Who really is at fault here when it came to Scott and Maddie's doomed marriage ?

[Anodyne]

Fictional characters obviously have to do what their writers--and editors--make them. But a good writer lets them act as real people would in their situation.

That's not true. Maddie got angry because Scott was concerned and worried about the evolution of the Mutant's situation. She said "it's your mutants fellows again? Haven't you done enough for them?". If you want to look at it that way, it's kinda racist: She put a distinction between "his people" (the mutants) and "her people" (the humans). And it's selfish: She want him to disavow his past and origin.

Maddie got angry at Scott because he couldn't bother to take his eyes off the tv long enough to hand her a clean diaper. She needed the diaper now, not at Scott's convenience.

She was supportive when he went to see an ailing Xavier. She was supportive when he went to Asgard to rescue the New Mutants. "I understand. Those kids are counting on you." It wasn't until he returned to Earth in Paris, and he alone didn't bother to call her to ask how she was, that she began to see the X-Men as rivals for his loyalty. Even after the duel with Ororo, rather than trying to cut Scott him off from the X-Men, Maddie invited them to come to Alaska for a visit. They got her postcard in the same issue in which a gunshot-riddled and comatose Jane Doe was brought to a San Francisco emergency room.

You say that Scott didn't excused himself but that's not true: Right after, at breakfast, Scott excused himself and told her they would work things out. That's when he got the phone call. Scott looked worried/distressed. He told Maddie that he _had_ to go. And her only answer was "If you walk out that door don't bother coming back".

Yes, I am sure that's not what she wanted to say and regretted it right after. Like Scott regretted not having tried to fix things with her before going. But that's very human behavior. Let say that they were both not at their best.

I'm glad you acknowledge that Madelyne must have regretted her words. But "Don't bother coming back!" was an outburst of anger, not an ultimatum. When your spouse does a sudden 180 from "We'll work things out," to "I have to go," I think you're entitled to lose your temper. Especially when he let her believe he was only going to visit Warren, as if his old friend meant more to him than his wife and baby. IMHO it was no worse than Jean's tantrum when she learned that her old pals had actually had the temerity to go out while she was gone and get real lives that didn't revolve around their being mutants.

No, but that's the problem: She did know who and what he was. She did know that he couldn't just discard his sense of responsibility and duty toward mutants and humanity just like that. It's too much part of him. She should have accepted it instead of trying force him to become someone different.

Really? Maddie knew that Scott proposed to her by asking if she'd go into outer space with him. Was she supposed to construe that to mean, "I really want to go back to the X-Men?" He'd been away from them for quite a while, and only rejoined them to attend Logan's wedding. Furthermore, it wasn't until they were on their honeymoon that he told her that he didn't want to leave Earth to join the Starjammers.

I'll reply to the rest of people's comments later. I'm sure nobody who knows me will be surprised that I agree with much of what MaddieGrey has said.