Comic Chronicles: Marvel Girl

While writing my previous "Comic Chronicles" article on Cyclops, at that time I was forced to really think about a question I'm not sure I had given a ton of thought to beforehand: "Who is my favorite superhero?" Cyclops had already long since been my favorite X-Men character, though even that had not always been the case. My very first favorite X-Man, even though he barely appeared in the 90s animated series where I first became a fan, was actually Archangel. Over time, after having finally gotten the chance to read a lot of comics myself, Scott Summers eventually took my top X-spot, for reasons I detail in that article. And while writing that article, and pondering the question, I discovered that, while I love many heroes, like Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, and far more, Cyclops pretty much IS my top favorite comic book hero of all time.

So now, I'm going to talk about my top favorite comic book HEROINE of all time. Because yes, back then, I thought about that too. And that was honestly an easier question to answer, because the truth is, I fell in love with this character from that first 1992 season of X-Men as a kid. And there hasn't been a single female comic hero, amidst many great ones, that has ever topped her or replaced her for me. I'm here today to tell you why Jean Grey, aka Marvel Girl, sometimes called "Phoenix", is in this man's opinion, hands down, the best heroine comics have ever produced.

90s classic Blue and Gold.

Back in September of 1963, after having prior success at the newly minted Marvel Comics with such creations as the Fantastic Four, Ant-Man, Thor, The Hulk, Spider-Man, and Iron Man, the great Stan Lee, along with his frequent partner Jack Kirby, created a concept of misfit teens with strange powers. At the time, teams of super heroes were fairly unique, and not often seen in comics, as opposed to today. There had been golden age, WWII era teams like the Justice Society of America and the All-Winners Squad. But it wasn't until 1960 that DC Comics created their new, longer-lasting super-team, the Justice League of America, which itself was direct inspiration for Stan Lee to create a different sort of team in the Fantastic Four. In fact, September 1963 was a banner month in comics history, as it saw the birth of not only what would come to be known as the "X-Men", but also the far more prominent Avengers.

The Avengers were Marvel's more direct answer to their rival DC's Justice League. And having spent the past couple years building up their own new world of characters (the golden age Timely Comics heroes mostly abandoned, except for Prince Namor, and soon Captain America), they now had the kind of "superstar" roster DC had, to pull it off. The Avengers was a big deal that featured big personalities, the original lineup consisting of Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, The Wasp, and even the unpredictable Hulk. That lineup would shift and change as time went on, but the comic was very often headlined by some of Marvel's top superheroes (barring Spider-Man), just as DC's Justice League was. But what then, about the tiny upstart team that could, these so-called "X-Men"?

The original X-Men.

The "X-Men", were so named because Stan Lee decided that instead of coming up with some elaborate, convoluted way that these kids got their powers (as others had for most heroes up to that point), he just decided "You know what? They're mutants, they were BORN with these powers". Or as he would establish, for most "mutants", their powers tended to kick in around puberty, though not all. The "X" in the X-Men, Stan figured, stood for the special "X-Factor", that little something extra, that mutants had in their genes, that gave them powers. And besides, they were also thematically in line with their founder, Professor Charles Xavier, or "Professor X" for short.

One thing to note about Jean Grey, before moving on, is that she was/is one of the few comic hero characters, who didn't have some kind of super tragic back-story. She experienced trauma at a young age, yes, but in general, she grew up with loving parents, and a sister who was like her best friend, in a stable and safe home. With the exception of her one traumatic childhood event, by all other accounts, Jean had a very happy, "normal" childhood, and thus she grew up to be a very happy, emotionally stable, and well adjusted person. This is important to point out, because it would very much lend itself to who she was as a person, and served as the foundation for her strong points as a character.

60s....style?

The character of Jean Grey, herself, was an exception to the "puberty" rule, as her powers had started manifesting themselves when she was a little girl. Notably, telepathy, the power to read and connect to other people's minds. This most prominently occurred when Jean's childhood best friend was hit by a car, and as little Jean held her dying friend in her arms, she subconsciously connected to her mind, which risked following her into death as well. As it was, it left Jean in a coma for some time. It was then that her parents, John and Elaine Grey, got in contact with Professor Xavier, a little known expert on "strange" cases like Jean's. He used his own telepathic powers to wake her from her coma, and because her young mind couldn't deal with the trauma she had endured, and she was too young to deal with telepathy, he mentally shut off that part of her powers.

Meanwhile, her other gift, that of telekinesis, the power to move things with only your mind, grew instead. Xavier coached her in her powers, though the notion of his "School For Gifted Youngsters" wasn't a thing as of yet. And years later, when he had finally founded the "school" at his mansion home, his first official student also being his ward, young Scott Summers, he finally invited Jean to become a part of his new vision. She agreed, even though she would be leaving the comfort of home and family behind, and in doing so, she entered a whole new strange, and often dangerous world. She was also, subsequently, the only female member of the original team of X-Men, joined by her new friends Iceman, Beast, Angel, and Scott "Slim" Summers, aka Cyclops. Jean herself took on the name Marvel Girl, and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

Mistress of the Mind

Of the original five X-Men, the distinction of who was the most powerful, at that time, was a tossup between Cyclops and Marvel Girl. Cyclops, on the one hand, had a power he couldn't control without the help of a special visor, but his eye beams, at full force, could level a building or punch a hole in the side of a mountain. Marvel Girl, on the other hand, was probably the most experienced at using her powers, outside of perhaps Beast, as Xavier had been psionically "teaching" her from afar, and she had years of practice. While her TK was not as strong as it would become later on, she still displayed many feats of raw power, such as levitating several people at once, or as seen above, more delicate touches, mentally taking apart a gun.

Going through changes.

Later into the 60s, once the X-Men had grown a bit, Professor X allowed them to "graduate" from being students in training, and as such they chose new costumes, which Jean helped design. Her own outfit, the now somewhat infamous "green dress" and gold mask look, wasn't very practical for superheroing, but it was visually striking, and VERY 60s. More important than mere aesthetics, however, Xavier also felt Jean was finally mature enough and experienced enough to handle her latent telepathic power, so he unlocked that part of her mind, and now possessing her full psychic faculties, you could definitely argue that she became the most powerful X-Man.

Animated Incarnations

The image above is how I first came to know the X-Men, as they looked in the 90s animated series. Their designs were heavily inspired by Jim Lee's 1991 designs for the comics, and that included Jean's "Blue and Tan" looking outfit (in the comics it looked more goldish). And while I instantly liked Jean, the one thing I can't figure, is why the hell they decided her hair should look like it does above! Seriously, the "short bangs, and lets have a pony-tail coming out of a hole in the back of her 'mask'" look is...puzzling. Especially because that's not how her hair was in the comics...like ever.

My initial impressions of Jean Grey, was that she was presented as a somewhat subdued character, but she was still awesome to me. For one thing, I've had a lifelong thing for redheads, I think natural red hair is almost magic. But beyond that, as a character, Jean was level-headed, thoughtful, compassionate, and from the get go I loved her TK powers. Something about moving things with your mind has always appealed to me, and while I would not personally want her telepathy, as who the hell actually wants to read people's icky thoughts, I did and DO think that having telekinesis would be bad ass! I'll fully admit to having an early crush of sorts on Rogue, but really, Jean was always my gal.

Proof that Jean didn't always like Logan.

Diving back into the comics, 1960s Jean, while written with some painful dialogue at times, as all the characters were because of the Comics Code era, was a strong character. She was intelligent, she had a strong will, a good sense of humor, and while Cyclops was always the leader of the team, she wasn't afraid to step up and take command of a situation if she needed to. She was also very brave, never shrinking from danger or fainting at the slightest sign of trouble, as was the stereotype of the day. While she was written, again partially because of stupid Code issues, to like "girly" things like shopping and "getting her hair done", she was also very witty, and very adept at dealing with not only the dangers her team faced, but of dealing with four hormonal teenage boys as well. After all, she WAS a gorgeous redhead, and the only girl they usually got to interact with (at first).

