What To Do With a Problem Like Rachel

[Harpsikord]

Rachel Grey-Summers is one of the most popular B-List characters that the X-Men have to offer, and she's one of - if not the - most popular alternate reality character on their roster. She is an omega level mutant with the powers of telepathy and telekinesis, and sometimes chronokinesis. She's the daughter of Jean Grey and Scott Summers from a reality where Jean never went Dark Phoenix. She was the host of the Phoenix Force for the majority of the 1980s and the 1990s. She's a founding member of Excalibur. All things considered, Rachel should be a mainstay on the X-Men's roster, treated with respect by the writers and editors of the X-Men books.

But... she's not.

All things considered, Rachel is in a lot of ways treated like the redheaded stepchild of the X-Men. She has been written by her own creator as a rookie when she had years of experience under her belt, and just this year has been mind controlled by three (!) different people to turn against the X-Men. The last of these has led to what appears to be an indefinite status quo as she goes back to being under the sway of Ahab, in an emotional state that made it impossible for Jean Grey to cure

Why?

This is the thought I had on the subject in another thread that has spurred me to create this one:

The problem with Rachel is the fact that she is derivative and was always intended that way; it's the same case for Madelyne Pryor. He would never admit it but it feels like the only reason Claremont created and/or put these characters in significant roles when he did is because he didn't have access to Jean Grey anymore; his original intention was to lobotomize Jean and let her live as a normal human away from the X-Men with Cyclops, presumably so that the so-called toy would still be in the toy box in order for him to play with it later when he felt like it. But he was told no, and so first, he brought in Madelyne, who looked identical to Jean and acted incredibly similar to her and that was all supposed to be coincidental, in order to give Cyclops the "happy ending" that he wanted for him at the time. And then when he wanted to write more stories with the Phoenix character, he brought in Rachel as his stand-in for Jean. There never was anything truly original to her.

Claremont and his later writing partner Alan Davis are the only characters that have really tried to do interesting things with her, and outside of maybe some of the stuff that they did with her in Excalibur, largely didn't do anything that really made her... unique. There was nothing of unique value added to Rachel outside of the fact that she was a Hound and unfortunately I think that's exactly why Marc Guggenheim tried to make her a little more definitively herself, but in doing so only managed to devalue her character to the point that fans of other characters don't care to see her anymore and the writers may see her as toxic.

Rachel desperately needs to be given some kind of identity of her own before she can be seen as viable, and the way that Brisson wrote her off unceremoniously definitely isn't the way that it should be done, but maybe it's a start. Give Rachel a break or allow her to be a hound for a little while longer and then play on that. When she comes back to her senses, have a writer discover who Rachel is POSITIVELY. Have Rachel discover HERSELF positively.

Ideally in relation to Jean they'd have a great relationship with one another when all of this is said and done. Let them talk about why Jean didn't try to save her in a moment. Give Rachel some closure over her mommy issues. Let Jean establish that she does care for Rachel - as she should, even if it's different than how she cares for Nate and maybe even kind of awkward due to the fact that Rachel came into Jean's life as a fully grown adult.

There's so much potential there but honestly no one at Marvel seems to have both the talent AND the interest. One or the other, not both.

Rachel deserves to be written and treated with respect, and given a character and personality that is entirely her own - something that she hasn't had at least since she was brought into Claremont's X-Treme X-Men and then further into his Uncanny reboot era. Marc Guggenheim tried, but his writing wasn't up to par and it didn't stick. How would you fix her?

[Gray Lensman]

Rachel Grey-Summers is one of the most popular B-List characters that the X-Men have to offer, and she's one of - if not the - most popular alternate reality character on their roster. She is an omega level mutant with the powers of telepathy and telekinesis, and sometimes chronokinesis. She's the daughter of Jean Grey and Scott Summers from a reality where Jean never went Dark Phoenix. She was the host of the Phoenix Force for the majority of the 1980s and the 1990s. She's a founding member of Excalibur. All things considered, Rachel should be a mainstay on the X-Men's roster, treated with respect by the writers and editors of the X-Men books.

But... she's not.

