Phoenix (Jean Grey)



===Jean Grey was one of the five original X-Men, and the ex-wife of Cyclops/Scott Summers. An Omega-level mutant telekinetic and telepath, Jean has gained near limitless powers as a recurrent host of the Phoenix Force.===

Origin
Jean Grey was born the youngest of two daughters to John and Elaine Grey. Her father was a professor at Bard College History Department in Annandale-on-Hudson. Jean grew up a normal girl born and raised in New York; but while playing with her friend Annie Richardson, Annie was struck by a car. The high emotional stress of the accident caused Jean's mutant powers to manifest well before she reached even pre-pubescence. This is rarely the case for most mutants, whose gifts typically surface in their early teens. This sudden surge in telepathic power linked Jean with her friend causing her to experience Annie's death first hand. She was so traumatized by this event that she slipped into catatonia for the next three years.

When Jean reached age eleven, a psychiatrist referred her parents to Professor Charles Xavier, an expert on mutation, specializing in telepathy. Following the psychiatrist's advice, the Grey's brought their young daughter to Professor Xavier's mansion in Westchester County. After his initial analysis, he informed Jean and her parents that she was a mutant, a possibility that her parents had yet to consider. The professor recommended she stay in Salem, to attend Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Here she would learn to harness the massive psionic power dwelling within her. Unbeknownst to John and Elaine, this would also be her first step to becoming a founding member of Professor Xavier's X-Men. This team of young (predominantly mutant) individuals would learn how to utilize their mutant powers for the betterment of all mankind; mutant and non-mutant alike.

Major Storys Arcs
When Xavier felt that Jean had reached a mastery over her telekinetic powers, she became the fifth member of the X-Men. The other members of the team were Scott Summers (code-named Cyclops), Henry Philip McCoy (code-named Beast), Warren Kenneth Worthington III (code-named Angel) and Robert Drake (code-named Iceman). Jean adopted the code-name; Marvel Girl.

The team actively fought against other mutants (and humans who were villains) who threatened the ideals of their founder and mentor. As time went by, the team's relationship grew tighter and they came to think of themselves as family. The original X-Men remained together saving the world for many years, and they became renowned (famously and infamously) for their exploits. Unfortunately the X-Men were never accepted by society the same way other superheroes were. This was due to the non-mutant's public fear and distrust of mutants. People fear what they do not understand, and this prejudice has ever remained a problem throughout the team's history. Even to this day there's still no peace between humans (homo-sapien) and mutants (homo-superior).

Despite romantic interest from Angel, Jean fell in love with her fellow teammate, Cyclops. Due to timidity on both sides, the lovebirds were slow to show their affection for one another. Cyclops was perhaps more apprehensive as to the destructive nature of his mutant power, and it's potential danger to anyone who got remotely close to him, especially Jean. Eventually however, the two revealed how much they cared for each other. Later, when Xavier recruited new students into the school, the other original members, except for Cyclops, left the school to follow their own paths. Cyclops continued his relationship with Jean though she traded heated battles for sunny beaches as a swimsuit model while Cyke worked as a radio announcer (moonlighting as a superhero, of course). Their relationship survived countless challenges, finally leading to their marriage after several years.

When the alien force named Z'Nox attempted to invade the Earth, Xavier took a much needed sabbatical from the X-Men (leaving the former X-Men foe turned do-gooder, Kevin Sidney {a.k.a. Changeling} to take his place) and was forced to release most of the psychic barriers he had placed on Jean, allowing her telepathic powers to resurface (although at the time it was explained that Xavier had given her a part of his own telepathy, but was later retconned). He hoped, due to her current maturity level and years of tutelage and training under the professor himself, that she could handle the amount of power that became accessible to her. Believing Xavier to be dead (though it was Changeling in his place), Jean did her best to fill her mentor's shoes. She continued to use her still new telepathic and formidable telekinetic powers to aid the X-Men in every possible way.

When the original X-Men team was captured by Krakoa: the Living Island, the real Xavier was forced to recruit another team of mutants to rescue them. First, he called upon his former lover/current colleague, Moira MacTaggert. She had been training her own mutant team (affectionately referred to as the Islanders for they were headquartered at Moira's research facility on Muir Island in Scotland) for just such an occasion. However this team was not yet prepared for the daunting task of fighting an entire island and was quickly dismantled and defeated. Two of the four teammates perished, the other two went missing and were presumed dead for years. The Living Island then released Cyclops to bring the grotesque Krakoa more mutants to feed on. Xavier was once again forced to bring together another group of mutants, whom he rightfully dubbed: the New X-Men. This team, along with Cyclops, defeated Krakoa. Following these events, Jean and the other members of the original team (excluding Cyke) left the X-Men to allow the new team to take over. Scott's decision to remain an X-Man initially upset Jean. However, she held on to her connections with the X-Men, becoming best friends with Storm (one of only two other females to have both joined the X-Men and survived the battle against Krakoa {the other female survivor having been Polaris, who slew the Living Island almost single-handedly}) and continuing her relationship with Cyclops.

