What To Do With a Problem Like Rachel

[Cyyyke]

Every position EVER given to Hope Summers should have been given to Rachel.

[U.N. Owen]

Give her a new, more physically focused fighting style in the Summers family. If Jean is the mage and Hope is the rogue, make Rachel the fighter. That way, you can be unique from Jean and Hope.

Also, have her interact with her family more. I don’t even think Rachel spent 10 panels with Hope.

[nandes]

Her original storyline already had its conclusion. But that can't happen in modern comics so they brought her back and kept her hanging around just because. That's not an exclusive problem to Rachel though as a lot of characters nowadays don't have much purpose and just seem to show up so fans can say "Hey! That's xxx!".

[Vaishakh]

Her original storyline already had its conclusion. But that can't happen in modern comics so they brought her back and kept her hanging around just because. That's not an exclusive problem to Rachel though as a lot of characters nowadays don't have much purpose and just seem to show up so fans can say "Hey! That's xxx!".

Pretty sure every major character in comics has the same issue. It is upto writers and editors on how to continue on.A good example would be death of Greys and she getting an entire new storyline based on revenge. And they keep failing when it comes to Rachel.

[CRaymond]

One of my Avengers Dream Team rosters is “Cosmic Hybrids”... a book about characters who are armed with Illuminati-created experiments like Aegis: a Klyntar symbiote infected with the transmode virus, bonded to Hercules. It’s a bunch of ridiculously overpowered super humans sanctioned to fight Celestials and Elder Gods on thier level. Rachel as a successful Phoenix Host is a key member.

Fight scenes would be grand splash pages, but the real story is what happens at home: the team is comprised of messy bedhopping bisexuals who make complicated love dodecahedrons, and the universe literally suffers thier heataches.

[Askani's Flame]

One of the issues that is problematic for in particular for the X-Office is that every telepath has the same abilities now. In the 80's and 90's you could have multiple TP or TKer's on a team because they used their abilities differently and had different strengths. We are in an age where every tp'er has access to the same powers and are written to use them similarly. Nevermind that EVERY tp user in the X-Men ALSO has tk. That used to be a unique double combo but now it's for everyone. So it does no good to have these people on a team together. Psylocke going back to her previous look and using her powers differently, from say Jean, allows them to be used together. But the lack of creative and unique powersets makes it hard and difficult.

For Rachel, having an actual issue devoted to her working through everything with Jean is essential (once she is rescued by anyone other than Jean). Many of you may roll your eyes at the idea, but so much of what is problematic about their relationship and awkwardness has everything to do with the fact that they are never allowed to have meaningful interactions that last beyond a panel or two. Have them hash it out as someone above said. Once that is done and they are on the same page, Rachel leaves the X-Men. She joins the Avengers or another team (maybe even the Starjammers). While I love her having access to the Phoenix, it's problematic for her as a character as she'll always be pulling at Jean's imagery.

How is she rescued?

In X-Force's battle against Ahab and his hounds, Ahab is about to get the upper hand as Rachel has been instrumental in taking most of X-Force is taken out. Ahab is about to kill Wi-Fi, when he screams out in pain which triggers his psi-link with Rachel. It floods her mind with their connection and who she was, and allows her to overcome the programming once and for all. She uses a huge power surge and says she loves Nate and to say hello to Kitty and Kurt for her. She then detonates an explosion to destroy Ahab and seemingly killing her in the process. Wi-Fi is upset that he failed again and prepares to call Jean. The final page reveals Blaquesmith standing over an injured Rachel saying it's his job to bring his bright lady back. She trains with Blaquesmith on the techniques she developed as Askani. Takes that codename back. Rachel eventually returns at a critical moment in some event where her saving Jean turns the tide. At the end The X-Men seemingly rejoice in her return, only for her to leave them to join X-Force or the Avengers as this family has not felt like one for her for a long time.