But while all of her teammates flirted with her or pined after her in their own way, initially, the one who didn't, the shy, serious Cyclops, was the only one who truly caught her eye. And mind you, they all, as boys, had something to offer. Iceman, while the youngest, was funny, and charming in his own goofy way. Beast was super strong, and incredibly intelligent, a potent combination. Angel was both very suave, but also very rich. But there was just something about ol' "Slim", even though he was usually too scared to talk to her outside of training or missions. Something about Scott Summers "spoke" to Jean Grey, and even in Stan Lee's earliest issues, the seeds were planted for their future relationship.

That relationship eventually bloomed, though a bit too late for readers, as the X-Men got cancelled by the end of the 60s. The comic stayed in print as re-prints of old issues, and when they were brought back with "Giant-Sized X-Men #1" in 1975, after that initial story, and the Chris Claremont arcs to follow, it got put on the back-burner a bit. As Claremont wrote it, which I do feel was mostly his choice, after a new second generation of X-Men saved the original group, the OG heroes, except for Cyke, called it a day. If you ask me, that move was incredibly out of character for them, as they had all chosen to be heroes, and had been fighting for Professor Xavier's dream at this point for at least a few years. For them to throw in the towel and suddenly be like "Nah, there's new X-Men to handle things now, we're good!", just seems like a lame cop-out excuse to make room for the new characters, while not having to manage a massive team.

Shazam!

Jean was one of those X-Men who walked out, in her case being written to stereotypically "go live in Manhattan and work as a model", because what else would gorgeous women do right? But Claremont did have some odd plans in store for her specifically, as not too long after the X-Men's rebirth, along came what you see above. A series of bizarre events, that involved fighting fake X-Men robots and killer Sentinels on a deep-space station observing the sun, ultimately led to the fateful situation of Jean in space. Volunteering because of her powers, to be the one to bring the X-Men safely back to Earth. Except even her powerful TK shield was not enough to protect her from the radiation around the planet, and she found herself dying. And close to death, she was approached by a brilliant ethereal spirit, calling itself "Phoenix", who offered to save her life.

Of course, there was a price, the full extent of which readers wouldn't learn about for years. But as it was originally presented in those 70s comics, as well as in the adaptation of this "Phoenix Saga" story in the 90s cartoon, it seemed very much that Jean had become possessed by this cosmic force. And in the comics, after beating the alien Emperor D'Ken and his mad schemes, Jean remained as "Phoenix" for a good stretch of time. By the time 1980 rolled around, Claremont wrote Jean/Phoenix to start becoming corrupted by her powers, by the human sensations that Phoenix wasn't used to, and she eventually became the now-infamous "Dark Phoenix". Simply put, one of the most powerful, and most dangerous villains in comic history. And the kicker, was that it was one of the most beloved, and most purely GOOD characters in all of comics, who became this fiend!

My pre-teen life.

Now, as a kid, first experiencing "The Phoenix Saga" and it's dark twin, by watching it all unfold in Saturday Morning Cartoon form, I was absolutely glued to the set. I would literally be excited and waiting for the following Saturday's episode the moment that the current episode was over, and I would often spend the week trying to imagine what would happen next. That X-Men cartoon was a huge part of my life at the time, one of the things I looked forward to most during its first three or four seasons. And at the time, I absolutely thought Phoenix was bad ass, and even imagined myself having the Phoenix powers and persona, in some form.

As an adult, having read the original comic saga, and having a lot of time and maturity to look back on it all, I have mixed feelings about the entire Phoenix thing. On the one hand, I do still think that especially Jean as "Good Phoenix", WAS bad ass. And her green and gold outfit was awesome looking, a really great design. On the other hand, I feel that the whole Phoenix thing overshadows Jean as a character. I think, because of the cartoon, because of stupid shit that's happened in more recent times in the comics I ignore, because of stupid shit that has happened/is happening in the awful X-Men films, etc., when people think of Jean, they think "Phoenix". And honestly, I think that sucks. Why? Because Jean Grey is a bad ass character on her own, without any cosmic super-force to make her something she's not.

Crush that bitch!

I have fond memories of watching that "Phoenix Saga" (both) unfold in 1994, at the age of 12. That year, Jean/Phoenix became my hero, and I came to like her and Cyclops even more because of those stories. I cried when Jean "died" as Phoenix, plunging into the sun. And I honestly hated when she came back and "turned evil", crying once more when the X-Men each gave a piece of their life-force to bring her back (something that only happened in the cartoon). I was happy that Scott got Jean back, and even then, at age 12, I loved their relationship, and wanted my own Jean, so to speak. But as stated, I also kinda hate that Jean is so closely associated with those stories, and is not respected and appreciated as her own self and own character, NEARLY enough.

Especially having read all the old comics (and I mean ALL of them), and having the insight, and my own personal suspicions, that Claremont and Marvel simply wanted to use Jean's "death" as a shocking thing to do, a cheap way to generate more interest and get people talking, and buying more comics. And it worked on that front, because the X-Men comic became one of the biggest sellers in the early 80s thanks in large part to that story. But it also seems like Claremont, as a writer, never really liked the original X-Men, and only kept Cyclops around to have that connection to the original group, because he was a good "serious leader" type. I also think it's obvious that he changed Jean into Phoenix, in his view, likely to "make her more interesting", and when she died in the "Dark Phoenix Saga", it was his full intent to leave her dead, forever. It was also his intent, I believe, to gradually emasculate Cyclops and phase him out as well. Because that's precisely what happened after Jean's "death".

Best. Retcon. Ever.

I am not, as a general rule, a fan of what is known as "retconning".  It stands for "Retroactive Continuity", and it means that an often new writer will come along, and change what a past writer has done, or they'll say "Well what actually happened was...", etc. There have been some notoriously bad "retcons" in comic history, and I'd say that most of them are typically for the worse, though not all. The BEST one that has ever occurred, however, is the one where Marvel editors decided to bring Jean Grey back to life in the mid-80s. In fact I feel so confident in saying that, that I'll put myself out there and state that there isn't a strong argument to be made for any OTHER retcon but this one, as being the best.

I say that, because while loving the Jean character I'm clearly biased, I also think she is one of the best comic characters of all time, and I think while "killing" her off was certainly a notable and tragic, poignant moment, it was also unnecessary, and shouldn't have happened. The compromise they came up with, was that Jean herself was NEVER the Phoenix in the first place. That the "price" Phoenix charged for saving her life, was to put her body in a protective cocoon, that would go on to rest at the bottom of the Hudson Bay for years, while the Phoenix itself took a piece of Jean's very soul, her essence, and used it to make itself a mortal shell, just like Jean's. It was such a convincing facsimile, that Phoenix actually started to believe it WAS Jean Grey, and thus took over her life, and eventually became corrupted. Is it a bit of a reach? Sure. But it's a damn good reach if you ask me, because it allowed Jean to come back, and with her, the original X-Men.

The Original X-Men, Gone Super Sayan.

Originally written for its first five issues by Bob Layton, before being taken over by one of my favorite comic writers of all time, Louise Simonson, the 80s comic "X-Factor" was, in my opinion, the best X-Men comic of that decade. To many fans, that statement would be sacrilegious, as many see Chris Claremont's work, especially in the 80s, as amazing. Many also really like his "New Mutants" teen spin-off. But for my money, the 80s run of X-Factor, especially as (mostly) written by Simonson, it just can't be beat. She really "got" those characters, and while the 80s X-Men were getting increasingly bizarre and warped, going off into space, and alternate realities, and fighting demons, and aliens, and whatever else, I feel like X-Factor deliberately brought the "old school" tone and feel of the original X-Men back.

Not only was X-Factor more grounded on Earth (with one exception, seen above), dealing in mutant issues and socio-political parallels, but it also gradually went about restoring those five great original characters. Beast had floated around, being an Avenger, a Defender, etc., while Iceman and Angel were scattered all over the place themselves. Second-fiddle characters, used in second-fiddle books. But X-Factor brought them back to the fore, and gave each of them quite a lot of needed character development and spotlight. And with Scott and Jean specifically, while there was a HUGE mess to wade through and clean up, having to do with Claremont writing Scott to meet a new wife who just so HAPPENED to look exactly like Jean, left the X-Men, had a kid with her, etc., Simonson did eventually "fix" them as best she could. Granted, it made Scott look like a grade A jerk at first, up and leaving his wife and kid the instant he hears about Jean being alive. But really...she was written to be a Jean clone controlled by Mr. Sinister anyway, and Scott belonged with Jean, period. So in my view, while it was messy, Simonson did her best to put right what Claremont had messed up in the first place.