A few months later the X-Men faced another of their seemingly endless supply of disasters. A solar flare appeared and came dangerously close to the Earth's surface. A Starcore orbital space station witnessed this cataclysmic event and immediately made the flare it's first priority. The space station's crew needed to discover what caused the Sun to send such a powerful flare hundreds of thousands of miles from it's surface. Starcore eventually called on Dr. Peter Corbeau. Corbeau was the world's leading authority on solar flares and solar radiation. His history also included being a highly decorated astronaut and space shuttle pilot. The Doc recently created a prototype solar probe with complete radiation shielding. He was to lead a team of astronauts to the space station in a Starcore shuttle. The shuttle would be piloted by Corbeau himself, and would bring with it the aforementioned probe. Upon docking at the space station, Corbeau and his team found that it had been taken over by the well-known anti-mutant activist Steven Lang. Lang planned to unleash a new generation of Sentinels and had captured some of the X-Men as guinea pigs to test these atrocities. The space station was of course, wrecked in the ensuing battle between our uncanny heroes and the giant robots, which forced the X-Men to abandon the station immediately before it exploded. The team and all of the astronauts escaped by the skin of their teeth, flying the shuttle away just as the space station went nuclear.

The pilot and passengers weren't out of the woods yet. They still had to avoid the mile long/wide wave of radiation that had been left behind in the wake of the solar flare anomaly. The shuttle still had the solar probe in it's cargo which had plenty of room to house all of the passengers and protect them from the danger. Unfortunately, some debris from the station damaged the shuttle, effectively disabling it's auto-pilot feature. Someone would have to stay in the cockpit and pilot the vehicle manually in order to arrive safely on Earth. The only option they had was Jean. The mutant could telepathically absorb Dr. Corbeau's flight training and telekinetically shield herself from the intense radiation. As the others sealed themselves safely in the solar probe at the rear of the shuttle, Jean took over the controls and prepared herself and the ship for re-entry.Upon entering the top layer of Earth's atmosphere, Jean's psionic shields were overcome and the radiation began to eat away at her body, slowly killing her. With her last ounce of strength, she telepathically cried out for help and was heard by the Phoenix Force.

The Phoenix offered to save Jean, but told her that she would need time to heal because her body was already far more damaged than her mind would allow her to realize. She accepted the entity's help and the Phoenix siphoned a small piece of her essence and created a copy of Jean’s body for itself. Also, it took Jean’s withered, damaged body and placed it inside a healing cocoon, which (unbeknownst to anyone but the Phoenix itself) was to be buried in the very spot that the shuttle crashed; Jamaica Bay, near JFK Airport in New York City. As the shuttle skidded across the water and came to a halt, the solar probe shot out of the damaged space craft. One by one all of the remaining X-Men and space station/shuttle personnel swam up from the bottom. However, as the precious seconds flew by, Jean was nowhere to be found among the debris. Just as Cyclops attempted to dive down, desperate for a sign of his love's survival, the water began to glow and "Jean," (in reality the Phoenix, but no one would discover this for some time to come) burst from the water and flew in the air wearing a brand new costume, loudly stating "I am Phoenix." Thus the Phoenix/Jean entity was born.

Phoenix (all the while posing as Jean, therefore being referred to as such) then joined the X-Men on several missions, even following them to the Shi’ar galaxy where she single-handedly healed the breach in the M’Kraan Crystal torn by the megalomaniacal Shi’ar Emperor, D’Ken. Lilandra, D'Ken's sister and heiress to the throne, took note of the immense power held by the mortal "Jean Grey," and became concerned as to the fate of such a destructive force. She hid her concern from all for the sake of her love, Xavier (who, during the conflict with D'Ken had developed an intense psychic/emotional relationship with the stunning alien Empress). Later, during a battle with Magneto, Phoenix and Beast believed the rest of the X-Men to have perished. Without Cyclops and the rest of her "family," Phoenix decided to head to Moira's facility on Muir Island. During the trip, she was taken in by a very powerful illusion created by a member of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, Jason Wyngarde. Through these intense hallucinations, Wyngarde (with the help of another Inner Circle member, Emma Frost) was able to convice Phoenix that she had dreamt everything about her life so far. The duo led her to believe she was really an English noblewoman from the 18th century that was sailing to her homeland from America to be married to Wyngarde. During a notable debacle with Moira’s son, Proteus, she fell prey once again to this illusion, just long enough to allow her to be taken out by the Dr. MacTaggart's offspring. This psychic reprogramming of the Phoenix's mind went on for several months.

