Madelyne Pryor: Red Queen Appreciation 2019

[Drey]

Congratz! You're going to wish that you had two of them, though. Between the great script and amazing Golden art, the pages will be well-worn. Luckily, I was around when the comic was first released. I must have had 4-5 of those comics back in the day. One for archiving, but the rest for reading.

By the way, even though Claremont insists the young girl was a different MP than our Maddy, I'm hoping that some writer will use it as a plot point anyway. Holding out hope that someone decides to make Mr. Sinister a former time traveler.

In my head canon, the young girl is the same Maddie that we know now. She has appeared twice. First, in Avengers Annual #10 and then once again in adult Maddie's mindscape when she was being psi-probed by the Genoshan slave. My reasoning for this is because in X-Man minus 1, the AoA version of Sinister created Nate Grey, but in that story Nate was a boy. We all assumed that clones are automatically force grown into adult-hood, but that wasn't the case here. By the end of the story, Sinister placed Nate back into his capsule tube to begin the aging process again. The same could've been done to Maddie to observe her at different stages of life for his experimental curiosities.

Here's a question for y'all: Do you like regular, wifee Maddie or just the Goblin Queen Maddie?

All the above.

I admit I love Goblyn Queen Maddie during Inferno, but I think my fave version is probably X-man Maddie. She wasn't all out evil and crazy. She was more sensible and had a survival instinct now after realizing the mistake she made by killing herself the last time. There was even a time when she saved Jean's life from assassins discreetly and Jean never even knew because she was without telepathy during that time.

[JudicatorPrime]

Here's a question for y'all: Do you like regular, wifee Maddie or just the Goblin Queen Maddie?

By "regular" do you mean powerless? Or are we speaking more to role and personality?

I like all of her facets, but some are definitely better than others. I mean I could do without her ever being Scott's wife or linked romantically to any of the Summers boys.

[Glio]

I mentioned it in another thread, but I would like that now that Maddie has not done anything villanous for years, she was a "neutral" character. That Scott and Kid Cable had a hearing and arranged their affairs as much as possible.

[Ultimate Rogue]

Here's a question for y'all: Do you like regular, wifee Maddie or just the Goblin Queen Maddie?

Goblin Queen absolutely, no doubt whatsoever, I waver on whether I like her attached to the Sisterhood and Hellfire Club.

She's too big (powerful) to pander to the Hellfire Club, imo

The Sisterhood could work with Enchantress, Selene and others, but just hasn't been given much panel time. As an alliance they work, not so much as a team.

[EmeraldGladiator]

I would really like to see 616 Maddy meet Mutant X Maddy if for no other reason that she can see a version of herself that is a hero, centered with no real connection to Scott except for the fact that she has a happy healthy relationship with Alex. Hopefully it would encourage her to move beyond the Scott/Sinister/Jean crap and maybe even point her back in Alex's direction. I would really like for Maddy to finds some happiness as a character.

[Havok83]

Wasnt she a villian in Mutant X too? From what I recall, she had her own descent into madness after starting off good, just like 616 Maddie

[Anodyne]

Wasnt she a villian in Mutant X too? From what I recall, she had her own descent into madness after starting off good, just like 616 Maddie

Whatever Mutant-X Madelyne was, she was a loving mother who was fiercely protective of her child. IIRC, the S.H.E.L.D. Files said that she'd bargained with S'ym and N'astirh to save her son and the world; I believe the price she paid was possession by the Goblin Force (or something like that). Anyway, she wound up as one of the good guys.

As for 616 Maddie, I wish Marvel would at least show her regretting what she did as the Goblin Queen and struggling to find her way back from darkness to light. There were some hints of this in X-Man, but the writers didn't follow up, at least not enough IMHO.





goblin

[EmeraldGladiator]

I would just like for Maddy to realize (and by extension the writers that use her) that there is more out there for her than Scott, Sinister and constantly being compared to Jean, since I find Maddy a much more compelling character in the first place.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Uncanny X-Men #242 Mar 1989
Inferno: Part 4 of 7 - "Burn!" Guest-starring X-Factor.
Story continued from X-Factor #37...

