Madelyne Pryor 2024: Appreciation, Aspirations and Cheers for Her

[Havok83]

What I meant to say is that the whole story "behind the scenes" was that Claremont, who originally meant Madelyne to be Jean reborn through the Phoenix when she walked away from the airplane crash, and Byrne who came up with Jean to be underneath a New York River in some sort of cocoon through the Phoenix leaving her there. There was sort of conflict between the two visions who wanted their own way to bring Jean back, and the reconcilement of that was the Inferno storyline.

--jthree

Claremont didnt intend for Maddie to be Jean reborn. Thats something he teased with From the Ashes which revealed it to be a hoax by Mastermind. His intent, which he got to play out was that she was a random 1 in a million chance lookalike for Jean. Nothing more beyond that and he did not want Jean resurrected. He definitely could have pitcher Maddie as Jean once he learned of X-Factor but he didnt (instead suggesting Sara Grey be used instead). He was very adamant that Jean stay dead and nearly quit Marvel when he learned she wouldnt bc it undermined what ended up being a very impactful story that he wrote with the DPS

X-Factor had been teasing a Phoenix connection to Maddie and how she may or may not actually be connected to Jean. At the same time, Claremont was building up Sinister in the background and the mystery behind why the mutant hunting Marauders targeted Maddie, a human was unrevealed. That easer for Inferno suggested that these questions would be answered

[Thirteen]

What I meant to say is that the whole story "behind the scenes" was that Claremont, who originally meant Madelyne to be Jean reborn through the Phoenix when she walked away from the airplane crash, and Byrne who came up with Jean to be underneath a New York River in some sort of cocoon through the Phoenix leaving her there. There was sort of conflict between the two visions who wanted their own way to bring Jean back, and the reconcilement of that was the Inferno storyline.

--jthree

Claremont didnt intend for Maddie to be Jean reborn. Thats something he teased with From the Ashes which revealed it to be a hoax by Mastermind. His intent, which he got to play out was that she was a random 1 in a million chance lookalike for Jean. Nothing more beyond that and he did not want Jean resurrected. He definitely could have pitcher Maddie as Jean once he learned of X-Factor but he didnt (instead suggesting Sara Grey be used instead). He was very adamant that Jean stay dead and nearly quit Marvel when he learned she wouldnt bc it undermined what ended up being a very impactful story that he wrote with the DPS

X-Factor had been teasing a Phoenix connection to Maddie and how she may or may not actually be connected to Jean. At the same time, Claremont was building up Sinister in the background and the mystery behind why the mutant hunting Marauders targeted Maddie, a human was unrevealed. That easer for Inferno suggested that these questions would be answered

Adding: I hadn't read the John Byrne part of the "RealJean cocooned in the river" retcon. I've always seen that credited to then rising star Kurt Busiek.

[Thirteen]

One of the benefits of her late in life resurgence and entry into Other Media adaptation is that Madelyne's generation one action figure is head and shoulders better than early Jean toys were. Increased modesty paint accepted...

[marhawkman]

funny part: they spoiled the plot reveal with the toy.

[JThree]

Claremont didnt intend for Maddie to be Jean reborn. Thats something he teased with From the Ashes which revealed it to be a hoax by Mastermind. His intent, which he got to play out was that she was a random 1 in a million chance lookalike for Jean. Nothing more beyond that and he did not want Jean resurrected. He definitely could have pitcher Maddie as Jean once he learned of X-Factor but he didnt (instead suggesting Sara Grey be used instead). He was very adamant that Jean stay dead and nearly quit Marvel when he learned she wouldnt bc it undermined what ended up being a very impactful story that he wrote with the DPS

X-Factor had been teasing a Phoenix connection to Maddie and how she may or may not actually be connected to Jean. At the same time, Claremont was building up Sinister in the background and the mystery behind why the mutant hunting Marauders targeted Maddie, a human was unrevealed. That easer for Inferno suggested that these questions would be answered

May be wrong, but there was that issue of X-Men, which was a flashback showing Maddie stepping out of the exploding plane she was in, and surrounded by the fires of the Phoenix. That happened right when Jean died on the moon. Recheck "From the Ashes," and you'll see Scott's reaction to when Maddie told him that story. Now, it's possibly Claremont reconned that moment to the Phoenix fire awakening her as a clone in Sinister's lab. But I remember reading somewhere that Claremont did intent or Maddie to be Jean reborn or at least keep the fans guessing for awhile. So I'm not sure. . . . but I feel that there were writers issues on how the Jean/Madelyne/Scott issue should be resolved. If you notice in the in X-Men stories, Maddie is treated more sympathetically (somewhat), and in X-Factor she's treated more as an out and out villain.

