I may have missed some aspects of the Beast/Cyclops situation, but cynical me says the PTB would deal harshly with anyone but Wolverine who implied Scott was doing anything wrong.
You have a good point about the wish to whitewash Jean being the real reason they trashed Maddie, but Scott was still the one who walked out on his wife and child.
Even if Madelyne was intended as a consolation prize of Scott, Claremont wrote her as much more than a cipher. she was a strong, intelligent, self-reliant woman. For example, take Alpha Flight: The Gift. A storm is coming; Scott has left the plane to search for Rachel. Some of the passengers ask if they should join the search. Madelyne's reply: "No! No one else leaves the plane! We'll wait as long as we can, but I won't--I can't--sacrifice your lives--even for my husband!" This is not a cipher speaking, but a woman with the moral courage to place her responsibility for others' safety above her own happiness.
It's understandable why Madelyne went wrong under the circumstances, but making her try to kill her own baby went too far. Would it really have ruined Scott and Jean's chance for happiness if the danger to her son had jolted Maddie back to sanity, and she'd sacrificed her life to save him?
As for her loathing all the X-Men, she may have felt betrayed by them at the time; but I wish Marvel would let her get over it. Instead of being their latest villain, she could be grateful to them for stopping her Goblin Queen personality from harming her baby.
I'm not. Now that Cyke's shown his darker side, I keep hoping that some of the X-Men will show more sympathy for the wife he wronged.
I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath. And I liked Mutant X too, because it said Madelyne bargained with demons to save her son. Becoming the Goblin Queen was the price she paid for his--and the world's --safety.
By "simple life" I assume you mean flying planes. You're probably right; but even if she doesn't become a professional pilot again, where does it say that she can't take up flying as a hobby?
And that, for me, is the bottom line. Vilifying one person to vindicate another is unjust. And I hate injustice in real life and in fiction.