Following the defeat of Proteus and the reunion of the X-Men, the entire team returned to the mansion. They soon received readings from Cerebro regarding two new and potentially very powerful mutants. The team was split up so each team could investigate Cerebro's findings. While searching for the mutant who's location had been pinpointed to a nightclub in New York City, Phoenix once again found herself in the throes of an illusion. This time she was at her own wedding to Jason Wyngarde. She snapped out of her vision in the middle of kissing Wyngarde … who was actually in the nightclub smooching on Jean. Before she or Cyclops can react to this, Dazzler, (the mutant found by Cerebro) comes out on stage and starts singing. Outside the club, Nightcrawler receives a phone call from Kitty Pryde, the other mutant detected in Chicago. She warns him that the other half of the team has been captured just as Nightcrawler is attacked by one of the Inner Circle's famous Pawn henchmen. Inside, Cyclops and Phoenix are also attacked by Pawns, who seem to have weapons specifically designed to negate their powers.

With Dazzler’s help they defeat their attackers and the four mutants leave for Chicago to rescue their teammates. As they leave, Cyclops sees Jason Wyngarde on the street and notices that his shadow doesn’t match the outline of his body. In the Windy City, the team rescues Kitty as she is about to be captured by the Pawns from the Inner Circle as well, led by Emma. This strikes a chord in Phoenix, as she recalls that the Hellfire Club was the group of people featured in her illusions. With the help of Kitty and Dazzler, the team rescues their captive comrades while Phoenix and Emma have a psychic duel that seemingly kills the latter, weaker duelist.

The team decides to rest before taking the fight to the Hellfire Club. They retire to Angel’s aerie in New Mexico. During this sabbatical, Phoenix takes off Cyclops’ visor to see his eyes. He is initially hesitant, but she tells him she can telekinetically stave off the other-dimensional energy that fuels his optic blasts. The couple enjoys a moment gazing into eachother's eyes, but Cyclops worries over the amount of power Phoenix possesses and whether or not she can control it.

The team infiltrates the Hellfire Club with Angel’s help. Soon after arriving, Jean is swept away into an illusion. As Wyngarde begins to escort Phoenix into the mansion's dining room, Cyclops is in hot pursuit. Suddenly he recognizes Wyngarde as their former enemy from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Mastermind. As he enters the dining room he is struck down by Phoenix’s energy blast. She declares that she is now the Black Queen of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club. The noise of the attack sets off the impending battle as Storm and Colossus confront the club's leader and Black King, Sebastian Shaw, Wolverine fights the Black Bishop, Harry Leland, and Nightcrawler battles the White Bishop, Donald Pierce. After a quick battle the entire team is defeated, as the Inner Circle has had ample time to study the powers and fighting styles of the X-Men, but the X-Men had no clue as to what they were up against. Also, Wolverine is thought slain by Leland's gravity manipulation power, having plunged the X-Men's resident scrapper several stories below the initial battle to the sewers beneath the mansion. The Inner Circle shackles and disables the other X-Men's mutant powers, allowing them to live and witness the induction of their newest member. As the Hellfire Club toasts their new Queen, Wolverine rises from the sewers, vowing revenge.

Wolverine dismantles Pawn after Pawn in the basement while the rest of the team is still trapped. Phoenix is still held under one of Mastermind's illusions. Cyclops attempts to reach Phoenix through the unique psychic rapport they share as lovers. As he enters her mind he finds the landscape and motif alarmingly similar to that of the Hellfire Club's Mansion. He finds Mastermind waiting for him in Jean’s mind and he challenges Cyclops to a psychic duel. The challenge is accepted and right away he finds himself at a severe disadvantage to Mastermind’s swordfighting and psychic manipulation skills. Cyclops calls him out and demands he stop his illusions and fight like a real man. Mastermind laughs heartily at his opponent's lack of realization and tells Cyke that he (Mastermind) is not responsible for any other action than the fencing, and that Phoenix's own mind is fighting against our hero. He is caught off guard by this announcement and is stabbed through the heart by Mastermind. In the physical world, Cyclops falls over from the shock of having his psyche destroyed.