--jthree

[Havok83]

May be wrong, but there was that issue of X-Men, which was a flashback showing Maddie stepping out of the exploding plane she was in, and surrounded by the fires of the Phoenix. That happened right when Jean died on the moon. Recheck "From the Ashes," and you'll see Scott's reaction to when Maddie told him that story. Now, it's possibly Claremont reconned that moment to the Phoenix fire awakening her as a clone in Sinister's lab. But I remember reading somewhere that Claremont did intent or Maddie to be Jean reborn or at least keep the fans guessing for awhile. So I'm not sure. . . . but I feel that there were writers issues on how the Jean/Madelyne/Scott issue should be resolved. If you notice in the in X-Men stories, Maddie is treated more sympathetically (somewhat), and in X-Factor she's treated more as an out and out villain.

--jthree

Unless it was shown in some other story that never happened in Fall of the Ashes. Maddie recounts the day a plane she piloted crash and she was the sole survivor. There is no flashback shown nor a Phoenix effect. Claremont teased her being Jean but revealed it to be fake within that same story. He did not leave it as a lingering mystery

And Maddie was not treated as a villian until inferno. In that story she was treated as such in both UXM and X-Factor. Prior to that she was thought to be MIA and een dead for the bulk of X-Factor's run

[Agent Z]

Goblin Queen ('97) by SBArt84.

[JThree]

And Maddie was not treated as a villian until inferno. In that story she was treated as such in both UXM and X-Factor. Prior to that she was thought to be MIA and een dead for the bulk of X-Factor's run

That is true. Maddie wasn't treated as a villain until Inferno, but is still a slight change of tone in how she was written in the X Men and X Factor camps. In what issue did Claremont "tease her being Jean but revealed it to be fake within the same story." Just what issue did that happen in? While I can't quote which issue I'm pretty sure there are issues where Claremont left Maddie's origins a mystery, until the powers that be at Marvel finally decided to resolve everything with Inferno. There was an X Men issue where Jean has a flashback to the airplane crash, and there was a Phoenix effect? Can somebody help me ID it?


--jthree.

[Havok83]

That is true. Maddie wasn't treated as a villain until Inferno, but is still a slight change of tone in how she was written in the X Men and X Factor camps. In what issue did Claremont "tease her being Jean but revealed it to be fake within the same story." Just what issue did that happen in? While I can't quote which issue I'm pretty sure there are issues where Claremont left Maddie's origins a mystery, until the powers that be at Marvel finally decided to resolve everything with Inferno. There was an X Men issue where Jean has a flashback to the airplane crash, and there was a Phoenix effect? Can somebody help me ID it?


--jthree.

UXM 175 when Mastermind gave his villian's spiel to Maddie explained what he did and why. He wanted revenge on Phoenix for what she did to him and since she was dead, he targeted Scott and the X-men by taking advantage of whatever girlfriend he had by making him think she was Jean. She ust happened to look like her which made his plan work better than he had intended. Scott learning this and agreeing to marry Maddie was the resolution to the story and he put it to bed any thoughts that she could be Jean. Claremont no longer teased her origins as a mystery nor her as Jean reincarnated after that issue until years later when the real Jean did turn up and they were planting seeds for what would eventually become Inferno

[Thirteen]

May be wrong, but there was that issue of X-Men, which was a flashback showing Maddie stepping out of the exploding plane she was in, and surrounded by the fires of the Phoenix. That happened right when Jean died on the moon. Recheck "From the Ashes," and you'll see Scott's reaction to when Maddie told him that story. Now, it's possibly Claremont reconned that moment to the Phoenix fire awakening her as a clone in Sinister's lab. But I remember reading somewhere that Claremont did intent or Maddie to be Jean reborn or at least keep the fans guessing for awhile. So I'm not sure. . . . but I feel that there were writers issues on how the Jean/Madelyne/Scott issue should be resolved. If you notice in the in X-Men stories, Maddie is treated more sympathetically (somewhat), and in X-Factor she's treated more as an out and out villain.

--jthree

Unless it was shown in some other story that never happened in Fall of the Ashes. Maddie recounts the day a plane she piloted crash and she was the sole survivor. There is no flashback shown nor a Phoenix effect. Claremont teased her being Jean but revealed it to be fake within that same story. He did not leave it as a lingering mystery

And Maddie was not treated as a villian until inferno. In that story she was treated as such in both UXM and X-Factor. Prior to that she was thought to be MIA and een dead for the bulk of X-Factor's run

UNCANNY X-MEN #215 by Claremont/Davis
Madelyne's flashback while being abducted by the Marauders...

