factor was rescued by the Inhuman Royal Family, being taken to the Blue Area of the Moon, where Apocalypse kept a secret lair to which the Riders had taken young Christopher.[269] Before being defeated by X-Factor, Apocalypse contaminated the child with the deadly Techno-Organic Virus. A member of Clan Askani from the distant future appeared, claiming her era's technology could save the messianic child, named Nathan Dayspring, the Askani'son. However, she could perform only one irreversible time jump. Faced with no alternative, Cyclops sent his son into the future, sparing his life while losing him forever.[267]
Mutant Genesis[]
Back to basics
The monstrous Shadow King regarded Xavier as a threat and slowly moved against him, corrupting several X-Men to accomplish his plans. After returning from the Shi'ar Empire, Xavier led the X-Men to Muir Island to stop the evil entity. As the Shadow King gained the upper hand, Xavier contacted his original students from X-Factor.[270] After a long separation, Jean Grey was reunited with her mentor.[271] Professor Xavier engaged the Shadow King in a psychic battle on the astral plane, with Jean Grey having his trusted students accompany him in the mental war. The combined efforts finished the dark creature.[272] Upon recovery, the members of X-Factor returned to the X-Men under the guidance of their founder, Professor Charles Xavier.[273] Based at Xavier's School, Jean Grey once again acted as Xavier's trusted right hand in the reformed X-Men. The team was divided into two squads, with Cyclops leading the Blue Team and Storm commanding the Gold Team, of which Jean Grey was a member.[2]
The Gold Team accepted an invitation from Emma Frost to attend a Hellfire Club event, partly at reconciliation and mainly due to assassination attempts against its members. The party was violently interrupted by Trevor Fitzroy and his Sentinels, resulting in the massacre of Frost's students, the Hellions. Frost fell into a coma, while Grey found herself cornered by the murderous machines, leading the X-Men to declare both brain dead.[274] Xavier ruled out his pupil's death, since she had transferred her psyche into Emma Frost's body. Within that body, Jean Grey resisted Fitzroy until the X-Men returned to rescue her.[275] Fitzroy was defeated with the intervention of the time traveler Bishop. Professor Xavier restored Jean Grey to her proper body, but Emma Frost remained trapped in a coma.[276] Later on, Jean Grey used Cerebro to locate Bishop, who was hunting criminals from the future brought to the present by Fitzroy, and Xavier offered him a position among the X-Men.[277]
Discussing the uncanny life of an X-Man with her mentor
As a mature woman, Jean Grey discussed with Professor Xavier the paths her life as an X-Man had taken.[278] He decided to go to field when the Morlocks once again faced tragedy in their underground lairs, concerning Jean Grey. The two telepaths discovered that the Morlocks were being mentally merged to incite chaos[279] by a child named Brain Cell, while the insane Morlock MeMe wreaked havoc by absorbing other beings into himself. Seeing no alternative to stop his rampage, Jean Grey shut his mind down, an act that tremendously affected her.[280] While Xavier took care of Brain Cell, Jean Grey psychically scanned for Archangel, who had vanished to seek the site where he had been once brutally mutilated as Angel. Upo finding her longtime friend, she had an honest conversation about the profound difficulties and transformations both had endured. Back at home, she also comforted her teammate Colossus, who was grieving the loss of his brother, responsible for teleporting the Morlocks to another plane of existence.[281]
Tortured by Stryfe
Jean Grey and Cyclops were ambushed and taken captive by the Horseman of Apocalypse, while Xavier was infected by the Techno-Organic Virus by Cable, the leader of the terrorist mutant group X-Force.[282] The Horsemen delivered Grey and Summers to their master, Apocalypse, who was in fact Mister Sinister in disguise[283] and turned his captives over to the Mutant Liberation Front in exchange for a canister he believed to contain the Summers family's genetic matrix.[284] In fact, it contained the deadly mutant-targeting illness knowna as the Legacy Virus.[285] The Front's leader, Stryfe, subjected Grey and Summers to psychological and physical torture them, claiming to be the child they had abandoned in the future. Moreover, he had also impersonated Cable and executed the assault on Xavier.[286][287][288] The couple escaped as Stryfe redirected his fury toward Apocalypse, who he also blamed for his suffering,[289] but was tested by being confronted with a replica of the infant once contaminated by Apocalypse and ordered them to kill the child to defeat the Riders who were attacking them. They chose to protect the infant, but found themselves on the Blue Area of the Moon.[290]
Unsatisfied with his vengeance,[291][292] Stryfe erected a force field that only those sharing his genome could penetrate, allowing Cable, claimed to be Stryfe's cyborg clone, to intervene. Amid the commotion, Jean Grey and Cyclops offered Stryfe their compassion, but he rejected it and activated a catastrophic device to annihilate his opponents. Cable seized Stryfe into the generated vortex, becoming lost in the timestream. Once again, Jean Grey and Cyclops lost their child.[285] Their relationship faltered, leading Cyclops to take a leave from the X-Men to confront his struggles, much to Grey's disappointment.[293] Upon his return, the two set aside their rift.[294] Cable resurfaced in the present timeline,[295] and Mister Sinister revealed the truth of his origins: Cable was Nathan Summers, Stryfe was his clone. At the X-Mansion, Jean Grey sensed the Cable's return, but his mind had been invaded by Stryfe's consciousness, which had gained control due to Sinister's influence.[296] Advised by Xavier, Jean Grey and Cyclops set out to find their missing son to help him[297] exorcise Stryfe from his mind. With his identity reclaimed, Cable had Jean Grey and Scott Summers at his side to repair his emotional scars.[298]
Lamenting the tragedies of the Legacy Virus
The Legacy Virus took its toll on mutantkind, disrupting powers and claiming lives of many mutants. Among its victims was Jason Wyngarde, who was hospitalized in an asylum as his illusory powers ran unchecked. On his deathbed, he called out for Jean Grey, who was drawn into a projection of living a domestic life, married to Scott and raising their children, Nate and Rachel. The fabricated scenario was interwoven with illusions projected for other X-Men. Recognizing the nightmare for what it was, she rejected and dismantled the illusion entirely. In his final moments, Mastermind showed remorse for his past actions against Phoenix and pleaded for forgiveness. Displaying compassion, Jean Grey stayed at Wygarde's side during his passing.[299] Another tragic loss was Illyana Rasputin, Colossus' younger sister. Jean Grey offered solace to Jubilee, who was afflicted by the sad tragedy.[300] During this turbulent period, Grey also confronted Wolverine's immoral and savage archnemesis, Sabretooth, within the holding cells of Xavier's School, warning him he would face her wrath should he ever harm the X-Men.[301]
Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix[]
The wedding of Jean Grey and Scott Summers
The recent tragedies compelled Jean Grey to propose to Scott Summers, as she had come to accept the future remained an open and uncertain path. The couple announced their engagement to the X-Men during Thanksgiving,[302] with Professor Xavier offering his support and blessing.[45] Prior to the ceremony, Jean Grey received a heartfelt letter from Wolverine who was unable to attend the wedding. Rachel Summers and Cable were honored guests, joining the celebration after coming to terms with their parental figures. Storm served as their bridesmaid, Elaine Grey prepared her daughter's wedding dress, and Professor John Grey escorted the bride down the aisle. United in holy matrimony, Jean Grey and Scott Summers were pronounced wife and husband. At the reception, Jean Grey used her telekinetic abilities to share a waltz with her paraplegic mentor, Xavier. With the celebration concluded, the newlyweds departed to their honeymoon.[303]
Unit Dayspring
The couple's honeymoon on the beaches of Saint Barts was abruptly interrupted when their essences were transported millennia into a dystopian future by the Clan Askani's matriarch, Mother Askani – an elderly incarnation of their potential child, Rachel Summers. She had originally orchestrated the capture of the infant Nathan in the past to protect him from Apocalypse and spared the last of her strength to repower her parents in this era. Genetically engineered human bodies were prepared to house the spirits of Grey and Summers, which preserved their psychic rapport. In the future, Apocalypse ruled unchallenged, enforcing a brutal mutant supremacist regime. Apocalypse's servant, Ch'Vayre, had seized Nathan after exterminating Clan Askani. Able to rescue the baby,[304] Jean Grey and Scott Summers wandered an unfamiliar world disguised as ordinary humans, an oppressed but unnoticed caste. Jean Grey forged the alias of Redd Dayspring, while Summers took the name Slym Dayspring. Together, they raised Nathan as their foster son. Despite constant adversity, the three came to understand one another as a genuine family. Using telekinesis, Redd kept the Techno-Organic Virus within Nathan's organism under control, eventually teaching him to perform the same. After five years on the run by their own, Unit Dayspring could no longer remain under the radar and joined Clan Rebellion, a human faction led by Turrin and inspired by the Askani, dedicated to undermining Apocalypse's empire.[9]
Adopting the mantle of the Phoenix
Three additional years passed before Ch'Vayre intercepted Clan Rebellion as they gathered to combat Apocalypse's plan to unleash a primitive form of the Legacy Virus to trigger massive extinction across Earth. Redd and Slym were recognized by Ch'Vayre, who was accompanied by the heir of Apocalypse, Stryfe. With remote aid from the comatose Mother Askani, who Grey and Summers kept hidden, Unit Dayspring escaped,[305] but the battle proved devastating for Nathan, who succumbed to the Techno-Organic infection. For months, Redd and Slym tended to him with no sign of recovery. Redd joined Clan Rebellion to prevent the release of the Legacy Virus, while Slym stayed to care for his ailing son. During the infiltration of Apocalypse's citadel, Redd witnessed Turrin being incapacitated by Ch'Vayre, who revealed Apocalypse's objective of possessing Stryfe's body. In turn, Stryfe was revealed to have been created by Mother Askani as a safeguard for Nathan Summers, a design that allowed Redd to psychically prevent Apocalypse from assuming his body. Since Mother Askani guided Nathan back to health, the reunited son, father and mother joined forces against Apocalypse and obliterated him. Exhausted, Mother Askani laid dying as she drew the souls of Jean Grey and Scott Summers back to the distant past. Before her death, Rachel Summers asked Jean Grey to reclaim and redefine the name Phoenix, a charge she accepted. Nathan Dayspring was left behind again, but now certain he belonged to a family, which in time to come shaped him into Cable.[1]
Reconnecting with Cable in the present