All in attendance believed Cyclops to have perished. However, he groans in pain at the last moment, helping them to realize he's still alive. Shaw reprimands Mastermind saying that his control over the Phoenix is not complete, since Cyclops is clearly kept alive because of his psychic link with her. The telepathic backlash of Cyclops near-death results in Phoenix being forced into her correct frame of mind. Just then, Wolverine breaks into the room. Phoenix uses Wolvie's distraction to release the helmet holding Cyclops' optic blasts at bay. He quickly uses his powers to free the rest of the team and the tide soon changes in the X-Men's favor. As Wyngarde escapes, he believes he can still bring Phoenix back to his control and they encounter eachother alone in the hallway. He quickly attempts to pull her back into the illusion, but she sees right through it and effortlessly tears his illusion asunder. She scoffs at his meager attempts (especially due to the fact that he no longer has Miss Frost's aid) to control such a powerful creature. She shatters the illusion he has created around himself to appear more handsome, and opens his mind to the true being that she really is. This shuts down his mind, killing him. As the X-Men gather in the Blackbird, the rising power within the Phoenix becomes much too destructive and powerful and she rips the jet to shreds with her psychokinetic powers. Amidst the death and chaos; she transforms into the Dark Phoenix.

The Dark Phoenix then begins her short-lived, one-sided battle against the X-Men. As she tosses them around like rag dolls, she speaks back and forth with Cyclops. He questions her as to why she still remains in Jean's mind after her success in healing the M'Krann Crystal. She tells him it is because she'd never dealt with emotion and senses before she inhabited the human body. She asks him why he cares if Jean survives, and he answers thusly: "Because I love her." Phoenix claims that she doesn't understand the definition of this particular emotional response and tells him that his answer is unacceptable. She attempts to destroy him once more, but as she brings him to the brink of death, the part of Jean that is still with the Phoenix stops her and takes the Phoenix into the vastness of space.

She goes to a nearby solar system by the name of D’Bari and plunges herself deep inside its sun. A passing Shi’ar cruiser witnesses the attempted suicide. They believe it to have destroyed itself. The scanners on the ship show that not only did the Phoenix survive the impact, but she is gaining energy from the sun, feeding on it. After depleting the sun of all of it's internal energy, the sun goes supernova and the force destroys all of the planets in the solar system including one that was inhabited by billions of life forms. The Shi'ar cruiser survived the blast by jumping into hyper drive as they discovered that the sun would explode. The starship returns after the devastation and attacks the Phoenix in retaliation for the destruction, hoping to avert another in the process. In the blink of an eye, Phoenix destroys the threat to her existence just as they are hailing the empress Lilandra in regards to what has just occured. Phoenix in turn, heads back for Earth.

The Shi'ar
Having received the distress signal from the now destroyed Shi'ar vessel, Lilandra summons Gladiator, the captain of the Shi'ar Imperial Praetorian Guard, and commands him to assemble his team and to ready them for a journey to Earth. While the disaster in the D'Bari system was unfolding, the X-Men were making plans of their own to stop the Phoenix and separate the entwined beings for good. Beast discovered that if he were able to shut down Jean's baser physical functions (i.e. emotional responses, hearing, smelling, etc.) it may force the Phoenix to leave Jean's mind. He and the Professor design a mnemonic scrambler which, if attached to Jean's head during a lapse where she is more in control than the Phoenix, would perform this task and stop Jean's body from providing the reactions that Phoenix craved.

Through Cyclops' rapport with Phoenix they find that she is returning to Earth, and that she intends to go back to the place she was before she ever knew she was a mutant. Phoenix returns to Jean's parents' house in the middle of the night. The house is empty, since the X-Men already forewarned the Greys and led them to safety. As she is moving through the house reminiscing, Cyclops (driving Professor Grey's car) pulls into the driveway. She thinks that her father has come home and races outside to see him. As she walks through the door she finds that the area is covered in a dense fog and begins to revert to the Phoenix due to the impending danger. Phoenix surfaces as Beast jumps at her, securing his mnemonic scrambler device onto the top of her head. He activates it as Phoenix begins another attack. However, he finds that not only is the scrambler failing to respond to his remote control, but it melts like ice on a summer sidewalk before it can even perform its function. Realizing that he is running out of time, Xavier decides to take advantage of Phoenix's weakened state and confronts her in the battlefield that is her mind. Despite her overwhelming power, Phoenix loses against two of the most powerful minds on Earth. The sliver of Jean that still remains and the professor place psychic breakers around Phoenix in order to incarcerate the entity forever.

