The Secret Empire is a fictional organization appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . They first appeared in Tales to Astonish #81 and were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby . They were originally a branch of Hydra but later became a separate independent group.
100-554: Secret Empire may refer to: Secret Empire (organization) , an evil organization in Marvel Comics Secret Empire (1974 comic) , comic book storyline Secret Empire (2017 comic) , comic book storyline " The Secret Empire ", an episode of the TV series Cliffhangers Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
200-580: A 2012 public signing, Claremont spoke about the context of the late 1970s and the end of the Vietnam War during the story's writing, stating that the history of these events also made Jean Grey's genocidal actions difficult to redeem. In the original ending, Jean does not revert to Dark Phoenix, and the Shi'ar subject her to a "psychic lobotomy", permanently removing all her telepathic or telekinetic powers. Claremont and Byrne planned to later have Magneto offer Jean
300-630: A Sentinel factory. Sentinels crush Jean's escape pod and she dies, but is resurrected into a cloned body. She is also a member of the Quiet Council , Krakoa's provisional government. Following the events of House of X, Jean briefly joins the Krakoan incarnation of X-Force, before resigning in protest of Beast's actions in Terra Verde. The Phoenix Force soon hosts a tournament to determine its new host, ultimately selecting Maya Lopez, also known as Echo. With
400-465: A car. She is a caring, nurturing figure, but she also has to deal with being an Omega-level mutant and the physical manifestation of the cosmic Phoenix Force . Jean first experienced a transformation into Phoenix in the X-Men storyline " The Dark Phoenix Saga ". Due to Mastermind 's manipulations, Jean became Dark Phoenix during "The Dark Phoenix Saga" and sacrificed herself. Jean is an important figure in
500-466: A fan, and that he neither formally pitched the idea to anyone nor gave it the final go ahead. Claremont expressed dissatisfaction with the retcon, stating in 2012: "We'd just gone to all the effort of saying, 'Jean is dead, get over it,' and they said, 'Haha, we fibbed.' So why should anyone trust us again? But that's the difference between being the writer and being the boss." In a 2008 interview Byrne said he still felt Busiek's method of reviving Jean Grey
600-466: A hero and "decent human being", and the "untenable situation" with Madelyne was dealt with by transforming her into a prolicidal demonic villain and killing her off. Soon after the beginning publication of X-Factor , Marvel also reprinted and released the original X-Men series under the title Classic X-Men . These reissues paired the original stories with new vignettes, elaborating on plot points. One such issue, Classic X-Men #8 (April 1987), paired
700-512: A lifeless clone of Jean Grey created by the villain Mister Sinister. Sinister created the clone to mate with Cyclops to create genetically superior mutants. Named " Madelyne Pryor ", the unaware clone meets Cyclops in a situation engineered by Sinister and the two fall in love, marry, and have a child, Nathan Christopher Summers. Meanwhile, the cocoon is discovered and retrieved by the Avengers and
800-629: A mechanical failsafe that caused him to suffer intense pain if he disobeyed Number 7. During the Round Robin story arc in The Amazing Spider-Man , Midnight was sent out on his first mission: kidnap the super-hero Nova so that the Secret Empire could transform him into a cyborg as well. This plan involved the villain Thunderball , who himself was a cybernetics genius. The plan was foiled by
900-467: A new costume and adopts the codename "Phoenix"; meanwhile, the cocoon containing the real Jean Grey sinks to the bottom of the bay, unnoticed. Phoenix continues her life as Jean Grey with the other X-Men, joining them on missions and even helping to save the universe. During " The Dark Phoenix Saga ", Phoenix becomes overwhelmed and corrupted by her first taste of evil and transforms into a force of total destruction called "Dark Phoenix", inadvertently killing
1000-462: A psionic image with the rest of the X-Men after Onslaught coerces Gateway to kidnap Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, and Iceman. He later appears to her again in a similar way after rescuing her and Gambit from Bastion and offers her a chance to join him. Onslaught makes his first full appearance to Jean on the astral plane and shows her how humanity is closing in on mutants as well as revealing that Xavier
1100-652: A psychic shadow form like Psylocke's, with a gold Phoenix emblem over her eye instead of the Crimson Dawn mark possessed by Psylocke. Jean briefly lost her telekinesis to Psylocke during this exchange, but her telekinetic abilities later came back in full and at a far stronger level than before. It was later stated that Jean has been an Omega Level telepath. Jean possesses a high-level of telekinetic ability that enables her to psionically levitate and rapidly move about all manner of animate and inanimate matter. She can use her telekinetic abilities on herself or others to simulate
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#17328474527651200-465: A relationship with teammate Cyclops , which persisted as her main romantic relationship. During an emergency mission in space, the X-Men find their shuttle damaged. Jean pilots the shuttle back to Earth, but is exposed to fatal levels of radiation. Dying, but determined to save Cyclops and her friends, Jean calls out for help and is answered by the cosmic entity the Phoenix Force. The Phoenix Force,
