Jean Grey / Phoenix Appreciation 2024

[Mercury]

I do not want to see any more of Beau DeMayo's plans lmao. It would be nice if the nostalgia is siloed and this doesn't affect the comics, but we already know the TV house leads everything else. This is gonna be a super-rough decade.

Babe—and I mean this with care and affection, which you should know considering our sporadic DM exchanges in the past, along with my little gifts, despite my ragging on you from time to time: Enjoy the ride. Stop looking for things about which to nitpick and actually enjoy the care and respect with which Jean and her history have been treated by the likes of Simonson, Gillen, and Duggan. As fans, we have little to complain about. Also, think back to your doomsaying in 2020 and how you swore she would "remain in the dress forever" and never be given any focus or manifest Phoenix again. (Wasn't all that grumbling ultimately a waste?) Then, reflect on how fans of other characters must feel, characters who have truly been sidelined and overlooked, and simply consider how pompous it reads to constantly want more, more, more. Ultimately, this era has only highlighted the best parts of and added to her mythos. We're blessed.

As for Beau, I'm telling you—take this for what it's worth, and it's worth at least his word—she's in very good hands.

[Rebel Heart]

The amazing RB Silva just shared a few layouts that he had in mind for that upcoming Rise of the Power of X #5 issue. Doesn’t seem like a ruse to me. IMG_9833.jpg

[Rebel Heart]

Here’s another:
IMG_9834.jpg

[Rebel Heart]

Another cool one

IMG_9835.jpg

[Mercury]

I just came here to post these! Great minds... Anyway, I'll post bigger versions:

[Mercury]

Also, borderless, letterless cover:

[Celestialbodies]

I agree. It's not the pregnancy itself that bothers me, but her history. I'll be honest and say I've never watched the whole classic cartoon entirely, but I know Jean was always being saved by Rogue and could barely fly or lift something without Phoenix. I mean, really?

If she at least does something while pregnant (her powers totally allow her to do it, and they could also have some kind of mother boost moment, like Lorna in The Gifted) I'd be glad. Regarding Storm, Wolverine, Gambit and others, they all look good.

So far, the best Jean adaptation is for sure the Evolution one.

All of this! It makes it more frustrating to me with how overtly passive she was in the original series, thrusting her back into a role that would need her to be docile and the actuality that it's not her at all, how is this any different than the series I mentioned before?

I bet that’s not Jean pregnant. I suspect that Sinister kidnaps Jean and replaces her with Madelyne and has everyone fooled into thinking that that’s Jean all along. Later in the season is when they realize and all hell breaks loose. Most likely meaning that Jean will be a background character of sorts. I’m annoyed but Yay! The X-Men are back.

This is exactly how I forsee things playing out, stories like this rarely gives characters like Jean enough focus afterwards that their initial absence has impact. I'm having nightmares about WATX and Xmen Anime as it relates to Jean's role in 97' but we'll see!

Very interesting that this is the cover to RISE OF THE POWERS OF X #5, rather than X-Men Forever. The solicit:

Written by KIERON GILLEN
Art and Cover by LUCIANO VECCHIO
On Sale 5/29
The battle for all time! The X-epic concludes in a battle between those who are outside time and that which is now and forever...and the result is being decided by whether someone can ultimately make the right choice. The end of the Krakoan Age barrels our way as the two series that are one conclude!

Wonder if it's a mistake that it says cover by Luciano Vecchio or if this is actually a variant.

Ugh, just in time to play the Deus ex machina!!

Lovely cover but man don't they use Jean in the most predictably boring ways possible!

And I am adding on that “Jean” was completely unaware of Sinister’s plan and was Jean for all intent and purpose under her own power. She would not be the one lying, which would be why the turn to Goblin Queen makes sense.

Agreed, her turn as PHX/DP might be her sole saving gracing in the original series, the last thing we need is a convulted reflection of the comics of "it might not have really been her".

I love the idea of pregnant Jean. Didn't think so many people wouldn't like that.

I think in a vacuum pregnant Jean is fine, I've even thought one day some adaptation should play with the idea of having Jean pregnant with twins (Rachel & Cable). That said, it's a combination of things for me, on top of her current nebulous state, the last two animated adaptations we got had her in the same exact roles. Incapacitated or sidelined, with someone as her replacement until it's discovered their actions or planning may have lead to Jean's absence. We the information we have now it's likely we won't see Jean until after the big reveal at which point we haven't gotten the opportunity to know her again nor am I confident that the story will give us the space to go on the journey with her.

[5cents]

Looks like I was right.

