The Many looks of Jean Grey Part Twelve .... How do you solve a problem like Maddie ?

 Now here we go again, I know that Madeline Pryor was not really Jean Grey, but in some sense she was.

Originally she was used as  a  "was she or was she not Jean Grey"  ploy .  Maddie had been  manipulated by Mastermind to get his revenge on what the Phoenix had done to him.  Scott was drawn into the illusion also along with some of the other X-Men. In the end the goodies triumphed and leaving everyone finally knowing that Maddie was not Jean.

Maddie character was originally  designed to allow Scott to finally cut all ties with the X-Men, a chance to let he have the happiness he had never  managed to find in his past.  However, Cyclops was such a popular character  with the fans he would always seem to end up aiding the X-Men all of the time. 

Maddie resented this, but would have to accept that Scott would always be an X-Men. Maddie at times would end up involved in some of the X-Men's adventures. At one time she had super powers herself. She ended up having the power of  health and healing bestowed on her by the Asgardian God of Mischief Loki.  She took on the name Anodyne. 

She used these new abilities to cure Scott's lack of control of his optic blasts. She allowed Rogue the ability to touch people without absorbing their powers and memories. However, these powers were flawed, and Loki was ordered to remove them from Maddie. At the same time this returned everyone she had cured back to their original state of being. 

One good thing that would come out of this was that Maddie discovered she was pregnant with Scott's child.  He would later move Maddie into the X-Manson whilst she was pregnant. Maddie accepted this but still thought her husband was spending too much time with the X-Men. She wanted him with her, not off fighting evil and putting himself in danger.

Now as plans were being made to "Maybe" allow the Real Jean Grey to return to the realm of the living, a more complex back story was being drawn up.  The truth of who or what Maddie was and how she became part of Scott's world. Originally it was thought that Mastermind had caused  Scott and Maddie's first meeting..... but this readers would find out that this meeting had been arranged by someone more Sinister. 

Lots of small hints had been made over the years that Madeline Pryor had first walked onto the scene. The choice of name Madeline was a hint.  Madeline was an  old Jewish word with many meanings, one of which is a Woman of Strength a Tower. The name Madeline is most closely associated with Mary of Magdala sometimes called Mary Magdalene a prominent followers of Jesus from the Biblical times.

Then there was the surname Pryor, there are more than one connection. Pryor could have meant that Maddie had a Prior life or existence ? The word Pryor can also mean a Monastic Leader. And finally the word sounds like Fire. 

All these elements could connect Maddie to The Phoenix. A leader or Great Power. A person who may have  had a Previous Life.  A Woman of Strength that had witnessed the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

All these elements made a compelling argument  that Maddie could be Jean or the Phoenix Force reborn.  Maddie admitted she had no memories of her life before she had walk away from a fatale Plane crash that killed everyone accept her. She had  walked out of the flames, and ashes a Woman Reborn. An accident at the same time  and on the same date as The Phoenix had allowed herself to die on the Moon. Maddie said all she remember was a giant bird made of flame rising up in front of her.

Now, we all know that some of Maddie's memories would be proved to be false. Many had been implanted in her subconscious  by her "Creator". It would be a while before  Nathan Essex aka as Mr Sinister would confess this to her. 

Sinister had spent many decades trying to "Develop" the ideal Mutant Child.  Essex was born in 19th Century in England. Was driven by the views that mankind could not be allowed to develop on its own. Natural selection worked, but was slow and did not always give the desired results. Defiantly not the results he wanted.   Mankind  needed a little bit of help from science too. His type of science. 

Essex realised that at times small natural mutations did happen in Humans and Animals. He soon realised he could successfully manipulate matters. He took subjects that interested him and started his own "Breeding" program. Soon found he could speed up the process, by changing his subjects very body cells. He started experimenting on himself, as he wanted to live and see his experiments at their very climax. 

This changed his appearance, and he found he could "Clone" his own DNA and build better versions of himself.  Over the next few decades, study of others had allowed him to select two subjects that would be the ideal parents of his goal...... The Ultimate Human or as he referred them as Homo Superior. Tracing back both of their family trees, Sinister knew he had found what he was looking for.

These would be Scott Summers and Jean Grey. These both showed him these would be the best combination of Powers, Personality and Potential.  These were ideal accept for two issues. Both Jean and Scott prematurely been able to access their Mutant abilities at a much younger age than usual. Both had had trauma as young children.

 Jean's Telepathy emerged when she witnessed that death of her friend Annie Richardson when they were both young Children. As Annie lay dying in Jean's arms, Jean connected to Annie's mind. Causing Jean to experience Annie's painful death as if it was her own.

Then there was Scott, a head injury as a Child had not just unleashed the Power of his Dangerous Optic Blasts, it had him unable to control them without his Ruby Quartz glasses or Visor. 

Both of these youngsters had with the help of Professor Xavier would later have better control over their powers. Jean's Telepathy was basically turned off  by the Professor until a time her mind could cope with it. Her Telekinetic Powers that had also emerged at this time , and these were developed with the help of Professor X over the years before she finally joined the X-Men. 

Scott was not as lucky as Jean, Professor X would not learn about him until many years later.  Scott had ended up in an orphanage. No one wanted him as he was now a very dangerous Child with eyes that could kill or maim. As a result he spent most of his time unable to see as his eyes needed to be closed and bandaged. Unknow to anyone that Scott did not end up in this Orphanage by chance, this institution was run by Nathan Essex. Who had his Lab and Workshops hidden metres below the large mansion. 

Next Time Maddie back story finally revealed.

Until then ENJOY !

The Many looks of Jean Grey Part Twelve Marvel Girl gets a New Look.

 As explained last time, the original X- Men had formed a new group calling themselves X-Factor. This was a very public group that presented themselves at Human's who hunted down rogue and dangerous Mutants. This was a ruse as the group were in fact Mutants themselves who were trying to help other Mutants  who were being hounded by the general public.

At the same time the original X-Men needed at times to use their abilities as themselves. They could not call themselves The X-Men so another name for the group needed to be found. This is where the X-Terminators came to be. This was a name suggested by Warren Worthington III's right hand man Cameron Hodge. Warren aka Angel was financing the whole X-Factor programme but unknow to him that Cameron was a Mutant hater himself, and was planning the down fall of his employer and all Mutants.

This would come to light later on in the series where the X-Terminators were outed as being X-Factor.

The "New" X-Terminators wore costumes based on a similar design. A full body suit with a large Yellow-Gold X motive on it. The Only difference each member had was that they were all different colours.  These colours very much took there lead from the costumes that they had received when the Graduated. Cyclops wore Dark Blue, Angel wore Red, Iceman wore light Blue (Which was never really seen in his ice form) Beast would not wear this costume at first as he was still Big Blue and Furry, but once he looked more Human again he wore a Brown costume. And Finally Marvel Girl wore Green.

At first Jean wore a full cowl, but later she adopted a more open mask.

When the X-Terminators were outed at being X-Factor, the group adopted the name X-Factor. Jean change her colour to red. As now Angel had now transformed into a Blue Skinned Metal Winged razor sharp instrument of Death, Jean choose a Red costume which was a nod to her time linked to The Phoenix Force. This link not known at the time would remain with her for the foreseeable future.

Here is Jean's Red X-Factor Uniform.

Next time we find out what the Ex Mrs Scott Summers was getting up to, and it is revealed who she really was. 

Until the ENJOY !