Rachel Summers/Grey Appreciation 2019

[RachelGrey]

There have been tons of bad things but not everything I liked her in space.

I liked her in space too during the War of Kings, I didn't hate the romance with Korvus because I knew the blue Phoenix echo was drawing them together, but I think the writers should have taken a couple of issues flushing out what was happening to her and Korvus before they actually slept together.

[phoenixzero23]

Marvel is just lazy when it comes to romance, they dont like to tease or build romances anymore when they can just rush things

[ClanAskani]

The problem for me is I don't know today who Rachel is? She's been so uninteresting for me since her return. I related to the young traumatized Rachel of the 80's, I related to the confident Rachel of Excalibur. Since her return, there have been few times where I found her relatable and interesting, when she came back in the middle of the 00's even Claremont had lost touch with her.
But as always, no character is permanently damaged and it just takes a good writer for rachel to rise again.
This treatment of Rachel remembers me the treatment of Carol Danvers in the beginning of the 80's.

The End of the Greys could have been the start of a new arc for Rachel where she was recovering from the trauma of losing her family again. While it's repetitive, it makes sense for character arcs to be rehashed every 20-30 years. Why completely reinvent the wheel? And there's ways writers can present the storylines in new ways for a modern audience.

The problem is Ed Brubaker said in interviews that what he didn't like about Rachel was how she was "always" essentially whining about her past (which was just a few panels in the End of Greys). He wasn't carrying on the story from End of Greys (except the revenge angle) and showing Rachel as someone with PTSD. Editors won't maintain any sort of continuity with telling writers to write a continuing story for characters.

[Vaishakh]

What do you think her role could be after she gets freed from Stryfe and after HoX/PoX? I dont think her going back to X-men is a good idea and it'd be better off to send her to some other team

[Havok83]

What do you think her role could be after she gets freed from Stryfe and after HoX/PoX? I dont think her going back to X-men is a good idea and it'd be better off to send her to some other team

we've been discussing this for weeks. The general consensus is dead or left in the future. I vote for the latter

[CRaymond]

What do you think her role could be after she gets freed from Stryfe and after HoX/PoX? I dont think her going back to X-men is a good idea and it'd be better off to send her to some other team

Yep.

Fantastic Four.

A refugee from a dystopian destiny should work for the THE FUTURE FOUNDATION.

[Vaishakh]

we've been discussing this for weeks. The general consensus is dead or left in the future. I vote for the latter

I was asking what would be she doing if that isnt the case and she is still kept around alive and well.

[Havok83]

I was asking what would be she doing if that isnt the case and she is still kept around alive and well.

I dont think she will be kept alive and around and if she were, it would be in limbo, probably taking a break to go find herself after all her recent trauma

[Vaishakh]

I dont think she will be kept alive and around and if she were, it would be in limbo, probably taking a break to go find herself after all her recent trauma

She can be still be part of comics doing that just not necessarily in the X-books

[Havok83]

She can be still be part of comics doing that just not necessarily in the X-books

She could but realistically, I dont see anyone taking an interest in her

[Askani's Flame]

What do you think her role could be after she gets freed from Stryfe and after HoX/PoX? I dont think her going back to X-men is a good idea and it'd be better off to send her to some other team

If she returns to the X-Men after this last arc in X-Force and after HoX/Po10 I'm not sure what her role would be. She's in no condition to be a teacher as seemingly everyone has owned her in the past 3 years (Martha, Nova, Mesmerso, Nova), which also makes her a liability of sorts. With Jean around she will always be relegated to the background or wallpaper if she's in the X-Men proper as no writer has an interest in any stories involving the two unless Rachel is in need of saving. If she exists on an ancillary team it might fare better for her only if she mind has been sealed or worked on to strengthen it.

I don't think she'll die, but I'm unclear where in the future they would leave her. Unless she has the Phoenix Force, sending her back to found the Askani doesn't work, especially since she has more knowledge of what happened than she did before. And they can't leave her at that moment in the future otherwise the whole timeline is messed up as Mother Askani is dead by at least 5 years at this point.

[ClanAskani]

She can be still be part of comics doing that just not necessarily in the X-books

The problem with a mutant like Rachel not in X-books is that her entire character is motivated by stopping her future from happening - which means defending mutants. So if Rachel is out in space acting like a superhero and back on Earth, it's another near mass extinction for mutants, then why doesn't she go help?

[Vaishakh]

The problem with a mutant like Rachel not in X-books is that her entire character is motivated by stopping her future from happening - which means defending mutants. So if Rachel is out in space acting like a superhero and back on Earth, it's another near mass extinction for mutants, then why doesn't she go help?

It will always be a mess with a character like Rachel especially considering that how often she gets mind controlled, it would be better for her not to go and help the X-men in these situations

[Vaishakh]

If she returns to the X-Men after this last arc in X-Force and after HoX/Po10 I'm not sure what her role would be. She's in no condition to be a teacher as seemingly everyone has owned her in the past 3 years (Martha, Nova, Mesmerso, Nova), which also makes her a liability of sorts. With Jean around she will always be relegated to the background or wallpaper if she's in the X-Men proper as no writer has an interest in any stories involving the two unless Rachel is in need of saving. If she exists on an ancillary team it might fare better for her only if she mind has been sealed or worked on to strengthen it.

I don't think she'll die, but I'm unclear where in the future they would leave her. Unless she has the Phoenix Force, sending her back to found the Askani doesn't work, especially since she has more knowledge of what happened than she did before. And they can't leave her at that moment in the future otherwise the whole timeline is messed up as Mother Askani is dead by at least 5 years at this point.

They can go with choice of giving her new powers to expand her role. Another possibility would be for her to take an antagonistic route against X-men for reasons and maybe work with Magneto or Emma or others.

[ClanAskani]

It will always be a mess with a character like Rachel especially considering that how often she gets mind controlled, it would be better for her not to go and help the X-men in these situations

I could see Emma arguing that Rachel hurts them more than she helps.

But helping prevent her future from happening is core to Rachel's motivation as a character. She can have side tangents (Excalibur wasn't exactly focused on helping mutants) but it defines who she is and what she wants.

Fundamental to the X-Men is the idea that the characters aren't just part of the team because they want to be there, but because they have to do this. They are drafted into a war to save their race and for their very existence. Rachel is different than a character who discovered as a teen they were a mutant and then is recruited. She grew up in the conflict and knows what's a stake.

Excalibur worked because Rachel was sort of a PTSD survivor. Kitty and Kurt had thought the X-Men had died, but they were all essentially in recovery and there were X-Factor and the New Mutants fighting the good fight for mutantkind. That could work again, but it needs to be set-up correctly and not reset randomly as writers pitch new ideas and everything is reset every few months.