After years spent in the future, Grey and Summers resurfaced in the present mere moments after their abduction. They were recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. commander Nick Fury to resolve a dimensional rift triggered by the mutant Sunset Grace.[306] After this, Phoenix and Cyclops traveled to Muir Island to meet Professor Xavier and share information about the Legacy Virus from the future they had witnessed. Instead, they found Moira's facility overrun by the alien Techno-Organic creatures of the Phalanx and teamed up with Wolverine to fight them. Another presence on the island was Cable, allowing Phoenix and Cyclops to reveal they were Redd and Slym, the couple who had raised him as a kid. Jean Grey prevented Cable from being assimilated by the Phalanx, and they escaped the island.[307] In the Tibetan mountains, they assaulted the Phalanx citadel, where the X-Men were held captive. Their mission succeded as it eradicated the Phalanx infestation.[308]
Mourning her sister's death with her father
Tragically, one of the victims of the Phalanx, who had been assimilated into its collective intelligence was Sara Grey,[309] prompting Jean Grey to mourn the sad fate with her parents.[310] Back to the Xavier Institute, Grey and Summers set home in the former boathouse.[311] During training sessions, Phoenix practiced with Psylocke ways of refining her telepathic skills.[312] While accompanying her husband to Alaska to visit his grandfather, who had been hospitalized after a plane crash, Jean Grey encountered his savior, Adam-X, and sensed he had a connection to the Summers family. Adam-X allowed Grey to transfer memories of his days as a Shi'ar combat pilot to Summers' grandfather. As he disappeared, Jean Grey chose not to reveal the encounter to Cyclops.[313]
While returning from the Greys' house at night, Phoenix and Cyclops were surprised by Amelia Voght, one of Magneto's religious followers, the Acolytes. She teleported the couple without their consent to Magneto's space station and sanctuary, Avalon, as it was ravaged by Holocaust.[314] Although met with hostility, they defended the Acolytes, with Jean Grey orienting Cyclops to lead the Acolytes to an escape pod to Earth, while she stayed to rescue one of her former X-Factor trainees, Skids. They succeeded, but Avalon was destroyed.[315] The X-Men tended to Grey and Skids, but Cyclops went missing. For days, Phoenix telepathically scanned for him with no success, since they psychic rapport had been disrupted in Avalon. From the Australian Outback, he was able to contact Xavier and return.[316]
Onslaught
An imminent threat lingered in the form of the mysterious Onslaught. Bishop had evidence from the future that a member of the X-Men would betray the team.[277] The unstoppable Juggernaut was particularly terrified of such a danger and sought refuge with the X-Men.[310] Soon, Onslaught made his first move by sending his lackey Post against the X-Men.[317] On the astral plane, Onslaught made himself known to Jean Grey as the lurking power working against the X-Men, engaging her in an exchange about Xavier's dream and the inevitability of misery for mutantkind in an attempt to convince her to join him. Having no success, he exposed dark memories of Xavier to Grey to erode their bond.[318] Finding Juggernaut the only ally to trust, Phoenix hid within a chamber sealed from psychic intervention in the Morlock tunnels,[319] where she removed the mental blocks Onslaught had instilled in Juggernaut to disclose the true identity of the enemy within: Charles Xavier.[320]
Phoenix vs. Onslaught
Initially, Jean Grey did not reveal that Onslaught was Xavier to spare him from further corruption. Her effort failed, since he mentally restrained her, defeated the X-Men and destroyed the X-Mansion. In desperation, she sent a distress call to other mutant teams, warning them that the X-Men had been betrayed by their founder. She concluded Xavier had become Onslaught as a consequence of his past attempt to mind-wipe Magneto.[321][322] Onslaught represented a danger to the planet, prompting the Avengers and the Fantastic Four to join the X-Men, accompanied by the powerful mutant teenager called X-Man, who showed particular interest in Jean Grey's presence.[323] In fact, X-Man was "Nate Grey", the genetic offspring of Jean Grey and Scott Summers from an alternate reality ruled by Apocalypse, being a counterpart of what Cable might have been[324] that was displaced across universes.[325] The evil entity was exorcised from Xavier, but at the cost of the apparent sacrifice of Earth's non-mutant heroes from the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.[326] Jean Grey determined Xavier was deeply scarred by the creation of Onslaught, and he surrendered himself to the authorities.[327] In his absdnce, Phoenix and Cyclops became leaders of the X-Men and headmasters of the Xavier Institute.[328][329]
Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix[]
Madelyne Pryor returns
Once again displaced in time by Clan Askani, Phoenix and Cyclops were sent to nineteenth-century London by Madame Sanctity. They believed their mission was to prevent Nathaniel Essex from becoming Mister Sinister.[330] Witnessing Grey's psychic might in action, Essex was enthralled, seeing in her proof of his theories on mutant evolution.[331] Since Sinister was necessary for the conception of Nathan Dayspring, the messianic Askani'son revered by the Askani, Phoenix and Cyclops ultimately ensured his transformation at Apocalypse's hand. Their intervention also kept Apocalypse dormant to prevent his premature conquest of the world.[332] Returned to the present, Jean Grey sensed a familiar psychic presence[333] and, being guided by Sanctity, traced it to the Swiss Alps, where she found Madelyne Pryor, unwittingly revived as an ethereal being by Nate Grey. Enraged, Pryor unleashed her ire upon Phoenix and X-Man. With Grey's assistance, he attempted to disperse Pryor's spirit, but proved unable to do so. Pryor vanished, and Jean Grey and Nate Grey parted on good terms, expressing how they wished for a mother-son bond that could never exist.[334]
Phoenix and Cyclops leave the X-Men
The anti-mutant hysteria ignited by the Onslaught crisis strengthened the government-sponsored mutant-hunting program Operation: Zero Tolerance led by the android Bastion.[335] Mutantkind suffered persecution while the Legacy Virus continued to ravage their population. Evidence linking Sebastian Shaw, Black King of the Hellfire Club, to the weaponization of the disease prompted the X-Men to investigate the matter in Hong Kong. Although successful,[336] the mission resulted in the team being ambushed and captured by Bastion's forces.[337] They escaped,[338] finding sanctuary in New Mexico while hunted by Prime Sentinel cyborgs.[339] Operation: Zero Tolerance was shut down by S.H.I.E.L.D. after Bastion's surrender,[340] but not before he executed a cruel final act by implanting a nano-technology bomb in Cyclops' heart, plunging Jean Grey into desperation.[341] At the X-Mansion, the X-Men found it stripped of all equipment by Bastion's agents. With not medical facilities available, Jean Grey used her telekinesis to contain the bomb and her telepathy to monitor her husband's condition while the physician Cecilia Reyes surgically removed the device.[342] As he recovered, Jean Grey resolved to leave the X-Men, with her ultimately embracing the decision after witnessing the return of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.[343]
Phoenix surprises Cyclops with an old costume
On a flight to Alaska, Phoenix and Cyclops turbulently stopped a hijacking carried out by a battalion of A.I.M. agents.[344] The Summers settled in a secluded lodge in Ptarmigan Creek, Anchorage, where the Phoenix's power signature was detected.[345] Despite their retirement, Jean Grey appeared in the attire once worn by the Phoenix, unsettling her husband.[346] Hurt by his reaction, she asserted she would no longer repress her potential or be haunted by ghosts of her past.[347] The concerned Cyclops invited Beast, Archangel, and Iceman to visit them in Anchorage to assess Jean Grey's condition. Together, the original X-Men battled the deranged Moon Wolf, ultimately recognizing Phoenix was stable.[348] Ordinary life was hostile to the Summers, however, since they were unable to purchase the house they lived in due to anti-mutant discrimination.[349] Matters worsened when the Shadow King invaded the Astral Plane, neutering all psychics, including Phoenix, which broke her rapport with Cyclops and drew her into distress.[350]
Phoenix and Cyclops visited the X-Men, who were once again led by Professor Xavier after directing their efforts into stopping Magneto's madness.[351] However, the team vanished, having been transported to a distant galaxy to deal the alien shapeshifting Skrulls, and Phoenix could not locate them telepathically.[352] Upon return, Storm requested Phoenix and Cyclops to rejoin the X-Men, as an erratic Xavier rejected his students and disbanded the team. In response, Phoenix, Cyclops, and Wolverine maintained the group themselves[353] to answer a distress call sent to Phoenix by the young psychic, Nina, who was being held by Bastion. Phoenix recruited Archangel, Cable, and X-Man to raid a government facility at the Hulkbuster Base to liberate the Mannites, children subjected to experiments.[354] Although successful, the X-Men were attacked by a new Horseman of Apocalypse,[355] who murdered Wolverine, but curiously could not harm Jean Grey.[356] Wolverine's corpse was taken to Xavier for autopsy as the X-Men regrouped. Unreasonably, Xavier telepathically assaulted his students with Phoenix's support, an action revealed to be a test to expose infiltrators. The traitor was unmasked as a Skrull who had replaced Wolverine and got killed in action.[357]
Scott Summers is gone
The Skrulls' scheme was orchestrated by Apocalypse, and the Horseman who murdered the impostor was Wolverine himself.[358] The conspiracy centered on a prophecy about the Twelve, a group of mutants destined to shape the future of their kind, among them were Phoenix, Cyclops, Cable and others.[359] Apocalypse hunted the Twelve,[360] capturing Phoenix and Cyclops himself to bind them to a machine designed to transfer his spirit into the body of Nate Grey.[361] Phoenix brutally injured Apocalypse. Desperate to complete the procedure, he ended up possessing Cyclops instead, who had positioned himself in Nate Grey's position. As such, Scott Summers merged with Apocalypse and vanished.[362] Although Cyclops was presumed gone by the X-Men, Jean Grey refused to accept his tragic end,[363] since she had been able to telepathically sense his presence resisting Apocalypse. Frustrated with the X-Men's reaction, she left the X-Men.[364]
Search for Cyclops[]
Phoenix and Cable as X-Men
In isolation, Jean Grey focused on searching for Cyclops,[365] but their psychic rapport had been severed,[366] and she withdrew for a time to her parents' home.[367] She eventually returned to the X-Men, accompanied by Cable, who formally stepped in as his father's replacement.[368] Enduring grief, Jean Grey redirected her energy toward holding the X-Men together. Her psychic powers resonated with those of Psylocke; she relinquished her telekinesis, while her telepathy intensified and developed an affinity with shadows.[369] In the field, Phoenix often partnered with Cable, forging a strong bond. Her telepathic abilities elevated to levels of power similar to those the Phoenix had wielded.[370] Having embraced that legacy, Jean Grey became the target of Vuk, the Starhammer, a survivor of the D'Bari star system destroyed by Dark Phoenix. Telepathically feeling the horrors of the massacre, she deceived him into believing he had killed her, prompting his departure from Earth. The encounter inspired Jean Grey to resume the search for Cyclops.[371]
Exorcising Apocalypse from Cyclops
