Jean Grey / Phoenix Appreciation 2022

[Grinning Soul]

In New X-Men she says she can't do that yet, fly through space... (before she dies)

Sometimes I think the PF fries Jean's perfect recollection. :P

[Phoenixx9]

Sometimes I think the PF fries Jean's perfect recollection. :P

So true!

When Jean flies out to fight Firelord, she likewise states that she has never flown before, but she had---all the way back in issue #14!!

[Lucyinthesky]

Exactly.

But I think some powers are too dangerous to explore too often *even* if the mutant is mentally healthy, mature and knows how their powers work.

Take Kitty, for instance. She’s not an Omega, but imagine if she was…

It would be like the nightmare she had on Astonishing X-men by CN and while she´s not an Omega, her feat with the bullet is out there and that she did after training with her power.

Not to mention all the reality wrappers and, yes, the telepaths.
I think Jean is double-screwed in a way, because TK is no joke either at omega level. And I know she’s not stated as having it at that level in this era. But still… The implications are ridiculous.

I believe that, depending on your Phoenix retcon, this double quality of her being an Omega telepath and Alpha tk made her the perfect host for the PF and that´s why it answered her ask for help. Rev and I also talked a little how the red haired phoenix on Avengers looks way too much like Jean to be a coincidence so I have the theory the PF binds itself better with members of Jean´s family line, like Rachel.

Yeah, but it was all very vague. I’d like the writers to have better, more comprehensive resource available to them.

Agreed completely

Yep. It can be so bad it’s actually funny, but usually it’s just bad. :P

Exactly it may make us laugh after a while but in the moment it happens it just makes you cringe. ;D

[WallStreeter]

I know there wasn’t a gate. I was going for my No-Prize. (I think that is what they were called.)
Rogue flying in space maybe could be explained by her absorbing Carol’s abilities? (I don’t know the full extent of Carol’s abilities.)



Jean is a goddess. And yes, I love Jean in the second half of the 90s. Several wonderful stories and moments with her.

(It is way past midnight here in Sweden. This Jean fan needs his beauty sleep. Hopefully Inferno #4 is available on the Marvel app when I wake up tomorrow.)

As Ms. Marvel, Carol wore a space suit that enabled her to fly through space. She absorbed the suits power, according to editorial, allowing her to fly through space unaided.

[Grinning Soul]

So true!

When Jean flies out to fight Firelord, she likewise states that she has never flown before, but she had---all the way back in issue #14!!

We should make a compilation of those! :D :D :D

I've always wondered, though, if Jean was surprised she was flying because somehow she wasn't using her tk?

[Starchilde]

D5F6F7CC-C50E-4E32-9B36-E7D8B0A2A6FE.jpg

Jean looking gorgeous as always by Werneck ��

994DC255-9E78-4557-902B-1737D4639CB8.jpg

Look at the earrings!! ❤️

[Mercury]

I choose to speak to these contradictions with the Whitman quote in my signature.

Also, I'll be replying to a few posts in a moment.

[Grinning Soul]

It would be like the nightmare she had on Astonishing X-men by CN and while she´s not an Omega, her feat with the bullet is out there and that she did after training with her power.

I suppose that being able to phase yourself and whatever else you focus on for unlimited periods would probably have a profound effect on someone’s mind, because we’re so used to the physical, tangible reality of our bodies and the world around us.

But I may be projecting here because I can imagine phasing myself so I could retreat inside my mind and not be bothered with being thirsty or hungry or any of those annoying bodily things that forces me out to the exterior world. :P

Anyway, I guess you got the point. I think it’s easy to lean too much on limitless powers and it can be very unhealthy.

I believe that, depending on your Phoenix retcon, this double quality of her being an Omega telepath and Alpha tk made her the perfect host for the PF and that´s why it answered her ask for help. Rev and I also talked a little how the red haired phoenix on Avengers looks way too much like Jean to be a coincidence so I have the theory the PF binds itself better with members of Jean´s family line, like Rachel.

You can see it in so many ways… If you take that Classic X-Men story about the time Scott was in the orphanage, it seems that the Phoenix was already lurking around them years before they joined the X-Men.

I don’t know if those stories are considered canon, though, but the suggestion that somehow they were always connected pre-dates the current atrocities against the Phoenix by decades. :P

Exactly it may make us laugh after a while but in the moment it happens it just makes you cringe. ;D

Rolling your eyes might help keeping the muscles that move them strong. :P

PS: I’ll go to sleep now. I’ll read and reply to your PM tomorrow. o/

[Mercury]

[Mercury]

I’d always assumed the major contribution to power levels was the information in their genes. But who knows?

Good point! I've also referenced this, too.

Frankly, it’s more likely that they were intended to be Jean’s siblings, but I just don’t like it. They never showed up before and then they just get killed?

Those were my exact feelings, too. I'm still undecided, lol.

As for the caption you mentioned, I don’t think it necessarily disproves it. "Brian Bonded with Jean. Julia with big sister Sara.". It could have been written to explain that Sara was Jean's big sister (not Julia’s). Considering that Sara was dead by then, it's possible some readers wouldn't know who that Sara was otherwise. But I’ll leave it up to you.

