Jean Grey / Phoenix Appreciation 2022

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

I’m disappointed all right, but I’m done caring about it, I was reading the issue and enjoying it then it suddenly ended, for a second I checked my kindle app thinking I was missing pages, then I realized that was it, I just have myself to blame at this point, I knew marvel would try to have their cake and eat it too but I fell for it anyway.

To be fair, it was probably better than we could have expected. History said it was going to be an issue about how Jean Phoenix sucks. Them not touching it is probably better than what editorial was inclined to do. We probably got the best that Gillen was allowed to do.

[Mercury]

Anyone else feel a little disappointed in AXE XMen, after we were told that it would explore finally the relationship between Jean and Phoenix, and we didnt get anything new, akthough i did thrill at The bit where he said Jean WAS Phoenix

I think it's safe to say that some fans will have exceedingly high expectations and/or tend to favor seeing the glass half-empty. In regards to Jean's fans, Some of them want her far away from Phoenix, while others want her to be Phoenix. Then you have those that want her past as Phoenix nullified, while others wish for her Phoenix mythos to be respected and remain established and canonical. I have heard and read various valid reasons for wanting either or different combinations of those scenarios. Nevertheless, it is impossible to satisfy all of her fans.

As I've repeatedly stated, I love what Gillen did in A.X.E.: X-Men #1. He spotlighted and treated Jean's raw power, sensitivity, assertiveness, complex internal life, and Phoenix mythos with great respect. He also reaffirmed that Jean is "Phoenix, now and forever" and underscored her cosmic and mysterious nature through other comments made by the Progenitor, along with Sersi, Sinister, and Ajak. However, I understand the disappointment of some fans who wanted a deeper dive into her history and exploration of her identity as Phoenix. Of course, I'll always want more of anything having to do with Jean. Still, what I don't quite understand are those fans who can't seem to find anything positive about this comic or Jean's appearances in the last 6 to 12 months.

Personally, it's been wonderful to witness Jean's development during the last year and a half. Since stepping down from the Quiet Council to lead the charge in Otherworld and rejecting Xavier and Erik's offer of reappointment to the Q.C. to establish the new X-Men team, she has continued to become more prominent and grow as an individual and leader. She was instrumental in the inaugural team's initial victories, gained the High Evolutionary's respect and confidence, served as a mentor to Synch and Polaris, defeated Nightmare, and effectively led a subteam against Cordyceps Jones, who she outsmarted and defeated.

During this event alone, she coordinated the X-Men, Avengers, and Eternals during the initial battle against the Hex, helped breach a Hex, telekinetically shielded the island from attacks by Uranos' battle armory, and defeated a Hex by herself. She also managed to successfully deploy and coordinate another subteam to save Earth from a manufactured solar flair found during the Hex's assaults on Krakoa. Lastly, she telepathically undid a magical amnesia spell, aiding Wong in regaining his memories and, most recently, telekinetically split a "miniature sun" while shielding members of the X-Men, Avengers, and Eternals from the Progenitor's "psychic heaviness," which was powerful enough to "crush [them] all alive," before forcefully entering the Progenitor's mind.

Forgive me if I'm in the mood to gloat and do a shimmy.

The others appeared, but in Jean's nightmare it was Emma who directly criticized her costume and in the Celestial's judgment, according to Jean, who would have the ability to make the plan to destroy the Celestial even with the risks of death to humans: Emma. Probably if she was on the Council she would have the votes needed to be opposition

In Jean's nightmare, Emma represented an aspect of Jean's psyche—i.e., the aspect of her psyche by which she both judges and honestly and objectively assesses herself—as is the case in dreams, in which the figures one dreams about represent aspects of oneself (see below). It's understandable that she would subconsciously choose Emma to represent this aspect of herself because she knows Emma is hypercritical of her. As for Emma's presence in the Progenitor's judgment of Jean, I don't believe that had anything to do with Jean's thoughts and feelings as much as with what the Progenitor knows about her life and past and current events and how it chooses to warp all three to manipulate the person being judged. After all, Jean found out and blamed Sinister for what happened after she shut down the illusory Progenitor.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/every...ng-i_b_8538758

https://www.thelist.com/158559/what-...about-someone/

[Lukmendes]

(Mercury may be annoyed I took a while to come here).

So I don't really have strong feelings one way or another about whether or not Jean is Phoenix, so I'll focus on the what the issue has to say about Jean first.

One thing that can be nice about comics that have a specific plot point that begins and ends in an issue is that it shows what they're meant to show there instead of being spread in a bunch of other comics, and since this is character focused, it's about Jean.

