What If? Jean Grey didn't die during New X-Men?

[TheSupernaut]

How do you guys think she would have changed during the decade and a half preceding her return? From House of M's "No more mutants." To Utopia, the Schism, AvX and any other notable era I could be forgetting. Do you think she and Scott would have worked things out? And if they had, would she have become a mutant revolutionary like him? Or would she have been able to show the X-Men a different path?

[phoenixzero23]

I think so much of what happened wouldn't have happened.
They probably would have worked things out but if we still had stuff like schism and avx they would have broke up.
no revolutionary Jean, in fact she would be on the opposite side.

[Disciple of Redd]

It would have been a much less sexist and more open-ended, more interesting story.

She could have stopped Logan from naming their school after her, for one thing lol.

[Digifiend]

Yeah, if she was alive the school definitely wouldn't have been named after her. Teen Jean always found it awkward.

I could see Jean being the headmistress in Wolverine and the X-Men, Extraordinary X-Men and X-Men Gold, instead of Kitty and Storm.

[U.N. Owen]

An apocalyptic future ruled by a sentient stack of bacteria would happen.

[ariwl1]

The biggest change would have been with Scott. Phoenix Ressurection indicates that they likely would have eventually worked things out. This means Scott probably would have stayed in his comfort zone where leading the X-Men was concerned.

I still think most if not all of the events that went afterwords like House of M would have gone down without much different. The only two events that may have been majorly impacted by her presence were Schism and AvX.

[PsychoEFrost]

The world would be drastically different. Assuming she's still Phoenix during this time, No More Mutants wouldn't have mattered, since the Phoenix can simply reverse that (as AvX shows). So Schism never happens since the mutants never have to take a hardline stance since they wouldn't be in danger of extermination. Messiah Complex never occurs, because Jean isn't orchestrating Hope's existence from the WHR (and without NMM, she isn't needed anyway). AvX obviously never occurs for a multitude of reasons.

So... yeah.

[theoneandonly]

I don't know whether she could reverse hom and avsx as she couldn't stop a em pulse from killing her even when she was the Phoenix. maybeee only hope was destined to be the Messiah who could revert hom although come to think of it she had help from the perpetrator in making the spell from hom undone so Jean could have done the same without need of hope.

[PrezValentine]

There are three branching paths where Jean survives and in all of them I'm sure M-Day happening would be null and void.

1. She lives, keeps the Phoenix Force and is part of the X-Men: M-Day is irrelevant since she can just kickstart the X-Gene again.


2. She lives, keeps the Phoenix and leaves the X-Men: Jean Grey, cosmic hero, goes on adventures throughout the universe. M-Day happens, she comes back to Earth, snaps everything into place again and goes back to doing her cosmic stuff.


3. She lives, doesn't keep the Phoenix and is part of the X-Men: the moment M-Day happens, the Phoenix comes back to Earth. "Sup, Jean, wanna fix this crap?" "Sure, fam". BOOM, mutants are back. The only outcome where sutff might go bad because Stryker would probably have a murdering tantrum, because God played a prank on him and didn't actually made the muties extinct. And then he attacks the mansion and is vaporized since everyone still has their powers. Yay.

Stuff would be so different that, to make up for it, we would need to generate a bunch of OCs and new situations to accomodate whatever universe where Jean still exists. The Phoenix is a real game changer, guys.

[PrezValentine]

I nearly forgot, but there's the massacre of the Grey family. That's a good point to discuss. How the hell would Jean react to that, to Vulcan and all that stuff.

I don't think she'd kill the Shi'Ar or anything, but she would definitely try to make justice. She would have a heavy involvement in War of Kings and the final battle would probably be her against Vulcan.

Out of the X-Men, there are things like the Civil War, where I'm not sure mutants would stay neutral when M-Day didn't happen. Would be interesting to know if it would create a divide between the X-Men.

Secret Invasion changes very little, I think.

Dark Reign, now that would be something, since Norman would still go against the X-Men, but this time in Westchester. The whole trick here is ignoring M-Day and concentrating on the larger stuff in the MU.

[Striderblack01]

Of the possible situations posited, I think the only way Jean lives and still with the X-men is if the Phoenix is gone.

Whether or not she resumes her marriage is a bit up in the air.
I believe she would - but your mileage may vary.