Very good point! We're inching closer to relegating them to second-degree relative status, lol.

Yeah, when it comes to Marvel’s crazy timeline, it’s very rare that you can estimate the time certain stories or even periods took in the actual 616.

For instance, we know Jean stayed in the healing cocoon for at the very least 1 year (but probably close to 2), because we need to allow Nathan to be conceived and born! But the whole Utopia era might become compressed to 4 months at some point. :P

So unless it’s literally stated [EDITED: and non-compressible beyond-a-reasonable-point] (like the time Jean spent in the future raising Nathan - 12 years), it’s usually safer to avoid specific numbers.

Very true. These stories will probably never be given proper timeframes because it would complicate things.

It depends on what you aim to achieve with the OP, right? I’m assuming most people who’d be interested in reading it are new readers/fans. So I suppose it’s better to write keeping them in mind.

Ideally, I think they can benefit more if they get as much information as possible but in the less convoluted way as possible (which is a *huge* task when it comes to Jean’s history), so perhaps certain things are better not to be mentioned.

Like I said, I think you’re doing a terrific job. But my mind is very goal-oriented and I just can’t help framing things in that perspective. Again: feel free to completely ignore any and all suggestions.

I totally get what you're saying. I'll have to think it over some more. Also, again, I love your suggestions. They make me think and bring up perfect points for discussion within this thread.

Apropos of nothing: I can accept that Nathan’s virus might actually affect Cerebro’s reading of his power level, but the fact that Rachel didn’t make Hickman’s list is, my opinion, criminal. :P

The Rachel omission definitely sucks.

[Phoenixx9]

We should make a compilation of those!

I've always wondered, though, if Jean was surprised she was flying because somehow she wasn't using her tk?

To me, it always seemed like Claremont had given Phoenix other powers such as flight, extreme durability and strength as well as energy blasts which were not related to her Marvel Girl powers. Jean as Phoenix also had enhanced TP and TK, but often referred to Xavier as "the most powerful mind" around.

I think we do need to list all of these errors and inconsistencies.

[Mercury]

Jean is the essence of life, goddammit! We all know this. She teems through every living creature and transcendental being known, bidding her time before her great reveal, when the One Above All shall declare her his daughter and counterpart! Mwahahahaha!

In the words of Sylvia Plath (Lady Lazarus):

I am only thirty.
And like the cat I have nine times to die.

This is Number Three.
What a trash
To annihilate each decade.

What a million filaments.
The peanut-crunching crowd
Shoves in to see

Them unwrap me hand and foot——
The big strip tease.
Gentlemen, ladies

These are my hands
My knees.
I may be skin and bone,

Nevertheless, I am the same, identical woman.
The first time it happened I was ten.
It was an accident.

The second time I meant
To last it out and not come back at all.
I rocked shut

As a seashell.
They had to call and call
And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls.

Dying
Is an art, like everything else.
I do it exceptionally well.

I do it so it feels like hell.
I do it so it feels real.
I guess you could say I’ve a call.

It’s easy enough to do it in a cell.
It’s easy enough to do it and stay put.
It’s the theatrical

Comeback in broad day
To the same place, the same face, the same brute
Amused shout:

‘A miracle!’
That knocks me out.
There is a charge

For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge
For the hearing of my heart——
It really goes.

And there is a charge, a very large charge
For a word or a touch
Or a bit of blood

Or a piece of my hair or my clothes.
So, so, Herr Doktor.
So, Herr Enemy.

I am your opus,
I am your valuable,
The pure gold baby

That melts to a shriek.
I turn and burn.
Do not think I underestimate your great concern.

Ash, ash—
You poke and stir.
Flesh, bone, there is nothing there——

A cake of soap,
A wedding ring,
A gold filling.

Herr God, Herr Lucifer
Beware
Beware.

Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair
And I eat men like air.

[Gnostic]

Now take this with a grain of salt, but I heard that the plan for the Dark Phoenix Saga in X-Men: Evolution was going to end with Jean dying and Rogue permanently absorbing her powers. Rogue and Scott would then end up as a couple.

That makes sense considering the future vision shows Rogue having the ability to fly and lands right next to Scott, with Jean completely absent.

I think it would have been fitting considering that Rogue was the one to stop Jean when she went out of control in "Power Surge" by taking some of her power and she had a crush on Scott.

Looks like this is legit.

[Subliminally]

Edit - Merc beat me to it

From Lukas Werneck. Snipped out the non X-Ladies.


The last Art of 2021 and the first post of 2022! The Marvel Ladies, based on the always incredible @atomhues piece✨
from Left to Right
-Mary Jane, Felicia, Gwen Stacy, Natasha Romanoff, Sue Storm, Jeniffer Walters, Janet Van Dyne, Carol Danvers, Medusa, Monica Rambeau, Ann Marie, Jean Grey, Ororo, Emma Frost, Wanda Maximoff, Raven Darkholme

Full picture in post.

[Mercury]

The executive producer of X-Men '97, Beau DeMayo, responded to me and the artist of the piece below with:

Do they have this image in hi-res? My phone wallpaper needs it

He's such a fan. I love it!