10 X-Men Characters Writers Need To Stop Using

For all that Jean Grey has been through she has been treated remarkably poorly as a character. Between the constant deaths and resurrections she has becmoe synonymous with and being written as an object for Cyclops and Wolverine to fight over, Jean has gotten the short end of the stick many times. But one storyline in particular has been particularly damaging to her character.

Since The Dark Phoenix Saga premiered in the 1970s, Jean has been typecast as the vessel of the Phoenix. Yes, there have been stints where writers focus on other aspects of the character, but without fail, whenever Jean is brought to a prominent role in a book, the Phoenix is quick to follow.

That’s problematic because the continued re-emergence of the Phoenix not only keeps Jean from evolving as a character, but it also dampens the impact of one of the greatest comic stories of all time. She can never eclipse that destiny, so unless writers can resist yet another Phoenix story, Jean needs to stay on the sidelines.