The Madelyne Pryor/Anodyne/Goblin Queen Appreciation Thread 2022

[Askani's Flame]

Can we be glad that we're talking about 616 Maddie and not one from secret wars and not the AU Jean who pretended to be her?

Seriously. Those other two just made things far more problematic to understanding who Maddie is.

[Exodus]

So Maddie has a thing for blondes now

...better than sons...

[DarkMagnus]

She would have killed Beast by now.

and that is bad because???

[seccruz]

and that is bad because???

LOL! True...

[xhx23x]

Maddie made it to a video game, upcoming updates to Marvel Strike Force:

[Galerion]

By Angel Solorzano



I mean considering their interactions in Hellions they seem to be kinda into it

[Uncanny X-Man]

I was actually re-reading Hellions' first arc yesterday with Madelyne making her return. Paraphrasing:

"I returned years ago. Nobody cared"
"Why do you only notice me when I hurt people?"
"I want to show them I'm a real girl"

I really loved how Wells gave voice to Maddie's inner trauma in a way very few writers did. I also always felt like Wells had a bigger arc in mind for her aside from killing and resurrecting her again, but I'm looking forward to whatever Ayala has in store.

[seccruz]

maddie made it to a video game, upcoming updates to marvel strike force:

yas, maddie!

[Anodyne]

So Maddie has a thing for blondes now

...better than sons...

If you were amnesiac, and you met a guy who seemed only a few years younger than you, would you immediately realize, "You must be my long-lost son, whom I haven't seen since you were a baby!"? When Glenn Greenberg was editor of X-Man, he described Madelyne's relationship to Nate as "part big sister, part gadfly, part demon on his shoulder." Sadly, he didn't get that across to the fans.

But what I really wish for Maddie is that the writers would treat her as how a real woman in her circumstances would be: a mother who'd tried to kill her own child in a time of madness, and is now horrified by what she almost did.

Actually, however, she and Nathan seemed close to a reconciliation--or at least a truce--in the Blood Brothers crossover (X-Man #46, Cable #363, and X-Man #47, IIRC), when they joined forces to stop Stryfe. Maddie even risked her own life to siphon off power from Stryfe and give it to Nate. Please don't say she wasn't really alive; she had thoughts and feelings; that makes her alive enough for me.

Another thing: Has anyone else wondered why Madelyne didn't wake up until the Phoenix Force came to her? My theory is that her brain wasn't receiving the input--sights, sounds, etc.--it needed to form neural pathways. When I raised this point in Comixfan, someone replied that her ears weren't blocked. But what was there for her to hear? Our brains tune out familiar, monotonous sounds. I think the Phoenix Force awakened Maddie by force-feeding her mind with the stimuli it hadn't gotten until then--something like mental CPR.

[BobbysWorld]

Another thing: Has anyone else wondered why Madelyne didn't wake up until the Phoenix Force came to her? My theory is that her brain wasn't receiving the input--sights, sounds, etc.--it needed to form neural pathways. When I raised this point in Comixfan, someone replied that her ears weren't blocked. But what was there for her to hear? Our brains tune out familiar, monotonous sounds. I think the Phoenix Force awakened Maddie by force-feeding her mind with the stimuli it hadn't gotten until then--something like mental CPR.

I've actually wondered about that before too, because to me the most interesting thing about that is....Sinister might be a despicable person, but he's GOOD at what he does. It DOES seem weird that his attempt to clone Jean was unsuccessful until the Phoenix Force sparked her to life, because based on his science, his other successes, etc....there's no reason it SHOULDN'T have worked? I like to imagine that maybe there was an unseen time travel story along the lines of a 'future child inadvertently meddles in his parents' lives/past and thus brings about his own creation' kinda plot. Something like during his many travels through time, Nathan wound up in the lab Sinister created his mother in, and upon realizing when and where he was.....he used his own powers to keep Maddie from 'waking up' when Sinister was first done cloning Jean.....which ironically, if you think about it, would have been the best way to protect her from Sinister. If Maddie had just woken up as soon as her creation was done, displaying the mutant powers Sinister expected, etc.....she would have been under his complete control and influence from day one, her entire personality his to mold and shape as he pleased. But because she was a failed clone in his eyes, he just left her in her incubation tube untouched....until the Phoenix Force woke her up and imprinted pieces of Jean in her mind that acted as a base template that jumpstarted her OWN personality and being....completely independent of Sinister.