1300-604: A smaller team featuring Jean, Cyclops, Beast , Wolverine, Emma Frost , and Charles Xavier. The overarching plot focused on the team assuming the roles of teachers to a new generation of mutants at the Xavier Institute while navigating their personal relationships and dealing with newly emerging pro- and anti-mutant political sentiments. Jean also made minor appearances in other titles during the New X-Men run, such as Chris Claremont's X-Treme X-Men , occasionally lending support to
1400-546: A starship and then—well, you know, having the powers removed and being let go on Earth. It seems to me that that's the same as capturing Hitler alive and letting him go live on Long Island. Now, I don't think the story would end there. I think a lot of people would come to his door with machine guns... One of the creative team's questions that affected the story's conclusion was whether the Phoenix's personality and later descent into madness and evil were inherent to Jean Grey or if
1500-597: A struggle to control profitable shipping lanes for criminal purposes. It was revealed that the Secret Empire had an underground city beneath Cincinnati when the Secret Avengers discover the Shadow Council in their plot to make a larger version of Doctor Doom 's time machine there. As part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel , the Secret Empire later fights Kate Bishop . A powerless Cassandra Lang tries to help and
1600-403: A target. To support her in this goal, she assembles a team including Nightcrawler, X-23 and Namor, but is unaware that her actions are being observed by Cassandra Nova . The adult Jean returns to using her original Marvel Girl codename and wears her second green-and-yellow Marvel Girl costume. She is sent as part of a strike team to outer space to stop a satellite near the sun from being used as
1700-459: A time-displaced Rachel had used her powers to transport them to the future to protect Nathan; per Rachel's request, Jean adopts the codename "Phoenix" once again to establish it as a symbol of good after all the bad it had caused. As her powers increase, Jean also decides to wear the original Phoenix's gold-and-green costume. Jean also met another alternate future child of hers and Scott's: the immensely powerful Nathan Grey , who accidentally revived
1800-478: Is an Omega-level mutant , and at her highest and strongest potential was fully merged with the Phoenix Force and with it was able to defeat even Galactus . Jean is a powerful empath, as she can feel and manipulate emotions of other people, as shown when her power first emerged and she felt her friend Annie Richardson slowly dying. Jean can also connect people's minds to the feelings of others and make them feel
1900-408: Is being discussed but stated that the return of Jean Grey was "a story Marvel does not want to rush". Marvel loosely tied questions regarding Jean Grey's eventual return to the events in 2007's X-Men: Messiah Complex in which a mutant girl named Hope —who has red hair, green eyes, and immense mutant powers—is born, and 2010's X-Men: Second Coming which sees both Hope's return as a teenager and
2000-511: Is finally defeated, Jean and Cyclops open their home to Quicksilver and his daughter and try to help the X-Men to get their lives back together. Following Cyclops's possession by the mutant villain Apocalypse and apparent death, Jean continues with the X-Men, but is distraught by the loss of her husband. She later learns that she is an "Omega-level" mutant with unlimited potential. Jean begins to suspect that Cyclops may still be alive and with
2100-521: Is going to confront him on his own, she and Cyclops bring together the rest of the X-Men to back him up. The rest of the Avengers and Fantastic Four join them in a final stand against Onslaught before he completely destroys the world. In a final act of desperation Jean finds Hulk and locks away Bruce Banner's mind, leaving only the Hulk in control so he can fight Onslaught unencumbered. With the vast majority of earth's heroes missing and assumed dead after Onslaught
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#17328474527652200-664: Is nearly killed in the process. For their first mission, the U.S.Avengers had fought the Secret Empire. During the fight against the Secret Empire, Robert Maverick 's Red Hulk form was able to level their volcanic island base. These members are either honorary or reserve members of the Secret Empire: Jean Grey As Phoenix Force : Jean Elaine Grey-Summers is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby ,
2300-419: Is really Professor X, having gone insane ever since wiping Magneto's mind. Professor Xavier calls the X-Men together for a meeting and Jean tries unsuccessfully to rally the X-Men against him before he manifests Onslaught. While Onslaught easily overtakes the rest of the X-Men, Jean escapes to the war room and sends out the distress signal that Bishop found in the future. After a massive battle against Jean and
2400-467: Is reunited with the other X-Men, who are happy to learn that she is alive. Jean and Madelyne confront each other, and Madelyne attempts to kill them both. Jean manages to survive only by absorbing the remnant of the Phoenix Force housed within Madelyne, giving her both Madelyne's memories and the Phoenix's memories from "The Dark Phoenix Saga". Unsure of herself since returning to life, Jean finds possessing
2500-766: The Fantastic Four . Jean emerges with no memory of the actions of the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix. The Avengers and Fantastic Four tell her of what happened and that she was believed dead until now. She is reunited with the original X-Men and convinces them to form the new superhero team X-Factor, reusing her "Marvel Girl" codename. Madelyne is angered over Cyclops's decision to lead X-Factor and neglect his family. Though Jean encourages Cyclops to return to Madelyne, he finds their house abandoned and assumes that Madelyne has left him and taken their infant son. Cyclops returns to X-Factor and he and Jean continue their relationship, but