Scott Summers wandered across North Africa, hunted by the Dark Rider, Gauntlet.[372] Apocalypse's scribe, Ozymandias, contacted Phoenix and Cable to locate Cyclops, and consequently Apocalypse. He revealed that another follower of Apocalypse, Anaïs, had already found Cyclops.[366] In the way to Akkaba, Apocalypse's birthplace in Egypt, Cyclops was reunited with his family, still struggling to reassert his mind from the tyrant's corruption. The X-Men defeated Gauntlet and Anaïs, but Cyclops escaped during the battle.[373] At the ruins of Akkaba, Jean Grey exorcised the presence of the ruthless warlord from Cyclops, and Cable shattered his essence with the Psimitar. However, Cyclops' soul had been scarred by the possession, leaving Jean Grey unable to recognize the man she knew.[374] Engulfed in darkness, Cyclops spent time alone before returning to the X-Men.[375]
Conversing with Eternity about her role in the cosmos
Parallel to this, as an embodiment of survival and rebirth, Jean Grey was recruited by Prosh, the evolved intelligence of X-Factor's Ship, for a celestial mission across the timeline to protect the future of mutantkind. Prosh projected the consciousnesses of Grey and others into pivotal moments of their history to gain new insights.[376] Jean Grey relived defining episodes, including Phoenix's conversation with Death in the afterlife, during which Death explained Jean Grey and the Phoenix were bonded by a feeling of love and hunger for limitless potential, a connection feared by the universe's fundamental forces for its cataclysmic implications. Transported to the moment of her first interaction with the Phoenix, Jean Grey still chose to embrace the bond that would last forever. Revisiting her days with the first class of X-Men, she accessed Xavier's files and discovered he had always known about omega-level potential.[377] Insulted by Prosh's manipulations, Phoenix unsuccessfully attempted to breach his systems[378] and rebelled against him. The true architect of the events was revealed to be the cosmic entity known as the Stranger.[379] When debating with the Stranger, Jean Grey tapped into the Phoenix's resurrection force to communed with Eternity, the very essence of creation. This enabled her to coordinate her allies into stopping the Stranger.[380]
Another genesis of X-Men
These revelations led the mutant terrorist Mystique into action, culminating in the murder of Moira. Jean Grey telepathically monitored her passing with Professor Xavier.[381] In the aftermath, the X-Men were profoundly altered as Storm departed with a splinter team, depleting the ranks at the Xavier Institute,[382] while the eradication of the Legacy Virus[383] allowed Magneto to amass an army against humanity.[384] His first move was the capture and imprisonment of Professor Xavier in Genosha.[385] With only Cyclops and Wolverine as active X-Men, Phoenix roamed the globe to recruit an all-new, all-destructive group of X-Men.[386] She provided instantaneous training with telepathy to the inexperienced team to confront Magneto. Their mission was initially disastrous, as Magneto intercepted their incursion and subjected Xavier to public torture.[387] In fact, Jean Grey cast a myriad of illusions to deceive Magneto long enough for Xavier's liberation, enabling Wolverine to strike and incapacitate the ruler of Genosha.[388]
New X-Men[]
Telekinetically manipulating the U-Men's armory
Professor Xavier, Jean Grey, Cyclops, and Wolverine returned to the Xavier Institute to start a new chapter in X-Men's history,[388] later joined by Beast. Across the globe, mutantkind underwent an evolutionary surged, marked by the activation of thousands of new mutants and the emergence of secondary mutations; as part of this phenomenon, Phoenix reacquired her telekinetic powers.[389] In this new setting for the X-Men, a monstrous enemy arose in the form of Cassandra Nova, a powerful psychic creature that shared a bizarre connection with Xavier. Nova dispatched Wild Sentinels to annihilate Genosha and murder millions of mutants.[390] The X-Men went to the devastated island-country to aid the victims, where Jean Grey located Emma Frost buried beneath the debris and rescued her using telekinesis. Brought to the Institute, Frost ended up joining their staff after Cassandra Nova usurped Cerebra. Although Xavier appeared to kill Nova,[391] in fact he had been possessed by her malignant consciousness.[392]
Manifesting the Phoenix
To destabilize the X-Men, Cassandra Nova exposed Xavier's identity as a mutant and the headmaster of the Xavier Institute.[391] The public revelation transformed the school, which opened its doors to the mutant population at large, immensely increasing its student body. Seeking access to the Shi'ar Empire, Nova had Xavier leave the planet, and, during his absence, Jean Grey assumed the role of headmistress. By exploring her vast potential as a telekinetic, Phoenix experienced vivid confidence like never before, but her marriage to Cyclops deteriorated under the weight of his recent trauma and altered personality. Unable to reach him emotionally, she turned to Wolverine, and the two shared a kiss.[392] Her marital problem was exacerbated by Frost's presence among the X-Men.[393] As Institute's representative, Jean Grey psychically coordinated the X-Men and opposed the hatred directed at the X-Mansion's gates.[394] The crisis peaked when the mutant-organ harvesters called the U-Men raided the school, with Phoenix standing as the only X-Man present to protect their students.[395] Displaying immense power levels, she easily neutralized the attackers. During the emotional turmoil, Jean Grey fully manifested the iconic raptor signature of the Phoenix.[396] Cyclops expressed alarm, adding another fracture to their already damaged relationship.[397]
Housing Professor Xavier's psyche
The X-Men uncovered the truth behind Cassandra Nova's attack, prompting Jean Grey and Emma Frost to perform a psychic rescue, entering Xavier's psyche, which was trapped within Nova's dying organism.[398] Having seized the enormous might of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, Nova marched to Earth to destroy the Xavier Institute and the X-Men. To put her enemies in disadvantage, she infected them with Nano-Sentinels.[399] Although severely afflicted by the artificial illness, Phoenix managed to contain Xavier's entire mind within her own.[400] The immense strain was only relieved when the healer Xorn cured her infection. Restored to full strength, Phoenix used Cerebra to disperse Professor Xavier's psyche across every mutant on Earth, turning the device into a trap; when Cassandra Nova used the machinery to exterminate mutantkind, the link allowed Xavier to reclaim his body.[401] With the X-Men free from Cassandra Nova's influence, Phoenix invited Storm and her X-Men back to the Xavier Institute, but had no success in her attempt to reunite the two factions.[402]
The Phoenix talks to Professor Xavier
Xavier's mutant operation gained global scope as X-Corporation, with Jean Grey assuming a supervisory role over worldwide missions alongside her mentor. Xavier examined the exponential growth of Phoenix's abilities, which involved expanded telekinetic perception and immense telepathic reach. In trance, the Phoenix conversed with him, revealing a dire future that awaited the X-Men.[403] In Europe, Jean Grey teamed up with the unscrupulous thief Fantomex against Weapon II, getting an insight into the activities of the Weapon Plus program. As the mission unfolded, she dismantled a web of lies and learned that Fantomex was one of the project's engineered subjects.[404] On other assignment, she rescued Polaris from the radioactive ruins of Genosha.[405] In Mumbai, she helped a young Afghan mutant baptized Dust and enrolled her at the Xavier Institute. When a disturbed Lilandra attempted to assassinate Xavier, mistakenly believing him to still be Cassandra Nova, Jean Grey intercepted the bullet. She then separated from him and continued traveling the planet. The Shi'ar warned Xavier that the Phoenix had hatched and that her merciless ire would consume the universe.[406]
Uncovering a psychic affair
While Jean Grey was away from the Xavier Institute, Scott Summers sought counsel from Emma Frost during psychic therapy sessions[403] which evolved into a telepathic affair.[407] Frost's resentful pupils, the Stepford Cuckoos, exposed the relationship to Jean Grey.[408] She accused Frost of taking advantage of Summers' vulnerabilities and forced her to admit her feelings and fragilities. Furious, Cyclops demanded that Phoenix read his mind, only for her to discover hed had never engaged in any physical contact with Frost, which put the concreteness of their affair to question. Cyclops fled the Institute to mull over, while Frost was assassinated within the X-Mansion, her diamond form shattered into countless pieces.[409] Bishop ran an investigation into the murder, quickly ruling out Phoenix as a suspect.[410] As Beast reassembled Emma Frost's body, Phoenix restored her psyche, effectively saving her from death. Frost identified her killer as one of her Cuckoos, Esme, indicating that the Xavier Institute had been compromised from within.[411]
The death of Jean Grey
Wolverine encountered Cyclops and had him join Fantomex in an assault on Weapon Plus. They were successful and learned the sentient bacterial creature Sublime had been actively undermining the ascension of the mutant race. Although Cyclops and Fantomex escaped, Wolverine was trapped aboard a space station in Earth's orbit.[412] Phoenix volunteered to rescue him only for Xorn to be revealed as the corrupting influence at the Xavier Institute as a pawn of Sublime who had assumed the identity of Magneto. In fact, Wolverine was trapped on Asteroid M, Magneto's former stronghold. Xorn directed Phoenix and Wolverine into their deaths by drifting the asteroid to the Sun.[413] Refusing to allow Jean Grey endure an agonizing death, Wolverine mercy killed her, piercing her chest with his claws.[414] Death triggered Jean Grey's full ascension as the Phoenix. She regrouped the X-Men to battle Xorn as he unleashed devastation upon New York. Though humiliated and defeated, Xorn performed a final act by killing Jean Grey with an electromagnetic pulse. In her deathbed, Jean Grey shared one last moment with Scott Summers, urging him to live on.[15]
Following Jean Grey's death, Professor Xavier departed from the Xavier Institute.[415] Devastated by the loss, Cyclops quit the X-Men and rejected Emma Frost's proposal to reopen the school.[416] In a distant and dark future shaped by that decision, Beast failed to maintain the Xavier Institute and became supplanted by Sublime.[26] From the realm of the White Hot Room, in order to avert such outcome for the X-Men, Jean Grey chose to amputate this reality. She intervened in Scott Summers' decision, altering the course of events by having him accept Emma Frost's partnership in rebuilding the X-Men and their mutant school.[26] Together, Summers and Frost became the headmasters of a new Xavier Institute.[417] Jean Grey's memory and legacy were honored in the X-Men, most prominently by Rachel Summers adopting the alias of Marvel Girl.[418]
The X-Men demonstrate their love for Jean Grey
In the White Hot Room, the fragmented Phoenix was meant to incubate and be reborn. Instead, a premature shard surfaced at the Xavier Institute, scattering its power across the galaxy in its way and raising Jean Grey's decaying body from its grave. Although initially rejecting resurrection, Jean Grey unwilling merged with the Phoenix and got revived. Weakened, incomplete, and disoriented, she was found by Wolverine and reacted with hostility.[16] Alarmed, X-Men planned to confine her in a cage designed by Beast to nullify her energies.[419] Shi'ar troopers intervened as well, firing a miniature black hole to end the Phoenix. Jean Grey evaded the attack, transporting Wolverine to a remote region of the North Pole. Regaining clarity, she asked him to execute her, in a cycle of deaths and resurrections that dampened her descent into Dark Phoenix. The incessant massacre allowed Jean Grey to bury herself within a glacier and become dormant. The Phoenix fragment, however, remained free and hungered for Cyclops' stellar-based optic blasts,[420] becoming stimulated by his mutant energies. Frost offered herself as a host for the disembodied creature to grant it access to Cyclops' powers and imprison it.[421] Since Frost was unable to control the Phoenix Force, Jean Grey reemerged to tame the cosmic entity. Through Frost's telepathic mediation, Phoenix reached out to the X-Men and, feeling their love and compassion, transformed into the White Phoenix. Fully becoming one with the Phoenix as a force of order, Jean Grey departed, bidding farewell to Cyclops as she reentered the White Hot Room.[4]
