Five Times the Grey-Summers Family Tree Got Weird

Scott & Jean, X-Factor volume 1

X-Men history time again! Today we take a look at the Grey-Summers family—clones, time-travel, and all.

After her first clone died, Scott Summers married a second clone of his dead girlfriend. For today’s purposes, there are three Jean Greys:

  1. Jean
  2. Phoenix Jean
  3. Madelyne Pryor

Scott Summers’ DNA and Jean Grey’s DNA have been combined several times across several alternate realities. There are four GreySummers+ kids:

  1. Nathan Christopher Summers, aka Nathan Dayspring Askani’son, aka Cable
  2. Nate Grey
  3. Rachel Summers
  4. Stryfe

Cable‘s parents are Scott Summers (from the main timeline, Earth-616) and Madelyne Pryor (616). Madelyne is genetically identical to Jean Grey. Cable is the oldest living member of the Summers clan, because of time travel.

Nate‘s parents are Scott Summers (from an alternate timeline, Earth-295) and Jean Grey (295), via artificial fertilisation & tube-based nurturing.

Rachel‘s parents are Jean Grey (from an alternate timeline, Earth-811) and, officially, Scott Summers (811).

Stryfe is a clone of Cable.

Scott Summers has a brother, Alex Summers, also known as Havok. He also has another brother Gabriel, also known as Vulcan, and a potential half-brother Adam (also known as Adam-X, or X-Treme).

Currently Jean Grey is an adult and dead, Madelyne Pryor is an adult and dead, and Scott Summers is an adult and alive. There is a living teenaged Jean Grey on Earth-616—that’s the main, regular timeline—and a living teenaged Scott Summers there too (as well as the adult, living one). [Editor’s note: At least pre-Secret Wars.]

Several alternate versions of Jean Grey have had romantic relationships with Wolverine as well as, or instead of, those she’s shared with Scott. Nate Gray’s home-timeline of Age of Apocalypse, Earth-295, for example, held a Jean Grey who loved Weapon X, an alternate Logan. Her ovum (presumably?) was used to create Nate with the sperm of Prelate Summers—not Jean’s lover, but her captor. Mister Sinister, an early mutate (a mutant with an identifiable, post-birth biological trigger) and evil geneticist, has an immortal obsession with the Summers and Grey genetic lineages. Many versions of him encourage or force the combination of their offspring in the hopes of producing some mutant ideal.

But that’s not what I mean when I say weird. The writers of Marvel take Sinister’s mixey-changey ideas, and make them worse.

Nate and Maddie’s MMMM kiss:

Would you kiss a dead alternate version of the clone of your mother that your alternate father married and sired your alternate self with? Nate would:

Nate & Maddie, X-Man #25
X-Man #25, 1995

Cable marries Jenskot:

Would you marry a woman explicitly named after both of your parents? Cable would:

Jenskot
Cable #1, 1993

Maddie and Havok:

Would you seek comfort in the arms of your husband’s brother, when said husband neglects you for work and then leaves you, because his old girlfriend—of whom you’re an identical rebound—came back? Also you got shot, and your son’s been kidnapped? Maddie would (but I can forgive her).

Maddie Pryor and Alex Summers, Goblyn Queen, Inferno
X-Men: Inferno, 1989

Cyclops and Maddie:

Would you marry a woman identical to your dead, cosmic girlfriend? Scott would!

Madelyne_Pryor_and_Scott_Summers_Wedding_Earth-616_001
Uncanny X-Men #175, 1983

The younger woman your dad passed the time with:

This is Lee Forrester:

Lee Forrester, X-men #139

When Phoenix went Dark and became a destroyer of worlds, various factors allowed the Jean-persona to fight for control over the tempestuous desires of the cosmic Phoenix Force. Resultantly, “Jean” died on the moon, taking her own life to keep Dark Phoenix down. Scott quits the X-Men, vowing never to go back inside the shell that Jean helped him to escape from, and four issues later he’s on Lee’s boat. Lee and Scott fight D’Spayre, visit the Bermuda triangle, and have various adventures together. They become romantic, and from then on have an on-off relationship, mostly depending on whether or not Jean is alive at any given time. Lee also has a formative romance with Magneto.

In 1993’s Cable #13, Lee becomes attracted to Cable, and they share a bit of the ol’ kiss-kiss. D’Spayre (practically her personal matchmaker) speaks for us all:

Cable #13, Marvel Comics
Cable #13 scan via Aaron King

Lee, upon discovering that Cable is the son of her ex—

Decides not to pursue the relationship. Heavens praise the good sense of a sea captain.

Advertisements
Claire Napier

Claire Napier

Critic, ex-Editor in Chief at WWAC, independent comics editor; the rock that drops on your head. Find me at clairenapierclairenapier@gmail.com and give me lots of money

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Close
Menu
WP Twitter Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com