[Vaishakh]

I would say first step would be remove her association with Jean either by stripping off her powers or a mindwipe as a fresh start etc. To editors, Rachel is a well known Jean Grey replacement as such she isnt allowed to change or grow into her own character because she can only be a backup Jean Grey. By removing her powers, editors can no longer force writers to prevent any development.

[Snoop Dogg]

Have Black Bolt and Medusa adopt Rachel.

[Jesse-James]

Every position EVER given to Hope Summers should have been given to Rachel.

Whahaha, no way! Hope is way cooler than Rachel.

I think Rachel is way better of being a hound now, as that was always the way it would end with her anyways.

When she was just introduced she was cool, butt a savior of mutants? Nope that role would not fit the one who once tracked down mutants.

[Rising7]

How about a Kid Cable like age-down. Effectively a reboot, at least to a certain point. Then have her occupy the niche teen Jean left behind as a younger similar character. Dunno, just rambling.

[Snoop Dogg]

Make Rachel the next Starbrand.

[Sardorim]

Spoilers ahead!


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Let's consider more modern examples.

* In space she is forced to be sexually active with Korvus due to the Phoenix Fragments. Rachel wants to Refuse and even says No. Yet she ends up sleeping with Korvus anyway because the Phoenix won't let her refuse and makes her start seeing Korvus as "her love".

* Avengers vs X-Men. Rachel is forced to relive her time as a Hound and track mutants. Rachel doesn't want to do this but is not allowed to refuse and it isn't ever addressed afterward over how screwed up that was. Or how it mentally scarred her.

* AXIS. Rachel is reverted into a Hound and used as a "pet" by inverted Nightcrawler who held her collar. Not once did she consent to this because its tied to inversion. Considering the sexual interest the two secretly had for each other in the past it was obvious what Marvel was doing here by putting her in a collar and BDSM suit and being "handled" by Hound Master Nightcrawler. An oddity as his inversion would never be that in the first place. It was only done to highlight a messed up sexual fetish of Hound Rachel being "handled" like an object by a "Hound Master".

* Spider-Man and the X-Men. Rachel is mentally traumatized by a student, who is the traitor, when her guard is lowered. The damage was so bad that she lost memory. This isn't ever seriously addressed and Spider-Man even pins blame on Rachel for the attack when she was just trying to protect the students. Then the traitor is given zero punishment and the students and Spider-man flip off Rachel like she was the one at fault the entire time.

* X-Men Gold. Rachel is forced to go Hound again and it is implied, based on her radical personality shift, that she was being manipulated to begin seeing Nightcrawler intimately all of a sudden. Nightcrawler only protests initially but because he loves Rachel he decides to sleep with her regardless after the kiss. All his concerns drained away as the blood rushed elsewhere in his body. The villain even admits that he was the reason for her huge shift and that he has been performing mental modifications on her without her knowledge or consent.

Aka Nightcrawler was right that things were off but chose not to act on his concern when the option to start sleeping regularly with a mentally compromised Rachel presented itself. No wonder Rachel ended it after beating the villain as she isn't sure if she consented at all or if she was forced to consent unwillingly like with Korvus.

For some reason writers love making Rachel have sex in situations where it isn't possibly to tell if it was consensual or not. Is it because of her time as a Hound? Or are they pushing her into sex like that because they can't get away with doing it with Jean anymore without causing an uproar?

Yes, I'm talking about the Hellfire Club where it was HEAVILY implied that Jean, in her damaged mental state, was made to screw Shaw or whoever was the King in a highly sexualised introduction. Funny how that wasn't addressed either after the fact.

* X-Men Red. Rachel is once again forced to become a Hound and do things against her will as well as lacking her consent. She then is whisked away and forgotten. No talk about how traumatizing it was to be made a Hound yet again so soon after Gold. Nor any talks of her mother helping Rachel cope as villains seem to enjoy using Rachel's PTSD and mental trauma to force her to obey and do things without her consent.