Jean Grey's presence continued subtle, but in consequential occasions. Her remaining family was exterminated by the Death Commandos, a secret unit of the Shi'ar Empire, as part of a plan to eliminate her genome and prevent the resurgence of the Phoenix. The spirits of her slain relatives, including her parents, were welcomed by her.[422] She also apparently assisted Frost in telepathically breaking free from an illusory trap when the X-Men battled Madelyne Pryor, whose attempt to possess the deceased body of Jean Grey failed.[423] Parallel to this, the fragments of the Phoenix were gradually recollected[424][425] and reconstituted the Phoenix Force in its full power.[426] On Earth, it bonded with the mutant messiah Hope, being subsequently dissipated to restore the decimated mutant population,[427] though not before corrupting Cyclops and culminating in the murder of Professor Xavier at his hands.[428] This catastrophe prompted Beast to tamper with the timeline and bring the original class of X-Men from the past to confront Cyclops over the dark paths the X-Men had taken. As such, a time-displaced version of Jean Grey became an important presence in the X-Men.[429]
No More Phoenix[]
Having been reborn,[430] the Phoenix came to Earth to reunite with Jean Grey. Sensing its arrival, the time-displaced Jean Grey[110] prepared her body and soul to resist the imminent possession.[431] During this quest, she interacted with a mysterious consciousness that revealed itself to be the spirit of the deceased Jean Grey.[115] Hidden inside Emma Frost's psyche was a fragment of the Phoenix, prompting the both incarnations of Jean Grey to team up to recover it.[432] Nevertheless, the Phoenix appeared on Earth before an unprepared younger Jean Grey accompanied by a ghostly echo of her predecessor. Seeking the Jean Grey it had always known, the cosmic entity merciless consumed the teenage Jean Grey, reducing her to ashes.[13]
Parting ways with the Phoenix
Jean Grey was fully resurrected by the Phoenix, appearing amnesiac in an illusory existence populated by her dead loved ones. The setting had been forged to prepare for a union with the Phoenix. The return of formerly deceased mutants was detected by Cerebro, leading the X-Men to investigate, but also incapacitating all of their psychics. Unaware of her identity, Jean Grey lived as a diner waitress in a small town, residing with her parents and dating Scott Summers.[17] Seeing through the farse,[433] Jean Grey started to question her condition and entered a state of turmoil. Emma Frost pinpointed her location in the canyons of New Mexico.[434] Inside a dome of fire, the X-Men fought a legion of undead mutants.[435]Logan, a retired elderly version of Wolverine from a dystopic future, was chosen to approach Jean Grey. He snapped her out of the illusion, which restored her memories. The Phoenix offered Jean Grey limitless power and the opportunity to be revived with those she had lost. Rejecting the temptation, Jean Grey renounced the Phoenix definitively, choosing to embrace the pain and loss inherent to life.[436]
Warmly welcomed back by the X-Men, Jean Grey found herself unable to accept the world as it was and became determined to change it. In Nightcrawler, she found a trustworthy and compassionate ally as she ventured into a society that continued to fear and hate mutants. By then, the men of her life, namely Professor Xavier, Cyclops, and Wolverine, were all gone. In their absence, she turned to Rachel Summers and Laura Kinney, respectively the daughters and legacy of Cyclops and Wolverine. Kinney had stepped in as the all-new Wolverine following her predecessor's demise, having the young and cheerful Gabby as a sister and sidekick. The three women went to New Attilan, capital of the Inhuman people, to confront the powerful Black Bolt over Scott Summers' death from Terrigen contamination. Rather than violence, Jean Grey offered forgiveness, using her telepathy to grant the mute Black Bolt the opportunity to verbalize his remorse. No longer fearing corruption by the Phoenix, Jean Grey displayed immense extraordinary levels of telepathic and telekinetic power.[437]
Jean Grey's X-Men
Having a new dream for mutantkind, Jean Grey used telepathy to get inspiration from some of the greatest minds on the planet. She recruited Nightcrawler and the new Wolverine into her X-Men. On behalf of mutants, she addressed the United Nations to advocate for the political recognition of the mutant people, having Namor, king of Atlantis, as a supporter. However, her efforts were undermine by Cassandra Nova, who had infiltrated specific sectors of several governments. By murdering the British ambassador, Nova framed Grey for the crime.[36] Forced into exile, Jean Grey and her X-Men were granted sanctuary in Wakanda, from where they learned of Trinary, a mutant cyberpath imprisoned in Delhi, India, for using her powers to enforce gender equality. While attempting a peaceful extraction, the X-Men were ambushed by a Sentinel.[438] Trinary hacked into the machine's systems, repurposing it as a vehicle for the X-Men. Back to Wakanda, the team was violently attacked by a brainwashed Storm.[439] Refusing to allow her dear friend to be harmed, Jean Grey restrained her with help from the powerhouse Gentle. A microscopic sentinite was identified in Storm's brain. Using telepathy and telekinesis, Jean Grey performed a delicate surgery to free Storm from the hate imposed by the device. To shield themselves from the hate machines, the X-Men relocated to a protective dome in the depts of the sea around Atlantis,[440]Searebro.[441]
Finding Cassandra Nova
With the goal of dismantling the lies that incited intolerance, the X-Men roamed the world. In Louisiana, they intercepted another instance of artificially unduced hatred, during which Gambit was recruited by Grey into her team. In Poland, she confronted the national army, using her telepathy to bring on understanding.[442] In Searebro, Jean Grey demonstrated immense care for her teammates. Notably, she helped Gentle heal past traumas so he would no longer feel pain when using his powers. One of the X-Men's objectives was to recover evidence that they were not responsible for the ambassador's death. When accessing Cerebro to coordinate the operation, Jean Grey was psychically greeted by Cassandra Nova. The vile Nova responded with dispatching the monsrous Teen Abomination to destroy Atlantis.[441] As the threat was fended off, Jean Grey used social media to expose Cassandra Nova's crimes to the world.[443] When Trinary detected countless sentinites across the planet, Jean Grey proposed neutralizing them by synchronizing the X-Men's powers with Cerebro. Nova psychically retaliated, but, after she was located in the ruins of Genosha, Storm cast a tsunami upon the villain to stop her.[444]
Sharing her dream with the world
Seeking to hurt Jean Grey, the vengeful Nova enslaved Rachel Summers. A battle ensued on Genosha, with Nova threatening to kill her lackey to coerce Jean Grey into submission. Seemingly desperate, Grey agreed to lower her defenses and surrender, provided that Rachel Summers be released. Convinced of her victory, Nova complied, only to discover Jean Grey had tricked her by having never left Searebro and being present solely through telepathic projection.[445] Though determined to avoid a war, Jean Grey moved against Nova by teaming up the Avengers. She arranged for the manufacture of replicas of Magneto's Helmet designed to block telepathic intrusion.[446] Immune to Nova's repulsive influence, the X-Men dismantled her operations without resorting to aggression. Once Cassandra Nova was incapacitated, Jean Grey accessed her mind and, rather than brutalizing her, forced to feel empathy. The emotionally excruciating experience caused Cassandra Nova to abandon her plots. Back to the United Nations, Jean Grey had once again the opportunity to speak about her vision of a world free from prejudice and exclusion.[447]
X-Men: Disassembled[]
The original X-Men return and honor Cyclops
The time-displaced X-Men posited a problem to the health of the timeline, making them targets of Ahab and his Hounds. Simultaneously, Cable was murdered by a teenage version of himself, who had as his main mission returning the original X-Men teenagers to their proper era. With the death of her son, Jean Grey returned to the Xavier Institute, joining forces with the X-Men to investigate the crisis.[142] In Searebro, Jean Grey kept the past version of Cyclops protected from Ahab, but, having been compromised, Nightcrawler attacked him. Subsequently, Ahab and his corrupted Hounds made their way to Jean Grey's safe haven.[448] The original X-Men travelled with the teenage version of Cable to the past to elaborate their return. Jean Grey prepared a hypnotic method to safeguard the memories the young X-Men created in their future. Upon their return, all adult versions of themselves had this knowledge unlocked. In the present, Jean Grey merged minds with her younger version, learning how to psychically defeat Ahab for good and to recover those mutants turned into Hounds.[146] The original X-Men, with the exception of the deceased Cyclops, reunited, brooding on the radical changes they had endured. They were shockingly greeted by a revived Xavier, who had returned from death and kept his presence in the world a secret. Manipulated by their former mentor, the X-Men eliminated the threat of the alien known as Lucifer. Unscrupulously, Xavier once again vanished without notice, but the X-Men came to terms with the changes in their lives.[449] In secrecy, Xavier had a major plan to lead mutantkind into a new era.[450]
Assembling mutants for the X-Men
Jean Grey sensed the disappearance of the headmistress of the Xavier Institute, Kitty Pryde. She took leadership of the X-Men to go through an imminent cataclysm for the group.[451] While addressing the crisis, she had the X-Men confront the Horsemen of Salvation, who obliterated the Xavier Institute[452] as pawns of Nate Grey, the X-Man.[453] He had a vision antagonistic to Apocalypse of forcing world peace.[454] Jean Grey telepathically assembled a massive roster of dozens of X-Men to oppose his actions.[455] Driven insane by the unlimited powers of a Life Seed, Nate Grey was on the brink of death. After discussing with Jean Grey about his condition, he put the X-Men out of existence.[456] In Nate Grey created an alternate plane where his ideal mutant-exclusive society could thrive. To keep control over his age of perfection, he established any kind of personal connections were discouraged and illegal to prevent rebellion.[457]
Rejecting a world with no love