All things considered, Rachel is in a lot of ways treated like the redheaded stepchild of the X-Men. She has been written by her own creator as a rookie when she had years of experience under her belt, and just this year has been mind controlled by three (!) different people to turn against the X-Men. The last of these has led to what appears to be an indefinite status quo as she goes back to being under the sway of Ahab, in an emotional state that made it impossible for Jean Grey to cure

Why?

This is the thought I had on the subject in another thread that has spurred me to create this one:



Rachel deserves to be written and treated with respect, and given a character and personality that is entirely her own - something that she hasn't had at least since she was brought into Claremont's X-Treme X-Men and then further into his Uncanny reboot era. Marc Guggenheim tried, but his writing wasn't up to par and it didn't stick. How would you fix her?

Possibly allow her chronokinesis to be used to view past events (kind of like an object read/last thing seen by the dead) - not to allow temporal manipulation since that is a broken power that leads to nothing good except as a one time plot device.

Have her work through that trauma enough so that she can use her telepathic tracking more regularly - again, a bit more limited, as in having to follow the trail as opposed to just knowing where someone is. Because it's easier to use it in a story if it can't just be used to jump to the last page.

Lastly, figure out what the limits are going to be on how Jean applies her powers, so that Rachel can manifest her powers differently. Basically, have some things that Jean just doesn't do exceptionally well that Rachel does - and the same in reverse. The chronokinesis and tracking play into that, but another difference is likely needed - especially for action scenes.

[AHRNIHAL]

Just have her as lead telepath/telekenetic on Scott's team when things go back to normal.

[Snoop Dogg]

Rachel succeeding the Phoenix legacy would've been fine if other parties didn't get antsy and muck things up. However, they can still patch things up by doing the obvious and doing all future Phoenix stuff with her and not rehashing it with Jean. But that would take writers and editors who actually know not just who, but what characters are, and how to slide things into their rather obvious, but also obviously more interesting roles.

Oh yeah, and someone has to actually like the character.

[Harpsikord]

Oh yeah, and someone has to actually like the character.

Liking the character isn't enough, as we can tell from what happened with Guggenheim.

It's a start but it also has to be someone talented.

[Killerbee911]

The ugly truth is replace Jean Grey when she is dead. There is no inherent flaw with Rachel Grey is problem that keep bring back Jean Grey from the dead. If you want argue Jean should never be killed that is topic for another thread and a valid point. But Rachel as a character fine and is different enough character if they keep integrity of death in the X-men franchise. Can two or even more character in the same lane work sure X23/Wolverine or Miles/Peter but it is always balancing acting sometimes it goes wrong like Wally/Barry at DC.

If they are keeping Rachel around then give her a shot in the Avenger Franchise who don't have any characters with her skill set and always in need strong female characters.

[Knives]

Rachel has no problem as a character although she have complicated story.

The problem is that writers do not allow her and other characters to run away from the status quo for more than 6 months or a year.

It's the same as with characters like Polaris, Laura, Wanda, Angel and many others. Although she is one of the protagonists of Gold and promise of a new beginning for her the truth is that everything stopped in a new horrible uniform and a bad codename .

If a writer or marvel is willing to do something different and a good story obviously the character will progress within the universe and in the opinion of the readers. And obviously seeing her being controlled for the hundredth time or transformed into hound again will have the opposite effect. The character practically passed more than half of the whole journey in the infirmary in gold.

Worth remembering that not even A-list characters like Storm are free of this kind of thing see how the character has been treated in the last years .

And although I am in favor of changes for long periods before returning to the status quo can someone explain to me how someone has been Phoenix for years is no longer the preference of the cosmic entity?

If Jean does not want be Phoenix why the entity did not turn to Rachel ? She is the daughter of Scott and Jean.

[WallStreeter]

Rachel succeeding the Phoenix legacy would've been fine if other parties didn't get antsy and muck things up. However, they can still patch things up by doing the obvious and doing all future Phoenix stuff with her and not rehashing it with Jean. But that would take writers and editors who actually know not just who, but what characters are, and how to slide things into their rather obvious, but also obviously more interesting roles.

Oh yeah, and someone has to actually like the character.

Jean is featured as Phoenix in movies, cartoons, and video games so all future use of the Phoenix is with Jean.

Other problem is the XMen have a surplus of telepath/telekinetics. Psylocke is a ninja and makes psychic weapons so her application of her powers is very different from Jean’s. Monet uses her supergirl powers more than her tp/to. Cable uses his guns, fighting skills, and tech.