* Extermination. Rachel is said to be "too broken" that she easily is made to run back to her Abuser, Ahab, who holds sexual interest and favoritism towards her as his best Hound. So broken that she cannot be "saved" and chose to remain with said Abuser in a state where she CANNOT say no or refuse his demands and advances while her friends and family LET it happen. Where she will be put into a gimp BDSM outfit to remind her of her years of severe torture and abuse from her Abuser since she was just a child.

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Each and every instance where Rachel is attacked for being the victim or consent is removed where she cannot refuse the writers and characters are made to just brush it off. They literally are apathetic and don't care that one of their most traumatized and abused friend/family constantly is put into such situations. Heck. Outside Cable (who was murdered) and occasionally Cyclops or Excalibur Kitty/Kurt no one even talked to her about her PTSD or tried to help her deal with it.

What's even more screwed up is that freaking Emma Frost was more of a mother to Rachel, and genuinely wanted to help Rachel, than Jean ever was for YEARS and Emma and Rachel HATE each other. While for some reason Rachel still loves Jean as a mother and wants to bond with her but her past mistreatment and severe PTSD makes it hard on her. Even after the mental bonding in X-Men Red with Jean there is still a distance as shown in Extermination.

I'm sure that there are many more examples out there as let's face it they love making sure Rachel cannot say No or Refuse when put in those situations and of Rachel as a victim being blamed for being the victim like she wants to be a victim (she doesn't). These are just a few fresh in my memory.

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The way they've mishandled Rachel's PTSD and have characters constantly ignore it reminds me of how in, at least American society, PTSD is often ignored or treated as if the victim is at fault and not acknowledging what happened to them to put them in that mental state.

That is how the treatment of Rachel feels to me.

Her PTSD is constantly ignored or made light of by writers and the characters.

No one tries to help her cope after she keeps getting put back into situations that trigger her PTSD.

She is victim blamed time and again and berated for being a victim by characters that normally wouldn't do such a thing as they know her history as a victim of severe abuse.

She is forced to suffer alone and when others sense something is off they don't act. Like Nightcrawler ignoring his gut because he remembered that Rachel is smoking hot and that he wants to sleep with her.

She is forced to relive her PTSD constantly in silence and made to run back to her Abuser who may be far more cruel now since she is an adult and he has in the past expressed sexual interest in her and loves taking away her ability to say No to him. That and he doesn't want to "lose her again" because she is his favorite victim.

Worse of all is how each and every time it happens the writers keep having the characters act like they don't care, like with how society had mistreated actual PTSD victims for decades, when they should care.

It just feels like Marvel has no idea how to handle PTSD or see how screwed up it is with how badly they've treated one of their Poster Children, literally as she was abused since she was a child, of severe abuse and PTSD.

Sorry I just needed to rant as the latest insult, Extermination #5, has led me to be very angry at Marvel currently.

[cranger]

You could write up something similar about a lot of characters in comics. It is something Tom King is trying to address in Heroes in Crisis, and does feature in the odd story or Doc Samson bit, but honestly it is one those things that can't really ever be acknowledged for long or often because every single character would just be too busy in therapy. Due to the repetitive nature of superhero storytelling it just ends up looking absurd, especially for a character like Rachel who, well, this is her thing.

[Sardorim]

Very few characters come to the level of Rachel in this regard or how the writers and Marvel have mistreated her.

Off the top of my head I would say Carol Danvers was abused very badly too when it comes to consent. Marvel tries to bury it but we all still remember the Avengers letting Carol be taken by her rapist.

It seems that since they can no longer do this screwed up stuff to Jean, she is too popular and well known so people would quickly notice, they pushed it all on Rachel who is an easier victim/target who happens to look a lot like a more mentally scarred Jean with severe mommy issues.

Remember that Jean used to be abused like this too in the early days.

[Snoop Dogg]

The issue with characters like Rachel and Warren is that writers don't look at the totality of their histories and see how much new stories they draw in response to that, and instead just do their own spins on old stuff (which editors should stop). One day, someone is going to write the best Rachel story ever revolving entirely around how godawful her history is and how her supposed friends haven't done much about it.