The brainwashed X-Men were the greatest heroes of this world, being led by X-Man. Jean Grey intuitively rejected prohibition of connecting to others. In secrecy, she became intimate with her teammate Bishop, as a manifestation of her seeing through the façade. Punished for their transgression, Bishop had any traces of his existence erased.[457] Apocalypse represented a sound opposition to the status quo as the leader of X-Tracts, who preached about resisting to the individualism of a society with no love.[458] The X-Men went to the enforcers of the regime, Department X, but Jean Grey felt uneasy about violently repressing the revolutionaries,[459] proposing to observe their activities peacefully making a stand instead.[460] Torn between implementing harmony or guaranteeing autonomy, Jean Grey was presented to cracks in Nate Grey's ruse, seeing moments of her previous existence, but being led to believe they were foolish attempts to incite disorder.[461] Having their memories resurfacing,[462] the X-Men teamed up against Nate Grey to restore the world. The prisoners X-Man had kept broke free, including Bishop, which destabilized his influence. He attempted to convince others of his idealistic vision of absolute peace at the cost of personal bonds. Jean Grey rejected his position, arguing that making mistakes together, not in isolation, was the purpose of a life of growth and strengthening. The X-Men decided to leave his manufactured universe[463] and returned to the harsh reality of their world. Emerging before the X-Men that had not been influenced Nate Grey, Jean Grey met familiar faces long gone, such as Emma Frost, Wolverine, and especially her husband, Cyclops.[464]
House of X[]
Marvel Girl arriving on Krakoa
Professor Xavier's plan for the world as the ultimate realization of his dream was founding the mutant-exclusive nation on the island of Krakoa. As part of this society, Jean Grey reassumed her mutant name and identity of Marvel Girl, where she enjoyed safety, community, and belonging.[12] Alongside Cyclops, she set home at the Summer House, a Krakoan habitat on the surface of the Moon, living with members of her mutant family, especially the teenage version of Cable and Rachel.[465] Marvel Girl was selected to be part of the supreme government body, the Quiet Council of Krakoa, sitting at the Summer table that represented the trustworthy followers of Xavier. When indicating the laws of Krakoa, Jean Grey pointed out killing humans should not be tolerated. Mutants celebrated the recognition sovereignty Krakoa was granted by the United Nations.[37]
Despite living in a utopian civilization, mutants still faced adversities in the world from humans, especially in the form of Orchis, an elaborate initiative aimed at combatting the extinction of humankind in what they regarded as a species war. Through a Mother Mold, Orchis envisioned the construction of the nightmarish and highly advanced Sentinel known as Nimrod. Xavier and Magneto tasked Cyclops with preventing this outcome. As such, a group of heroes of Krakoa flew to the Forge, Orchis' space station.[466] The mutants were met with extreme aggression as they infiltrated the Forge, while Jean Grey maintained telepathic communication with Xavier on Krakoa inside a spaceship ravaged by agents of Orchis. To ensure the telepathic coordination of the mission, Monet St. Croix got Jean Grey into an escape pod as all of her teammates were brutally murdered in the suicidal attack. Although the mission was successful and Mother Mold was deactivated, Jean Grey drifted alone in outer space mourning the death of her loved comrades, lastly experiencing the tragic killing of Cyclops. The escape pod was intercepted by Sentinels, who executed Jean Grey inside of it.[18]
Carrying out the Resurrection Protocols using Cerebro
One of Krakoa's many revolutionary technologies were the Resurrection Protocols. Through a circuit procedure performed by the Five, mutants conquered death by generating duplicates of their bodies that had their minds stored and transferred by the machinery in Cerebro. Jean Grey and the other mutants killed in action were successfully revived by Xavier, celebrated as heroes of Krakoa.[19] Resurrection was crucial resource for Krakoan society, as proven when Professor Xavier was assassinated by mercenaries who had invaded the island, much to Jean Grey's horror as she was unable to prevent the act.[467] Grey herself carried out the return of Xavier, working alongside Beast to bring Cerebro back online[468] and performing the mind transfer herself. As a reaction, Xavier proposed the creation the Krakon intelligence agency, X-Force, to protect their interests and ensure their security. Jean Grey was appointed to be a member of the organization,[38] being part of the reconnaissance sector of it that complemented the field operations.[469]
Confronting Beast about X-Force's crimes
As an agent of X-Force, Jean Grey learned about the hidden schemes of the extremist group XENO,[470] triggering a reaction from director Beast. X-Force identified anti-mutant telefloronic technology being developed in the country of Terra Verde, and Beast had Jean Grey execute those infected, while he secretly tampered with the plant-based weaponization.[471] His intervention caused the botanical monstrosity to run wild as Jean Grey sensed it was linked to a local deity. She confronted Beast about his immoral actions against a human nation. Assisted by X-Force, Jean Grey purged the botanical infection, but as a result several innocents perished. After the tragedy, Jean Grey chose to quit X-Force for considering it perverted her moral compass.[472] Besides her functions in the Quite Council and X-Force, Jean Grey embarked on other important activities as a citizen of Krakoa. Having formed an amicable connection with Emma Frost,[473] they performed a psychic rescue procedure in Storm, who had been infected by a cybernetic virus from the Children of the Vault,[21] and ventured into the World to find a cure.[474] She also joined Cyclops and the New Mutants during a disastrous Brood invasion, which was ultimately averted.[475]
Heroes of Krakoa[]
The heroes of Krakoa
The nation of Krakoa entered war against its mirror counterpart Arakko on the grounds of Otherworld in a bizarre contest, in which Cable was listed as a participant. Parallel to this, Jean Grey, Cyclops and Cable investigated the ruins of the Peak, S.W.O.R.D.'s former space station[476] whose crew had been exterminated by the extradimensional interlopers called the Vescora.[477] Cable was trapped in Otherworld as Krakoa was at disadvantage in the challenges. In desperation, he contacted Jean Grey to inform her an urgent reaction was needed, otherwise Krakoa would be invaded and consumed by the hellish ghouls of Amenth.[478] This prompted Jean Grey and Cyclops to reform the X-Men, opposing the recommendations of the Quiet Council and costing Grey her position in the government.[479] Aboard the Peak, Jean Grey led an army of X-Men to battle for Krakoa while also instructing Magik to teleport the Vescora to act as cannon fodder. The war ended with Krakoa emerging victorious.[480] Disillusioned with the shadows cast by the Quiet Council, Jean Grey and Cyclops rejected seats offered to them in it. Alternatively, they declared the X-Men should be restructured to act on the behalf of mutants as an independent and free team, chosen and elected by its people.[39] During the Hellfire Gala, a psychic election was held to select the new team. Jean Grey gathered the votes, announcing the new X-Men at Cyclops' side.[481]
Liberating the enslaved on Gameworld
Based at the Treehouse in Central Park, the X-Men started their operations. Their first crises involved alien incursions, one against the Mind Reaver, during which Jean Grey used her psychic powers to shield the population of Manhattan from its influence,[482] and another by the Annihilation Wave in Kansas, when she combined her powers with the magnetic abilities of Polaris to scan a deceased mind and bring victory to the X-Men.[483] Both had been inflicted by Cordyceps Jones, an extraterrestrial crime-lord, who operated on Gameworld, a casino where aliens gambled on planets.[484] The X-Men eventually infiltrated his installations, with Jean Grey personally confronting Cordyceps Jones and his infectious fungal organism. While telekinetically restraining him and his goons, she cast an illusion to force him to believe he was successful in killing the X-Men. His spores were collected, ending his influence and liberating trillions from slavery.[485] Parallel to this crisis, Jean Grey worked closely with the new X-Man Synch, helping him hone his abilities.[483] Moreover, one night, from the Treehouse, she efficiently freed many New Yorkers, including the X-Men, from Nightmare, who had took advantage of Doctor Strange's demise to torment the dreams of many innocents. He sought revenge against her for the intervention.[486]
The secret of mutant resurrection went public during the second Hellfire Gala, raising tensions between Krakoa and the human society.[487] The backlash affected the X-Men, who were targets of protests by humans demanding resurrection rights near their Treehouse. Jean Grey was particularly afflicted by the commotion. Another attack came from the Eternals, led by Druig, who launched an attack on Krakoa to destroy their resurrection methods accusing them of being an example of excessive deviation. The X-Men arrived on the scene to protect mutants,[488] teaming up with exiled Eternals to resist the gigantic Hex. Amid this war, the dormant Progenitor was brought to life and, disappointed by humanity, announced a Judgment Day where all life on Earth would be evaluated as being worth existing or not.[489][490] Jean Grey directed a united attack against it with no success.[491] Druig took the opportunity to cast a Uni-Mind against Krakoa. The mutant psychics, coordinated by Jean Grey, also linked to the Uni-Mind and managed to corrupt it, selecting Starfox as the new Eternal Prime in Druig's place. The intervention ended the war between mutants and Eternals, but Earth was still doomed at the hands of the Progenitor.[492]
Judged by the Progenitor
The heroes of Earth united against the Progenitor, but were swiftly overpowered and massacred. Upon recovery and resurrection, the Eternals granted Jean Grey firewall access, which enabled her to allow the Eternals to fight against their mad god.[22] They infiltrated its massive body, being psychically protected by Jean Grey, who attempted to probe into its alien mind. The Progenitor struggled to judge her, but ultimately failed Jean Grey for all the lives taken by Dark Phoenix.[493] She then opened the path to the core of the creature's consciousness. The heroes convinced the Progenitor that the people of Earth had the potential for change. Jean Grey exposed that the Progenitor itself was not worthy and it could not bear the consequences of exterminating an entire planet, leading it to return everyone slain back to life. Afterwards, Jean Grey announced that mutantkind would share the gift of resurrection and immortality with humanity through the creation of the Phoenix Foundation.[494]
Sharing her memories of raising Nathan with Madelyne Pryor
After Madelyne Pryor became the ruler of Limbo,[495] she orchestrated a plan to get revenge on the indifference and neglect she had felt for her entire existence. Joining forces with the clone of Spider-Man, Chasm, she set up another demonic invasion in New York City during Christmas, similar to the one she had cast in the past.[496] Jean Grey assembled the X-Men to address the situation on the streets and protect the innocent from the demons. Arriving on Limbo, the X-Men were put to sleep with a spell and became prisoners of the Goblin Queen.[497] Pryor's intention was to secure the Cerebro backup that contained Jean Grey's memories[498] as a way to gain access to the moments her template had with her son, Nathan Summers. Unable to activate the stolen device, Pryor trapped Jean Grey and Magik in an illusion in which she was a child. However, Cyclops telepathically reached out to her for help, breaking the spell.[499] In the ensuing fight, the machine was destroyed, drawing Pryor into despair. Sensing her shadow's pain, Jean Grey shockingly surrendered. In an act of compassion, Jean Grey shared all the memories of raising the baby with Madelyne Pryor and the emotional connection to them. They reconciled, inspiring Pryor to put an end to the chaos unleashed upon New York[500] and join forces with the X-Men to stop Chasm. From that adventure on, Jean Grey came to regard Madelyne Pryor as family.[501]
