Rachel (Grey) Summers: Phoenix II Appreciation 2020

[Veitha]

David Baldeón posted the full size lilXFaqtor Rachel Summers
https://twitter.com/david_baldeon/st...45383284785153

They look so cute. I like this look for Rach, but I'm not sold on the pants either. I hope she keeps the fire signature rather than just the pink halo.

[Askani's Flame]

It's complicated, she was lost in time and space, and in that period she was lost in infinite, infinite moments in time! So perhaps she lived a life as Mother Askani, and then upon Death she was resurrected like the daughter of the Phoenix she is, but restored to the time stream again! It wasn't until Gaunt extracted her from the time stream to use as bait for Cable that we have the Rachel we know now! That makes sense of course, because even in his prison at the end of time Gaunt had access to some of the greatest technology ever created so he was able to detect, extract, and imprison Rachel!

I think what further complicates things is that initially the idea from the editors was that Rachel was being written out of the books permanently when she went into the future to be Mother Askani. There would be flashbacks or minis that would pop up (as they did) featuring her but she would be gone, especially since there were plans on Scott and Jean having a child....her. Excalibur 75 hyped it, and there was active talk in X-Men about Scott and Jean starting a family. That all changed quickly with new editorial leadership and writers, and the death of Apocalypse in "The Twelve" event effectively erased the future Clan Askani world. So in essence the life Rachel lead as Mother Askani didn't really exist anymore except for people who had "lived" it or had temporal powers (Rachel, Cable, Jean, Scott, Sanctity, Blaquesmith, etc). Because of Rachel's natural 4th dimensional pulse and temporal powers she was left drifting in the timestream, which is where Gaunt found her. With the timeline changed, Weinstein wanted rachel to be a bigger part of his book, hence why he had her return. Claremont also wanted Rachel to join X-Treme X-Men shortly after Psylocke was killed off, but she was actively being used in Cable. So once the "Dark Sisterhood" storyline was done, she was free but CC was too far into the series to bring her in other an Bogan's slave.

Once M-Day happened, it effectively reset all thoughts on timelines and other futures/realities. So Mother Askani and that timeline were back. Which went against Claremont's idea that Rachel is a singular unique individual in the multiverse. And then the Phoenix Handbook further cemented that idea: that Rachel was split in the timeline after the events of the Twelve.

When Cable brought Rachel back to the present, she had vague impressions and flashbacks of being Mother Askani! That is because the part of her that had lived as Mother Askani ascended to become one with her followers to act as a goddess figure able to commune with those of her followers who could meditate and reach out to her! When Rachel was taken back to the Askani future by Stryfe after she was turned back into a hound, Mother Askani's consciousness was able to connect with Rachel and wake up Rachel's mind! In the process of doing this, Mother Askani let Rachel have all the memories of being Mother Askani! Mother Askani still exists separate from Rachel, but more of a memory of Mother Askani that remained as part of all of her telepathic followers!

So the answer is complicated, they are separate, but they are also not separate! They are divergences in time, but still linked to each other across time!

I agree that when Rachel ascended her corporeal form and became a psychic entity able to transcend time and space (which by the way is A TRUE FEAT OF AN OMEGA MUTANT.......just saying), she was able to commune with a variety of her devout followers. And like you said, it's why she was able to still exist in that timeline (whoch would have been about 5-6 years after her actual death at most) and then interact with Rachel. We don't know just what happened to Rachel when Mother Askani helped her free herself from Ahab and the 3 Crones enslavement. Did they merge? Does Rachel have insight or full memories from Mother Askani? Did Mother Askani just give her power and nothing else? It's vague and because Rachel was a tertiary character in that X-Force run until the last issues and then it ended so there is no explanation.

But yes, separate but connected.

[Veitha]

So Leah in X-Men Monday said that Polaris, Rachel and Northstar will be friends/cool with each other from the start, while others won't trust or be cool with Rachel from the beginning. Which is kinda weird

[Will Evans]

So Leah in X-Men Monday said that Polaris, Rachel and Northstar will be friends/cool with each other from the start, while others won't trust or be cool with Rachel from the beginning. Which is kinda weird

Is it because she’s a telepath?

[Askani's Flame]

So Leah in X-Men Monday said that Polaris, Rachel and Northstar will be friends/cool with each other from the start, while others won't trust or be cool with Rachel from the beginning. Which is kinda weird

AHHHH THAT'S MY QUESTION!!!!

