‘X-Men ’97’: Who is Madelyn Pryor?

Whether you remember X-Men: The Animated Series, or you’re checking out X-Men ’97 as a newbie, it seems that audiences are really into it. Nostalgia aside, it’s a well-written show, at least so far. The first two episodes are out now and there’s a character introduced that you’ll recognize from the comics, but if you’re coming in blind, there’s one character who’ll be new to you.

There are quite a few developments that happened to the X-Men after the last series ended. Magneto is now in charge of Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, the mutant-hating Friends of Humanity is back and Jean Grey and Cyclops have a kid.

But wait! Do they? At the end of the second episode, we meet what seems to be a spitting image of Jean. She also claims to be Jean. Who is she? Her name is Madelyne Pryor, and she’s Jean Grey’s clone. That’s right, there’s a clone and she’s part of a pretty big storyline in the comics. There will probably be some changes for the show, but that doesn’t mean we can’t extrapolate where it’s going.

Introducing Madelyne Pryor

Madelyne Pryor debuted in Uncanny X-Men #168 in 1983. She was created by legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont and long-time artist Paul Smith and was named after the singer of ’60s British folk rock band Steeleye Span, named Maddy Prior. Her appearance is based on the book’s editor in that period of Marvel lore, named Louise Jones. We meet her right after the storied Dark Phoenix Saga, after Jean Grey’s death. Of course, the fact that she’s identical to Jean causes some consternation among the X-Men.

Pretty much everyone thinks it’s Jean, and she marries Scott and she gets pregnant pretty much immediately. He enjoys married life so much that after he gets whooped by Storm and loses the title of leader, he toys with maybe settling down once and for all. Oh, it gets better. Marvel always planned to bring Jean back, and they did in X-Factor, which brought the five original X-Men back together.

Does Scott Summers do the right thing and stay with his wife and child? Nope. He bails on her and goes right back to Jean and his old life as a superhero. Of course, Madelyne didn’t like this, and she lost her mind over it. Oh, and she gets possessed by a demon. Eventually, she figures out the truth: that Mr. Sinister created her as a clone. She didn’t come to life until the Phoenix made her a real person, but Mr. Sinister was ready to get rid of her until that happened. Once it did, he changed his plans and set up circumstances so Cyclops would get her pregnant and he could continue his nefarious experiments.

From there, she became The Goblin Queen and headlined a crossover event called Inferno, involving a demonic invasion of New York. She gets her showdown with Jean and tries to kill herself to destroy Jean, but Jean merges with the Phoenix Force and Madelyne and survives. Then she has all of Madeline’s memories, so now it is kind of like she was the one who had Scott’s son after all.

Confusing! Because these are comics, we are not done with Madelyne. She comes back quite a few times, trying to make a name for herself instead of just being a clone of Jean Grey. Her most recent appearance was in 2023 for the Dark Web crossover. Now what about the kid? Things are about to get wild.

Who is Scott and Jean Grey’s Son?

Alright, buckle in. At first, everything is great between Jean and Cyclops and why shouldn’t it be? She has all of Madelyne’s memories, so technically she’s raising her own child. They also share the same DNA, considering Madelyne was a clone. Everything’s going to be fine, right? Ha!

Enter Apocalypse, who used his powers and realized that cute little Nathan Summers, the son of two of the most powerful X-Men, would grow up to be a pretty powerful mutant. Apocalypse poisons Nathan with a weird half-tech half-organic virus, and the only way to cure him is to give him to the Askani Clan where he can be cured in the future.

Guess what? It turns out that Cable, who you know and love from the original X-Men show, is Nathan! That’s right, the badass time-traveling, Bishop hunting, all-around menacer Cable, is the adult son of Scott and Jean. We would bet that’s probably the direction they’ll take this in X-Men ’97 but don’t hold us to that.

If you’re familiar with the comics, you know what a big part of everything Cable becomes. He even leads X-Force for a while. Oh, and in The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, a four-issue miniseries, the pair get pulled into the future and get a chance to raise Nathan.

How the show might handle Madelyne Pryor

If you’ve been paying attention, it’s not a surprise that Madelyne shows up, considering they already unveiled a toy of her. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out on the show as in the comics, it’s the real Jean that shows up. The show could very well make it Madelyne, who knows? But still, how would they know which Jean is the real Jean? They’re identical!

Considering we also know that Mister Sinister will be back, the storyline will almost certainly play out until Madelyne becomes the Goblin Queen. That means that the what isn’t important, it’s the how. Regardless, X-Men ’97 is shaping up to be a classic. Let’s hope it stays that way!