20-30 years from now, the skirt will be the only thing we remember from the krakoa era lol

[Rebel Heart]

I just came here to post these! Great minds... Anyway, I'll post bigger versions:

You stay sweating me!!! :-P for the life of me I can never upload pics on here in full size.

[5cents]

I bet that’s not Jean pregnant. I suspect that Sinister kidnaps Jean and replaces her with Madelyne and has everyone fooled into thinking that that’s Jean all along. Later in the season is when they realize and all hell breaks loose. Most likely meaning that Jean will be a background character of sorts. I’m annoyed but Yay! The X-Men are back.

I see it going this way too. If it goes this route I hope Jean gets to save the day and show out in a big way.

[Mercury]

It amazes me how people can complain about that which they know literally nothing or very little about. Like...



I mean, if you're going to complain, then at least entertain us by telling us what you would do. Turn this into an actual discussion instead of constantly bemoaning her current position and making absolute judgments that stifle discourse while acting as if the writers and Marvel at large have a personal vendetta against her.

Seriously, what should Jean's role be right now in the unfolding story? Should she have resurrected herself by now and be fighting Orchis alongside the others while getting nerfed just enough to prevent her from fully manifesting Phoenix? (Something tells me this option wouldn't be satisfying to a lot of fans.) No, wait, she shouldn't have "died" at all and had no focus given to her internal workings or her singular, intrinsic, and unbreakable connection to the Phoenix and the White Hot Room. She should have remained alive and just fought alongside the others and, again, gotten nerfed just enough to keep the story going. Actually, no; she should have remained alive and just defeated Orchis at the Gala. The end.

I mean, what do you want?

As for me, I love how her Krakoan arc has turned out in the last two years. She's been treated as a grand esoteric mystery—as she should always be treated—while still being depicted as someone vulnerable, deeply empathic, and with a rich, intricate history. And, as I intimated above, taking her off the table for a spell is exactly what Claremont and Morrison did, so doing so now seems like a nod to their work.

Forgive me for being happy about what they're doing with her and for coming off as intolerant of divergent opinions. It's just that the complaining doesn't ever seem to end.

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

Babe—and I mean this with care and affection, which you should know considering our sporadic DM exchanges in the past, along with my little gifts, despite my ragging on you from time to time: Enjoy the ride. Stop looking for things about which to nitpick and actually enjoy the care and respect with which Jean and her history have been treated by the likes of Simons, Gillen, and Duggan. As fans, we have little to complain about. Also, think back to your doomsaying in 2020 and how you swore she would "remain in the dress forever" and never be given any focus or manifest Phoenix again. Then, reflect on how fans of other characters must feel, characters who have truly been sidelined and overlooked, and simply consider how pompous it reads to constantly want more, more, more. Ultimately, this era has only highlighted the best parts of and added to her mythos. We're blessed.

As for Beau, I'm telling you—take this for what it's worth, and it's worth at least his word—she's in very good hands.

Hands that would, and unfortunately are allowed to, see her mostly doing nothing and giving Shogo stories. Yaaay. And again, the real kicker here is that this gets to poison the comics version; so flopping around on the ground cause she lifted a pencil, Shogo, messed up character design, all coming to a comic near you. Beau is like Chuck Austen with longterm damaging effects.


I'll give Duggan credit for the last Gala; that had an active Jean. I don't know about Gillen. We'll see what he ultimately says if/when he gets around to saying it. Regardless, at least he's not conscripting/sentencing her to Shogo&Jubilee plots.


I already can not wait for somebody to launch New Shogo into a techno-organic future or something. Hopefully that sh*t doesn't take decades.

[I'm a Fish]

Paradigm shift:

“… the part of her that eats stars and Dominions steps closer.”

Where is this from?

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

On the bright side, Jean made it into a least one upcoming video game before her demotion from superhero status comes into effect.

[Mercury]

You stay sweating me!!! :-P for the life of me I can never upload pics on here in full size.

Haha. As for uploading images, do as follows:

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I see it going this way too. If it goes this route I hope Jean gets to save the day and show out in a big way.

I'd bet my fandom on it. I just know Beau is going to treat her beyond great. Anyway, I also think we'll learn that there was a time gap, like in the actual comics, after Jean "died" during the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix Saga in the animated series and that the Jean that returned was actually her clone, i.e., Madelyne, somehow placed in the mansion by Sinister, who also believed Jean dead. That would be a great way to have her keep her Phoenix/Dark Phoenix identity and storyline while making room for Madelyne. Either way it unfolds, it's going to be fun finding out the truth!