Her character suffered twice because she was brought in the XNen to replace Jean when Jean was dead. At least Hope has an unique power set, and enough of her own identity.

[Sardorim]

Spoilers ahead!


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Let's consider more modern examples.

* In space she is forced to be sexually active with Korvus due to the Phoenix Fragments. Rachel wants to Refuse and even says No. Yet she ends up sleeping with Korvus anyway because the Phoenix won't let her refuse and makes her start seeing Korvus as "her love".

* Avengers vs X-Men. Rachel is forced to relive her time as a Hound and track mutants. Rachel doesn't want to do this but is not allowed to refuse and it isn't ever addressed afterward over how screwed up that was. Or how it mentally scarred her.

* AXIS. Rachel is reverted into a Hound and used as a "pet" by inverted Nightcrawler who held her collar. Not once did she consent to this because its tied to inversion. Considering the sexual interest the two secretly had for each other in the past it was obvious what Marvel was doing here by putting her in a collar and BDSM suit and being "handled" by Hound Master Nightcrawler. An oddity as his inversion would never be that in the first place. It was only done to highlight a messed up sexual fetish of Hound Rachel being "handled" like an object by a "Hound Master".

* Spider-Man and the X-Men. Rachel is mentally traumatized by a student, who is the traitor, when her guard is lowered. The damage was so bad that she lost memory. This isn't ever seriously addressed and Spider-Man even pins blame on Rachel for the attack when she was just trying to protect the students. Then the traitor is given zero punishment and the students and Spider-man flip off Rachel like she was the one at fault the entire time.

* X-Men Gold. Rachel is forced to go Hound again and it is implied, based on her radical personality shift, that she was being manipulated to begin seeing Nightcrawler intimately all of a sudden. Nightcrawler only protests initially but because he loves Rachel he decides to sleep with her regardless after the kiss. All his concerns drained away as the blood rushed elsewhere in his body. The villain even admits that he was the reason for her huge shift and that he has been performing mental modifications on her without her knowledge or consent.

Aka Nightcrawler was right that things were off but chose not to act on his concern when the option to start sleeping regularly with a mentally compromised Rachel presented itself. No wonder Rachel ended it after beating the villain as she isn't sure if she consented at all or if she was forced to consent unwillingly like with Korvus.

For some reason writers love making Rachel have sex in situations where it isn't possibly to tell if it was consensual or not. Is it because of her time as a Hound? Or are they pushing her into sex like that because they can't get away with doing it with Jean anymore without causing an uproar?

Yes, I'm talking about the Hellfire Club where it was HEAVILY implied that Jean, in her damaged mental state, was made to screw Shaw or whoever was the King in a highly sexualised introduction. Funny how that wasn't addressed either after the fact.

* X-Men Red. Rachel is once again forced to become a Hound and do things against her will as well as lacking her consent. She then is whisked away and forgotten. No talk about how traumatizing it was to be made a Hound yet again so soon after Gold. Nor any talks of her mother helping Rachel cope as villains seem to enjoy using Rachel's PTSD and mental trauma to force her to obey and do things without her consent.

* Extermination. Rachel is said to be "too broken" that she easily is made to run back to her Abuser, Ahab, who holds sexual interest and favoritism towards her as his best Hound. So broken that she cannot be "saved" and chose to remain with said Abuser in a state where she CANNOT say no or refuse his demands and advances while her friends and family LET it happen. Where she will be put into a gimp BDSM outfit to remind her of her years of severe torture and abuse from her Abuser since she was just a child.

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Each and every instance where Rachel is attacked for being the victim or consent is removed where she cannot refuse the writers and characters are made to just brush it off. They literally are apathetic and don't care that one of their most traumatized and abused friend/family constantly is put into such situations. Heck. Outside Cable (who was murdered) and occasionally Cyclops or Excalibur Kitty/Kurt no one even talked to her about her PTSD or tried to help her deal with it.

What's even more screwed up is that freaking Emma Frost was more of a mother to Rachel, and genuinely wanted to help Rachel, than Jean ever was for YEARS and Emma and Rachel HATE each other. While for some reason Rachel still loves Jean as a mother and wants to bond with her but her past mistreatment and severe PTSD makes it hard on her. Even after the mental bonding in X-Men Red with Jean there is still a distance as shown in Extermination.

