10 Most Hated Retcon Changes In Marvel Comics

3. Turns Out Jean Grey Wasn’t The Phoenix After All

Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force go a long way back, that old classic tale of a super-powerful cosmic force inhabiting the body of a teenager with inordinate telepathic abilities and in the process making her one of the most dangerous beings in existence. You know the one.

Jean’s relationship with the Phoenix Force was responsible for some of the biggest moments in X-Men history, not least of which was her death, which came about when she realised the Dark Phoenix mega-powers residing inside her, taking her own life during a brief moment outside its control over her. This was very, very sad, not least of which for Scott Summers aka Cyclops, to whom our hearts poured out in unison.

But we moved on. Cyclops later found love again—sort of—and had a baby with Jean’s clone, Madelyne Pryor, who would become the biotic-armed time-traveller Cable, who otherwise goes by the moniker of coolest bad-ass ever to exist.

EXCEPT SHE WASN’T DEAD. She wasn’t dead at all, in fact Jean had been preserved by the Phoenix Force in a handy dandy cocoon at the bottom of the ocean of all places—WHO DIDN’T THINK TO LOOK THERE? XAVIER, WAS THAT YOU?—and our favourite redhead of all time was back.

Ah, comic writers, it’s almost as if they don’t care about our emotions or connections to characters at all...