To be sure that his senses are not fooling him, Wolverine kisses Marvel Girl, confirming for him that she is still alive.
Now for the first time ever, the X-Men and X-Factor have crossed paths as they are
gathered around Madelyne Pryor who has her and Cyclops's son Nathan Christopher.
With the X-Men having arrived, Madelyne has hidden her Goblin Queen form from them.
Marvel Girl pushes Wolverine away when he refuses to stop coming on so strong, prompting her to tell Storm to control her people.
When Iceman and Beast attempt to grab Christopher from Madelyne, Havok gets in their way.
Tempers begin to flare out of control due to the X-Men's manipulations by the Inferno,
and their continued belief that X-Factor are mutant hunters.
This causes Wolverine and Dark Angel to come to blows. Warren manages to strike down Wolverine with his wing feathers.
Rogue flies in and attempts to stop Warren by kissing him to absorb his strength, powers and memories.
However, she only sees the image of Apocalypse in his mind and is shocked when Warren is capable of pulling away from her embrace.
Before she can do anything about it, she is blasted from behind by Cyclops.
This leads to a full out fight between the X-Men and X-Factor.
As Iceman attempts to ice up Havok, he uses his powers to melt the ice sending a flood.
When Dazzler and Longshot get caught up in the water, the two
-- having been affected by the Inferno spell -- start making out in the middle of the battle.
As Cyclops pulls Madelyne out of the water, she berates him for abandoning her.
When Scott tries to defend himself, his brother Alex appears and begins attacking him,
telling him that he betrayed his marital vows to Maddie the day that he left her.

Just then, N'Astirh appears before them and swats Havok away, and then unleashes two demons on Marvel Girl.

The moment the creatures make contact with her, MG realizes -- to her horror -- they are her parents transformed into demons.
As the battle rages on, N'Astirh summons a demonic stage-coach and is about to leave with Madelyne,
putting Cyclops in a position where he must make a tough choice:
Does he save his wife and child from being taken into the clutches of the techno-organic demon,
or save Marvel Girl from the creatures that are her parents transformed. Cursing himself, Scott chooses MG,
and N'Astirh picks up Maddie and little Christopher and flees the scene.
Havok, cursing his brother as well jumps onto the back of the coach in the hopes of rescuing her himself.
Scott runs to Jean's side and Jean condemns Madelyne as a being of pure evil.
Scott and Jean then go to where the members of the X-Men and X-Factor are still battling it out.

While speeding through the city, Madelyne drops her innocent appearance and readopts her Goblin Queen uniform.
Havok meanwhile holds onto the coach for dear life. As the wind rips through his costume,
he feels as though that it's doing something worse to his soul.
When the coach finally stops at the transformed Empire State Building, he reveals his presence to N'Astirh and the Goblin Queen.
Maddie remarks how his tattered uniform now resembles her and asks for his loyalty.
Giving it willingly, she christens him her Goblin Prince.
As they enter into the building to prepare for the sacrifice of young Nathan,
they are watched by Colossus who begins to scale up the side of the building in order to stop them.

Back in Central Park, the battle between the X-Men and X-Factor rages on, as the members of X-Factor learn that
the X-Men still believe that they are mutant hunters and are unaware that they revealed themselves as mutants.

As Wolverine and Dark Angel fight it out, Cyclops wonders where Storm is,
hoping that he can talk her into getting the X-Men to stop fighting.
Storm has spent most of the battle floating above Central Park looking at the transformed Empire State Building
and wondering how the Inferno has affected her and her comrades. The obscene obelisk reminds her of the butte from the
other dimensional world that the Adversary banished her and Forge not too long ago and wonders about it's significance.

While high above the tower, N'Astirh, the Goblin Queen and Havok prepare for the coming sacrifice by creating an altar.
N'Astirh is shocked to see how quickly Madelyne is adapting to her newfound powers.

When the demonically transformed Grey parents arrives with young Christopher Summers,
Madelyne is disgusted by their ability to sense that the child is somehow related to them.
As Madelyne finishes commenting about how only the baby is truly hers,
she is angered to find that young Christopher has telepathically communicated to Marvel Girl about his impending sacrifice

launching her into a fury and deciding to hold off on the sacrifice until she can destroy MG once and for all.