Offering Cyclops to leave the X-Men with her
The X-Men answered a distress call sent by Corsair since the Brood caused mayhem in the universe. Jean Grey had Magik teleport them to Arakko, where Broo, the monarch of the vicious creatures stayed.[502] By probing into his mind, she found Nightmare, who had tampered with his mind as revenge for having been humiliated by her and caused the Brood to act freely.[503] After psychically subduing Nightmare, Jean Grey decided to save those who were endangered, including the Brood themselves. On the other hand, having witnessed the suffering the Brood had caused, Cyclops planned to exterminate their species. This sparked a schism between Grey and Summers since she could not condone a genocide. Separated from the X-Men, Jean Grey protected the Brood drones she could with Broo at her side.[504] This caused the X-Men to split, with Jean Grey and Cyclops acting independently from each other.[505] Ultimately, she chose to leave the X-Men. After having a complex conversation with her husband about the challenges of integrating mutants on human society, Jean Grey invited Cyclops to join her in her cause following the next edition of the Hellfire Gala,[506] an offer he took.[23]
During the Hellfire Gala, Jean Grey announced her resignation as well as the next team of X-Men. However, a disaster descended upon Krakoans, who were brutally massacred by the agents of Orchis. During the disaster, she used her telekinesis to shield the guests of the celebration from harm, but was ambushed by a vengeful Moira, who had joined Orchis after being secretly cast out from Krakoa. As she lay dying from the poisonous wound performed with a blade laced with Blightspoke, Jean Grey telepathically communicated with Firestar, planting false memories into Doctor Stasis' mind to trick him into believing he had recruited Firestar into Orchis. This final act could bring the X-Men advantage in their war against the anti-mutant organization. Jean Grey then said goodbye to a grievously injured Scott Summers and passed on.[23]
Within the White Hot Room, Jean Grey's fractured mind experienced visions of alternate possibilites based on the choices she had not taken in the past. Ultimately, she came to terms with the Phoenix, embracing its power.[507] Many mutants from Krakoa had been stranded by the villainess Mother Righteous within the White Hot Room as well, including Hope, who found a broken echo of Jean Grey's spirit.[508] However, Mother Righteous managed to get hold of the disoriented Jean Grey and sacrificed her to perform a ritual and ascend as a dominion. The ceremony failed, since the original Nathaniel Essex, rebranded as Enigma, managed to usurp the position as an atemporal dominion.[509] Facing this threat, the mutants, guided by Professor Xavier, planned to resurrect the Phoenix.[376] In the ethereal realm of the White Hot Room, as a culmination of Xavier's shadowy schemes, Hope set Jean Grey's dead body on fire in a pyre, which triggered the manifestation of the Phoenix.[24][510]
Phoenix assembles the mutants to end Enigma
Finding out about Hope's effort, Enigma met her mother in the past to make Hope his own progeny. Having fully merged with the Phoenix, Jean Grey also emerged in the past. She infused Hope's mother with the Phoenix, paradoxically conceiving Hope. In the White Hot Room, Hope executed the dying Phoenix with Legion's help and sacrificed herself to force its rebirth. This moment marked both the Phoenix's end and beginning.[511] Fully restored and empowered by the countless mutant souls within the White Hot Room, Jean Grey confronted Enigma and all the dominions he had summoned from the Overspace. Afraid of the Phoenix, the dominions abandoned Enigma, prompting him to alter Jean Grey's past in an attempt to defeat her. However, Phoenix was able to correct all the modifications across the timeline. Having assistance from a regretful Moira, Phoenix gained access to Enigma. Connected with the powers of every mutant in existence, she burned him out and trapped him in the moment of death, forever across all of time and space. Now and forever as Phoenix, Jean Grey descended from the White Hot Room to Earth, being reunited with Cyclops and the X-Men.[40]
From the Ashes[]
Wielding the unlimited powers of the Phoenix, Jean Grey embraced fixing the universe as her cause. She went to the stars preventing disasters to save millions of lives.[512] Cyclops was particularly worried about the future of his relationship with an eternal and ageless entity, but Grey comforted him, guaranteeing their connection would remain strong.[513] Across galaxies, despite her benevolent intentions, Phoenix incited fear among those who knew about her reputation. In Nova, the human rocket and cosmic cop, she had an ally, assisting him during a prison break in Kyln-2. She used her powers to stabilize the nearby black hole and interrupt the massive escape and protect the lives of the prisoners, but, as a consequence of her decision, one of the fugitives was Perrikus, a Dark God. He landed on an isolated planet orphaned the young follower of the Universal Church of Truth named Adani, who came to blame the Phoenix for her disgrace and vowed for revenge.[41]
Meeting Eternity
Incessantly answering calls of distress, Jean Grey crossed paths with Corsair, Cyclops' father and dishonorable captain of the space pirate gang, the Starjammers. He claimed that Thanos' dark generals of the Black Order had kidnapped several gamblers in Gameworld to enslave them in frigid and desolated moon.[514] Arriving on their location, Phoenix was attacked by a legion of undead Asgardian warriors. Feeling compassion for their situation, she freed their souls from such torment, enabling her to stop the Black Order and force them to retreat.[515] Her wondrously impressive activities caught the attention of Gorr, the god-butcher, who dedicated his existence to eliminate deities across the universe. He summoned her and, as they dueled, managed to murder her with the Necrosword. A creature of death and rebirth, Phoenix rose from the ashes[25] before Eternity, who offered her a position among the abstract entities that embodied universal concepts as a symbol of creation. Revived, Phoenix had Gorr collapse into himself, turning him into a star in order to make him nurture life.[516]
In the meantime, Perrikus corrupted Adani, forging her into a warrior.[517] He approached the Galactic Council to argue Phoenix should be dealt with.[25] However, this consideration was not kept a secret from the omniscient Jean Grey, who immediately confronted the members of the Council as they discussed her condition. Before she could act, however, Phoenix was attacked by Adani, who wielded a sword from the arsenal of the Quarry of Creation with psychic capacities. As they battled each other, Perrikus offered a way to stop the Phoenix as long as Thanos took over the leadership of the Galactic Council.[516] Thanos implemented a reign of terror to magnify death and misery across the universe. Jean Grey felt responsible for her intentions having culminated into such a dire outcome, assembling a mighty group of heroes formed by the experienced Nova, the tactic master Captain Marvel, the technical expert Rocket, and the warrior goddess Sif to fight the Mad Titan.[7] Using the psychic might of the Warlock's Eye, Thanos cloaked himself from Phoenix. She resorted to Adani to have his location extracted from her memories. Upon meeting Thanos and locking him in mental combat, Phoenix was ambushed into a trap cast by the Warlock's Eye. As the avatar of death, Thanos was able to incapacitate her, corrupting her forces of life. Still being telepathically linked to Adani, Phoenix relinquished her cosmic power to her to be free from Thanos' control.[518]
Phoenix is transformed
Adani was corrupted by the Phoenix, fracturing their connection. Jean Grey was unwillingly forced into dormancy inside a cosmic pod, but managed to retain a portion of the Phoenix Force.[518] She waged an inner battle within her soul, coming to terms with her presence and importance in the cosmos. As such, the Phoenix evolved, emerging as a guardian of creation.[519] Adani had been manipulated by Perrikus into releasing the Dark Gods from their captivity, an issue that Phoenix considered that had to be solved urgently since they planned to use the Phoenix to reshape the entirety of the universe into darkness. While battling Adani, Phoenix realized she had access to the energies of the Shadow Realm. As a consequence, their fight continued in the Nexus of All Realities,[520] where Phoenix made the choice of protecting Adani instead of unleashing her rage upon the Dark Gods. Such a decision was made in order to preserve Jean Grey's empathy and connection to her humanity. The Dark Gods lost grasp to their plan, being banished, the Galactic Council was freed from Thanos' influence, and cosmic balance was restored.[521]
Before the Abstract Entities to save her sister
Shockingly, Phoenix was telepathically contacted by her sister Sara Grey in outer space.[521] In order to confirm the authenticity of the call, Jean Grey attempted to access the White Hot Room, but failed, finding it unreachable. Her sister retrieved her, bringing her to Greyhaven, a sanctuary where latent mutants had their abilities awakened. A latent mutant herself, Sara Grey had the capacity to unlock such potential[522] and shared the story of her resurrection with her sister.[523] Cable happened upon the reunion, attacking Sara Grey with no second thought. He claimed Sara Grey was a figment of the Phoenix's desire of having her family back that threatened the proper course of history as it was unnatural to the timestream. In the future, Cable exposed the catastrophic outcome her existence brought and pointed out Phoenix had a responsibility regarding it.[524] Jean Grey decided to overcome her fear and preserve her sister's existence. In the White Hot Room, she found the In-Betweener, which accused her of disturbing the balance of the universe for being too human. The abstract entities manifested themselves in sequence, declaring Phoenix would not do what was necessary[525] and should suffer the consequences. Summoning other hosts of the Phoenix, Jean Grey was able to keep the White Hot Room stable. Oblivion was about to execute Jean Grey, but was stopped by Sara Grey, who argued human flaws were not a problem, but a benefit, even for a god. Instead of being sacrificed, Sara Grey became Beacon, a herald for the entities to prevent them from distancing from compassion. With her sister at her side, Jean Grey expressed her happiness.[526]
Jean Grey is an Omega-levelmutant.[377][403][527][420][12] She is also an Omega-Level telepath,[111] as well as an Omega-Level telekinetic.[112] She is the most notable, powerful and skilled telepath in the entire Marvel Universe and is among the most powerful psions,[528] described as the most powerful person in the universe endowed with limitless potential.[25] She is also one with the Phoenix Force, allegedly "second only to that of the Creator."[205] She also was considered to be a "mutant Alpha-Psi",[529] an Alpha Level Telepath,[530] an Alpha-Level Mutant,[531][362] and Psionic of Highest Order.[532] As the Dark Phoenix, she has been stated to be a global and universal-level threat,[3] and to manifest cosmic-level powers.[533] According to Prosh, her Comparative Mutagenic Power Register was of 8.9.[376]
Initially, Jean's powers were simply restricted to telekinesis and even lifting her own weight quickly tired her. With training, her telekinesis improved, but it wasn't until after she was released from the stasis chamber, she was placed in by the Phoenix Force that her telekinesis really started to become powerful.
