Who is the superior telepath: Emma or Non-PF Jean Grey

[ZNOP]

I thought it was general consensus that as far as raw power goes... Jean is more powerful than Emma by far. Skill wise though they are about even, with Emma maybe having the edge. As far as the battle within Xorna in BOTA goes, emma’s telepathy was broken and she used the cuckoos as a conduit who are weaker than she is. Not to mention when one goes down she loses a drastic amount of power to work with. Also the Teen Jeen battle is referenced a lot and I remember Cullen Bunn on his tumblr pointing to the fact that when the cosmic cube shard leaked into the astral field, it strengthend Cyclops and Jeen’s rapport and together they broke free of Emma who was also being talked down by Jeen. I do stand by the fact that Jean had at the very least was tapping into Phoenix’s power in New X-men. I honestly like both characters and think the OP is seriously incorrect about Jean being a “joke” compared to anyone as she is one of the best psis in the MU ALONG with Emma and I think it’s cool how they use their powers in different ways.

Makes me wonder if Emma's telepathic proficiency would as great (today) if she hadn't trained with and gained all of Astrid Bloom's skill and experience.

[GeneTitan]

Completely agree, hell, until baby Jean and surpassed Emma today, I can not imagine the adult.

And with that there is no discussion, I think it is the best thing that X-Men Blue demonstrated the superiority of Jean to Emma, even a teenage version of Jean that is much weaker than the adult.

True, Teen Jean did best Adult Emma. But, is Emma currently at full power after her powers were "broken" after she possessed part of the phoenix force in AvX? It seems that Emma has been working to get her powers back up to speed. That alone proves how strong she is. I love Jean, but I think Emma is the more skilled telepath. I think Jean has more raw psi power, but Emma can do more with her telepathy. This is why I say Emma is stronger and the better telepath. It's not how much power you have, it's what you do with it.

[PsychicHobo]

Makes me wonder if Emma's telepathic proficiency would as great (today) if she hadn't trained with and gained all of Astrid Bloom's skill and experience.

Lmao she certainly did help, she was her mentor after all. Although Emma probably improved heavily on it. Astrid wasn’t the best psychic and didn’t understand her powers completely given how her pulling into the psyche plan did backfire horribly earning her permanent vegetable status.

[Havok83]

should have made a poll.

agreed and my vote goes to Jean

[Bart]

Jean has more raw power, and is more skilled. Just compare thier performance in a similar situation: in Xavier's mind, Jean was able to get to the end and not only free Xavier, but turned around and saved Emma who was stuck of the first series of mental traps.

I remember Grant Morrison's notes saying Emma couldn't go any further.

[Starrius]

agreed and my vote goes to Jean

same here
my vote goes to Jean

[Chaos Reigns]

Jean has more raw power, and is more skilled. Just compare thier performance in a similar situation: in Xavier's mind, Jean was able to get to the end and not only free Xavier, but turned around and saved Emma who was stuck of the first series of mental traps.

I remember Grant Morrison's notes saying Emma couldn't go any further.

Yup, this further proves who is the best telepath.

[ZNOP]

What about a Telepathic/Telekinetic (no Phoenix Force) Jean Grey versus a Telepathic (no secondary organic diamond state) Emma Frost?

[perdid06]

For the large majority here, Jean is superior, there is no question about that.
Emma was always a dangerous foes because she will use her power in a vicious dastardly way, do things that other more moral character will not....and this works for a lot of vilain, they sometime can feel superior because they don't hesitate to really hurt their opponent, while heroes try to avoid extreme use of their power.
Kitty could do some serious damage by phasing out organs of her opponent, but she never do...
Same for nightcrawler, same for Jean which could explode someone heart or switch of their brain(she did once) but usually they will avoid to use their power this way....Emma on the other hand is perfectly capable of doing so, that what make her dangerous...but in no way superior!

[RLAAMJR.]

Emma is more creative i guess.

[ZNOP]

Emma is more creative i guess.

Most "psychopaths" are...

[perdid06]

Emma is more creative i guess.

She is more creative because she have too, she is weaker so she need to find way to compensate, while Jean powers allow her to go straight at solving the problem

[Alphaxman]

While I missed out on most of this thread, my view is that Jean is the overall more powerful psi, while Emma is much more creative because of her ruthless and cunning nature. And like most people stated, Jean’s higher displays of power could be confused with her using the Phoenix force but I don’t think any of her late 90s displays had any connection with the space bird. It wasn’t until the end of Morrison’s run when she “died” did she fully become the Phoenix. All the other times Jean sported the Phoenix costume, she was play acting.

[Hizashi]

Jean has more raw power, and is more skilled. Just compare thier performance in a similar situation: in Xavier's mind, Jean was able to get to the end and not only free Xavier, but turned around and saved Emma who was stuck of the first series of mental traps.

I remember Grant Morrison's notes saying Emma couldn't go any further.

Does any feat during Morrison's run count when Jean was manifesting the Phoenix throughout? Does anyone have a definitive answer about when Jean relied on the Phoenix during Morrison's run? I'm not trying to downplay anything on either side, but after pages of this argument, it seems to me that Jean, Emma, and whoever else might be brought up, is as strong as the story demands. Consistency hasn't been a priority for Marvel.

[Havok83]

Does any feat during Morrison's run count when Jean was manifesting the Phoenix throughout? Does anyone have a definitive answer about when Jean relied on the Phoenix during Morrison's run? I'm not trying to downplay anything on either side, but after pages of this argument, it seems to me that Jean, Emma, and whoever else might be brought up, is as strong as the story demands. Consistency hasn't been a priority for Marvel.

The PF was a part of her but she didnt go full on Phoenix until the end and that primarily amplified her TK. The most impressive feat Jean did as a telepath during that run was splitting up Xavier's mind into every person on Earth but she used Cerebra for that. I dont think Morrison wrote her as doing anything with her TP during that run that she wasnt shown to be able to do before