80s Marvel Girl.

  

With X-Factor, Jean as a character had a lot to deal with, such as the fact that the world, including all of her family and friends, thought her dead for years. The world had moved on without her, and that was a major struggle. She also had to deal with still loving Scott, but having to deal with the fact that he had a wife and child, and his own conflicted feelings of guilt and remorse over all of that. Combine that with waking up to a world that was becoming increasingly more hostile towards mutants, a world where Charles Xavier was off in space somewhere, and the X-Men's worst enemy, Magneto, was allegedly "reformed" and living in the mansion, training the next generation. It was a lot to navigate, but all things considered, she handled it pretty well, and that just further displayed the innate strength and power of her character.

The best thing that the X-Factor comic did, besides putting Scott and Jean back together, was really re-establishing the X-Men as heroes, fighting for Xavier's dream. By the mid-to-late 80s, Claremont's X-Men barely resembled the heroes of old, as the comic was very dark and chaotic, and the X-Men went from being morally questionable outlaws, to the world thinking they were dead, and living "underground", hiding from the mutant Marauders that wanted them dead for real. X-Factor, on the other hand, started out trying to pull off a convoluted double-identity deal, where they acted both as normal human "mutant catchers" who dealt with problem mutants for the public, but also acted as costumed heroes, fighting for mutants rights. Simonson eventually dropped that plot point, and they actually came to be known as public heroes, adored by New York, much like the Fantastic Four or Avengers. It was a breath of fresh air in an 80s that was increasingly obsessed with everything being "dark and gritty" (something that would carry over to the 90s for a lot of comics).

Family.

The other top thing that X-Factor accomplished, as illustrated in Part 1 and Part 2 articles I wrote some time ago, was it introduced a brand new major villain, originally exclusive to X-Factor, but eventually a foe for the X-Men in general: the ancient mutant Apocalypse. Originally presented as just another mysterious baddie, pulling the strings for other villains (in this case the generically named "Alliance of Evil"), he eventually evolved into a deeper character, obsessed with the natural order, or more aptly, "survival of the fittest", and thus he would toy with X-Factor, testing them to see if they were strong enough for the dark times ahead.

Most specifically, in the key Apocalypse storyline, "Fall of the Mutants", he is responsible for transforming Warren Worthington, the beautiful and fun-loving Angel, into the dark, hurting, instrument of Death, Archangel. Later still, his machinations would center around trying to kill Cyclops' son Nathan, a baby that Jean had become quite attached to. While she didn't give birth to Nathan Christopher, the "person" who did, was her exact clone, so genetically, he WAS her child, and she felt a natural, maternal bond with him. There was a nice span of time, after the mess that Claremont's "Inferno" story arc was, where the baby came to live with X-Factor, and he even developed the instinctual ability to protect himself from harm with a TK "Bubble". The baby could also somewhat read people's minds and feelings, a power Jean herself would eventually regain after having lost it in her Phoenix ordeal, and even when Jean couldn't access her telepathy herself, she could still feel baby Nathan in her mind, when he needed her.

Of course, Scott and Jean eventually had to send Nathan into the future, after Apocalypse infected him with a deadly techno-virus. And it would turn out that the dangerous mercenary from the future, Cable, was that baby, back in the time he came from to stop the villain who tried to kill him.

The 90s X-Men.

As good as 80s X-Factor truly was, I think the best thing that happened to ALL of these X-characters, took place in the early 90s. Charles Xavier was back on earth now, his school rebuilt and upgraded, and the various scattered X-Men, were mostly brought back under one roof. Cyclops was once again an X-Men leader. Storm stopped being stupid, "edgy" 80s Storm, and got back to being her old, compassionate, regal self. Wolverine FINALLY grew up and stopped pining after other people's women, and acting like a psychotic jerk all the time. The stories mostly got back to X-Men basics, grounded on earth, dealing with the social trials of mutant issues, dealing with evil mutants, corrupt humans, etc. It was a grand time, and it gave birth to the 90s cartoon, besides!

Speaking of the cartoon, one major criticism I would levy at it, even though I adored it as a kid, and still mostly love it now, was their treatment of Jean. Granted, they didn't necessarily treat her BADLY. But they didn't treat her all that great at times, either. Looking at the show as a whole, every single X-Men character, including Jubilee, and even guest stars like Bishop, Cable, Archangel, and Iceman, got episodes that are focused around them, and gave them major character growth. Even Cyclops, the "boy scout" that so many fans of the show claim to hate (for universally immature, misguided reasons), got three separate episodes that really put the spotlight on him as a character, looking at his past, etc. But Jean Grey? No such luck. I'm sure some would argue "Well she got a lot of attention during the Phoenix Sagas". And that's true. But PHOENIX got the attention, not really Jean as a character. Jean herself didn't really get a whole lot of character growth, she didn't get a spotlight delving into her past, her personality, etc. And I think that was a poor choice, and to the detriment of the show.

The Gold Team.

In 1991, when the X-Men first underwent their major overhaul, because they introduced a new, second X-Men comic per month (because who doesn't love more money?), and also because they now had something like 12 team members, they split the team into two groups. The "Blue Team" was led by Cyclops, while the "Gold Team", seen above, was led by (a much calmer, much cooler) Storm. And for whatever reason, Jean was put on this team. In fact three-fifths of X-Factor was put in the gold group. On one level, it does make sense though, as a little known fact to more casual X-Men fans, is that before Jean "died", she and Storm were actually great friends. In fact Storm considers Jean to be her best friend. So one thing the "Gold Team" helped re-establish, was that relationship.

Another major criticism I have, this time with the comics, is the fact that Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, Fabian Nicieza, whoever, made the genius decision, to drop the Marvel Girl codename, and just call Jean Grey...Jean Grey. Everyone ELSE on the top-secret, clandestine, outlaw X-Men team, had a codename and a secret identity. You know, to keep their private life HIDDEN, and so as not to, well, get arrested and stuff for acting as outlaw vigilantes. But hey, no one's going to notice that Jean Grey, who isn't even wearing a mask anymore anyway, just goes by her own REAL name. And nothing ever really comes from it! I call that just plain lazy, or even dumb writing. She would eventually be given the "Phoenix" codename, for convoluted reasons. But they should have either just kept calling her Marvel Girl as she had been since 1963, or found a cool new name for her. Calling her "Jean Grey", in my opinion, was unforgivably stupid. In fact, I think her not having a codename contributed to her "not being as cool" to many fans of the cartoon.

The mighty redhead!

But utter lack of a codename aside, 90s Jean was genuinely bad ass. 80s Jean had already established her as a much more powerful telekinetic, and regaining her telepathy finally, 90s Jean was easily one of the most powerful characters on the team. Again, the cartoon didn't always do a great job of showing this, but in the comics, Jean Grey was a force unto herself. She stood up to the likes of Magneto, Sabertooth, Sentinels, Apocalypse, even Charles Xavier's powers gone mad!

Mind Over Matter.

The two main writers of that amazing 1991-1997 period of X-Men comics, in my view THE best period of the series ever, were Fabian Nicieza, and Scott Lobdell. They were the chief architects when it came to grounding the series again, and after all of the 1980s loopiness that Claremont had progressively delved into, they were the ones who set the tone for what the stories would be. They made 90s X-Men great.

But while I've sung his praises before, I can't impress enough just how important, in my view, Scott Lobdell was to the success of the 90s comics, and the 90s cartoon it influenced. He really, truly GOT these characters, and he especially got Scott and Jean. He grew their relationship even further from where Louise Simonson did in the 80s, and he finally had them get married, which along with the marriages of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, and Clark Kent and Lois Lane, was one of the biggest events in comics.

Finally.

I think that Lobdell had a lot to do with really firmly establishing what I explained in my Cyclops article, that Scott and Jean were basically the Heart and Soul of the team. While Cyclops was the experienced, methodical, tactical leader, who tried to keep everyone safe and made sure they were doing the right thing, "Phoenix" was the conscience of the team, she was the compassion and empathy, the truly human element driving Xavier's dream. Scott and Jean getting married was a pretty big deal, for many reasons, but none moreso than they really were like the "Mom and Dad", in a way, of that dysfunctional X-Men family.

