When Madelyne learned the cost of her Anodyne powers, she asked Loki to take them back. Loki then undid all the healing she'd done. But if she had Jean's genes, why did the Firefountain give her powers in the first place? The magic was supposed to work only on normal humans. My theory was that Anodyne was the awakening of Maddie's powers: telepathy for psychological healing, cellular-level psychokinesis for physical healing. Loki was able to take them from her because she didn't realize they were truly hers.
IMHO Scott's behavior would have been more credible if he'd blurted out "Jean's alive!" before he could stop himself. Maddie would have been upset, but she would have understood the situation instead of being caught off-guard at seeing Scott and Jean holding hands on the monitor. She would have been far less vulnerable to S'ym's trickery. And she could have made a rational decision about what to do about her marriage.
Last edited by Anodyne; 03-01-2021 at 03:16 PM.
Beverly Allen, the Bee--with honey and stinger.
"If humans have souls, then clones will have them, too."--Arthur Caplan
I think it is a little more than that...as I said above it is all on the writer for making Scott a feckless douche...but if he had just acted in a responsible manner towards his wife and kid and not ran off to relive his teen glories with his oldest friends Maddie may have had a support network when they all found out the truth and she may never have gone all darkside.
Since the site was sold, the only worthwhile thing about CBR are the forums.
When it comes to Maddie and Scott for me its always going to be a matter of mental health. Its not about chasing glory days, but a fact that marrying a woman who was identical to your long time girl friend/fiance who killed herself was a sign he was not ok. If Cyclops were a real person, there are strong indicators the guy suffers severly from PTSD from multiple traumas in his life. Imagine your best friend having their significant other kill themselves then they go on to date someone who looks the same. I don't know about you but I'd at least have several "this is not healthy" talks with them. Instead all of those closest to Cyke endorsed the pairing. I know at the time the writers were not thinking about mental health, but to me it makes him come off as more realistic then many others. I might just be a Cyke apologist but that's seriously how I've read it. Xavier, Alex, Corsair, anyone should have stepped in and try to get Cyke help or talk him out of it, instead of telling him he needs to get over Jean and not miss an opportunity to marry her clone. (Again I know at the time Clairmont did not intend the clone story, but it also doesn't change the fact that she looked so identical it messed with everyone she ran into).
Side note: Also for me, I know when this topic comes up a lot people jump between what Cyclops should have done vs what the writers intended. At my local comic shop, the owner there likes to both blame Cyclops for the situation, but then deny defending Cyke because Clairmont never intended Maddie to be a clone. For me it should be 1 or the other. You can either blame editorial mandate (so Maddie becomes a clone, and Cyke was written out of character) or you have to look at it for the story that was written. A man who watched his fiance kill herself goes on to marry her clone (who if I remember used telepathy to make him fall for her faster, and no one steps in the way for the mental health issue that it is.)
Last edited by Cyked; 03-02-2021 at 05:45 AM. Reason: Side Note Thoughts
I don't remember that being mentioned in story...but I do know she somehow used her latent abilities from time to time such as to protect herself from the Marauders.
As far as Scott's issues...he really does need to own up to his failings...especially with regards to how he treated Maddie. He walks out on her for Jean, and after Maddie's 'death' in Inferno basically acts like Maddie was meaningless and the Jean is Nathan's mom. Everyone in this situation needs probably several sessions a week on Samson's couch.
I'll have to look it up after I get out of work. I'm rather sure it comes up in Inferno. As for Cyclops not owning up to his failings, that's the bulk of early X-Factor up to Inferno. I am not sure what else there really is to do after Cyke spent issue after issue lamenting his poor choices. Its not like he joined X-Factor and never spoke of her until Inferno, and then never again.
Being honest, Maddy's one of Claremont's biggest mistakes.
I wish Claremont had concluded the story by revealing that Madelyne's resemblance to Jean was an illusion created by Mastermind: Wyngarde made Scott and the others see Jean's face when they looked at Maddie, and made Maddie see her own face when she looked at Jean's photo.
Last edited by Anodyne; 03-02-2021 at 04:45 PM.
Beverly Allen, the Bee--with honey and stinger.
"If humans have souls, then clones will have them, too."--Arthur Caplan
I get that Claremont was big into soap opera tropes, which itself helped generate reader interest in these characters beyond your standard superhero fights.
But goddamn, if Madelyne looked like Jean because of Mastermind, and Madelyne turned out to be Jean's jealous, scheming step sister or some other cliche like that, it would *still* make more sense than Madelyne's original story.