Jean's telepathy was suppressed at a young age by Charles Xavier after she connected with her dying friend, Annie Richardson.[534][161] Jean's telepathy was activated when she was transported into the future where Xavier was dead. When she returned to the past, her powers went back to their original state. Later, Xavier released these mental blocks for a more mature Jean.[535][161] She lost telepathy following her release from the Phoenix egg, only to regain it after battling Psynapse with X-Factor.
While accessing the Phoenix Force, Jean's empathy, telepathy, and telekinesis are greatly magnified and heightened to an incredible degree. The Phoenix Force also allows her to travel unaided through the vacuum of space, cross interstellar distances faster than the speed of light, and to manifest flames while using her powers, often in the shape of a fiery raptor. Although the full scale of Jean's powers currently are unclear, she stated that the Phoenix Force had been holding her back while she was its host.
Empathy: On many occasions, Jean has shown to have incredibly strong empathic powers that enable her to control, manipulate and alter the feelings, sensations, and emotions of others. It is because of her empathic abilities that the almighty Phoenix Force had chosen her as its rightful human host. In other versions, she had not been shown possessing any types of empathic abilities except for telekinesis and telepathy.[44]
Telepathy:[536] Jean is able to read thoughts, project and broadcast her own thoughts, as well as interact with, affect and even manipulate the minds of humans and animals with higher order intelligence (such as dolphins, ravens or dogs). The range at which she can perform these feats is greatly increased while she is accessing the Phoenix Force. Since her resurrection,[17] her range has naturally increased, having demonstrated the ability to link with every mutant mind on Krakoa,[481] and reach out to all active members of the X-Men around the world.[455] While in his mind, she was even able to force Nate Grey to experience all the suffering she caused while 'one with the Phoenix'.[456] During her time in the future, she displayed advanced telepathic skills after being tutored by Kitty Pryde, such as cloaking herself and Scott Summers from even the most powerful of the future X-Mens' telepaths. She was also able to overpower Xorn (her future self), although the latter claimed that she was holding back during the altercation.[68] However, the magnitude of this achievement is shown by the fact that even the combined might of the Stepford Cuckoos and Emma Frost was insufficient to defeat Xorn.[68] She was also able to invade the mind of the primordial symbiote God Knull,[537] and has bypassed the telepathic shielding of Juggernaut's helmet. Her telepathy is of such magnitude that she was also able to easily overpower Nightmare, a powerful psychic demon in his own right.[486] After her absorption of Psylocke's specialized telepathy, Jean's own telepathic skill and power was increased to a level at which she could create psionic firebirds capable of inflicting mental and physical damage. However, this enhanced telepathy came at the temporary cost of her telekinesis. She has demonstrated the following specialized uses:
Telepathic Defense: She can manifest her telepathy in a number of defensive ways.
Telepathic Cloak: She can mask her presence and the use of her abilities from being detected by other psions and Cerebro-type devices. She can extend these defenses to others around her as well. Cloaking via telepathy is not perfect and powerful psis may notice and 'see' through this ability.[67]
Cloak Mind: Ability to rearrange the "mental engrams" of mutants so their distinctive mutant thought patterns cannot be detected by Cerebro-type devices or by other telepaths.
Psychic Shield: Ability to erect a psychic shield for protection of herself and the minds of others.[68]
Illusions: She can create realistic telepathic illusions and cause people to experience events which are not actually occurring.[538] Her illusions can also inflict pain in others, making them near flawless. This was later proven when Karnak took 3 days to find a flaw in one of her mindscapes.[63]
Telepathic Camouflage: She can alter the apparent physical appearance of herself and other people by altering the perceptions of those around her. This can go so far as to make other people believe that the camouflaged people are not there (invisible). A limit, if one exists, is only imposed by the number of people she is trying to fool, not the number of people she is camouflaging.[539][183][62]
Telepathic Manipulation: She can manipulate other people's minds easily, achieving a variety of effects. She can also manipulate telepathic powers.
Memory Erasure: She can erase any awareness of particular memories or cause total amnesia.[386][540]
Mind Control: She can control the thoughts and actions of others.[191]
Mind Possession: She can possess the mind of another and use that being's body as her own.[541]
Personality Alteration: She can alter the minds of others by force of will, thus permanently changing their personality partially or entirely.[386]
Mental Paralysis: She can induce temporary mental or physical paralysis.[386][374]
Mind Transferral: She can transfer both her mind and powers into other host bodies if her own physical body was somehow killed.[274][275]
Heal Trauma: She has the ability to erase a person's memories and to heal mental trauma through "psychic surgery", as well as the power to stimulate or deaden the pain and pleasure centers in a person's brain.[542]
Mental Sedating: Can telepathically "sedate" her victims so that, if already rendered unconscious, they remain so for as long as she continues to "sedate" them.
Power Amplification: She can increase the speed of neural signals in the brain, which could increase another mutant's powers to incredible levels, but the effect was only temporary.[543][108]
Power Negation: Ability to place "psychic inhibitors" in the minds of mutant adversaries to prevent them from using their powers.[374][544]
Mind Link: She can bond others' minds allowing them to communicate telepathically between them.[545]
Inter-Dimensional Telepathy: Jean was able to communicate with Cable while he was in the dimension of Otherworld, something Xavier thought was impossible to do.[478]
Psychic Blast: She can project psychic force bolts which have no physical effects, but which can affect a victim's mind, causing them pain, knocking them unconsciousness or turning the victim "brain-dead".
Astral Projection: She can project her astral form from her body onto the Astral Plane or the physical plane. In the physical plane she can travel in astral form over vast distances. In the astral plane, she can mentally create psionic objects and manipulate the aspects of her environment. She can communicate with others astrally through her own will, or through contact with the thoughts and memories of others through time.[546][547][548]
Temporal Telepathy: Jean has been shown to be able to read, control and track minds through time, allowing her to affect events in the past, as well as sending her consciousness as well as Wolverine's through time.[548]
Mental Detection: She can sense the presence of another superhuman mutant within a small but as yet undefined radius of herself by perceiving the distinctive mental radiations emitted by such a being.[392]
Telekinesis, the power of mind over matter
Telekinesis: By projecting her psychokinetic energy outwards into the physical world, Jean Grey is able to levitate objects, propel or manipulate them however she wishes, lift herself and move through the air to simulate flight, stimulate individual molecules to create heat, generate concussive force as blasts or bursts, and create protective shields. While she has access to the Phoenix Force, she is able to manipulate matter and energy on a sub-atomic scale using her telekinesis. She can even change her Phoenix clothes into a set of street clothes and lift multiple heavy objects at once without having any difficulties. After her resurrection her telekinetic abilities have vastly expanded enabling her to achieve incredible feats such as, throwing the new Sword Station into upper orbit,[549] pull Arakko through the External Gate with the help of Exodus,[39][549] and even drags and traps the Hex Phebe Reginax underwater, which was shown to be larger than the Empire State Building.[490]
Intuitive Aptitude: Through years of honing her telekinetic talents, She has demonstrated the ability to disassemble complex devices explosively (separating every last component, such as screws, nuts, circuit boards, etc.) and, just as quickly, easily assemble complex devices. This also has enabled her to even attain awareness and control over objects as small as individual electrons in an atom. For instance, she was able to remove all the spores spread by Cordycep Jones,[485] feel and manipulate air molecules,[550] and telekinetically control nanites[440] and blood within an individual's body.[551]
Force Field: She can create a telekinetic field to either shield her and her teammates or use it to lift multiple heavy objects at her enemy. Her telekinetic force-fields are strong enough to defend herself against the flames of the Phoenix Force, holds apart the core of the Progenitor,[493] and protect her from Captain Marvel's Binary Form.[552]
Tactile Telekinesis: She has the power to utilize a personal force field of telekinetic energy.
Concussive Blasts: She is able to release her telekinetic energies as powerful blast beams directed from her brain that could apparently affect matter with concussive and destructive force.
Matter Manipulation and Transmutation: She can manipulate and transmute matter on a molecular and subatomic level (e.g., turning wood into gold, plant into crystal, alter the clothing of herself and others, and cause physical bodies to disintegrate by altering their molecular structure, etc).[199]
Reality Warping: With her extremely skilled and powerful level of telekinetic power, Jean is able to telekinetically manipulate the fabric of reality. This was showcased when she showcased the ability to seal holes in reality. Though she did have the aid of an alternate universe Cable by her side, she showed less of a struggle than he did.[461] Another use of this ability was when Jean Grey was able to manipulate all the atoms in reality using the White Phoenix Of The Crown to manifest a universe within her hands.[26]
Disintegration: Jean Grey has been shown, on numerous occasions, to break down, tear apart, and disintegrate objects and matter on a molecular level. For example, when she easily disintegrates a group of Tele-floronic beings who possessed regenerative abilities.[471]
Elemental Manipulation: Due to her vast telekinetic powers, Jean Grey can control, create and manipulate various elements of nature including electricity, fire and light. She can also change or control matter to create various elements.
Telekinetic Weapons: She can create psionic weapons and constructs out of psychic energy that damage a target either physically, mentally or both in some point.[113] The versatility of this ability was greatly enhanced after training with Psylocke.[114]
Temporal Telekinesis: Jean has been able to use her telekinetic abilities through time by projecting her astral form in different points in the timestream.[548]
Telekinetic Flight: Jean has, on numerous occasions, demonstrated the ability to use her telekinesis to fly across long distances at varying speeds.
Psychic Energy Manipulation: Jean has demonstrated the ability to harness, tap into, and manipulate psionic energy for various purposes and effects, including but not limited to:
Psychic Siphoning: Jean is able to drain others' psychic energy to enhance her psionic powers. The boost she can provide to herself depends on the psychic energy within her enemies, explaining the fact that she is rarely seen using this power. The greatest feat she has performed after using this ability was when she knocked Galactus out with a blast of psychic energy stolen from him, the Phoenix, Terrax, and an unknown alien species.[121] She also used this ability to reconstruct her body after being consumed by a Poison, and to kill the Poison Queen.[134]
Telekinetic Aura:
Surrounding herself with psionic energy.