AIPT: Chris Serwacki (@chriswacki) said Rachel as a character has been mind-controlled, tortured, enslaved, abandoned, overlooked and diminished over the past two years alone. How does this affect how she views her role in X-Factor and Krakoa, and how others view her and her abilities?

Leah: Rachel clicks with Polaris and Northstar right away, but it takes longer for the others to warm up to her. They’re respectful but afraid, more or less–even Daken. Eye-Boy thinks she’s the coolest person he’s ever met though, and looks up to her.

Is it because she’s a telepath?

I am not surprised that people are skeptical or her. Remember - she's been mind-controlled, enslaved, trafficked, and abandoned by the X-Men all in the span of a few months. The power she commands, but the history she has had with being used against mutants would make them all weary (minus Polaris and Northstar as they have also been used and abused by others over the years). So that makes sense. But I love that Eye-Boy looks up to her!!!

So it's partially because she's a telepath, but also because she's been used against her will so many times against mutants that they are afraid she could turn on them if someone gets in her head. And with Mojo being the second issue, it could be a reality seeing as he had programmed her in the past.

[Will Evans]

I wonder if Eye-boy has a crush?

Hopefully Rachel lets him down gently.

[Veitha]

AHHHH THAT'S MY QUESTION!!!!

AIPT: Chris Serwacki (@chriswacki) said Rachel as a character has been mind-controlled, tortured, enslaved, abandoned, overlooked and diminished over the past two years alone. How does this affect how she views her role in X-Factor and Krakoa, and how others view her and her abilities?

Leah: Rachel clicks with Polaris and Northstar right away, but it takes longer for the others to warm up to her. They’re respectful but afraid, more or less–even Daken. Eye-Boy thinks she’s the coolest person he’s ever met though, and looks up to her.



I am not surprised that people are skeptical or her. Remember - she's been mind-controlled, enslaved, trafficked, and abandoned by the X-Men all in the span of a few months. The power she commands, but the history she has had with being used against mutants would make them all weary (minus Polaris and Northstar as they have also been used and abused by others over the years). So that makes sense. But I love that Eye-Boy looks up to her!!!

So it's partially because she's a telepath, but also because she's been used against her will so many times against mutants that they are afraid she could turn on them if someone gets in her head. And with Mojo being the second issue, it could be a reality seeing as he had programmed her in the past.

Congrats for getting your question answered!

This sounds about right. I'm looking forward for some good Rachel stuff in this.

I wonder if Eye-boy has a crush?

Hopefully Rachel lets him down gently.

Wasn't he his students? One of the few X-Men that Aaron did good with was Rach imo, she was pretty badass. I'd stan her too if I were Eye-Boy.

[Askani's Flame]

Congrats for getting your question answered!

This sounds about right. I'm looking forward for some good Rachel stuff in this.



Wasn't he his students? One of the few X-Men that Aaron did good with was Rach imo, she was pretty badass. I'd stan her too if I were Eye-Boy.

Yes, in the sense that she was one of the main teachers at that time. So he already knows her and would look up to her already.

[Havok83]

Rachel fans should be happy to know that she is considered the most OP member of the team and her spoilers:

chronoskinning ability

end of spoilers will return

[RachelGrey]

AHHHH THAT'S MY QUESTION!!!!

AIPT: Chris Serwacki (@chriswacki) said Rachel as a character has been mind-controlled, tortured, enslaved, abandoned, overlooked and diminished over the past two years alone. How does this affect how she views her role in X-Factor and Krakoa, and how others view her and her abilities?

Leah: Rachel clicks with Polaris and Northstar right away, but it takes longer for the others to warm up to her. They’re respectful but afraid, more or less–even Daken. Eye-Boy thinks she’s the coolest person he’s ever met though, and looks up to her.



I am not surprised that people are skeptical or her. Remember - she's been mind-controlled, enslaved, trafficked, and abandoned by the X-Men all in the span of a few months. The power she commands, but the history she has had with being used against mutants would make them all weary (minus Polaris and Northstar as they have also been used and abused by others over the years). So that makes sense. But I love that Eye-Boy looks up to her!!!

So it's partially because she's a telepath, but also because she's been used against her will so many times against mutants that they are afraid she could turn on them if someone gets in her head. And with Mojo being the second issue, it could be a reality seeing as he had programmed her in the past.