2600-571: The Marvel Cinematic Universe as a major antagonist in season 2 of Agent Carter . Under this incarnation, they are named the Council of Nine . The Secret Empire first appeared in Tales to Astonish #81 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby . This subversive organization has been headed by a number of different leaders, always known as "Number One", with each iteration's goals following
2700-508: The Fantastic Four had not found her, and that he does not know how to communicate with her. When X-Factor unites with the X-Men, Jean joins the Gold Team, led by Storm. She deliberately chooses not to use a codename, so the team simply uses her civilian name. After some time, she makes up with Rachel, welcoming her into her life, and proposes to Cyclops and the two marry. On their honeymoon,
2800-671: The Masons or the Elks, which was a perfect cover for criminal enterprises. The Punisher got wind of this right away and the Empire sent two hit squads to attack him. The first is slain to a man. The second group, a motorcycle gang called the "Praetorians", escape, albeit with heavy casualties. During the Dead Man's Hand crossover, the various warlords who attend the meeting begin attacking each other nearly right away. Mickey Fondozzi and Microchip , associates of
2900-468: The Phoenix Force and Jean continued to manifest themselves, particularly the Phoenix through the red-haired, green-eyed "mutant messiah" who slightly resembles Jean named Hope Summers , and Jean briefly appears in a vision to Emma Frost from the White Hot Room, warning the X-Men to "prepare". She again appears in a vision to Cyclops when he is overwhelmed by the power of Dark Phoenix, helping him abandon
3000-621: The Phoenix Force and Madelyne's memories to be difficult. Cyclops proposes to her and she meets her alternate future daughter Rachel Summers (who goes by the codename "Phoenix" as well and is also able to tap into the Phoenix Force), but Jean rejects them both out of the feeling that they indicate that her life is predetermined. Jean had learned during the Inferno event that her rejecting the Phoenix Force caused Madelyne to wake; Cyclops admits to Susan Storm Richards that Jean sometimes wishes that
3100-479: The Phoenix Force has often been changed throughout the character's history, as has as her involvement in the events of " The Dark Phoenix Saga ". Usually depicted as the Phoenix Force's favorite and most compatible host, storylines in 2024 revealed that Jean is actually the human manifestation of the Phoenix Force and its mother. Often listed as one of the most notable and powerful female characters in Marvel Comics,
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3200-410: The Phoenix Force merges with and overwhelms Emma Frost, Cyclops frees Jean from the ice. Once freed Jean ejects the Phoenix from Emma and accepts that she is one with the Phoenix Force. After feeling the love from the X-Men, the Phoenix relents and returns with Jean back to the White Hot Room. Before she departs, Jean and Cyclops share a telepathic emotional farewell. Though she had yet to fully return,
3300-623: The Phoenix Force's impersonation, and his marrying Madelyne, damaged their mutual trust. The team's adventures continue throughout the series, culminating in the line-wide " Inferno " crossover. Madelyne reappears, now nearly insane and with powers awakened by a demonic pact, calling herself the Goblyn Queen. Learning of her true identity and purpose as a clone created by Mister Sinister drove her completely insane and she plans to sacrifice Nathan Christopher to achieve greater power and unleash literal Hell on Earth. While attempting to stop her, Jean
3400-570: The Phoenix does more damage. The Shi'ar track the Phoenix Force and make an alliance with Storm to find her and defeat her. Jean takes Wolverine to the North Pole before the Shi'ar can kill her and convinces him to kill her. He stabs her numerous times but Phoenix keeps reanimating her, prompting Jean to dive deep into the ice and freeze herself. The Phoenix Force leaves her body and once again assumes Jean's form to tempt Cyclops to attack her so she can absorb his optic blasts and become strong again. When
3500-467: The Phoenix from merging with their old friend. Old Man Logan is able to make Jean Grey remember her true life and she learns about the fate of her family and several of her friends, among them Cyclops. As Jean faces the Phoenix Force, she is finally able to convince the cosmic entity to stop bringing her back and let her go. Alive once again, Jean is reunited with her friends as the Phoenix Force journeys back to space. Restored to life, Jean gathers some of
3600-650: The Phoenix was itself an entity merely possessing her. The relationship between Jean Grey and the Phoenix would continue to be subject to different interpretations and explanations by writers and editors at Marvel Comics following the story's retcon in 1986. At the time of the Dark Phoenix's creation, Byrne felt that, "If someone could be seen to corrupt Jean, rather than her just turning bad, this could make for an interesting story." Salicrup and Byrne stated later that they viewed Phoenix as an entity that entirely possessed Jean Grey, therefore absolving her of its crimes once it
3700-459: The Phoenix. However, after the younger Jean begins to ignore her, she possesses the time displaced Jean and uses her as a means to ambush Emma Frost. Strange psych occurrences around the world, which include a large bird flaring out from the sun and an explosion on the moon, raise red flags for the X-Men, who quickly launch an investigation of these events. After a string of bizarre encounters with familiar enemies, many of them considered deceased,