As Xavier and "Jean," recover from the telepathic strain of fighting such awesome power, the X-Men find themselves surrounded by the entire Shi'ar Imperial Guard and Lilandra. She tells Xavier that by order of ancient Shi'ar/ Kree/ Skrull law the Phoenix/Jean Grey entity must perish. Lilandra states that Phoenix is far too powerful to be left alive and tells the X-Men about the perished solar system. Several billions of lives were lost, and the Phoenix did so without the bat of an eye. No effort, no remorse. Xavier pleads with Lilandra, to no avail. He intrudes upon the empress' mind in order to find a compromise. The only solution is to have a trial by combat to the death, the X-Men vs. the Imperial Guard. This is known as the challenge of Aranin Hallar. He invokes said challenge and he and the other X-Men (including Phoenix) are transported to the Shi'ar Imperial Cruiser.

Lilandra is bound by Shi'ar law to accept the challenge, however, for the sake of all of space and time she cannot allow the X-Men to win. This situation is clearly a strain on Xavier and Lilandra's fairly new relationship. The X-Men prepare for battle. Phoenix implores Cyclops to reconsider his stance on the current conflict, reminding him of the horrors she performed whilst taken over by her dark side. He simply reaffims his undying affection for her and says she is worth all of the lives in existence. Several hours later, the X-Men (along with the Imperial Guard) are teleported to the blue area of Earth's moon. The battle begins.

The two teams are evenly matched, as far as numbers are concerned. Unfortunately for the X-Men, the Imperial Guard is made up of super-powered beings from every reach of space. These beings have had eons to perfect and train themselves so as to defeat every known or unknown threat. The mutants simply cannot compare having been around for less than a decade. They are defeated, more swiftly than they or Xavier could have foreseen. The only members of the team left concious are the two lovers. With Cyclops' offensive skills and Phoenix's defensive telekinetic barrier, they are able to be quite the proverbial "thorn," in the aliens' side. Phoenix warns Cyke that she has lost telepathic contact with the others and the two are the last survivors of the battle. Phoenix discovers a cave and pulls Cyclops inside, forming a barrier of dirt and rocks telekinetically in order to remain hidden from the tireless Shi'ar army. The two do their best to say goodbye, proclaiming their love for each other as they try to gather enough energy for one last ditch effort. They run at the entire Guard, Cyclops inevitably takes a hit and is rendered unconcious like the others. Feeling the psychic backlash of his pain through their rapport is far too much for Phoenix to bear, and the psychic barriers containing the darkness are destroyed. Dark Phoenix resurfaces and disables the Imperial Guard with but a thought. Lilandra is forced to take drastic measures and fires a massive energy beam from the Cruiser to the moon targeting Phoenix. This blast seems to have destroyed Jean and the Phoenix disappears.

Several years after Jean's death, the Avengers discover the cocoon containing her fully-healed body, which had been resting on the ocean floor, in Jamaica Bay. Not realizing what it was (they thought it was another creation of the Hive such as Adam Warlock or Kismet), they brought it to Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four for further study. Jean soon awakens in the HQ of the heroic quartet and emerges from the cocoon, but cannot recall anything of her death, the battle for the M'Kraan crystal, the Inner Circle, or anything beyond that of the events leading to her living burial. The Avengers and the Fantastic Four aid her in recovering her memory. Jean also discovers that she has lost her telepathic powers, but that her telekinetic abilities are far more formidible than they once were (not quite the proficiency that she had as Phoenix, but now she effortlessly used telekinesis for flight).

Meanwhile, Cyclops had met and fallen in love with a young woman named Madelyne Jennifer Pryor who was seemingly an exact physical copy of Jean. She was, in reality, a clone of Jean that had been created by Mr. Sinister so that he could, in Jean's absence, still have a chance to receive genetically perfect offspring from the destined couple. No one (not even Madelyne) would figure this out for quite some time. She and Cyclops quickly married and moved to Alaska to settle down and have a family. Peace would never really come to the couple however, as their first and only child, (Nathan a.k.a. Cable) went missing. Madelyne and Cyclops soon approached the X-Men for help in discovering the whereabouts of their son. Madelyne also possessed a fraction of Jean's mutant powers and was able to hold her own as a member of the team. After months with the X-Men, Madelyne made a deal with some demons (one group of many that the X-Men had fought over the years) and began gathering power as the Goblin Queen. It was during this time that Jean (the real Jean) would reenter the life that she had left behind.

