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Jean Grey is a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. She has used the code names Marvel Girl and Phoenix during her career, and is a member of the X-Men. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, she first appeared in X-Men #1 (1963).
Jean Grey is a mutant born with the abilities of telepathy and telekinesis.
Fictional biography
As a teenager, she began attending Professor Charles Xavier's "school for gifted youngsters" and joined the X-Men under the name of Marvel Girl. During her tenure there, she fell in love with Cyclops.
Following a mission in space, Grey attempted to pilot a shuttle back to Earth during one of the worst solar storms in history. The shuttle was unshielded and Grey would have died were it not for the intervention of the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix force. Though at the time it was believed (and the storyline meant it to be) that the Phoenix imbued Jean with vast cosmic powers, this was later retconned that she was actually placed into a coma in a cocoon in Jamaica Bay and the Phoenix adopted her identity as a heroine. Variant cover to Phoenix: Endsong #1. Art by Greg Land. Phoenix believed herself to be Grey, and she and Cyclops continued their relationship, until Phoenix lost control of her powers, and eventually committed suicide. The Dark Phoenix Saga, the lengthy story of the decline and fall of Phoenix, by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, is regarded as one of the best comics stories of the 1970s.
Grey's survival was revealed when the original X-Men formed X-Factor, which she joined when she emerged from her coma. Cyclops, in the meantime, had married her double (later revealed as her clone), Madelyne Pryor. When Scott left Pryor for Jean, she felt distraught betrayed and became corrupted by goblins, becoming the Goblin Queen. She died in battle with Jean after she (becoming suicidal upon the discovery of being a clone) linked their minds together and killed herself, hoping the link would kill Jean as well (it didn't.)
As a result, Cyclops and Grey were able to resume their relationship, and eventually married. Shortly thereafter, she resumed using the name Phoenix as an attempt to redeem both the entity and herself in her mind, and also to honor her "daughter" from a future parallel world, Rachel Summers, who at the time was believed to be dead. Later, she assumed the role of the Headmistress of the Xavier Institute.
Jean Grey. Art by Ethan Van Sciver. In a dark future 150 years down the line, Grey is revived as an even more powerful version of Phoenix. While she removed that possible future from existence, it is not clear whether Grey is still "alive" in any sense in the present.
Recently in the present, the Shi'ar resurrected the Phoenix enity in hopes of destroying it while it was relatively weak. The enity managed to escape and fled to Earth, where it needed a host to sustain itself. After posessing a firefly and running into Wolverine, the enity resurrected Jean and bonded with her once more.
Television and film
Marvel Girl was a character in the mid-1990s X-Men animated series, and guest starred on at least one episode of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends in the early 1980s.
In the X-Men film and its sequel X2, Grey was portrayed by Famke Janssen.
Also, in the animated TV series X-Men: Evolution Jean was voiced by Venus Terzo.
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