What I found interesting is how it gives basic ideas of who Jean is meant to be not just on her personality, but also her powers, so she opens a path in that "god-heart", like Moses, but with a miniature sun instead of the red sea, so that means she's tough, and when the Celestial annoys her enough, she uses her telepathy to talk to him directly instead of waiting to get it over already, these moments show Jean as someone who's strong, aware of how strong she is, but not arrogant, and has a temper, and also scarily competent at using her powers considering she managed to protect everyone while being attacked via telepathy.

I also like how she reacts when being judged, her hands being nailed on that table likely means she felt she wasn't making a difference on the Council, and once she confronts the Celestial directly, he keeps bringing up that planet she destroyed, she says she wasn't really Phoenix, but is trying to make up for it, he dismisses that, she gets angry and tries to attack him, it doesn't work and she tries to bring up that she saved more people than Phoenix killed, but he says that she can never make up for it and she drops and cries because of that.

Afterwards Wolverine does some pep talk, and it is nice how he points out that the Celestial's judgements are flawed, and in his opinion, a god who passes Wolverine himself, but not Jean ain't worth listening, and it is nice to point out that the Celestial's judgements are basically just opinions, and Jean herself points out that he's a hypocrite for judging her while deciding to destroy a planet.

So basically this issue can give a pretty good idea who Jean is as a character, and it is interesting to see how characters react when pushed, since that does give an idea of who they are by showing their reactions, and it is more interesting if you keep in mind that Gillen pointed out in some interview that Jean isn't one of "his'" characters (Meaning characters he has some control over 'cause he's writing 'em at the moment), so he made an extra effort to show off Jean well here, and she's not the only one getting this benefit, he did the same with Stark, although I feel he did a better job showing off Jean.

About the Phoenix thing, Marvel advertised this as answering what Jean's connection with Phoenix really is, but I feel they haven't done it, Jean herself talks like they're separate beings, while the Celestial talks like they're the same and judges her for Phoenix's actions, and that "You are the Phoenix, now and forever." line even sounds like an insult, that she'll always be guilty of what Dark Phoenix did.

On the other hand, as Mercury pointed out, the judgement can also sound be about the Celestial judging Jean for denying the Phoenix on top of that planet's destruction, and Jean denying they're the same only gives him more reasons to fail her.

The problem is it's still moot either way, Jean says they're separated, the Celestial talks like they're the same, but then Wolverine talks like the Celestial's judgement is wrong, and while the context is about he's wrong for failing Jean, it can also lead one into thinking that him seeing Jean and Phoenix as the same could be wrong too, that maybe it's just another opinion, and that's without getting into the whole thing of how there's someone else running around with the Phoenix, that makes it more headache-inducing.

Oh well, fun issue.

Except for the part where there's a bridge for them to walk in that "god-heart", like how is it even there? It's inside a miniature sun, shouldn't it have melted? Even if it can withstand that heat, it should be burning everyone who steps on it, if the heat from the "god-heart" doesn't kill all of them for getting too close to it to begin with, this broke my immersion by 200%. Bad comic.

0/10.

[Mercury]

I love the fans.



"The unspoken truth you refuse to accept...”

[MechaJeanix]

I love those panels from the Teen Jean series. Sometimes as humans we have to learn the same lesson over and over before we actually "get it". I am glad that Jean carries the burden of Dark Phoenix - as it is a defining story for her. It was never a good idea to take that away from her or take away any of her pathos. Over the years the retcon has got weaker and weaker (and like we all are aware Inferno and the Classic backstories took care of it in all the ways that matter, but yet the retcon persists with creators and fans and in a lot of summaries).

I finally got home and was able to read my physical copies of this issue and I love it even more from when I first read it online. It is a great character piece on Jean, and it is a beautiful issue in both art and writing. It accomplished the mission and that was to say something about Jean as a character and as a hero. It also made the declaration on the Phoenix. I loved the issue, but a part of me did want more of an explanation (not because of the solits because they often aren't true but because of the way the issue was billed in the press releases or whatever). But Mercury and others are probably right that this is better than an explanation (because a full one could certainly go either way). An issue like this could have been a disaster - depending on where it went. Many were afraid it would further separate Jean from being the Phoenix and it did the exact opposite. In this issue Jean is compared to a Celestial and has to face she can never make up for the destruction of the D'Bari. Jean is described so well by the Celestial, Wolverine, Sinister, and others.

Jean continues to try to make up for something that she can't. That makes her a complex character and tells us about her motivations. Fans here often complain that we don't know Jean's inner thoughts or motivations but this story gave us some of that. She denies being Dark Phoenix because it is very painful to admit. The memories of Dark Phoenix and the feeling of a world die is a torment to her (as said before in X-factor when she last fought a Celestial). It makes sense that her instinct is to deny - like many of us deny when we commit wrong doings because in part we do not want to be defined by our worst moments).

