Phoenix (IV)

History:

Phoenix is one of the most powerful telepaths on the planet, second only to Professor X and possibly X-Man. She also had telekinesis, although that seems to have been lost recently. Although her husband Cyclops was the first X-Man, Jean was Xavier's first student. As a young girl, Jean watched as her friend Annie Richardson was hit by a car. The stress of the event activated Jean's powers, and she was in contact with Annie's mind as she died, a traumatic experience for any telepath, let alone one who has just manifested. Jean went into a catatonia from which no one could extract her, save Professor Xavier, who, being a telepath himself, was able to enter Jean's mind and bring her back to the real world. Jean continued to study with Xavier and with Moira MacTaggert for a while, and was eventually brought to the School for Gifted Youngsters to complete the young X-Men team. When she merged with the Phoenix Force as the original and then Dark Phoenix, Jean could make her thoughts into reality, although her power usually manifested itself in terms of her telepathy and telekinesis. It should be noted that the original Phoenix was actually a construct created by the Phoenix Force to replace Jean Grey (Marvel Girl), who sacrificed herself to save her teammates as they were crash-landing in a damaged spacecraft. This clone actually believed herself to be Jean; in reality the real Jean Grey was in a healing cocoon at the bottom of Jamaica Bay. Her telepathy was suppressed so that she couldn't cry for help while the Phoenix lived her life. Unfortunately, the Phoenix was immature and did not know how to deal properly with human emotions. Eventually she was seduced by Mastermind, working for the Hellfire Club, and joined them as their Black Queen. Even though she broke free of Mastermind's control, the dark side of the Phoenix had been tapped, and she became Dark Phoenix. Dark Phoenix defeated the X-Men, and then went to the Shi'ar galaxy where she destroyed a sun to gain energy, but in the process killed the five billion inhabitants of its fourth planet. When she returned to Earth, Dark Phoenix was suppressed by Professor X, but returned when the Shi'ar forced the X-Men to hand her over for termination. The X-Men challenged the Shi'ar to a duel on the Blue Area of the Moon, feeling that Phoenix had been exorcised from Jean, but to no avail. As her lover Cyclops was struck down by the Imperial Guard, Phoenix returned. However, Jean's persona was dominant, and realizing that she was once again a threat to the universe, Phoenix activated an ancient weapon and killed her mortal body. The Phoenix tried to return the essence it had borrowed from Jean to her, but it also brought its memories as Dark Phoenix, full of evil and death, and Jean rejected it. Years later, Jean finally broke through the psi-damping of the cocoon she was in, and was rescued by the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. She had lost her telepathy because of its constant suppression, but joined the other original X-Men in creating X-Factor anyway. During Inferno, Jean discovered that Madelyne Pryor, who had married Scott while Jean was "dead," was really her clone, and had received the memories of the Phoenix that she had rejected. Madelyne tried to kill herself and Jean, but the part of Phoenix that had been in Madelyne appeared and save Jean when she agreed to reaccept it. Madelyne died, but Jean survived, with both her memories and the Phoenix's memories. During the Dark Riders' attack on X-Factor's Ship, Psynapse telepathically assaulted Jean, reawakening her long-dormant telepathy. After returning to the X-Men, Jean was almost killed by Sentinels, but survived by transferring her mind into the seemingly-lifeless body of Emma Frost. The X-Men rescued her and Xavier put her mind back. Since then, Jean has married Cyclops, and journeyed with him to the far future to raise his son Cable as Redd. She has now accepted the name Phoenix (as a tribute to her "daughter" Rachel, who died as an elderly Mother Askani 2000 years in the future) and also appears to have accepted its power once more. Jean left the X-Men after Scott was injured during Operation: Zero Tolerance, taking a vacation in Alaska to help him recover. While there, however, Jean lost her telepathy to the Shadow King's telepathic shockwave, and was having difficulty coping. However, slowly but surely her power returned, and she along, with Cyclops and some other X-Men, agreed to protect the Mannites when it seemed that the core X-Men had disbanded. Then Apocalypse made his return and the X-Men discovered the prophecies regarding The Twelve. Phoenix and the rest on the legendary group were abducted and place in a machine intended to fuel Apocalypse's transfer into Nate Grey's body. In the final battle, Cyclops scarificed his life to save Nate, but he was absorbed into Apocalypse himself. Jean and the others were taken to warped pasts and futures in which Apocalypse tried to recreate the power charging by having the 12 attack him, but twice Jean stopped the X-Men because she could sense Scott fighting from within, indicating that he was still alive inside Apocalypse. Unfortunately, no one, not even Xavier, could sense Scott's presence, and Jean left the X-Men, despondent and grieving. Recently, she returned to the team, but something happened between her and Psylocke that transferred all of Jean's telekinesis to Betsy, and added Betsy's telepathy to Jean's. Jean is now an incredibly powerful telepath. Recently, Jean (and Cable) were contacted by Ozyamandias and told that Cyclops and Apocalypse were still alive. Jean and Cable eventually tracked Scott down and fought his Apocalypse persona. Finally, Jean used the mindlink she shared with Scott to physically rip Apocalypse out of Scott, freeing him from a terrible destiny. Shortly thereafter, Jean gathered a team of neo-mutants to help rescue Charles Xavier from Magneto's clutches. She is now back on the team full-time, and is learning to know her husband again, though the lure of Wolverine is getting stronger as Scott grows ever colder to her.