Mother and Daughter.

Slim and Redd, and son.

Of course, while they had JUST gotten married in 1994, technically speaking, Scott and Jean already had a couple of adult kids floating around. When Jean first came back "from the dead" in the 80s, one of the things she struggled coming to terms with, was learning that she had a nearly grown daughter, Rachel Summers, who had arrived from an alternate grim-dark future. At the time, Jean couldn't deal with that, and kinda freaked out, rejecting her. But as you can see in the top picture above, she eventually reconciled with Rachel, and they embraced one another. Which is honestly both heartwarming and tragic, as right after the wedding, which Rachel was super excited to attend, the writers of the Excalibur comic she starred in decided they should shunt her off, lost to the timestream. What they did, in all honesty, was rob readers of a chance for Rachel's relationship with her parents, even if they weren't the version of her parents who literally made her, to grow. As a result of Rachel's disappearance, Jean decided to take on her codename of "Phoenix", to honor her.

As you can see in the bottom pic above, however, the newly minted Summers couple DID get that chance with their son. After they had sent baby Nathan off into the far future in the latter days of the original X-Factor comic, because people in the future had some means of saving his life from the techno-virus, he grew up in a hostile world ruled by Apocalypse, and eventually returned to the time from which he was born, a grizzled and bitter old warrior, named Cable. When Cable returned, he knew who his parents were, but never said anything. And right after the wedding, as oddball comic Fate would have it, Scott and Jean were shunted themselves into Cable's future, where they were afforded the opportunity to raise little Nathan themselves. They eventually returned to their proper time, barely any time having gone by at all, even though they had spent years in the future. And eventually, Cable finally acknowledged the fact that he knew them, and that he knew they had raised him.

The Age of Apocalypse.

Of course I would be remiss, if I didn't mention the major "alternate universe" story arc that occurred the year after they got married. From the months of February through June 1995, all of the X-related titles at Marvel shifted over into a super dark alternate timeline, wherein Charles Xavier died when he was young, before he created the X-Men. In his absence, Apocalypse rose to power and conquered North America, setting off a war that devastated much of the planet, and in the rubble, Magneto of all people leads a rag-tag group of X-Men as freedom fighters, trying to take down Apocalypse's mad empire.

As you can see above, things were quite different in that other world, including Scott and Jean. While Scott and his brother Alex (Havok) were raised by Sinister, and had become higher-ups in Apocalyse's regime, Jean Grey, briefly one of Magneto's students, was abducted by Apocalypse's forces, and kept prisoner, experimented on, because of her power (and Sinister's obsession with the Grey and Summers' bloodlines, just like in the regular reality). Wolverine, also once one of Magneto's group, went and tried to rescue her, getting in a fight with Prelate Cyclops, who was actually trying to free Jean from the pens at that very moment. Of course ol' Logan didn't listen to reason, and the battle wound up costing Scott an eye, but not before it cost Logan a hand.

Nate Grey

Basically, in the four issues of the AoA "Weapon X" comic, a lot of fanboys got what they had long (in my view idiotically) clamored for, which was seeing Wolverine together with Jean. To me, that never sat right, but I also realized it was a temporary alternate story. Even in those stories though, Jean did not truly love Logan, but stayed with him more out of loyalty and gratitude. He came for her when the rest of the young X-Men did not. But as you can see in the picture above, even in the darkest reality, true soul mates will find each other, and if Logan hadn't come along, it's very possible that Scott would have left his life raised as one of Apocalypse's servants behind, and ran away with Jean. Because even then, even as the head Prelate, he was not truly evil, and had compassion for the prisoners in the pens and the people that Apocalypse had slaughtered.

He saw something in Jean when he met her, and it drove him to risk everything to try and free her. And after she left with Logan, he kept on secretly releasing prisoners, eventually including a boy named Nate, who he didn't realize was technically his own "son". The genetic product of experimentation with he and Jean's, well, genes. Nate Grey was the Age of Apocalypse version of Cable, essentially, a version not hindered by the techo-virus. And while Scott and Jean didn't really get to know their "son", they did ultimately find each other. Jean left Logan to try to go back and warn people that the European Human Council was going to drop bombs on Apocalypse's New York, and Cyclops ran into her and joined her cause, freeing the slaves from the pens and trying to lead them to freedom. Of course, their story, as with the entire AoA story proper, didn't have a happy ending. But even in that darkest of timelines, they found each other, and wound up together, because they belonged together.

Soul Mates.

Even in my animated introduction to the X-Men, I was drawn to Scott and Jean, and to their relationship. She was in many ways my "dream girl", and still is, and Cyke was someone that I really respected, and in some ways could relate to. He was the broken loner orphan, who grew up without friends or family, in loneliness and pain, and she was the well-adjusted girl from a stable background, the light in his darkness that showed up to save him. Without Jean around, Scott still would have been loyal to Xavier and the X-Men. He still would have had that inner drive to be a hero, to do the right thing in spite of everything he'd been through. But Jean gave him something far more important: she gave him a reason to want to truly live, and not merely survive.

When push came to shove, there was no question at all which was ultimately more important to Scott, the X-Men, or Jean. It was Jean. When he thought she "died", he at least briefly left the team behind, lost without her. And even when he returned, he was never quite the same. Even when Sinister's wicked machinations led him to meet "Maddie", Jean's clone, it was never quite "right" to Scott. Deep down inside he knew it was all wrong, and deep down inside he still missed Jean. Maddie wasn't Jean and never could be. Which is why when the real deal popped back up on the radar, when Scott knew she was alive, he ran to Jean as fast as he could. She was his reason for living, and they needed each other.

Onslaught.

In 1996, another of Jean's relationships was put to the ultimate test, that of her relationship with the man who saved her from herself as a child, the founder of the X-Men, Charles Xavier. After years of hardship and heartache, rising tensions and rising pressures, ol' Chuck finally snapped, in a major way, and his own subconscious power gave birth to a being who called itself Onslaught. The first of the X-Men that Onslaught secretly approached, was the first mutant child that Xavier had ever reached out to, Jean Grey. Onslaught tried to convince Jean to join his cause, but sensing malevolence within him, Jean refused, and even tried to fight him on the "Astral Plain", as you can see above. Naturally she lost, and she was left with a warning of things to come.

Jean didn't know, at the time, that it was actually Charles, though she definitely sensed something of him during that encounter. Over the coming weeks, she kept to herself what she privately suspected, that something was very wrong with Xavier, the man who had been like a father to them all. Jean's suspicions were confirmed, when she ran into a very frightened Juggernaut, Charles' villainous step-brother, who had himself been attacked by Onslaught. When he asked Jean to probe his mind for the truth of Onslaught that he couldn't remember, she learned too late just how wrong things with Charles were. The Onslaught being was fully born into this world, an amalgamation of Xavier's awesome mind powers and frustrations, and Magneto's magnetism and anger. Jean and the X-Men tried valiantly to stand against their founder, even eventually freeing Charles himself from the independent being that Onslaught had become. In they end, they defeated him/it, at a very high price, but things were more wrong with their world than ever, and Xavier gave himself over to government custody (or so he thought).

Dark Times.

In 1997, as his final big story arc, Scott Lobdell masterminded "Operation: Zero Tolerance", which literally saw the X-Men being kicked while they were down. With Xavier gone, in truth being taken into the custody of a mystery man Jean herself had previously encountered, a man known only as Bastion, the X-Men found themselves vulnerable. They tried to carry on without Chuck, and even managed somewhat, thanks in large part to Scott and Jean. But Bastion had bigger plans, and the X-Men were ripe for the picking. Bastion set into motion his "Operation: Zero Tolerance" initiative, the "Zero Tolerance" of course, being for mutants. Op. OT was an internationally funded "final solution", as it were, to the ongoing mutant problem. And the X-Men were at the top of that list.

With half the team off into space (which I wish Lobdell hadn't done, as the story would have been  stronger with all X-hands on deck), a handful of X-Men remained. Cyclops, Phoenix, Storm, Wolverine, and Cannonball to be precise. While returning from a mission in Hong Kong, they were attacked, and taken to the secret base of Zero Tolerance, unaware that Xavier was also being held there. They managed to escape, but didn't know two key facts: that in their absence their mansion had been totally picked clean, and that while prisoner, Cyclops had been implanted with nano-technology, that was going to coalesce in his chest as a bomb that would kill them all. With a combined effort, they managed to save Cyclops and get rid of the bomb, but the trauma left Cyclops severely injured, needing time to recuperate. So Scott and Jean decided to take temporary leave, going to live in Alaska, near Scott's grandparents.