Down below in Central Park, Marvel Girl's battle with Rogue is cut short when winds carry her up to where Storm has been watching the battle.
When the two are finally reunited, they agree to get both of their teams to stand down so that they can save Christopher from his insane mother.
However their reunion is cut short when N'Astirh teleports before them and attacks.
Despite the combined efforts of both X-Men and X-Factor, none prove to be much of a match against the newly techno-organic demon.
However, when he grabs a hold of Rogue and attempts to infect her with the Transmode virus,
he learns that she had developed an immunity to it thanks to her encounter with the Technarc named Magus.
While atop the Empire State Building, Colossus reaches its peak and when he attempts to stop the Goblin Queen, Havok blasts him away.
As he flies across the city he is saved from a nasty landing by Iceman,
who uses an ice slide to send him flying into N'Astirh, weakening the creature
due to its natural weakness to iron, forcing the demon to teleport away.

With the X-Men and X-Factor unified, Storm orders Psylocke to boost her
psi-powers over the static created by the Inferno by psi-linking with Marvel Girl.
This is a pleasant surprise for MG, who for months has not had the benefit of her telepathy.
They exchange information regarding Rogue and Colossus's encounter with the Magus in order to learn the weaknesses
of techno-organic beings so that they can better deal with N'Astirh when they make their final assault on the Empire State Building.

Sending Colossus up the tower again to distract N'Astirh, the Goblin Queen and Havok, he finds himself bound by strange tentacles.
When Dark Angel and Wolverine join the fracas, they injure N'Astirh and save Colossus
giving Storm and Iceman an opening to freeze N'Astirh in ice.
As N'Astirh boasts that the cold allows his computer systems to operate at peak efficiency he attempts to cast a massive spell.
However, this is when Cyclops and Dazzler chime in with their powers along with Storm
increasing the humidity under the ice barrier causing N'Astirh's circuits to overheat.
As the final salvo, Storm unleashes a powerful torrent of lightning bolts
that quickly overload N'Astirh's circuits causing him to explode.
Unfortunately for the two groups of mutants, even though N'Astirh was seemingly destroyed, the Inferno spell still appears to be intact.

Cyclops is appalled at Storm's willingness to slay their enemy, and this begins a
debate between the two groups' different methods in striving for defending mutants.
In the middle of the argument, Marvel Girl is suddenly caught in a mystical noose and pulled away.
When the X-Men and X-Factor turn to see who has attacked MG, they are shocked to see that the Goblin Queen is still alive
and possessing all her magical might and demon hordes and that she now intends to destroy them all.

Story by Chris Claremont. Art by Marc Silvestri and Dan Green.

[EmeraldGladiator]

Inferno might be one of my favorite all time Mutant storylines, I just relayed in the Havok appreciation thread that even though I knew he was demon influenced, when Alex told Scott off for how shabbily/horribly he treated his wife, I was like damn right you tell him Alex. Scott treated Maddy horribly and all the white washing the Simonson's tried to do in X-Factor couldn't make it right because we saw the damage it caused over in Uncanny. Alex was there for Maddy at her lowest point which is why I always fancy the two of them together. Even though part of him realized that she was in the wrong, he was the one that realized all the wrongs that had been done to her and had her back.

[Ultimate Rogue]

Yeah, Inferno is a fave of mine too, The art is great, nice and clear.

[JudicatorPrime]

Alex was there for Maddy at her lowest point which is why I always fancy the two of them together.

I see the logic, but this is exactly why I feel that Maddy needs to move on and find someone new. Who we are at our nadir is oftentimes dramatically different than the person that we are at optimal well-being. Everything from the decisions that we make, to our actions, thoughts, affinity and affection are all so heavily skewed by our rage and despair. It's nice that Alex was there for Maddy, but now that her strength of spirit, vitality and overall outlook are light years from hell, she should continue forward, not look for a shovel to dig the same grave twice.