I wonder if it's more than that, I wonder if they are going to revisit something from the end of X-Force where Rachel almost killed Stryfe and the only reason she stopped was because Cable convinced her it would do too much damage to the timeline! When Rachel woke up she was in a pretty frightening state, she tore through Stryfe's team like they meant nothing, and when Stryfe challenged her directly he learned a serious lesson in never challenging Rachel Summers!

I wonder if Rachel is considered to have a lot of anger issues since she returned and people are a bit afraid of her if she loses her temper because having someone so powerful angry at you is actually very scary!

Lorna and Northstar would understand her better because they have similar issues with being victimized and then having anger issues dealing with it after! So they are probably more understanding! Betsy is obviously Rachel's best friend right now, outside of the X-Factor team, and I honestly don't know how she really feels about her Mom and Dad! I kind of felt in X-Men #1 that she was playing along with Scott's expectations, he wanted to play Dad, so she played daughter, but it was awkward, it felt very awkward like they really didn't know how to act around each other!

It's funny how much angst is on X-Factor, Rachel, Daken, Lorna, Northstar, Prodigy, Aurora all have serious angst issues! Eyeboy probably has his own issues with acceptance and body positivity because he has a very physically manifested mutant ability!

I hope we get to see Lorna and Rachel remembering a little of how they were during Realm of Kings, they were pretty close in that story!

[Askani's Flame]

I wonder if it's more than that, I wonder if they are going to revisit something from the end of X-Force where Rachel almost killed Stryfe and the only reason she stopped was because Cable convinced her it would do too much damage to the timeline! When Rachel woke up she was in a pretty frightening state, she tore through Stryfe's team like they meant nothing, and when Stryfe challenged her directly he learned a serious lesson in never challenging Rachel Summers!

Truth. One thing that has bothered me about the ending to X-Force was that somehow Cable was able to talk her down....but how did she know who he?? They had never met during Extermination, as she was enslaved before he was introduced to the X-Men. I presume that she retained her memories of being Ahab's hound again (even though she lost all language skills...side eye) but it was never explained on panel nor was there a moment of "oh, you're Nathan just younger". It was washed over. Blargh

I wonder if Rachel is considered to have a lot of anger issues since she returned and people are a bit afraid of her if she loses her temper because having someone so powerful angry at you is actually very scary!

Lorna and Northstar would understand her better because they have similar issues with being victimized and then having anger issues dealing with it after! So they are probably more understanding! Betsy is obviously Rachel's best friend right now, outside of the X-Factor team, and I honestly don't know how she really feels about her Mom and Dad! I kind of felt in X-Men #1 that she was playing along with Scott's expectations, he wanted to play Dad, so she played daughter, but it was awkward, it felt very awkward like they really didn't know how to act around each other!

It's funny how much angst is on X-Factor, Rachel, Daken, Lorna, Northstar, Prodigy, Aurora all have serious angst issues! Eyeboy probably has his own issues with acceptance and body positivity because he has a very physically manifested mutant ability!

I hope we get to see Lorna and Rachel remembering a little of how they were during Realm of Kings, they were pretty close in that story!

I think that Hickman has put Rachel into the "angsty teenage daughter" category when he writes her in X-Men. Even though she's like 25. So in that sense, yes she's "angry and angsty". But her portrayal in Excalibur (while fleeting) was the opposite. I think that we'll see Leah moving her in a productive state than what we've seen from Hickman. But I like that Rachel's anchors are Lorna and Jean-Paul on the team. I like Betsy being close to her, as they were very close for a period of time.

As for Scott and Jean - honestly I don't care about how Rachel feels about Scott and Jean right now. There can be other opportunities to maybe explore that, but I think that that particular relationship is not something writers care to explore to write about. With Cable being a teenager again, we'll see lots of family time with Scott and Jean. The X-Men issue with Scott, Rachel, and Nate was nice but Rachel felt "off" the whole time. I don't think we'll see anything significant with Rachel and Jean again, so Red was best showing and interest a writer has had with them. I am more invested in Rachel growing beyond the constrains of who she's "related" to as it just keeps her in a box as the step-child.

[From The Shadows]

This panel talking about Rachels history with the X-Men.

[Thirteen]

Someone made modifications to Rachel's new X-Factor look...
(posted by Adwin Caban)

[Cerridwen]

much better!

[Askani's Flame]

This panel talking about Rachels history with the X-Men.

Alan Davis' Phoenix look for Rachel is always iconic.