Iconic.

Naturally, all of these ordeals had been very hard on Jean as well. The trauma with Xavier, then losing him, then almost losing Scott, and losing everything they had at the mansion, etc. In many ways, she needed the time away as much as Scott did. It was during this sabbatical that the writers decided to put her back in the classic green and gold "Phoenix" costume, which at the time I thought was cool, but Scott was understandably disturbed by. He came to accept it, but he was worried that perhaps some vestige of the Phoenix entity DID live in Jean, and that he might loser her to it again.

His fears were unfounded, as she was just Jean. And that is, I suppose, what I've really been writing this article for in the first place. To talk about "Just Jean". As I said earlier, most people tend to associate Jean with Phoenix, which is both understandable, but also unfortunate. Because Jean on her own is far more than enough. In much the same way as many fans and casual observers echo the stereotypical view that Cyclops is just a "boy scout" and a "boring" character, I also can't tell you how many times I've run into the misguided opinion that Jean is equally "boring", that she's a "goody two shoes". Once I even had someone tell me she didn't like Jean because Jean was "basically just a nurse". She said this, of course, because her only real experience with the X-Men, were the shitty live-action films. Even so, that kind of view really pisses me off, just as it does with Cyclops, because in both cases, most people who claim to dislike them, do so because they've never bothered to really delve deeper into the characters.

Popular opinion seems to be that characters like Wolverine (everyone's "favorite"), or Gambit, or Rogue, or Storm, are "the cool ones". With Logan and Remy it's somewhat understandable, albeit in a very shallow way, because those characters are "edgy" and don't always play by the rules. But even just looking at the cartoon, a lot of people look back on it and say "Yeah, Rogue and Storm are cool", because, well, I guess Rogue is also "Edgy" in her own way, a sassy smart alec who uses her stolen super strength to punch and smash things all the time. Storm is the more puzzling case, as especially in the comic, she too comes off like a so-called "goody two shoes", who always tries to keep herself in check, who always reminds others to act with honor, to be better than the bad guys, etc. Storm, when written properly, is in many ways a lot like Jean, a "conscience" sort of character, who abhors killing and prefers to not even hurt people if she doesn't have to. Yet to many, she is still somehow seen as "cool", whereas Jean is the "boring girl scout". And frankly, that just doesn't make sense, if you think beyond a junior high school level.

First meeting.

Ultimately, the reasons that I consider Jean Grey to be my favorite female superhero are simple. Yes, there's the fact that she is in a whole lot of ways the exact kind of girl, visually and personality-wise, that I have wanted to have for myself, in my own life, for a very long time. But deeper than that, looking at the character herself, I think it is fair to say, as is the case with Cyclops, that I am drawn to  heroes with innate "goodness". In this modern dark age we live in, most people seem to be drawn to "anti-heroes", basically good guys that act bad. And being a good guy that acts, well...GOOD, is largely seen as being "not cool". And I have to say...what does that actually say about us, as a culture, as a society, when we pretend to praise "genuine good guys" in real life, yet we shun them in our entertainment media? Frankly, the world NEEDS more "genuine good guys", badly.

The reasons I love Jean Grey, Marvel Girl, Phoenix, whatever you wish to call her, at the fundamental core, are pretty basic stuff. She is a good person, she doesn't just pay lip service to being good. She doesn't put on a "Good guy" facade, while acting contrarily. She will fight, viciously if necessary, but she isn't innately violent. She has the power to not only read people's thoughts, but control their minds if she wanted. She has the telekinetic strength to topple a building, let alone crush every bone in someone's body, with just a thought. But she doesn't do that, because that isn't who she is. She has certainly displayed a "firey temper" at times, and she hasn't been above lashing out in anger in the past. But she always knows it's wrong when she does, and she always makes amends. She isn't deceptive, or secretive, or manipulative, she doesn't make use of her "feminine wiles" to get what she wants. She's genuine, she's honest, she's loyal, she cares about others more than she does herself. She would give her life to save a stranger's, and above all else, she cares very much about doing what's right. Not what's easy, or most convenient.

Forever.

Jean Grey is, in all brutal honesty, what most people would wish their child to grow up to be. She is a person who was raised properly, with love and wisdom, by worthwhile parents. And she grew up to be the person they tried their best to teach her to be. A good person, who helps others, who tries to make the world around her better. In other words, she acts like a hero. In spite of all the ridiculous shit she's been through, from "dying", to coming back to find the world changed, to discovering Scott had a whole other life, to her sister Sarah being (unceremoniously) murdered off panel, to all of the harrowing misadventures the X-Men have been through over the years. Through it all, Jean has been a pillar. She is every bit that "strong, intelligent, confident" woman that people these days like to pay so much hollow lip-service towards.

She's hardly "perfect", but she makes up for her shortcomings by always trying to be the best person she can be. She falls, she fails sometimes, but she gets back up, and she doesn't let all the horrible things in the world around her, and all the horrible things that have happened TO her, and to people she loves, corrode her soul. Through all of the madness and the bullshit, she always remained steadfastly Jean. She didn't let it all change her, or ruin her, even though it easily could have. Those who keep up on the modern comics might note that I'm not getting into what lesser writers who would come along, eventually did to Scott and Jean, and to the X-Men in general. I won't be going deeply into it, because frankly, it isn't worth going into. What matters to me, is the Scott and Jean, the X-Men, from 1963 through the late 90s. The 90s especially, were the perfect distillation of what the X-Men, and what Cyclops and Phoenix, were all about. Everything that has come since, is just bad ideas and bad writing, as far as I'm concerned, and doesn't matter.

But what DOES matter, at least to me, is that Cyclops and Marvel Girl are my two favorite superheroes of all time. Both individually, and as a couple. They are, in point of fact, my favorite fictional couple of all time, in any medium. The truth is that Jean Grey is a fantastic character on her own, and stands on her own quite well, as an individual, as a hero. Just as Scott Summer does (when written correctly). But to risk sounding cheesy, Scott and Jean go together like peanut butter and jelly. They're great individually, but together, they make an amazing combo. Together, they find their full power, and are complete. Scott isn't the same without his Jean, and Jean isn't the same without Scott either. So there you have it.




                                                                     ******************




As a final aside, even though I'll never get to do so in person, as I certainly would have liked to, I want to thank Mr. Stan Lee, for his hand in creating all of the wonderful Marvel heroes and villains that he did. But most importantly, for creating Scott Summers and Jean Grey. For creating the original X-Men, and the X-Men as a concept, because as much as Cyclops and Marvel Girl are my top favorite heroes of all time, the X-Men is my top favorite comic of all time. And it all started with Stan Lee, and a kooky idea about hip teenagers with weird powers, all the way back in the early 60s. So for that, Mr. Lee, thank you, because you'll never know how much of an impact your creations would have on my life. Excelsior!

R.I.P. Stan Lee, 1922-2018

Comic Chronicles: The Age of Apocalypse Pt. 2 - The 90s

So last time, I went into the original appearances of the X-Men villain Apocalypse, and the 80s comic in which he first appeared, X-Factor. I covered his rise with the Alliance of Evil, and later his Four Horsemen, of which he transformed Warren Worthington III, Angel, to become the Horsemen's leader, Death. His machinations failed, but he would return again in the late 80s, with nothing more than revenge on his mind. He kidnapped Cyclops' baby son, Nathan, and infected him with a techno-virus that would consume and kill him. In hindsight, not quite the brightest move, because Fate would see Cyclops sending his son into the far future to save his life, and that baby would eventually return as an aging man, Cable, whose sole mission was to destroy Apocalypse himself. All in all, old "blue" was a nice new villain in the 80s, certainly more compelling and entertaining, in my opinion, than the X-Men villain Mr. Sinister (but we'll get into him a bit later). But as the decades changed, and the early 90s came, the X-Men all reshuffled and their world kind of reset, from the more-often-than-not crazy bullshit of the 80s, to a more grounded, refocused superhero comic, with them (MOSTLY) dealing with terrestrial threats, and mutant/human issues, as in the original 60s comics.

