These days, people don’t take comic book deaths seriously – and there’s a reason for that. Basically, pretty much any hero or villain to have bitten to the dust returns at some point, usually within a few years when it comes to deaths that have occurred in this decade. Still, there are a few to never have been undone or have stuck for quite some time.
One such example is that of Jean Grey, whom the House of Ideas brought back last year in the five-issue limited series, Phoenix Resurrection. Sure, we’d gotten healthy doses of Jean in the time since, thanks to the now defunct Ultimate line of books and the appearance of a younger version of her in All-New X-Men, but, as they say, nothing beats the original.
Believe it or not, one person who believes Jean should’ve never come back is that of the legendary Chris Claremont, who spent years writing for the character during what many would consider to be the greatest era of X-Men comics. Here’s what he had to say to Syfy regarding this situation:
“I would have been much happier if she’d stayed dead because … the other X-Men suddenly realized we are mortal. We are not protected by the fact that we’re all copyrighted and trademarked.”
Well, he’s certainly got a point there, one that circles back to the opening paragraph of this very article. What’s doubly troubling is that she’s resumed her relationship with Cyclops, who’d since married her clone, Madelyne Pryor, whom he also had a child with. Granted, her resemblance to Jean is what drew him to her, but to leave someone he’d established a domestic relationship with so easily is highly questionable.
Not surprisingly, Claremont has an opinion regarding that as well:
“So you’re talking about taking a character, having him walk out on his wife and newborn son to go back to his old girlfriend. What kind of hero would do that?”
Tell us, do you agree with the decision to resurrect Jean Grey? Furthermore, was it a good idea to have her rekindle things with Cyclops? Let us know in the usual place below!