[Havok83]

Inferno might be one of my favorite all time Mutant storylines, I just relayed in the Havok appreciation thread that even though I knew he was demon influenced, when Alex told Scott off for how shabbily/horribly he treated his wife, I was like damn right you tell him Alex. Scott treated Maddy horribly and all the white washing the Simonson's tried to do in X-Factor couldn't make it right because we saw the damage it caused over in Uncanny. Alex was there for Maddy at her lowest point which is why I always fancy the two of them together. Even though part of him realized that she was in the wrong, he was the one that realized all the wrongs that had been done to her and had her back.

Maddie used him and I think the implication in Uncanny was that it was to get revenge on Scott. They didnt have a real relationship as she had her powers to influence him

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

X-Factor #38 Mar 1989
Inferno! Giant-Sized Spectacular! Part 5 of 7 - "Duet!"
Continued from Uncanny X-Men #242...

With the demon N'Astirh seemingly destroyed, the combined forces of the X-Men and X-Factor
are surprised to not only find that the Inferno spell is still in effect over Manhattan,
but that the Goblin Queen still has all her powers and is holding Marvel Girl as her hostage.
Before the two groups of mutants, Madelyne tells her estranged husband Cyclops that she is doing all this for revenge against all those
who destroyed her life, which she maintains was nothing more than borrowed from others,
alluding to the fact that she was not born by conventional means.
When Colossus points out that the gate to Limbo has been closed and N'Astirh defeated he tells her to give up her mad quest.
Madelyne refuses, having her own horde of demons to command and that she still intends to sacrifice her son Nathan.

When the two teams attempt to attack, Longshot's tainted luck powers cause the group bad luck,
causing them to bump into each other, while fighting the Goblin Queen's demons.
This leads to the two groups getting into blows once more.
As Cyclops and Storm battle, Storm once more calls X-Factor mutant hunters saying that they had
recorded media reports following their missions to allow them to keep tabs on X-Factor's operations.

When Scott wonders why they didn't know that X-Factor revealed their true purposes recently,
he asks her who was keeping the recordings for them.
Storm realizes it was Madelyne who did, and sees how the woman had deceived the X-Men,
and has likely been making sure that he two groups would not come into contact with each other for quite some time.
When Cyclops attempts to attack the Goblin Queen, the evil sorceress uses her powers to move the demonically
transformed father of Marvel Girl to deflect the blast. Storm's similar attempt to try and strike Maddy down is blocked.

The Goblin Queen then convinces Dazzler and Longshot (still tainted by the Inferno spell)
to help her in exchange for being "stars" of the battle.
With magically created spotlights following them wherever, the two agree to help,
attacking Dark Angel, blasting him out of the sky and in Maddy's proximity.
She uses her magical powers to break Warren's resolve and transform him into a demonic form before he passes out.
She then unleashes her full magical fury and sends the demons after the X-Men and X-Factor.
As the mutant groups fight through the demon hoards, the Goblin Queen orders Havok to slay his brother Cyclops.
Alex, very much in love with Madelyne now and under her thrall, willingly attacks his brother.
When Longshot and Dazzler attempt to try and kill Cyclops they are swept away by Storm.

Dark Angel meanwhile manages to shake off Madelyne's influence and uses his wings
to cut the magical restraint that has been keeping Marvel Girl under Maddy's thrall.
This also causes some sort of magical feedback that allows Wolverine to shake off Inferno's influence on him and regain his control.
As the other members of the X-Men and X-Factor are busy keeping Dazzler and Longshot under wraps, Cyclops and Havok battle it out.
Havok does not listen to any of Scott's attempts to talk sense into him and when Alex puts himself at risk of being buried under rubble,
his gambit works out when his brother saves his life allowing Alex to knock him out.
Marvel Girl meanwhile has shaken free of the Goblin Queen's control and the two are locked in mental combat,
and Maddy creates an impenetrable force-field around the two women and young Christopher Summers
so that the others cannot interfere with their final battle together.
As the two women battle it out, Madelyne once more begins to allude to the fact that she was artificially created.
MG wars on, furious that between the Phoenix Force and Madelyne, portions of her natural course in life have been usurped by other people.

