Pheonix
Real name: Jean Grey-Summers
Other aliases: (current) None, (former) Marvel Girl, Ms. Psyche, Redd
Identity: Known to certain government officials
Occupation: (current) Adventurer, (former) Student, fashion model
Legal status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record
Place of birth: Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
Marital status: Married
Known relatives: John Grey (father), Elaine Grey (mother), Sara (sister,
deceased), Gailyn (niece), Joey (nephew), Scott Summers (Cyclops,
husband), Christopher Summers (Corsair, father-in-law), Alexander
Summers (Havok, brother-in-law), Philip and Deborah Summers
(grandparents-in-law), Nathan Christopher Summers (Cable, stepson),
Rachel Summers (Phoenix II, daughter by Cyclops in an alternate
timeline)
Base of operations: (current) Xavier Institute, Salem Center,
Westchester County, New York State, (former) X-Factor I headquarters,
New York City; "Ship"
Group affiliation: (current) X-Men, (former) X-Factor I
First appearance: X-MEN (first series) #1
History: Jean Grey is the younger daughter of John Grey, a history
professor at Bard College in New York State, and his wife Elaine. When
Jean was ten years old her best friend Annie Richardson was killed by an
automobile. Jean's outpouring of emotion as she held her dying friend
activated her latent telepathic powers, causing her to experience
Annie's own emotions as she died. Traumatized by this experience and
unable to control her newly awakened powers, the young Jean became
severely withdrawn and depressed.
When she was eleven, Jean's parents took her to meet Professor Charles
Xavier, who realized she was a mutant and treated her for several years.
Xavier erected psychic shields in Jean's mind to prevent her from using
her telepathic powers until she had become sufficiently mature to
control them, and he taught her how to use her emerging telekinetic
abilities. Finally, when Jean was in her middle teens, she joined the
X-Men, a group of other young mutants whom Xavier was training in the
use of their powers. She assumed the code name Marvel Girl.
Jean soon fell in love with her fellow student, Scott Summers, alias
Cyclops, but for years they were each too shy to express their feelings
for each other.
Xavier finally removed the psychic shields from Jean's mind when he was
faced with the threat of the alien Z'nox. Since then, she has proved
highly adept at using her telepathic powers.
Jean left the X-Men shortly after Xavier recruited a second team of
students, but continued her romantic relationship with Scott. Shortly
afterwards Jean and other X-Men were abducted by Steven Lang's Sentinels
to Lang's orbiting space. After defeating Lang the X-Men had to escape
back to Earth in a space shuttle through a lethal solar radiation storm.
The pilot's cabin lacked sufficient shielding against radiation, but
Jean insisted on piloting the craft herself. While she was dying from
radiation poisoning, the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force
appeared to Jean. The Phoenix Force created a body for itself that was
identical to Jean's, duplicated her memories and personality, and
absorbed a portion of her consciousness. It then guided the X-Men's
shuttle to a crash landing in Jamaica Bay off New York City. The Phoenix
Force also cast the real Jean into suspended animation within a strange
pod that rested on the bottom of Jamaica Bay while slowly healing her.
Under the name Phoenix the cosmic being joined the X-Men, who believed
it was the real Jean. Months later the X-Men's foe Mastermind began
mentally manipulating Phoenix's mind, ultimately brainwashing her into
becoming the Black Queen of the sinister Inner Circle of the Hellfire
Club. In the process he inadvertently caused Phoenix to turn insane,
becoming Dark Phoenix, a danger to the entire cosmos. Ultimately, the
portion of Jean's consciousness within Phoenix resurfaced and caused
Phoenix to commit suicide rather than wreak further destruction. Upon
the death of the Phoenix Force's physical body, the portion of Jean's
consciousness it had absorbed returned to Earth and ultimately was
reabsorbed by Jean. Eventually the Avengers found the pod in Jamaica Bay
and turned it over to the Fantastic Four for study. The real Jean Grey
then released herself from the pod, fully healed. She was reunited with
Scott and the other original members of the X-Men, and together they
founded a new team, the original X-Factor. Later, after Professor Xavier
returned from a long sojourn in space with the Starjammers, Jean and the
other members of X-Factor rejoined the X-Men.
While Jean had been in suspended animation Scott had married Madelyne
Pryor, a clone of Jean created by Mister Sinister. Eventually Pryor went
mad, developed vast powers, and died in combat with Jean.
Some years later, Scott finally married the real Jean Grey. During their
honeymoon, however, their spirits were transported two millennia into an
alternate future and were placed in new bodies by the Askani cult. Their
leader, Rachel Summers, the daughter of the Scott and Jean of an
alternate reality, had also served in the X-Men under the name Phoenix.
As Slym and Redd, Scott and Jean spent years in that future time,
raising Nathan, the son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor, who had
earlier been brought to the future. Eventually Scott and Jean returned
to their own time and bodies, leaving Nathan in the future to become the
heroic warrior Cable.
In Rachel's honor Jean adopted the name Phoenix when she returned to the
X-Men, and she and Scott remain members of the X-Men to this day.
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 110 lbs.
Eyes: Green
Hair: Red
Other distinguishing features: None
Strength: Normal
Fighting skills: Fair hand-to-hand combatant, coached by Wolverine;
relies on psionic powers in combat
Special skills and abilities: Highly adept in wielding psionic powers
Known superhuman powers: Telepathy (enabling her to read minds, project
her thoughts into others' minds, and stun the minds of others with
"mental bolts"), telekinesis (enabling her to levitate herself, other
living beings, and objects)