3800-622: The Punisher, had been captured while spying on Strucker and claim to be Four and Eight, members of the Secret Empire. The Empire learn of this via a spy in the HYDRA group. By coincidence, Four and Eight had not actually traveled to Las Vegas and this was enough to convince the others that they had turned traitor. The Empire sends the Praetorians to kill everyone involved, but Mickey, Micro and Strucker all survive. Further encounters led to no progress at all and
3900-546: The Secret Empire members leave Las Vegas on a plane. The Empire's plans come under the scrutiny of the "Favor Broker", an opponent of Nomad. He teams up with the Punisher and Daredevil in an attempt to disrupt the meeting. All they manage to do is kill some lackeys and Hand ninjas and capture the Slug . Some time later, agents of the Secret Empire battle the vigilante group known as the Jury . The Secret Empire then becomes involved in
4000-651: The Untouchable —to harness their energy to power a "flying saucer". Number One landed the saucer on the White House lawn, and, after defeating the Empire's "replacement" hero—the first Moonstone —demanded the government surrender control to him or he would detonate nukes in every major American city. The Secret Empire was defeated by Captain America , Cyclops , the Falcon , and Marvel Girl , and Captain America pursued Number One into
4100-587: The White House. Rather than face capture, Number One unmasked himself, then committed suicide. The leader of the Secret Empire was revealed to be a very high U.S. government official attempting a coup d'état. Although his identity and face are never revealed to the reader, it is strongly implied in the dialogue that Number One was the President of the United States . The government covered up his guilt and suicide with
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4200-418: The X-Men come to one conclusion: the Phoenix Force is back on Earth. The X-Men also discover that psychs are going missing or falling ill, which prompts the team to investigate the grave of Jean Grey. As they find the coffin of their long-dead teammate empty, they race to locate the Phoenix before it can find a suitable host. As it turns out, with the time-displaced teen Jean Grey out of the Phoenix Force's way,
4300-460: The X-Men's weakest member, to its most powerful. The first comic Claremont saw at Marvel after coming there in 1969 was the first X-Men issue penciled by Neal Adams (issue 56), after which he became enamored of Jean Grey. But when he started to write X-Men in issue 94, the first issue after the creation of the new team in Giant-Size X-Men 1, Len Wein had already established that she was leaving
4400-475: The X-Men. However, both Salicrup and Byrne had strong feelings against how powerful Phoenix had become, feeling that she drew too much focus in the book. Byrne worked with Claremont to effectively remove Phoenix from the storyline, initially by removing her powers. However, Byrne's decision to have Dark Phoenix destroy an inhabited planetary system in The Uncanny X-Men #135, coupled with the planned ending to
4500-406: The chance to restore her abilities, but Jean choosing to remain depowered and eliminate the threat of Dark Phoenix returning to power. After several years, Marvel decided to revive the character, but only after an editorial decree that the character be absolved of her actions during The Dark Phoenix Saga. Writer Kurt Busiek is credited with devising the plot to revive Jean Grey. Busiek, a fan of
4600-449: The character first appeared in The X-Men #1 (September 1963). Jean Grey is a member of a subspecies of humans known as mutants , born with superhuman abilities. She was born with psionic powers. The character has also been known as Marvel Girl , Phoenix and Dark Phoenix at various points in her history. Her powers first manifested when she saw her childhood friend being hit by
4700-509: The character has been featured in various Marvel-licensed products, including video games , animated television series , and merchandise. Famke Janssen portrayed the character as an adult in the 20th Century Fox X-Men films , while Sophie Turner portrayed her as a teenager and young adult. Jean Grey debuted under the codename Marvel Girl in The X-Men #1 (September 1963), created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby . The original team's sole female member, Marvel Girl
4800-515: The characters. Jean and her connection with the Phoenix Force was examined again one year after the conclusion of Morrison's run on New X-Men in X-Men: Phoenix – Endsong written by Greg Pak in 2005. At the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con X-Men panel, when asked whether or not Jean would return, editor Nick Lowe responded by saying, "She's dead." Regarding Jean's actual return to the X-Men franchise, Marvel indicated that Jean's eventual return
4900-465: The combination of Nova, Spider-Man , Moon Knight, the Punisher , and Night Thrasher . During the battle, the Secret Empire nurse assigned to provide repair work towards Midnight's robotic body parts disabled Number 7's failsafe designed to prevent Midnight from gaining revenge against him for disfiguring/maiming him, allowing Midnight to kill Number 7 and assume control over the Secret Empire. However, along
5000-439: The cosmic entity has already resurrected the present adult Jean Grey. However, she does not recall her life as a mutant and an X-Man, and terrible visions from her previous life have left Jean unsure of the difference between reality and fiction. As she lies inside of what appears to be a Phoenix Egg, the X-Men theorize that the strange psych occurrences are subconscious cries for help made by Jean Grey and that they must try to stop