Madelyne discovered that Jean had returned to end up with Scott, and began editing the information that the X-Men saw so they only saw the bad news about X-Factor and thus were kept in the dark about Jean. All of this came to a head when Madelyne made a grab for power by turning Manhattan into a spitting image of the demonic Limbo using her own son (whom she and Scott had recovered with the help of the X-Men) as the catalyst. Meanwhile, as a result of Madelyne's tampering with various forms of media, the X-Men go to battle with the seemingly out of control X-Factor team. This battle however, was short-lived as both the X-teams realized the source of the confusion and set out to make Madelyne answer for her treachery. Unfortunately they also had to combat Mr. Sinister. The X-teams confronted Sinister while an intense psychic battle for dominance raged between Jean (whom had regained her telepathic abilities in a recent battle with the Dark Riders) and her clone. With considerable effort, Jean was able to defeat and kill Madelyne, not only stopping the threat of the Goblin Queen, but also succeeding in reuniting with the piece of her soul that the Phoenix had once used to impersonate Jean several months before. With that piece of herself back intact, a flood of all the memories of the Phoenix and Madelyne came rushing back to Jean's psyche, some good and some bad.

Though she and the founding members of the X-Men had an emotional reunion, her regained memories affirmed Jean's fears that her life had been stolen from her. These feelings of doubt led to her refusal of Cyclops proposal of marriage. It also didn't ease the tension between the lovebirds when Jean met her daughter from the future, Rachel Summers, which made it seem inevitable that the two were to marry. The pressure seemed unbearable. She was further disturbed by the news that the New X-Men had been fighting anti-mutant movements with the help of the team's archenemy, Magneto. Because of this news, the original fab five continued their heroic efforts under the name of X-Factor for a while.

X-Factor re-merged with the New X-Men soon after however, due to Professor X's need for the 2 X-Teams' aid in defeating the Shadow King, whom had taken over Muir Island. When this threat ended the X-Men team was whole again and the name X-Factor went into retirement.

Coming back to the shepherd and his fold, Jean had a change of heart with regards to her seemingly inevitable nuptials. She turned the tables and proposed to Scott herself. Never having lost his intense feelings for his "high school," sweetheart, Cyclops accepted. Married at last, the duo also accepted Rachel, their daughter from a parallel reality, into their lives. Just after the wedding however, Rachel was sucked into an alternate timestream to save her teammate, Captain Britain. During the honeymoon, Scott & Jean were pulled into this timestream by Rachel (now Mother Askani) herself. Rachel needed her parents to raise Scott and Madelyne's son (whom had been sent to the future to heal from a vicious case of the Techno-Organic virus that he'd contracted during the battle with Madelyne and Sinister). In this alternate reality (Earth-811), the two heroes were known as Red & Slim so as to keep their true identities a secret. Here, they were able to ensure Cable's safety.

When they returned, Jean took on the codename of Phoenix once more, to honor Rachel, whom was believed to be dead. Jean also re-adopted the original green Phoenix costume and began manifesting a "firebird" visage whilst using her telekinetic powers. It was revealed that Rachel was only missing, due to events that coincided with Apocalypse's prematurely reported death. Around the time that Jean and the others had figured this out, a monstrous and powerful entity known as Onslaught, had come into being when the minds of Professor X & Magneto merged during an intense battle between the two arch-nemeses. Near the end of the war between most of Earth's heroes and Onslaught, the being confronted Jean and told her that he could reveal all of Professor X's secrets and thoughts to her, including his deepest secret of all. His feelings of affection for his first female student. Onslaught also tempted Jean with claims that he had the wherewithal to give her back the power of the Phoenix Force. The monstrosity was soon after defeated.

Following such a ferocious battle, you'd think that things would've calmed down for our heroine, but you'd be wrong. Apocalypse had come back from the "dead" and taken advantage of the Onslaught distraction by recapturing his former glory. During this time he had deduced that in order to achieve his ultimate goal of total world domination, he needed to capture and harness the power of the twelve most powerful mutants on Earth. Their power he believed, would determine the fate of both human and mutantkind alike and therefore must belong to him. Knowing what we know already, several of the Twelve were X-Men, not excluding Jean and Cyclops. Using yet another doomsday device (Apocalypse is fairly famous for these atrocities) Apocalypse was able to absorb all of the power that the Twelve possessed, making him immensely formidable. Arguably the most powerful of the Twelve, X-Man (Yet another child of Jean & Cyclops' from an alternate timeline {Earth-295 Age of Apocalypse} whom possessed enough psychic power to have the ability to bring back the dead) was chosen as a vessel for Apocalypse. X-Man's genetic makeup was better suited for handling such power than Apocalypse's. Before Cyke's son could be possessed by the madman, he attempted to shove X-Man out of harm's way. His actions saved his son, but were unable to stop Apocalypse from merging with Cyclops himself. The X-Men feared the worst for their fearless field commander. However, with the combined efforts of Jean and Cable, they were able to separate Scott from Apocalypse.