I'm sure that there are many more examples out there as let's face it they love making sure Rachel cannot say No or Refuse when put in those situations and of Rachel as a victim being blamed for being the victim like she wants to be a victim (she doesn't). These are just a few fresh in my memory.

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The way they've mishandled Rachel's PTSD and have characters constantly ignore it reminds me of how in, at least American society, PTSD is often ignored or treated as if the victim is at fault and not acknowledging what happened to them to put them in that mental state.

That is how the treatment of Rachel feels to me.

Her PTSD is constantly ignored or made light of by writers and the characters.

No one tries to help her cope after she keeps getting put back into situations that trigger her PTSD.

She is victim blamed time and again and berated for being a victim by characters that normally wouldn't do such a thing as they know her history as a victim of severe abuse.

She is forced to suffer alone and when others sense something is off they don't act. Like Nightcrawler ignoring his gut because he remembered that Rachel is smoking hot and that he wants to sleep with her.

She is forced to relive her PTSD constantly in silence and made to run back to her Abuser who may be far more cruel now since she is an adult and he has in the past expressed sexual interest in her and loves taking away her ability to say No to him. That and he doesn't want to "lose her again" because she is his favorite victim.

Worse of all is how each and every time it happens the writers keep having the characters act like they don't care, like with how society had mistreated actual PTSD victims for decades, when they should care.

It just feels like Marvel has no idea how to handle PTSD or see how screwed up it is with how badly they've treated one of their Poster Children, literally as she was abused since she was a child, of severe abuse and PTSD.

Sorry I just needed to rant as the latest insult, Extermination #5, has led me to be very angry at Marvel currently.

[cranger]

You could write up something similar about a lot of characters in comics. It is something Tom King is trying to address in Heroes in Crisis, and does feature in the odd story or Doc Samson bit, but honestly it is one those things that can't really ever be acknowledged for long or often because every single character would just be too busy in therapy. Due to the repetitive nature of superhero storytelling it just ends up looking absurd, especially for a character like Rachel who, well, this is her thing.

[Sardorim]

Very few characters come to the level of Rachel in this regard or how the writers and Marvel have mistreated her.

Off the top of my head I would say Carol Danvers was abused very badly too when it comes to consent. Marvel tries to bury it but we all still remember the Avengers letting Carol be taken by her rapist.

It seems that since they can no longer do this screwed up stuff to Jean, she is too popular and well known so people would quickly notice, they pushed it all on Rachel who is an easier victim/target who happens to look a lot like a more mentally scarred Jean with severe mommy issues.

Remember that Jean used to be abused like this too in the early days.

[Snoop Dogg]

The issue with characters like Rachel and Warren is that writers don't look at the totality of their histories and see how much new stories they draw in response to that, and instead just do their own spins on old stuff (which editors should stop). One day, someone is going to write the best Rachel story ever revolving entirely around how godawful her history is and how her supposed friends haven't done much about it.

[U.N. Owen]

I'm sure you can fill a few college classrooms with how messed up characters with decades of history are forced to relive past abuses.

[Abbz_A]

I don’t know why this Tnread made me emotional and frustrated at the same time. I wasn’t a big fan of Rachel .. so I never paid much attention to her characterisation and complexity but this thread just made me realise how messed the whole situation is.

The X-Men have a habit of ignoring mental illness signs. Literally, all of them r suffering one thing or another but they all ignore it ... I know it’s mostly writers not wanting to address it, but mentall illness is very prevalent in today’s society and since the X-Men is all about reflecting real life problems .. mental illness should be something they discuss.

Starting with Warren, Rachel and Scott.

[Grey]

I’m not a huge Rachel fan (I don’t dislike her either) but I don’t think being a derivative of jean or having the sameness powers is a good enough excuse for her treatment.

Otherwise the same thing would apply to x-23 and other wolverine derivatives. Writers just have to care enough to give her a purpose and an Identity.

Again I don’t care about Rachel one or the others- if she disappears I won’t bat an eye- but I think it’s more fair to say her poor treatment is lack of writer interest or effort and not just that she’s “too much like jean.”