But I mean, yeah, when you think about it, it IS odd that Sinister seemed unsuccessful at first, and I think there's room for an untold story there where he only failed because of outside intervention....that was aimed at protecting Maddie or giving her an opportunity to start her life as her own person rather than just Sinister's preprogrammed pawn with a completely cultivated-by-him personality.

[MarvelMaster616]

Maddie made it to a video game, upcoming updates to Marvel Strike Force:

I play this game. And I plan on getting her once she's available.

[Devaishwarya]

My rather simplistic take on it is...The Phoenix Force did indeed awaken Maddie who was basically a Tabula Rasa in a coma...which Sinister himself couldn't understand...b giving her the "cosmic spark of life" like the lightning that awakened Frankenstein's monster.

[rcaguy]

[QUOTE=WallStreeter;5876452]

It's a new year, and Madelyne Pryor deserves a new appreciation thread.

Why are so many deep insights about Maddie posted in other characters' appreciation threads?

I'd like to see Anodyne at one extreme and the Goblin Queen at the other, with Madelyne caught between them, struggling to overcome her demon-conjured persona and reclaim her Healer self.

Note: All future quotes in this post are from Madelyne's 2021 appreciation thread.


That characterization was created by Maddie's true enemy: Not Mr. Sinister, but Louise Simonson, who deliberately set out to drag Maddie through the mud. Would it really have ruined Scott and Jean's future happiness if the realization of her son's peril had jolted Maddie back to sanity, and she'd sacrificed her own life to save his? Of course not! But Ms. Simonson, by her own open admission, didn't like Madelyne and relished the opportunity to do a hatchet job on her. I'm still waiting for a writer to redress this injustice--and for an editor to allow this redress.

Yes, Claremont first introduced the Goblin Queen, but at least he made it clear that Madelyne was tricked into dealing with S'ym. "It's only a dream, right?" Her failure to recognize S'ym's true nature only shows that she didn't judge people by their appearance. After all. S'ym didn't look any more demonic than Nightcrawler.



It was the 80s, and divorce had become a huge social issue. The public dud the deal with it well, nor did the government. So poor Madelyne was turned into a baby killing which all because of Marvel not being able to conceive that Madelyne and Scott just could have had a divorce and worked out a co-parenting arrangement.

Frankly I hope Vita runs a stake though the heart of the mess called Inferno and finally bring it to it's wimpering end like the crappy vampire story it is and move on. I'm sick of it.

[WallStreeter]

[QUOTE=rcaguy;5987287]

Frankly I hope Vita runs a stake though the heart of the mess called Inferno and finally bring it to it's wimpering end like the crappy vampire story it is and move on. I'm sick of it.

We will see what happens. Vita deals a lot with PTSD and recovery from it. I think Madelyne will take over Limbo. As the sorceress supreme there, it will give her an
Important role with Krakoans and yes I think her relationship with the others will heal. Illyana will still have a lot to do as one of Krakoa’s war captains snd her teaching duties for mutants and Dr. Strange’s Academy.

[WallStreeter]

If you were amnesiac, and you met a guy who seemed only a few years younger than you, would you immediately realize, "You must be my long-lost son, whom I haven't seen since you were a baby!"? When Glenn Greenberg was editor of X-Man, he described Madelyne's relationship to Nate as "part big sister, part gadfly, part demon on his shoulder." Sadly, he didn't get that across to the fans.

But what I really wish for Maddie is that the writers would treat her as how a real woman in her circumstances would be: a mother who'd tried to kill her own child in a time of madness, and is now horrified by what she almost did.

Actually, however, she and Nathan seemed close to a reconciliation--or at least a truce--in the Blood Brothers crossover (X-Man #46, Cable #363, and X-Man #47, IIRC), when they joined forces to stop Stryfe. Maddie even risked her own life to siphon off power from Stryfe and give it to Nate. Please don't say she wasn't really alive; she had thoughts and feelings; that makes her alive enough for me.

Another thing: Has anyone else wondered why Madelyne didn't wake up until the Phoenix Force came to her? My theory is that her brain wasn't receiving the input--sights, sounds, etc.--it needed to form neural pathways. When I raised this point in Comixfan, someone replied that her ears weren't blocked. But what was there for her to hear? Our brains tune out familiar, monotonous sounds. I think the Phoenix Force awakened Maddie by force-feeding her mind with the stimuli it hadn't gotten until then--something like mental CPR.

Sinister kept her in a tube all the time. No one would develop a consciousness under those circumstances. It was his first successful attempt at creating an adult clone.

So yes, it was definitely mental cor. We will see Madelyne next week.