Jean’s teammate Psylocke needed help dealing with the Shadow King stuck inside her head. When Jean tried to help Psylocke, the two women switched powers. Jean lost her telekinetic powers but absorbed Psylocke’s telepathic powers and added them to her own already formidable telepathic abilities. Jean’s telekinetic power eventually returned while Psylocke also retained her massive telekinetic upgrade.

Eventually, the mansion reopened as the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning with Jean and Scott as its Headmaster and Headmistress. During this time Scott began having telepathic therapy sessions with the now X-Man Emma Frost, which led to a telepathic affair. Jean caught them during this and this caused major trouble for the couple. When Emma was shot and her diamond form shattered by Esme Cuckoo, Jean was able to reconstruct her on a molecular level and restore her to life. Months later during an attack by Magneto, Wolverine stabbed Jean to spare her dying in an explosion. This “death” brought her back, whilst fully assuming the Phoenix persona. When they returned to Earth, Magneto unleashed a massive electromagnetic pulse through her body giving her a “planetary scale stroke”. Wolverine beheaded Magneto (later revealed to be an imposter anyway) as Jean died in Scott’s arms. Jean lived on in the White Hot Room of the Phoenix (thought to be the centre of creation), and while watching her own funeral, she telepathically nudged Scott to move on and be happy with Emma as she wanted him to live life to the fullest.

In the Phoenix Endsong story arc, the Phoenix Force formed and was assaulte d by a Shi'ar warship, which caused it to splinter throughout the galaxy. The Shi'ar also planned on killing Jean Grey as they believed that Jean was the heart of the Phoenix and that the cosmic powers would eventually, inevitably, come back to her.During the Phoenix's arrival on planet Earth, it discovered that Jean was dead. With full determination to resurrect Jean, it consumed her body and forced her to dig herself out of her grave, and hence Jean was resurrected. Neither Jean nor the Phoenix Force were truly prepared for this resurrection, which caused the Phoenix to quickly go insane and become the Dark Phoenix. Jean stated that the resurrection was wrong and the entity was "sick, blind, and has forgotten."

The X-Men started formulating tactics on how to contain the Phoenix Force, but things went from bad to worse when the mutant Quentin Quire ( Kid Omega), who had been the sole reason for the Open Day disaster, returned with plans to resurrect his dead girlfriend Sophie Cuckoo using the Phoenix entity. The Shi'ar then arrived as well and planned on killing the Phoenix while she/it was still unprepared and relatively weak.

The X-Men encountered Jean at the North Pole, where Logan would repeatedly attempt to kill her. When Wolverine confronted her and asked if he is talking to Jean or the Phoenix, she replied "I am always Jean Grey and always the Phoenix." Jean managed to regain control of herself and her sanity and sealed herself in ice. Phoenix then used Cyclops' optic blast to empower herself. Emma Frost then attempted to fool the Phoenix by telling the entity that Scott no longer loved Jean. Emma then proceeded in offering herself to the Phoenix. Whilst momentarily overwhelmed, Cyclops pushed both himself and Emma (who was consumed by the Phoenix Force) in a Phoenix Egg Containment Unit created by Beast.

Kid Omega then appeared, broke open the containment egg, and asked the Phoenix fragment to bring Sophie Cuckoo back to life, which the Emma Phoenix did. Although Kid Omega had succeeded in his goal, Sophie decided to stay dead rather than return to life to be with Kid Omega, since she was still disgusted by him and his previous actions. Meanwhile, Emma Frost was still consumed by the Phoenix Force after being inhabited inside the Phoenix Egg, but because she was only an Alpha Level mutant (unlike Jean Grey who is an Omega Level mutant), she was not capable of joining with the entity for long. To save Emma's life, Jean Grey forcibly separated Emma from the Phoenix. The Phoenix was surprised that Jean was able to accomplish this feat without any assistance. Jean then stated that she and the Phoenix were one and that she would always be the Phoenix. Cyclops then instructed the Stepford Cuckoos and Emma Frost to link all the X-Men together telepathically to sustain the Phoenix 's sanity. As they were helping her to keep her sanity, Jean Grey/Phoenix transformed itself into the White Phoenix.