[Kurt Busiek]

Adding: I hadn't read the John Byrne part of the "RealJean cocooned in the river" retcon. I've always seen that credited to then rising star Kurt Busiek.

"Rising star." Ha ha ha!

I was nowhere near "star" or even "rising" at the time -- I was getting so little work as a writer that I was working as a freelance assistant editor on MARVEL AGE at the time, and had Jim Shooter not paid me for the plot idea once he learned it had originally stemmed from me,* I'd have had serious trouble paying rent that month.

I didn't get to "rising star" until MARVELS.

And to throw in an observation about Madelyne: Back in 1983, when I was at a comic con in Ithaca, I saw the original art to the Paul Smith page where Madelyne appears the first time, and I saw a drawing he'd done of Jean as well, and I commented that it struck me as odd that she was being treated as looking exactly like Jean, since Paul was clearly drawing two different faces, different bone structure and everything. Paul replied that it said in the plot that she looked exactly like Jean, but he thought that was dumb so he gave her her own face. Not that it made any difference.

kdb

*to run through it quickly: I came up with the Jean-in-suspended-animation idea in 1980, before X-MEN 137 was even out (friends and I heard what was coming, and about Jim's no-resurrection-unless rule, so we had fun coming up with ideas that would work). I wound up telling my idea to Roger Stern, in conversation, at that same 1983 comic con. Unknown to me, Roger told John sometime later, John called Bob when he heard X-FACTOR was still in the works, they all pitched it to Jim, and the first I heard of any of that was when Bob slid up to me in the Bullpen while I was pasting up a MAVEL AGE page and said "I hear I have you to thank for getting Jean back." Since I hadn't thought about the idea for years at this point, I think my reaction was "Huh?"

[Havok83]

UNCANNY X-MEN #215 by Claremont/Davis
Madelyne's flashback while being abducted by the Marauders...

Yeah that was after Jean was resurrected and Claremont started planting those Inferno seeds

"Rising star." Ha ha ha!

I was nowhere near "star" or even "rising" at the time -- I was getting so little work as a writer that I was working as a freelance assistant editor on MARVEL AGE at the time, and had Jim Shooter not paid me for the plot idea once he learned it had originally stemmed from me,* I'd have had serious trouble paying rent that month.

I didn't get to "rising star" until MARVELS.

And to throw in an observation about Madelyne: Back in 1983, when I was at a comic con in Ithaca, I saw the original art to the Paul Smith page where Madelyne appears the first time, and I saw a drawing he'd done of Jean as well, and I commented that it struck me as odd that she was being treated as looking exactly like Jean, since Paul was clearly drawing two different faces, different bone structure and everything. Paul replied that it said in the plot that she looked exactly like Jean, but he thought that was dumb so he gave her her own face. Not that it made any difference.

kdb

*to run through it quickly: I came up with the Jean-in-suspended-animation idea in 1980, before X-MEN 137 was even out (friends and I heard what was coming, and about Jim's no-resurrection-unless rule, so we had fun coming up with ideas that would work). I wound up telling my idea to Roger Stern, in conversation, at that same 1983 comic con. Unknown to me, Roger told John sometime later, John called Bob when he heard X-FACTOR was still in the works, they all pitched it to Jim, and the first I heard of any of that was when Bob slid up to me in the Bullpen while I was pasting up a MAVEL AGE page and said "I hear I have you to thank for getting Jean back." Since I hadn't thought about the idea for years at this point, I think my reaction was "Huh?"

Awesome that you peaked in on our discussion and posted this. Thanks for sharing and being responsible for getting my favorite character back in publication!

[JThree]

Thirteen, thank you posting those two pages from Uncanny X Men 215.

--jthree

[Phoenixx9]

funny part: they spoiled the plot reveal with the toy.

Not for me. I knew it was not Jean, but Maddie who was pregos.

[Thirteen]

Thirteen, thank you posting those two pages from Uncanny X Men 215.

--jthree

NP.

I wonder if not bound with the Madelyne Pryor Sinister coined name "because you had a PRIOR existence as part of Jean Grey", what name would make sense for Maddie to choose in X97? From the clips Ive seen the GOBLIN QUEEN name comes out of nowhere ...as does her self-naming "Madelyne". Maybe Jean's middle name "Elaine" after her mother would be too on the nose. I can see Regina since she gravitated towards regal in her "new" life and then maybe something referencing Grey indirectly so:REGINA ASHE