She can surround her body with psychic energy to protect herself from harm. She survived a high-speed collision from Gladiator, which would have normally resulted with her death.[80]
Psychic Resistance: She can protect herself from other telepaths by draining the psychic energy that they normally use.[553] This also prevents her psyche from complete erasure after the Poisons took her over.[134]
Psychic Entity Physiology: Jean manages to ascend her physical body to become a being of pure psionic force, similar to Nate Grey from the age of Apocalypse.[80] In this form she is a material energy being who could regain her physical form even after having been consumed by a Poison, using this feature to break free of her corporeal prison and reconstruct her physical body from scratch.[134]
Cosmic-Level Telekinetic Blast: She can create a blast of psychic energy powerful enough to affect Cosmic Beings as Galactus.
Psychic Flames Manipulation: Even without the Phoenix Force, Jean has been shown to psychically control and influence flames composed of psychic energy to a certain extent.[554][347] She can also use her telekinesis to manifest psychic firebird, whose claws could inflict both physical and mental damage.[555][556][121]
Psionic Electricity Generation: She can transform psychic energy into concussive bolts of energy.[545]
Possession: She can possess the mind of another and use that being's body as her own.[391]
Self-Resurrection: Jean has been able to resurrect herself by either using her psychic powers or through her sheer force of will. Jean has been able to resurrect herself by reconstructing her body out of psionic energy after it was vaporized.[134] Jean was even able to fully resurrect herself after being clinically dead and independent of the Phoenix Force after encasing herself in a glacier of ice.[4] Whenever Jean Grey dies, her spirit is sent into the White Hot Room to be resurrected by the Phoenix as a result of immense connection to the cosmic entity.
Probability Negation: Jean Grey had been deemed as a nexus of probabilities on multiple occasions. There has even been one instance, from whence she returned from stasis with the Fantastic Four,[180] Destiny titled her as such when she failed to view the future due to Jean Grey's presence.[557] Another occasion where this has happened is when Destiny revealed that due to Jean trascending between time and space she has become an anomaly, who's future is unable to be seen clearly, whilst Scott Summer's was crystal clear.[558]
Phoenix Force Empowerment: As the favored and true avatar of the powerful Phoenix Force, Jean may greatly increase her powers by tapping into the omniversal life energies of those yet unborn.[559][560] The Phoenix Force also allows its avatars to manifest additional powers, especially in terms of Jean as its "host, house, and self". Jean Grey is the strongest and complete host of Phoenix Force and as such, she is even capable of forcibly ripping it out of another host and forcing its status upon herself.[561] They became the White Phoenix of the Crown and ruled over the omniverse in the white hot room. It was even revealed that Jean Grey is the Phoenix and always is the Phoenix, even when she’s not the Phoenix. And the Phoenix is always Jean, even when it’s not Jean.[40][562]
Interstellar Travel: A Phoenix Force avatar can fly unaided through the vacuum of space and can travel interstellar distances faster than the speed of light.
Cosmic Pyrokinesis: Jean, while acting as a Phoenix Force avatar, can create 'cosmic' fire under any conditions, even the impossible ones such as in the vacuum of space or underwater. This fire does not require oxygen to burn and burns so intensely that matter is consumed without by-products such as ash. Jean has perfect control over this fire, and it only consumes what she wills. Typically, it manifests as a raptor or part of a raptor such as a claw or wings. It is unclear whether this fire is an extension of her powerful telekinesis or a more general property of the Phoenix Force. It is possible that she can create her very powerful 'cosmic' fire by the combination of both her extended telekinesis power and Phoenix Force as the result of her status as the one true Phoenix. It is certainly true that the cosmic fire is literal punctuation to the Phoenix's purpose to 'burn away what doesn't work' and 'burn through lies'. Her cosmic fire is strong enough to easily defeat Terrax the Tamer and injuring Galactus. Even while unconscious, this fire can easily melt oxygen equipment and difficult to extinguish as Phoenix Force entered young Jean.[123]
Cosmic Teleportation: She can teleport her and others across vast distances such as to another planet or galaxy, across the vast vacuum of space itself,[28] or even an entirely new timeline all-together.[26]
Concussive Force Blasts: She can use the 'Phoenix energy' to manipulate and project multiple forms of energy and use it to project blasts and beams of immense concussive force powerful enough to destroy whole planetary bodies.[199]
Telekinetic Sensitivity: This lets her feel the texture of objects she has a telekinetic hold on, feel when other objects come into contact with them, and probe them at a molecular level to identify if they contain alien materials or feel when two things which she has a telekinetic "hold" upon are similarly composed.[403][406]
Resurrection: The Phoenix Force can resurrect others after they have died into pure living flesh, bone, and blood.[411] It is unknown if factors such as time since death have an effect on the ability to successfully resurrect a person, nor is it clear how the Phoenix calls back the soul of a person to their body.[414][15][563][26][16][420][4]
Energy Absorption: She can directly absorb, manipulate, generate, and fully control any type of energy such as Cyclops' ruby red-colored optic blasts or the entire energy of a star, black hole, or even a whole galaxy. Jean, as the "One-True Phoenix", was shown to be able to activate and deactivate the mutations of other's with just the use of her psychic abilities.[4]
Life-Force Control: As Jean is one with the Phoenix Force, she can fully control and manipulate life and death itself, as such, it can take the "life energy" from something, rendering it "dead" or vice versa.[419][4]
Immortality: Jean and the Phoenix Force are one-and-the-same entity at deep fundamental level, and as such Jean can never truly die and as a Phoenix Force avatar, she does not age. Upon the death of her corporeal form, Jean spends time in the White Hot Room doing 'Phoenix work'. The Phoenix Force can also restore Jean's body to life, although there appears to be some unknown limitation to how quickly it can successfully accomplish this following her death.
Temporal Manipulation: While acting as the Phoenix Force avatar, she can manipulate the past, present, and future across large temporal distances and with a profound knowledge of the causal affect her actions will have and see through the time. It may be the case that time as a concept doesn't apply to the White Hot Room. Jean as the White Phoenix of the Crown held her universe in her palms possessing the infinite power to write what she would as the "One True Phoenix" in any timeline, using it to manipulate the past to save her timeline from a horrible future, altering the memories of everyone in the reality itself in the process.[26]
Atmokinesis: Jean is capable of manipulating and creating cosmic weather. It can create cosmic storms, solar flares, geomagnetic storms, cosmic rays, coronal mass ejection, and black holes. It was thanks to this that Storm could find Dark Phoenix, by tracking the disturbances in the weather she was generating.[4]
Existence Mastery: Since Jean Grey is Phoenix entirely, she is able to possesses total control over the entirety of existence. She can warp reality, bring anything into existence, freely manipulate all existing things, and return them to nothingness when their purpose is extinguished. It's possible that she could have created and given birth by using a portion of the Phoenix Force to create Hope Summers. Though Jean herself did not give birth but gave the portion to her the minute she was born so she could save the mutant race. Another possibility would be her appearance (Hope possesses Jean's green eyes and red hair and resembles her also being the only other host that has been linked to the Phoenix without actually being a host at the time as well as the only other avatar to turn into a White Phoenix) and that she is Phoenix.
Former Powers
Symbiote: While on Ulgriath, Jean bonded to a symbiote that escaped from Haze Mancer's collection. While bonded to it she sported a third eye on her forehead and could fire projectiles of symbiote biomass covered in psionic energy.[130][131] This symbiote died alongside its host when they were consumed by a Poison.[132]
Abilities
Jean excels at astral combat. She maintained a psychic link to Cyclops for a number of years. She possessed the memories of the Phoenix duplicate of her as well as those of Madelyne Pryor-Summers, her clone, and is thus an expert pilot. Jean has shown some proficiency in hand-to-hand and armed, non-psionic combat;[63] the extent of this is unknown as she prefers to utilize her telekinesis and telepathy during battle. However, she has used her telepathy to absorb the fighting prowess and techniques of Colleen Wing and Misty Knight, and has been able able to defeat a group of ninjas with the only use of telekinetic weapons.[114][564] She has a college education from Metro College.
Jean has a complicated relationship with the Phoenix Force. Originally, she was simply a host that bonded with the Phoenix,[31] and then she became Dark Phoenix and died.[565] However, when she was brought back, it was retconned that all of her appearances from X-Men #101–137 were actually the Phoenix Force itself, who posed as Jean while the real Jean was healing in a cocoon.[28][180] In other words, Jean did not destroy D'bari IV because it was the Phoenix. Some writers, however, later presented the idea that Jean and Phoenix are one.[4][493]Kieron Gillen took it a step even further and had Jean/Phoenix give Hope Summers life, who in turn sacrificed herself to give the Phoenix life; thus, Phoenix, Jean, and Hope form a cycle.[378][509] X-Editor Jordan D. White said after Rise of the Powers of X #5, "Jean is the Phoenix and always is the Phoenix, even when she’s not the Phoenix. And the Phoenix is always Jean, even when it’s not Jean."[562] Such an interpretation is consistent with Claremont's new story in Classic X-Men #6, set before Jean's shuttle reentry.
Following M-Day, when most mutants were left depowered and no mutant births seemed possible, a mutant baby was born in Cooperstown, Alaska, temporarily damaging Cerebra when it detected the child. She bore a resemblance to Jean and when Cyclops held her before giving her to Cable, the baby grasped a locket Cyclops wore that contained a picture of him and Jean, hinting at a relation between the two.
In Secret Invasion #4 Phoenix appeared in her Green Phoenix costume, among several heroes rescued from a downed Skrull ship. It seemed that they came from the glory of the 1970's era. Phoenix and Beast from the Skrull ship were killed and reverted to their Skrull forms upon their death.
Due to her past self having been brought to the current timeline, Jean's telepathy powers became evident to her a year before they were supposed to surface.[566] It had no effect on the current timeline because Young Cable helped the five young mutants get returned to their own time, and Jean blocked all of their memories of future events until after they experience the return home of their younger selves.[146]
Jean has been stated to be more powerful without the Phoenix[437][441][445] and was even told by Cassandra Nova that she was more powerful than their last encounter, which was Jean tapping into the Phoenix Force.[401]
Multiple people have been stated to be afraid of Jean, such as notable telepaths Emma Frost[409] and Cassandra Nova.[439]
Jean's resemblance to Rose may have affected Wolverine's attraction to her.[567]
Against the X-Men's ideals, Phoenix has killed enemies before: Prism and MeMe, although Prism's destruction was accidental.[568][280]
In her early missions with the X-Men, Jean was surrounded by men romantically interested in her. Among them Professor X, Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, and (briefly) Blob.[6]
Jean Grey was depicted as Professor X' laboratory assistant, early in her career with the X-Men.[27]
Jean Grey cooked for the other X-Men, when the team's unseen cook had days off.[569]
Jean Grey has expressed jealousy over the Scarlet Witch's attractiveness.[569]
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