5100-404: The couple is immediately psychically transported 2000 years into the future to raise Cyclops's son Nathan, who had been transported to the future as an infant in hopes of curing him of a deadly virus. Jean adopts the identity of "Redd" along with Cyclops ("Slym") and they raise Nathan Christopher for twelve years before they are sent back into their bodies on their wedding honeymoon. Jean learns that
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#17328474527655200-436: The desires of its current leader. The Secret Empire was founded by a scientist who felt like an anonymous nobody. The organization began as a criminal enterprise, a subsidiary of HYDRA , which provided it with financial support. The Secret Empire served to distract the attention of authorities, such as S.H.I.E.L.D. , from HYDRA's activities, although the original Number One sought to break away from HYDRA. The Secret Empire hired
5300-468: The greatest minds on Earth together so that she can read their minds to plan her next move. Recognizing that there has been a sudden surge in anti-mutant sentiment, to the point where there are plans to abort pregnancies if the mutant gene is detected, Jean announces her plans to establish a more official mutant nation, making it clear that she will not establish a geographic location for said nation as past examples make it clear that doing so just makes mutants
5400-402: The help of Nathan Summers (now the aged superhero "Cable"), is able to locate and free Cyclops of his possession by Apocalypse. The couple return to the X-Men as part of the Xavier Institute's teaching staff to a new generation of mutants. While Jean finds she is slowly able to tap into the powers of the Phoenix Force once again, her marriage to Scott begins to fail. Jean and Wolverine meet in
5500-552: The help of a double. This led to Captain America giving up his role for a while and taking on the role of Nomad . The story was first published in 1973, when the sitting president was Richard Nixon , embroiled at the time in the Watergate scandal . Writer Steve Englehart specifically intended this issue as a metaphor of the Watergate case and the Nixon era. Later, Professor Power became
5600-457: The help of powerful mutant telepath, Charles Xavier. Xavier blocked her telepathy until she was old enough to be able to control it, leaving her with access only to her telekinetic powers. Xavier later recruited her as a teenager to be part of his X-Men team as "Marvel Girl", the team's sole female member. After several missions with the X-Men, Xavier removed Jean's mental blocks and she was able to use and control her telepathic powers. She began
5700-520: The individual X-Men should anyone become a threat against the world. Meanwhile, Jean's earlier distress signal makes it to X-Factor, Excalibur , and X-Force . After returning to New York, Jean works closely with Reed Richards to help build up defenses against Onslaught as well as to help create the psionic armor that could block Xavier's telepathic powers as seen in the Xavier Protocols . When Jean senses that Xavier has been freed from Onslaught and
5800-546: The inhabitants of a planetary system after consuming its star, and jeopardizing the entire universe. However, Jean's personality manages to take control and Phoenix commits suicide to ensure the safety of the universe. Upon its suicide by way of a disintegration ray, the Phoenix Force disperses into its original form and a fragment locates the still-healing Jean at the bottom of Jamaica Bay. In trying to bond with her, Jean senses its memories of death and destruction as Dark Phoenix and rejects it, causing it to bond with and animate
5900-496: The lives of other Marvel Universe characters, mainly the X-Men , including her husband Cyclops , her mentor and father figure Charles Xavier , her best friend and sister figure Storm , and her genetic children Rachel Summers , Cable , Stryfe and X-Man . Jean's connection to the Phoenix Force has often resulted in clashes with the Shi'ar Empire , responsible for the massacre of most of her family members. Jean's exact relationship to
6000-654: The mercenary Boomerang to steal plans for the Air Force's Orion Missile, but he was defeated by the Hulk . In attempting to blow up the Hulk, Number One instead killed himself. Some time later, the organization regrouped under a new Number One. This Secret Empire infiltrated Roxxon Oil 's Brand Corporation, tried to ruin Captain America 's reputation, and kidnapped several mutants —specifically Havok , Polaris , Beast , Iceman , Angel , Mastermind , Mesmero , Blob and Unus
6100-497: The missing events of the previous six months of continuity. Due to editing decisions following the success of the 2000 X-Men film, which depicted the character of Jean Grey with both telepathy and telekinesis, an explanation for Jean's altered powers in the comics was never explicitly made, though writer Chris Claremont revealed in interviews that it was intended to be an accidental power switch between fellow X-Man Psylocke , explaining Psylocke's new telekinetic powers as well. Jean
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#17328474527656200-552: The mutant villain Apocalypse and disappearance in the conclusion of the crossover storyline "Apocalypse: The Twelve", Jean lost her telekinetic abilities and was left with increased psychic powers, the result of the "six-month gap" in plot across the X-Men franchise created by the Revolution revamp. During the Revolution event, all X-Men titles began six months after the events of Apocalypse: The Twelve , allowing writers to create fresh situations and stories and gradually fill in