The early-to-mid 90s Jean Grey.

To indulge myself in a brief side-tangent, I want to quickly discuss a 90s aspect of one of my favorite characters, that of Jean. Now, from the outset of the X-Men, her codename was "Marvel Girl", which while a bit cornball (no moreso than Superman, or Batman, or Wonder Woman), was very apropos for that Silver Age era. In the 70s reboot, after Jean had briefly left the X-Men, when she returned, just before the Phoenix Saga went down, they didn't refer to her as Marvel Girl quite as prominently. But when she "resurrected" in the mid 80s, and founded X-Factor with the original X-Men, she once again called herself Marvel Girl.

Fast forward to the new 90s era, and for no explicitly given reason, in the comics or outside of them, they suddenly dropped the Marvel Girl moniker. And she didn't upgrade, as Susan Storm once had, from Marvel Girl to Marvel Woman. Nor did they choose to rechristen her with a new, more "sophisticated" codename. Nope, instead, they literally just had her go as "Jean Grey". Which is absurd, for the simple fact that she was the ONLY X-Person to not have a codename, and the entire POINT of codenames and superhero personas, was to hide their true identities from the public, so that they could still have private lives (and also avoid trouble with the law).

The Late 90s Jean Grey-Summers.

Now, later in the 90s, after a somewhat sordid but solid storyline where post-marriage, Scott and Jean are ripped from this timeline and placed into the far future so that they could spend time raising young Nathan (Cable), which itself was a spillover from some very sordid business that had been happening in Excalibur, Jean FINALLY did get a new codename. In a move that was all at once awesome, but also almost facepalm worthy, Rachel Summers, their daughter from an alternate future, who went by the codename of "Phoenix", in part because she would literally come to be possessed by the Phoenix Force itself (because reasons), found herself flung to this far future, and was "stuck" there. So Jean, as a way of honoring her daughter-she-hadn't-had-yet, took the name "Phoenix" herself. As stated, on the one hand, it was awesome, because the name Phoenix, and the classic costume that goes with it, are awesome. But on the OTHER hand, Scott was reasonably upset/disturbed, because it reminded him of the actual Phoenix incident years prior, where he thought he had "lost" the woman of his dreams. Not to MENTION the fact, that by Jean going now actively going as "Phoenix", though she herself had never BEEN or been POSSESSED by the Phoenix Force, along with the animated series events, would only go on to reinforce the false fan-belief that Jean HAD been "The Phoenix" all along. And naturally, later in the 2000s, when far crappier writers would come along, they would go the full distance and act as if Jean HAD possessed the Phoenix Force, and went so far as to joke that she had "died and returned" many times, when in fact she hadn't.

Anywho, a very minor quibble, and besides the point of this article, but I just thought I would point out the absurdity, and flat out laziness, of allowing Jean to just be CALLED "Jean Grey" in the comics (and thus the 90s cartoon) for several years.

He'd like to have a friendly chat about survival of the fittest.

But getting back on track, as intimated last time, Apocalypse was certainly not gone for good after that climactic battle at the end of Louise Simonson's X-Factor run. Hardly, he would actually pop up prominently early in the 90s, in a 12 issue major crossover event of the various X-comics (minus Excalibur), called "The Xcutioner's Song". In a somewhat convoluted turn of events, it turns out young Cable in the future, had a clone that the people who raised him, Clan Askani (founded, it's later revealed, by Rachel Summers), had created. That clone was used by a withered and dying Apocalypse, in an attempt to transfer his essence (soul) into a young, powerful body. His plan failed, but that clone later came back in time, just as Cable had, under the guise of a new villain named "Stryfe".

X-Men Assemble!

Apocalypse is awakened from his regeneration chamber too early, having been greatly weakened from his last battle with X-Factor, and is on the verge of death as Stryfe tries to carry out revenge against him. In an unexpected turn, Apocalypse actually seeks refuge with the X-Men, in return for curing Charles Xavier of the techno-virus, that Stryfe had (naturally) infected him with. Not a great storyline, all around, and in fact it had originally been promoted by Marvel with the promise of revealing key facts about Cable's mysterious past. But ultimately, it didn't actually wind up revealing anything about Cable's past, no juicy secrets, nothing.

Not only that, but to add more confusion to the fire, sometime after this story arc was over, a non-mutant villain actually popped up CALLED the "X-Cutioner". He was a normal human who had managed to steal a bunch of advanced armor and weapons recovered over time by the government, and set about murdering mutants he felt were too villainous or dangerous to be left alive. He was an interesting villain, and not wholly evil, but still, in this story arc, it had been Stryfe who was the would-be "X-Cutioner", of Apocalypse to be precise. And this new character bearing a moniker resembling that previous story arc, was just kind of...perplexing.

The name's Sinister, Mr. Sinister.

Furthermore, Sinister was also part of this plotline, as he had made arrangements with Stryfe, working together for what was assumed to be mutual benefit. Sinister, using his metamorphic abilities to pose as Apocalypse, had been manipulating what was left of the Horsemen (now calling themselves "Dark Riders"), to his own ends. He had them kidnap Scott and Jean, so that Stryfe might take some kind of ill-conceived revenge on them as well, even though they had never met him. And in return, Stryfe gave Sinister a canister that supposedly contained the DNA history of the Summers and Grey bloodlines. In reality, when Sinister opened the container, it was "empty", and actually turned out to contain Stryfe's true "parting shot" to the world, the horrible Legacy Virus, which targets and kills mutants.

Now you would think, being a mad genius and all, that Sinister would be too smart to fall for a dumb trick like that. But to take that even further, you would also think that Sinister would be far happier to merely have Scott and Jean in his clutches to experiment on, instead of the false promise of their "DNA History". One could well argue, I suppose, that maybe he figured if he could just have their DNA without having to deal with trouble from the X-Men, that would be the smarter way to go. Truthfully, however, it was just a comic book plot-point, thrown in to...get Stryfe Scott and Jean? Even though he was an all-powerful villain who could have just grabbed them himself? Nevermind.

The All New, All Different...X-Men? 

The Dark Timeline X-Men. Thanks a LOT Biff!

SO, on to the main event, so to speak, the next major Apocalypse-involved storyline, was a massive, line-wide storyline that took place in it's own self-contained alternate reality, over the course of several months in 1995. That mega-event, of course, was known as "The Age of Apocalypse". And it is, I don't mind saying so myself, the BEST of the Apocalypse stories, at least in the comics.

The End of the Beginning of the End.

The basic rundown, which was illustrated in a crossover that directly preceded it, called "Legion Quest", is that Charles Xavier's son, David Haller, aka "Legion", a mutant who had multiple-personality disorder, each personality possessing a different very powerful psi-talent, had wound up in a coma as a result of the "Muir Island Saga" Shadow King storyline. He eventually came out of that coma, with his fractured psyche repaired, and all of that ridiculous power fully under his own control, which basically made him a god. However, still emotionally and mentally unstable, he decides that the only way for his father to ever achieve his dream of peace between mutants and normal humans, is for his old friend and arch-nemesis, Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, to die before he becomes Magneto. Using his uber-powers to actually travel back in time, in spite of a handful of X-Men's efforts, including Bishop, to stop him, he attacks a young Magneto. However, his father pushes Magnus out of the way, and Legion's lethal blast hits Xavier instead. Realizing his fatal mistake, Legion fades out of existence, having never been conceived, and with his dying words, Charles makes Magnus promise to work towards a better world.

Not your daddy's X-Men.

Someone, give Logan a hand.

With Charles Xavier never having lived long enough to even form the X-Men, the world is left quite ripe for the picking, so to speak, for one particular ancient, malevolent mutant overlord. Magneto, while he does eventually keep his promise to Xavier and founds a version of the X-Men, he ultimately fails in stopping Apocalypse from taking over North America, and the war between the humans of Eurasia and Apocalypse's forces in America, devastates much of the globe, leaving many nuclear "hot zones". In this setting, the various X-Comics were temporarily transformed: Uncanny and Regular X-Men becoming "Astonishing" and "Amazing" X-Men, Excalibur becoming "X-Calibre" (why not), Generation X becoming "Generation NeXt", Wolverine becoming "Weapon X", Cable becoming "X-Man", X-Factor becoming "Factor X" (because again why not), and X-Force becoming..."Gambit and the Xternals"? In spite of a few silly comic-title changes, bear with me, because the stories they tell are actually pretty good!