I expected Jean to fail her judgement when I read the issue where Iron Man passed. It would been kind of boring to have all these folks pass. I am eager to see where Jean goes next in her story. Duggan, and maybe others, have hinted big things for Jean going forward. We've already had so many great moments in this era for Jean. It is nice to see so many folks enjoying the progress. Even on here most are enjoying it and on twitter there was so much love for this issue. It is a nice change of events.

Again, intellectually I understand some of the hesitation because initially I wanted more also, but I can't deny this was a great issue. I bought two copies and I encourage others to buy physical copies. It is going down in my collection as one of my favorite Jean centered issues.

[Havok83]

Jean looking like Kitty Pryde

[Phoenixx9]

Jean looking like Kitty Pryde

I wanna know which Marvel professional did not know that Jean is a Red-Head?!?

Now and Forever!

[Mercury]

The Dark Web and Sins of Sinister trailers have dropped.

Dark Web trailer: https://mobile.twitter.com/Marvel/st...40704813506560

From light-hearted Christmas shopping to kicking ass, her range is just...🤌🏻



Sins of Sinister trailer: https://mobile.twitter.com/Marvel/st...44948522143744

[Phoenixx9]

The Dark Web and Sins of Sinister trailers have dropped.

Dark Web trailer: https://mobile.twitter.com/Marvel/st...40704813506560

From light-hearted Christmas shopping to kicking ass, her range is just...����



Sins of Sinister trailer: https://mobile.twitter.com/Marvel/st...44948522143744

Nice!

The Jean goodness continues...!

[Thirteen]

Jean looking like Kitty Pryde

I wanna know which Marvel professional did not know that Jean is a Red-Head?!?

Now and Forever!

Given that the words "All Black X-Men Team" are being used in promotions for BISHOP:WAR COLLEGE, I wouldn't be so sure that's Jean at all, just as the nappy haired brown skinned guy in the energy visor prob isn't Scott (or at least 616-Scott).

Also wasn't there a recent animated or game adaptation that race bent Jean as a woman of color that looked similar, albeit more red haired?

(UPDATE) It appears that's likely to be Aura Charles wearing the Jean Grey hand-me-down costume...
https://www.gamesradar.com/bishop-tr...imited-series/

[Havok83]

His hair isnt nappy

[Thirteen]

The Dark Web and Sins of Sinister trailers have dropped.

Dark Web trailer: https://mobile.twitter.com/Marvel/st...40704813506560

From light-hearted Christmas shopping to kicking ass, her range is just...����

The costume under the overcoat (with tiara!) is an interesting nostalgic genre choice, especially considering Jean's ability to transmute her clothing.

[Grey]

I felt that the Phoenix jean relationship was definitely touched on and will be more so.

In mere moments she acknowledges her role in the PS (regardless if it’s a clone or her or psychically influenced her), but immediately acknowledges the pain and sntonement she’s done is leaps and bounds above a god who is willingly doing exactly what he intends a.

It’s a huge difference and jean has every right to finally pull the gloves off and say enough is enough, all while not trying to say she isn’t culpable in some way. She gets huge respect from me for that.

The fact that she has expelled the Phoenix voluntarily whike llike powering up for this situation makes the follow up have. A lot of potential. Fingers crossed.

[Soulsword323]

That was a really fantastic character issue for Jean. In one issue Gillen was able to demonstrate all the facets of Jean that makes her so interesting. It really made me appreciate Kieron's writing of Jean, and has quickly made him one of Jean's better writers IMO. Seeing how benevolent and powerful Jean was, and how respected she is by so many, even this makeshift Celestial, was a joy to read. Sinister remarking that Jean herself was unique was a nice revelation as well.

This premise of the issue itself isn't groundbreaking, and we've rehashed this conversation narratively before, but it does feel like it cements that there was no separation of Jean and the Phoenix. They are one in the same. We've often see Jean take responsibility for what the Phoenix did while "impersonating" her, but not often seeing it as something she herself did. I appreciate that it tries to do away with that, though I'm sure people will still argue otherwise. I get people wanted more, and it is frustrating that the good Jean did as Phoenix never seems to be remembered, but this is probably one of the better Jean focused issues we've gotten in a very long while.

[Rebel Heart]

Given that the words "All Black X-Men Team" are being used in promotions for BISHOP:WAR COLLEGE, I wouldn't be so sure that's Jean at all, just as the nappy haired brown skinned guy in the energy visor prob isn't Scott (or at least 616-Scott).

Also wasn't there a recent animated or game adaptation that race bent Jean as a woman of color that looked similar, albeit more red haired?

(UPDATE) It appears that's likely to be Aura Charles wearing the Jean Grey hand-me-down costume...
https://www.gamesradar.com/bishop-tr...imited-series/

Eeek... not sure if you are aware but referring to someone as having "nappy" hair isn't really the most socially proper way to describe a person with frizzy, natural or curly hair.

I think that that is indeed a non-caucasian Jean from a different dimension/timeline.