6300-530: The new Number One. He sought to trigger a nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union . The Defenders defeated Professor Power and the Secret Empire, as well as their agents Mad Dog and Mutant Force . Gabe Jones , agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., is assigned by Nick Fury to infiltrate the group in an attempt to bring it down. The Secret Empire also sought to eliminate Moon Knight , who they believed had disrupted some of their operations. The real guilty party
6400-516: The new Phoenix persona, the development of the story, and what led to its eventual change, and Claremont and Byrne's plans for Jean Grey, had she survived. Chris Claremont , the longest-running writer of the X-Men comics, revealed that his and Cockrum's motivation for Jean Grey's transformation into Phoenix was to create "the first female cosmic hero". The two hoped that, like Thor had been integrated into The Avengers lineup, Phoenix would also become an effective and immensely powerful member of
6500-524: The new host revealed, Jean Grey telepathically asks Wolverine to let Maya be and return to their home on the moon. Wolverine had been awaiting the new host and had vowed to kill anyone who took on the Phoenix Force. Jean also reaches out to Maya, advising her not to undertake this journey alone. She explains that the Phoenix favors isolated individuals, and to remain whole and avoid being consumed by its god-like power, Maya should rely on others to help ground her and keep her connected to her humanity. Jean Grey
6600-421: The original The X-Men #100 (Aug. 1976) story of Jean Grey's disastrous return flight from space immediately preceding her transformation into Phoenix ("Greater Love Hath No X-Man...") with the new story "Phoenix". The story further supported the retcon establishing Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force as two separate entities. Following the conclusion of Inferno , Jean continued to be a mainstay character throughout
6700-449: The original five X-Men, was displeased with the character's death and formulated various storylines that would have met Shooter's rule and allowed the character to return to the X-Men franchise. He eventually shared his storyline idea with fellow writer Roger Stern who mentioned it to Byrne, who was both writing and illustrating the Fantastic Four at the time. Both series writer Bob Layton and artist Jackson Guice , who were developing
6800-502: The pain they inflicted. When her powers first manifested, Jean was unable to cope with her telepathic abilities , forcing Professor Charles Xavier to suppress her access to it altogether. Instead, he chose to train her in the use of her psychokinetic abilities while allowing her telepathy to grow at its natural rate before reintroducing it. When the Professor hid to prepare for the Z'Nox , he reopened Jean's telepathic abilities, which
6900-421: The past into the present by an older Hank McCoy eventually found an entirely new usage of her powers separate from the Phoenix Force. The teenage Marvel Girl learned she has the ability to harness ambient psychic energy and channel it into powerful blasts of force, which are a combination of both her telepathy and telekinesis. Its potency is such that she can match and overpower the likes of Gladiator, magistrate of
7000-481: The power of flight or levitation, stimulate molecules to increase friction, create protective force fields out of psychokinetic energy, or project her telekinetic energy as purely concussive force. The outer limits of her telekinetic power have never been clearly established, though she was capable of lifting approximately fifty tons of rubble with some strain. Jean was later stated to have become an Omega Level Telekinetic. Jean's younger self who had been brought from
7100-468: The power so that it can pass on to its true host. After Nightcrawler is fatally wounded by the Crimson Pirates, Jean appears to him along with Amanda Sefton and the recently deceased Wolverine to help coax him back to life. Jean's spirit begins to manifest in a more straightforward and aggressive manner to the time-displaced Jean from an alternate timeline, seemingly training her for the arrival of
7200-431: The psionic ghost of Madelyne Pryor, leading to another confrontation between the two women. In Bishop 's original timeline before he ends up in the present he finds the X-Men's war room and finds a garbled distress signal from Jean about a traitor destroying the X-Men from within. Meanwhile, in the present, the X-Men begin to hear increasing news about a malevolent entity called Onslaught . Jean first sees Onslaught as
7300-532: The relationship between the two women was intended to be entirely coincidental. He intended Madelyne only to look like Jean by complete coincidence and exist as a means for Cyclops to move on with his life and be written out of the X-Men franchise, part of what he believed to be a natural progression for any member of the team. Claremont expressed dismay that Jean's resurrection ultimately resulted in Cyclops abandoning his wife and child, tarnishing his written persona as
7400-467: The rest of X-Factor X-Factor (1st Series) ended its run featuring the original X-Men with X-Factor #70 (Sept. 1991), with the characters transitioning over to The Uncanny X-Men , explained in continuity as the two teams deciding to merge. The fourteen X-Men divide into two teams—"Blue" and "Gold"—led by Cyclops and Storm , respectively. Jean was added to the Gold Team beginning in The Uncanny X-Men #281 (Oct. 1991). Following Cyclops's possession by