During the time of the stories, North America (and much of South America) are completely controlled by Apocalypse, with Manhattan becoming his seat of power. Many humans flee as refugees to Europe, which is the last stronghold for non-mutants, protected by their sentinels and nuclear weapons. But the humans who remain in America lead a hellish life, with Apocalypse's lieutenants leading "cullings" of these powerless, worthless dregs, or else caging many of them up in Sinister's evil labs, for experimentation, and to create Apocalypse's artificial "Infinite" army. Speaking of Sinister, he is one of the Four Horsemen in this reality, along with the mysterious armored Holocaust, Colossus' brother the mad Mikhail Rasputin, and the sadistic mutant known as Abyss.

Sinister, and his "sons", Cyclops and Havok.

If you hadn't yet noticed, a great many things beyond Magneto leading the X-Men, are different in this AoA reality. Gambit, for instance, isn't an X-Man, but rather, leads a merry band of thieves called the "X-Ternals" (which include Strong Guy, Sunspot, Jubilee, and former rock star Lila Cheney), who rob from Apocalypse and give to the oppressed masses...for a fee. Meanwhile, Colossus and his wife Shadowcat, lead a group of junior X-Men in training, as Magneto is too busy taking the fight to evil with the senior X-Men. Among those senior X-Men, is a "good" version of none other than Victor Creed, aka "Sabertooth", who somehow has his bloodlust under control, and while he started out serving Apocalypse, realizes the dude is nuts and joins the X-Men instead.

And as for his old nemesis, Wolverine? Well, you might have noticed in that pic above, that ol' "Weapon X" is missing a hand, and what's more, that Cyclops, pictured above, is also missing one eye. Well, it seems that Jean Grey, who at one point was one of Magneto's X-Men in training, was captured by Apocalypse's forces, and put into Sinister's slave pens. There she meets young Scott Summers, a "prelate" (high up dude) in Apocalyse's army, who along with his brother Alex, are the adopted "sons" of Sinister himself, a top Horseman of Apocalypse. Cyclops takes a liking to her, as even in this environment he is not truly evil, and is actually going to set her free, but then Wolverine comes to rescue her, and irrational as he can be, battles Cyclops. The battle was apparently epic, as it ultimately cost Scott an eye, but that same eye also literally blasted the adamantium-laced hand clean off of Logan's wrist. Logan escaped with Jean, and the two of them left the X-Men and basically became mercenaries (also fulfilling a lot of dumb fanboy fantasies about the two of them together).

"Dark Cyclops".

In the Age of Apocalypse reality, as detailed in my Cyclops article, it turns out that Sinister kept a very close eye on the orphaned Summers brothers, just as he had in the main reality, but with Apocalypse taking over America, he straight up takes the boys as his own "sons", raising them to be perfect soldiers for Apocalypse, though deep down he also has ulterior motives for wanting to keep them, and their precious DNA, close at hand. At one point in their past, it is revealed, their actual father Christopher Summers, aka "Corsair", returned to Earth, unfortunately infected by the Brood, but Sinister caught him in time, and kept him for years, in secret, trying to experiment on that Brood DNA. Corsair eventually escapes, and the Summers brothers wind up catching him, but he has just enough time to tell them that they are in fact HIS sons, and what he remembers of his past. He then succumbs to the Brood and transforms, causing Scott to tragically have to kill his own father.

Even in the darkest timeline, ever the hero.

These events and revelations, deeply affect both brothers. But while it merely causes more anger and angst in Alex, causing him to hate and resent his brother, it makes Scott question everything Sinister taught them, and question Apocalypse's rule as well. This eventually puts him at odds with Havok and his other former "friends", such as the Dark Beast, as he sets about rebelling and trying to free the slaves from his "father's" pens. He even eventually reunites with his soul-mate, Jean, who comes back to warn of impending nuclear attacks from Europe, and the two of them try to lead the humans to safety. But that's getting ahead of myself a bit.

Forge and Nate Grey, the "X-Man".

As it turns out, Sinister's real reason for keeping Jean Grey in the pens, was, as you may have guessed, because he has the same obsession with the Grey and Summers' bloodlines in the AoA reality as well. Unbeknownst to either of them, or to Apocalypse himself, Sinister uses both of their DNA to create a "child", whom he artificially grows to adulthood and names Nathaniel (or Nate), after himself (Nathaniel Essex). This "X-Man" was intended, just as Cable was in the main reality, to be his ultimate Mutant, but also a weapon to destroy Apocalypse. Sinister is twisted and evil, but he has no interest in ruling the world or killing off normal humans. He is obsessed with evolution and mutation, and he sees Apocalypse's mad dream of "Survival of the Fittest" to get in the way of his own aims.

Of course, Nate Grey escapes, surprisingly with the aid of his "father" (unbeknownst to either of them) Cyclops, and runs away. He eventually shacks up with this reality's Forge, and his own band of so-called "traveling performers", which is a cover for them as they too act like Robin Hood-esque freedom fighters in Apocalypse's dark America. He begins to teach Nate how to control his enormous powers, as Nate is basically what Cable could have been were he not constantly using his psi-powers to hold back the spread of the Techno-Virus. Forge and the others, which include Banshee's daughter Siryn (here called "Sonique"), and good versions of Mastermind, Toad and Sauron, also teach Nate what it means to be a hero. But it all falls to shit, because Sinister, in disguise, had gone looking for his lost creation, and infiltrates their little band, before attacking them and trying to regain control of Nate.

Beast, and Dark Beast.

The original villain Changeling, and AoA's Morph.

The original Sunfire, and his tortured AoA version.

The "neutral" Angel, Warren Worthington III.

The heroic Exodus.

As I've said, this Age of Apocalypse reality is crazy, and I could go on and on about the various difference and changes compared with the mainstream reality. For instance, Henry McCoy, The Beast, grew up working for Apocalypse and Sinister as a mad scientist and sadistic experimenter. He experimented on himself, but went further than his this reality, beefing up his physical traits, and mutating himself into the "Black Beast", or "Dark Beast", a nightmare vision for certain. Then there was Sunfire, a lone survivor of his city when Apocalypse attacked Japan, where he was then taken captive and experimented upon, before being rescued by the X-Men. Or the Angel, who is a "businessman" who runs a nightclub in Apocalypse's kingdom, and tries to play the neutral "Switzerland" bit, siding neither wholly with Apocalypse or the humans. And perhaps the most bizarre, along with Sabertooth that is, the fact that the mad mutant Exodus, a major villain in the main reality, was also a heroic member of Magneto's X-Men.

Always with the inappropriate humor.

But one of the major highlights in all these differences, was the AoA version of Morph. Originally a very obscure villain, and then even more obscure brief secret member of the X-Men known as Changeling, the character was resurrected under the name "Morph" for the 90s animated series. They used this character, with the same name, in the AoA reality, as the official wise-cracker of the X-Men. He is briefly shown a couple of times in his true form, but most of the time he prefers this purposefully comical, almost cartoon character form you see above. In the SUPER dark world of Age of Apocalypse, he is the beacon of ridiculous light, as he never fails to pull some tasteless gag or crack an ill-timed joke, and I loved him for it.
 

"The Big A", in all of his badassery.

I would, of course, be extremely remiss, if I didn't talk about the Big Man himself. Being King of Half the Planet or so, naturally, gives him a bit of a swelled head, and he doesn't really consider the X-Men, nor the European human forces and their Sentinels, to be much of a threat at all. This version of Apocalypse is all at once arrogant and complacent, but also strong as hell and triumphant. He offers some of his best "poetic" lines in this crossover "maxi-series", and he is, naturally, at his most evil. Already figuring he has Earth just about wrapped up, this Apocalypse gives zero fucks, to turn a phrase.

One of my personal favorites being when he is face to face with the twice-time-tossed Bishop (who had gotten trapped in the past trying to stop Legion, and survived into the AoA present). Bishop, completely over-matched, goes to grab his gun, and Apocalypse quips: "Reaching for your rifle? Only the WEAK need a crutch with which to fight!" 

