Stan Lee's 20 Greatest Marvel Comics Creations

5. Jean Grey

Stan Lee Spider Man
Marvel Comics

Fans have got absolutely everything crossed that Dark Phoenix will be good. Famke Jansen’s Jean Grey in the original X-Men trilogy was a good character, but didn’t truly feel like Stan Lee’s Grey. There was either too much (The Last Stand) or too little (X-Men and X2).

Sophie Turner has matured as an actress as Game Of Thrones has gone on, but she’s yet to prove she can carry a solo flick. Apocalypse was a bit of a mess from start to finish but hopefully Dark Phoenix will be slicker.

Away from arguments over casting decisions and the like, Jean Grey deserves a solo movie. She was a founding member of Lee’s X-Men and has been central to so many of their arcs down the years. A little like Sue Storm, she’s under appreciated by the masses because her films haven’t lived up to her amazing characterisation in the comics.

She’s sweet and kind but has to balance that with her immense powers. When in full control, she’s potentially the strongest character at Marvel. It’s her desire to avoid her powers, her existential awareness that she is too strong to ever unleash her full wrath that makes her so rounded, endearing, and memorable.

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Self appointed queen of the SJWs. Find me on Twitter @FiveTacey (The 5 looks like an S. Do you get it? Do you get my joke about the 5?)