7500-431: The rest of the X-Men, Onslaught escapes to carry out his plans. After Onslaught nearly kills the X-Men they team up with the Avengers to make a plan to stop him, knowing full well that it may come down to them killing Xavier if the world is to survive. Jean accompanies Cyclops, Archangel, and Psylocke to Muir Island where they and Moira McTaggert discover the Xavier Protocols , secret plans that Xavier made to kill any of
7600-592: The return of the Phoenix Force. Following the conclusion of Avengers vs. X-Men as part of the Marvel NOW! event, a teenage Jean Grey and the four other founding members of X-Men are transported across time to the present day by Beast in the series All-New X-Men by Brian Michael Bendis . The original adult Jean Grey returned to the Marvel Universe in a new series titled Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey , released on December 27, 2017. The series
7700-454: The school together. Jean then reconciles with Cyclops and fully bonds with the Phoenix Force and ascends to a higher plane of existence called the " White Hot Room ". A weakened Phoenix Force returns to reanimate Jean. Jean tries to convince the Phoenix Force to let her go so they can return to the White Hot Room together, but once again the Phoenix Force takes over. Jean lets Wolverine find her and tries to convince him to kill her again before
7800-531: The school together. This creates a dystopian future where all life and natural evolution is under assault by the infectious, villainous, sentient bacteria " Sublime ". Jean is resurrected in this future timeline and becomes the fully realized White Phoenix of the Crown , using the abilities of the Phoenix Force to defeat Sublime and eliminate the dystopic future by reaching back in time and telling Cyclops to move on. This leads him to accept Emma's love and her offer to run
7900-523: The series X-Factor —a team of former X-Men—had yet to settle on their fifth team member, initially considering Dazzler . Layton opted to fill the open spot with Jean instead, and both he and Byrne submitted the idea to Shooter, who approved it. Jean Grey's revival became a crossover plotline between the Avengers under Stern, Fantastic Four under Byrne, and X-Factor under Layton. Busiek later found out that his idea had been used thanks to Layton, and he
8000-468: The story arc, worried then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter , who felt that allowing Jean to live at the conclusion of the story was both morally unacceptable (given that she was now a "mass murderer") and also an unsatisfying ending from a storytelling point of view. Shooter publicly laid out his reasoning in the 1984 roundtable: I personally think, and I've said this many times, that having a character destroy an inhabited world with billions of people, wipe out
8100-400: The storyline of her eventual corruption and death as Dark Phoenix ( The Uncanny X-Men #129–138, 1980) has been termed " The Dark Phoenix Saga ". This storyline is one of the most well-known and heavily referenced in mainstream American superhero comics , and is widely considered a classic, including Jean Grey's suicidal sacrifice. When the first trade paperback of "The Dark Phoenix Saga"
8200-524: The sum of all life in the universe, is moved by Jean's wish to save herself and her friends. It takes the form of a duplicate body to house Jean's psyche. The duplication is so exact that the Phoenix Force believes itself to be Jean Grey, and places Jean's dying body in a healing cocoon. This cocoon is later described as a Phoenix Egg. The ship crashes in Jamaica Bay, with the other X-Men unharmed. The Phoenix Force, assuming Jean's identity, emerges wearing
8300-455: The team. The artwork was already done, and it was too late to change. But he promised himself he would bring her back as soon as possible, which he did in issue 97 when he became the sole writer of the title. Claremont also decided to upgrade her powers significantly. The storyline in which Jean Grey died as Marvel Girl and was reborn as Phoenix ( The Uncanny X-Men #101–108, 1976–1977) has been retroactively dubbed by fans "The Phoenix Saga", and
8400-498: The title Secret Empire . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Secret_Empire&oldid=1184408028 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Secret Empire (organization) They made their debut in
8500-418: The way it was revealed that his nurse (and now lover), was also a cyborg. A loyal follower of the original founder (the original Number 1), she served as a prototype for the process used to transform Midnight into a half-human, half-machine being that he became, to the extent that she allowed herself to be disfigured and maimed to facilitate her transformation into becoming a cyborg. The realization that his lover
8600-637: The woods where Jean confides her feelings of distance towards Scott while Wolverine also shuts down any interest in a relationship he himself had with Jean by telling her that he knew a relationship between the two would never work and walks away from her; Cyclops grows further alienated from Jean due to her growing powers and institute responsibilities and seeks consolation from the telepathic Emma Frost to address his disillusionment and his experiences while possessed by Apocalypse. Emma psychically manipulates Scott and tries to psychically seduce him, which Jean interrupts and discovers, though she would later learn Emma
8700-479: Was "brilliant", but agreed that in retrospect the character should have remained dead. In the comics, having been fully established as separate from the "Jean Grey" copy created and taken over by the Phoenix Force, Jean is "absolved" of involvement in the atrocities of "The Dark Phoenix" storyline, and she returned in the first issue of X-Factor (1st Series). Claremont later commented on how Jean's revival affected his original plans for Madelyne Pryor, stating that