The Final Battle.

So, to give a quick rundown of the plot, Magneto and his X-Men have been fighting a losing battle against the forces of Apocalypse for years. They are running out of energy, and out of time, and so with the time-lost Bishop falling into their laps, raving about how this world they live in is all wrong, they make a bid for one last, crazy set of missions to try and stop Apocalypse once and for all. Magneto sends Gambit and his thieves on a crazy mission literally half-way across the galaxy, to the Shi'ar Empire, to procure a mysterious object called the M'Kraan Crystal, which can possibly send Bishop back into the past to save Xavier. He sends his wife, Rogue, to fight the monster Holocaust and his forces, while he himself tries to lead some X-Men in getting refugees to safety. He sends the teenage "Generation Next", led by their teachers Colossus and Shadowcat, on a suicide mission to rescue Colossus' baby sister Illyana, whose teleportational powers can also assist in Bishop's mission. And Nightcrawler travels to the hidden Savage Land (called "Avalon"), to try and track down the mutant seer Destiny.

The great Sentinel Force.

All of this on the word of what they think might be a raving lunatic. But they have no other real hope, so on they fight. Meanwhile, mercenary Weapon X, Logan, and his "girl" Jean, go to Europe to take secret files from Sinister to the European Council, which will help them launch a last ditch attack on Apocalypse. Unfortunately, they're going to do so with their super-advanced Sentinels, and a barrage of nuclear bombs which won't just wipe out Apocalypse, but everyone in the New York area.

It all comes down to a messy conclusion, involving Apocalypse getting his hands on the M'Kraan, which is cracking and starting to shatter reality. The X-Man Nate Grey coming to fulfill his destiny whether he likes it or not, and try to destroy Apocalypse. And the rest of the X-Men trying to get Bishop to the crystal, so that he can go stop all of this from ever coming to pass.

The Epic Final Showdown between Magneto and Apocalypse.

The Age of Apocalypse comics end as dark and bleakly, in many ways, as they began. Many of the heroes are killed, or their fates left uncertain. Bishop gets into the Crystal, but it turns out a couple of villains followed him. Nate fails to get Apocalypse, but fights his "son" Holocaust, driving a shard of the crystal into his chest, sending them both careening into our world. And while Magneto fights and seemingly kills Apocalypse in the end, it seems a hollow victory. He stands with Rogue and their little son, Charles, as they watch the bombs fall on New York. The final panel shows the shockwave reaching them, and everything turns white.

A real bummer ending, to be sure, but seeing as it was just a side reality, and everything more or less gets back to how it should be afterwards, at the time, as a fan, I found it to be a very compelling, mostly well-written, self-contained series, with it's own beginning, middle, and end, which for a comic story, let ALONE a big crossover event, is pretty damned rare. I personally consider the Age of Apocalypse to be one of, if not THE bet comics crossover events ever crafted. And I don't mind saying one of the prime architects of the entire deal, was my boy Scott Lobdell.

X-Men Animated Dark Timeline

So, before I finally close this out, I wanted to tie it back into the 90s Animated Series again, and one story arc in particular, titled "One Man's Worth". I noticed at the time that it aired, September 1995, that it had a LOT of little Easter Eggs that were direct references to the Age of Apocalypse comics. And while the timing seems a little hairy, given animation production, it does make sense, as the AoA comics started early in 1995, and were over by the summer. In "One Man's Worth", it follows a similar thread, where Sentinels from Bishop's animated timeline, have sent an assassin back in time, to kill a young Charles Xavier so he can never found the X-Men. Bishop and his sister Shard, are then tasked with going back in time to prevent it, but they fail, and wind up in a "dark timeline" that Xavier's death has caused.

Much like the AoA comic reality, many mutants have banded behind Magneto, including many X-Men, against the Sentinels and their armies. Bishop and Shard manage to recruit Wolverine and Storm, who in this reality are married, to go back in time again, to prevent Xavier's death, and keep that world from ever coming to be, even if it means Ororo and Logan would no longer be together.

AoA Sabertooth and Wildchild, with AoA Colossus in the background.

AoA Morph, briefly seen off to the side.

AoA Forge, more machine than man.

AoA Nightcrawler.

AoA Sentinels.

AoA Xavier Mansion Ruins, with AoA Angel in the background.

As you can see from the many pics above, there were many cool cameos. There were even brief battle cameos by a couple of Age of Apocalypse villains, fighting on the side of the mutants with Magneto, such as Sinister and Holocaust. Beast has a speaking cameo as well, and while he seems to be part cyborg, he is not the evil "Dark Beast" version of himself. There is also an odd cameo by the X-Men villain (and brief X-Man himself), Mimic, a mutant who copied the five original X-Men's powers, but I don't believe he was featured in the Age of Apocalypse comics.

I just always thought it was neat that whoever was in charge of the many clever "Easter Eggs" that feature in the X-Men Animated Series, that they managed to be so on the ball, having episodes with references to things that were happening that very same year in the comics. There were many other elements from the contemporary 90s X-Men comics that made it into the series too, such as the alien Phalanx, the Legacy Virus (simply called "The Plague" in the cartoon), Cable having come back in time to fight Apocalypse, Sinister and his Nasty Boys, Graydon Creed and his Friends of Humanity, etc. etc.

Last Hurrah?

As far as the comics are concerned, in the late 90s, Apocalypse did have one last major storyline that centered around him, but sadly, it happened after Scott Lobdell had left. The writers who were handling things by then, were okay, but hardly great. They had the seeds for what could have been an amazing story arc, called "The Twelve", in which the X-Men discover that there is an alleged prophecy, visions left behind by the deceased Destiny, claiming that a specific 12 mutants must come together to bring the ultimate downfall of Apocalypse, once and for all. And if you ask ME, the smart money would have been on having the storyline play it straight, and do just what it stated: BE the final showdown with Apocalypse.

I think they should have had this legendary "Twelve", which included the likes of Xavier, Nate Grey, Magneto, Polaris, Sunfire, Iceman, The Living Monolith, Cyclops, Phoenix, etc., and have them lead the charge in one final, desperate battle with the Big Guy. Have Apocalypse be about to achieve victory over the Earth, have him on the cusp of kicking off Cable's nightmare far future. And then have Cable and the X-Men manage to come together, and kick his ass right open, putting him down for good. Why not? Give the poor bastards a REAL, decisive victory for once. Give them something to really close out the millennium with, a feel good moment for the fanbase to enjoy, after SO much tragedy and hardship. That isn't to say more tragedy and hardship wouldn't come, but they deserved a real Win, not just continually putting out fires, at high cost.

What should have been the ultimate victory.

Instead, what the writers came up with, was the "twist", that the whole prophecy was concocted by Apocalypse himself, so that he could use the combined energies of the Twelve, to power an ancient Celestial machine, so that he could use it's great power to transfer his soul into the body of Nate Grey, giving him both youth and incredible psionic power. Enough to basically make him a god, who could rule over Earth and beyond. Now mind you, that DOES sound like something Apocalypse would do. But it's still not the satisfying, bad ass conclusion the story deserved, and the whole thing just kind of shit the bed at the end, leaving a bad taste in my mouth, as a fan.

But, I've been writing for a good bit now, per usual, so I'll wrap this up. Apocalypse is, without doubt, one of the most interesting and most bad ass villains in all of comicdom. Interestingly enough, they would have a late 90s miniseries about his early life, called "Rise of Apocalypse", which illustrated that he was the world's first mutant, some 5000 or so years ago, and that he actually could have grown up to be mankind's savior. But because of tragic life events (of course), he was instead twisted to become the mad tyrant that he became. The X-Men animated series really ignited my love for the villain, bastard that he is, but the good moments he DID get in the comics, really drove that home. I love Magneto, he is a classic villain. But in many ways, Apocalypse is arguably my favorite comic super-villain of all time.

And regardless, he is without a doubt one of the most bad ass. Some supervillains are cowards, hiding behind minions and working from the shadows. But En Sabbah Nur? He crushes you under his heel, and tells you all about it while doing so. Eloquently, to boot. So celebrate the ultimate bad guy, and go watch some X-Men cartoons or read some comics with him in it! Until next time...