Ever since Jean Grey was first introduced into the X-Men universe, she has become one of the most popular characters in the X-Universe around. Also, there were many inspirational X-Men stories that helped developed Jean Grey as a memorable character, such as the most well-known story “The Dark Phoenix Saga” which was about Jean Grey trying to deal with the dark powers of the Phoenix Force and eventually destroying many planets with her dark powers.
There are many characteristics that make Jean Grey stand out as a remarkable character in the X-Universe, but probably the two most popular aspects to Jean Grey’s character is her everlasting love triangle with X-Men members Cyclops and Wolverine and the fact that she is always connected to the Phoenix Force. Since Jean Grey was the first mutant character to ever be affected by the Phoenix Force (at least when “Uncanny X-Men” made its first appearance), she become one of the most powerful mutants to wield such a dangerous force (until recently when it became apparent that other mutants could wield the Phoenix Force). Whenever we think of the Phoenix Force, we think of Jean Grey since she was one of the first characters to wield its power. Another aspect of Jean Grey’s character is the fact that she is constantly involved in the love triangle between her, Cyclops and Wolverine. In many X-Men stories, Jean Grey is shown to be Cyclops’ main girlfriend and then eventually, married him. However, during this time, Wolverine started developing feelings for Jean Grey, which lead to Wolverine and Cyclops fighting over Jean Grey’s affections for them.
Unfortunately, Jean Grey is recently missing from the X-Men universe and it seems to be about time for her return. However, there is great news that Jean Grey might be coming back in the X-Universe after the events of Avengers vs. X-Men (Marvel’s current event that has the X-Men fighting against the Avengers) during Marvel’s relaunch of their titles. The real question here is, will Jean Grey be able to move further into character development without being held back by her past character? As her past character goes, Jean Grey seems to be seen as a character that is the constant love interest of both Cyclops and Wolverine and being the mutant who wields the Phoenix Force. Because of those two main traits we keep seeing from Jean Grey every time she is introduced in a story, it seems like it’s hard to see Jean Grey display more traits about herself other than those two traits. One of the few times we actually seen Jean Grey have another trait besides being the love interest of Wolverine and Cyclops and being the host of the Phoenix Force is during Grant Morrison’s run of New X-Men when Jean Grey was portrayed as a teacher, which did bring some interesting character development to Jean Grey.
Personally, if Jean Grey were to come back to the Marvel Universe, I would want her to have her own miniseries for the time being so that way there would be more time to develop her character a bit further and see what she could do when she is not wielding the Phoenix Force or is a constant love interest between Wolverine and Cyclops. A miniseries or having time spent away from the X-Men would help Jean Grey become a more interesting character and have more depth to her character once we can explore other aspects of Jean Grey’s character.
So what do you want to be done more with Jean Grey’s character if she comes back into the Marvel Universe? Do you think that she is fine where she is or do you think that more can be done with her character and what should be done to make her more interesting?
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