8800-479: Was Moon Knight's sidekick Midnight and when Moon Knight and his sidekick confronted the Secret Empire, Midnight was hit by an energy blast from the group's new leader, the mysterious Number 7. Moon Knight abandoned his sidekick, believing that he was dead, but in truth he was still alive, though horrifically disfigured and maimed. Number 7 ordered Midnight to be transformed into a cyborg, driven by his hatred for Moon Knight (for being abandoned by his mentor) as well as
8900-450: Was a professor at Bard College in upstate New York . Depictions of Jean's childhood and her relations with her family have shown a stable, loving family life growing up. Jean's mutant powers of telepathy and telekinesis first manifested when her best friend was hit by a car and killed. Jean mentally linked with her friend and nearly died as well. The event left her comatose, and she was brought back to consciousness when her parents sought
9000-424: Was a regular part of the team through the series' publication. Initially possessing the ability of telekinesis , the character was later granted the power of telepathy , which would be retconned years later as a suppressed mutant ability. Under the authorship of Chris Claremont and the artwork of first Dave Cockrum and then John Byrne in the late 1970s, Jean Grey underwent a significant transformation from
9100-520: Was able, through telepathic therapy with the comatose Jessica Jones, to grant Jessica immunity to the Purple Man's mind control abilities, despite his powers being chemical in nature rather than psychic. When Jean absorbed Psylocke 's specialized telepathic powers, her own telepathy was increased to the point that she could physically manifest her telepathy as a psionic firebird whose claws could inflict both physical and mental damage. She briefly developed
9200-466: Was credited in Fantastic Four #286 and paid for his contributions. The decision to revive Jean Grey was controversial among fans, with some appreciating the return of the character and others feeling it weakened the impact of the Dark Phoenix Saga's ending. Busiek maintained that the idea that led to Jean Grey's official return to Marvel Comics was merely a case of sharing his ideas with friends as
9300-431: Was driven out. However, the creative and editorial team ultimately agreed that Phoenix had been depicted as an inherent and inseparable aspect of Jean Grey, meaning that the character was fully responsible for her actions as Phoenix. As a result, Shooter ordered that Claremont and Byrne rewrite issue #137 to explicitly place in the story both a consequence and an ending commensurate with the enormity of Phoenix's actions. In
9400-502: Was in love with Scott. Jean also realizes that Scott and Emma never had a physical affair and that Emma had, to an extent, taken advantage of Scott. In a final confrontation with a traitor at the institute (the X-Men's teammate Xorn , posing as Magneto) Jean fully realizes and assumes complete control of the powers of the Phoenix Force, but is killed in a last-ditch lethal attack by Xorn. Jean dies, telling Scott "to live". However, after her funeral, Scott rejects Emma and her offer to run
9500-426: Was in love with her while she was a student to convince her to join him. He then telepathically brands his name to her mind when she refuses and asks him his name. When Juggernaut comes to the mansion with information about Onslaught's true identity but has a mental block preventing him from divulging it, Jean enters his mind and helps him to remember who Onslaught really is and to her horror she discovers that Onslaught
9600-418: Was initially explained by writers as Xavier 'sharing' some of his telepathy with her. The Women of Marvel: Celebrating Seven Decades Handbook detailed Jean's telepathic abilities: Jean is also one of the few telepaths skilled enough to communicate with animals (animals with high intelligence, such as dolphins , dogs , and ravens ). As a side effect of her telepathy, she has an eidetic memory . Jean
9700-516: Was insane caused Midnight to aid his mentor and his allies against the nurse, ultimately sacrificing his life to destroy her. The Secret Empire would later be part of a conspiracy to divide up the empire of Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin , who had lost control. The meeting took place in Las Vegas, under the cover of a Secret Empire "convention". Many Secret Empire members simply believe it is an organization like
9800-475: Was next featured in the six-issue miniseries X-Men Forever written by Fabian Nicieza , which was designed to tie up the remaining plot lines. During the series, Jean revisited many of the events involving the Phoenix Force and the series introduced the concept of "Omega level mutants", a category for mutants with unlimited potential, which included Jean herself. In June 2001, X-Men was retitled as New X-Men under writer Grant Morrison . The title consisted of
9900-411: Was published in 1984, Marvel also published a 48-page special issue titled Phoenix: The Untold Story . It contained the original version of The Uncanny X-Men #137, the original splash page for The Uncanny X-Men #138 and transcripts of a roundtable discussion between Shooter, Claremont, Byrne, editors Jim Salicrup and Louise Jones , and inker Terry Austin . The discussion was about the creation of
10000-421: Was written by Matthew Rosenberg with art by Leinil Francis Yu . Following the events of Extermination story, the time-displaced Jean Grey and the other original X-Men were returned to their original time, as part of Jonathan Hickman 's plan to reboot the entire X-Men franchise. Jean Elaine Grey was born the second daughter of John and Elaine Grey . She had an older sister, Sara Grey-Bailey . John Grey
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