But then the Shi'ar created an event horizon and Cyclops found himself "somewhere" with the White Phoenix. She then asked Scott to show her his eyes and they both bathed within his optic blast. After Cyclops awoke, he found himself and the other X-Men alive and back on Earth, but Jean Grey was nowhere to be found. Jean is considered to be dead, again, when in fact she is in the White Hot Room searching for her (and the Phoenix's) missing pieces.

Michael Bendis takes over the flagship X-Men book with All New X-Men. Which brings the Lee/Kirby original 5 X-Men to the present to see what has become of the X-Men and what has happened to Xavier’s dream. A young Jean Grey will see what happened to her in the present and what she will do to change it.

After the events of Avengers VS. X-men, and Cyclops becoming a fugitive, Beast takes the idea of Iceman of confronting Scott with his past self. After realising that he is going to die as result of his mutation, Beast uses Dr. Doom´s time machine to travel to the past and convinces the original X-men to come to the future (Hank´s present) to confront Scott. After some hesitation, the young X-men decides to go back with him. After arriving to the present, Jean telepathic powers turn on (she is pulled from a past where those abilities were shut down by Xavier) and she learns about most of the things that are going on in the present, confirming Beast´s story. Despite Wolverine´s initial plan to return the young x-men to the past, Jean puts him to sleep and the X-men steal a blackbird to locate and confront the Future Cyclops. During the confrontation between them and Cyclops, who is with Magneto, Jean gets to read the mind of present day Scott, and learns that he killed Xavier, prompting a battle between the two teams, ending in Magneto orders Magik to retrieve them

The O5 return to the mansion just in time when Beast have a stroke and gets to the edge of death. Young Beast decides to save his future self and ask Jean for help. She use hes power to comunicate the past and present version of Beast, so they can collaborate in saving themselves. While in Beast mind, adult Hank lets Jean to take a peak inside his mind to learn everything about her future (His first adventures, the Phoenix saga, his time as Black Queen, the first incarnation of X-Factor, training Cable in the Future, her weeding, the death of Madelyne Pryor, her battle againts Onslaught, the merge of Cyclops and Apocalypse, her relationship with Wolverine and her death at the hand of Xorn) leaving her devastated. When they managed to save Beast´s life (resulting in another shape mutation), some of the O5 come to the realization that they should return to the past. Jean tells otherwise, stating that they should stay ultil they right the wrongs of their future, so all the bad thing they endured wouldn´t be in vain. After voting, the majority of the original X-men decided to stay, with Kitty Pryde taking the role of their mentor (leaving her position of headmistress in the hands of Storm). While adjusting to her life in the present, Jean has problems with her telepathy. Kitty teaches her an exercise to control her ability. When Jean asked if she learned this from Xavier, Kitty tells her that Jean herself teached it. After meeting with Storm, both Pryde and Ororo agreed that Jean should lead the young X-men team (since Cyclops credibility is under stake and Jean was the one that convinced them to stay in the present).

Powers and Abilities
Omega Level Mutant Jean Grey is an extremely powerful telepath who can detect and read the thoughts of others and project her own thoughts into others' minds, form psychic links with other beings, control others' mind so as to manipulate their physical functions, mentally stun opponents with bolts of pure psionic force, cast near flawless illusions, and project her mind onto the astral plane. At close range Jean can manipulate any number of minds at once.

Jean can use her powerful telekinetic abilities on herself and others to fly, move objects and other beings, stimulate molecules to increase friction to the point of making flames, make force fields, and make concussive blasts. She was a fair hand to hand combatant.

When empowered by the Phoenix Force Jean has total control over all matter on the sub-atomic scale to the point where she can manipulate the entire universe. She can generate endless amounts of energy as well as absorb endless amounts of energy. She can exists in any environment without harm and can create space time warps to travel through hyperspace or traverse the time stream with ease. She can also manipulate and create separate time lines. Also her telepathic powers are enhanced to the point where they become visible to the physical world. Usually she forms a giant Phoenix but can form any thing she can think of. The Phoenix Force can also resurrect the dead and absorb the life force from other beings to bolster its own.

After her physical death Jean fully merged with the Phoenix becoming the White Phoenix of the Crown. This is the most powerful version any wielder of the Phoenix can achieve. The full limits (if there are any) have yet to be shown.

Jean is also an Omega Level Mutant. The highest point of power a mutant can ever reach without outside forces.