While not far, Cyclops is about to be blasted by Havok when Dark Angel fires his razor sharp feathers at Alex,
sending him over the edge of the Empire State Building. Despite this, Havok unleashes a powerful blast in the hopes of sending Cyclops
over the edge of the cliff as well. Cyclops manages to grab onto a ledge and save himself, while Havok is rescued by the Dark Angel.
Inside the force bubble, Madelyne reveals to Marvel Girl the horror that they both share:
the experience of Jean Grey's school friend Annie Richardson's death.
As MG struggles to free herself suddenly a portion of the Phoenix Force appears.
The portion of it's power explains that following it's death on the moon, it attempted to send a
portion of itself (with it's memories and experiences) to MG as she was healing below Jamaica Bay.
However MG refused it when she learned the genocide it caused in her image and it instead found a host in Madelyne.

Outside, the regrouped X-Men and X-Factor begin determining a means to find a weak spot in the telekinetic shield.
They manage to convince Dazzler to help by pointing out to her that Madelyne has tricked her and that she is not the star of this battle.
Havok is also convinced to help, however still angry at his brother for how Madelyne was abandoned,
he only does so to help his brothers estranged wife over anything else.
With a common cause the two groups begin attacking the field in an attempt to break through and rescue MG.
Inside, MG learns the shocking truth about Madelyne Pryor:
That she is in reality a clone of MG herself created by the evil mutant known as Mr. Sinister.
Sinister had intended for Madelyne to be the perfect mate for Cyclops in order to spawn a child for some unrevealed reasons.
When she fulfilled her intended purpose and after Cyclops abandoned her to join X-Factor, Sinister sought to eliminate her and take the child.
He would send the Marauders to assassinate her.
However she would join up with the X-Men who seemingly sacrificed their lives to save the world.
Eventually her seething hatred would lead to a deal with N'Astirh.

Outside, Psylocke manages to convince the depressed Longshot that he still has his good luck power
and has him toss one of his daggers at the shield to find a weak point.

Finding it, the teams manage to burst through just as Madelyne attempts to kill both herself and Marvel Girl.
With this distraction, the Goblin Queen tosses young Christopher, sending his father diving for his boy.
Attempting to kill them all in the chaos, Madelyne is over powered by MG, who's love for the X-Men gives her the strength to fight back.
MG then decides the only solution is to accept the portion of the Phoenix Force that resides in Madelyne,
and in the process also absorbs all of her clones memories and is restored.
The power of the Phoenix Force manages to break the Inferno spell
and make MG a complete woman once more. However Madelyne dies in the process.

With the battle over, Jean goes to Scott who is both in mourning for the
death of his wife but also eternally happy to finally be reunited with his son.
In the aftermath, everyone gathered notes that the X-Men haven't been restored to normal following their exposure to the Inferno spell
and wonder if this will cause problems to them in the future. Beast commends Warren for his selfless acts that day and his ability to
fight against his evil impulses and rechristens him Archangel. Cyclops tries to make amends with his brother,
however Alex still resents Scott for what he did to Madelyne and tells him that if he could join her side again he wouldn't do things differently.
In the end Marvel Girl looks at the lifeless body of the woman cloned from her DNA and realizes the pure evil that is Mr. Sinister
and rallies both groups together to hunt Sinister down and put a stop to him before he causes this sort of travesty again.

Story by Louise Simonson. Art by Walter Simonson and Al Milgrom.

[EmeraldGladiator]

I don't regard the X-Factor issues of Inferno as canon because Maddy acts so out of character just a one note villain. I realize that the Simonson's had to be team Scott and Jean but they totally ignored the complex incredible character that was/is and will always be Madelyne Pryor and turned her into a one note unsympathetic heartless suicidal villain. They didn't deal with the bad corner that Scott and Jean had been written into (by virtue of resurrecting Jean and pairing her with Scott despite the fact that he was married without dealing with that) so instead they did a hack job of telling the story. I loved Inferno but reading X-Factor's Maddy I was like who is this??? Not the Maddy that I had grown to root for. Claremont on the other hand didn't try to make the O5 look bad in comparison to the X-Men. Alex, Storm and Logan were sympathetic towards Maddy even after the demon spell was broken but Scott and the Simonson's showed her no respect at all really.