Posted on a different thread, but I find it to be more relevant here. (Edited for context)

There would be some variance depending on the relationship status after Morrison's run, but I think largely everything stays the same.

House of M/Decimation

Still happen.
Mutants are on the verge of being extinct.

Deadly Genesis

Still happens.
There's nothing Jean could say or do that could smooth out Xavier's 'betrayal'; Scott still kicks him out.
If anything, Jean might leave with Xavier.

Messiah Complex / War / Second Coming

Still happen.

Schism

Still happens.
No matter what, Logan leaves and takes most of the team with him.
I don't think the bro-fight breaks out to that ridiculous scale, but I also don't think Jean would've been able to smooth things out enough so that Scott is welcomed back to Westchester.

Avengers vs X-men

Still happens.
Logan still tattles on Scott to Cap.
Jean would believe her time-traveling son, Nathan, just like Scott did.
Any possible case she would have made to stop the Avengers from storming the beaches of Utopia would've been shut down faster than you could say "Broccoli people".

Rachel was present during that incident and the Phoenix still forwent her for Hope - which tells me that it would've done the same to Jean if she was there.
Everything plays out pretty much exactly the same - the Phoenix still corrupts Scott & the P5, kills Xavier, and is exorcised by Hope.
The only thing that might change is that Jean would be able to advocate for Scott afterwards, so that maaaaaybe he's not a criminal.

Mutant Revolution

Doesn't happen.
Flat out does not happen if Jean were alive. This is, hands down, the one thing that would certifiably be different.

In a broad strokes sense, I think her impact would've been minimal on the resolution of these large events.
However, as much as I enjoyed watching various characters attempt to move on, I think we missed out on some great stories, drama, and character moments with her being gone.
It's a bit paradoxical.

I did fail take into account the Shiar & Grey Family events.
I would've loved to have seen what would've happened if Jean were alive for those events!
The timelines for the X-men's space adventures seem a bit fluid, so I'm not sure they would've had too much of an impact on the events happening on Earth.

[WallStreeter]

I don't know whether she could reverse hom and avsx as she couldn't stop a em pulse from killing her even when she was the Phoenix. maybeee only hope was destined to be the Messiah who could revert hom although come to think of it she had help from the perpetrator in making the spell from hom undone so Jean could have done the same without need of hope.

Jean as White Phoenix of the Crown held the universe in her hands, amputated a future universe and set the universe down a different course. Yes as Phoenix she could have undone Wanda's No More Mutants spell.

Technically the Phoenix brought Jean back in Endsong, repeatedly but Jean wanted to stay dead (granted the Phoenix was out of balance, or that was the excuse editorial used to keep her dead).

[PsychoEFrost]

Jean as White Phoenix of the Crown held the universe in her hands, amputated a future universe and set the universe down a different course. Yes as Phoenix she could have undone Wanda's No More Mutants spell.

Technically the Phoenix brought Jean back in Endsong, repeatedly but Jean wanted to stay dead (granted the Phoenix was out of balance, or that was the excuse editorial used to keep her dead).

As excuses go, it wasn't a bad one. The Shi'Ar had just shot it with a black hole generator... twice. It was quite a bit injured, and Jean agreed to help piece it together which is a very Jean thing to do.

[ExodusCloak]

You would have seen the sublime attempt of character assassination ever witnessed. Given Marvel's multiple attempts to hurt the X-Franchise. Decimation would have happened. Whether it was by Jeans instead of Wandas hand now I don't know. Then Beast finds her in Latveria and sleeps with her.

Either way the Extinction of mutants would still have happened as that is what editorial mandate wanted. Hell Jean might have had a baby in secret with Mastermind and Xavier and that's why Pixie and Kid Omega have pink hair.

[PsychoEFrost]

You would have seen the sublime attempt of character assassination ever witnessed. Given Marvel's multiple attempts to hurt the X-Franchise. Decimation would have happened. Whether it was by Jeans instead of Wandas hand now I don't know. Then Beast finds her in Latveria and sleeps with her.

Either way the Extinction of mutants would still have happened as that is what editorial mandate wanted. Hell Jean might have had a baby in secret with Mastermind and Xavier and that's why Pixie and Kid Omega have pink hair.

I mean, out of universe, that is the cynical response.