The Scott and Jean Archives
Scott: “All my life, it seemed that -- every time I turned around -- I was losing people I loved: my folks, my pother Alex, the few friends I made at the orphanage. Each time, the loss hurt. Losing you was the loss I couldn’t take. Jean, you’re everything to me -- as necessary as the air I breathe...I said those words, not long ago, to a woman I loved more than my own life. Now I stand over her grave. Her name is Jean Grey. Mine is Scott Summers. This is our story.”
The X-Men started with five teenagers with special abilities: Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman and Marvel Girl. Their first foe was Magneto, and over time they acquired more nemeses. In that time, Scott grew more attracted to Jean but he maintained his distance so he would not be hurt again or hurt anyone else.
After the X-Men’s biggest battle with Magneto and his Brotherhood, Xavier declared that the X-Men had proved themselves and had graduated. He also named Scott to take his place as Xavier was leaving for awhile.
The X-Men moved on to battle more villains, as well as moved on with their lives and education. On Bobby’s 18th birthday, Scott finally mastered enough courage to confess to Jean his love for her.
Unfortunately, a battle with a mutant named Grotesk cost the life of Charles Xavier. The team split up after that. But after yet another battle with Magneto, the X-Men find themselves coming closer together again. Scott introduced his pother, Alex, whom Xavier helped him track down, to the X-Men at Alex’s graduation. Alex turned out to be a mutant as well, and later joined the team. Xavier was revealed to be alive and in hiding (the Xavier that died previously was an alien changeling), not to the amusement of the X-Men for all the grief they suffered.
Hank left the X-Men to work for Brand Corporation shortly after a galactic battle with the alien race, the Z’Nox. An accident caused a physical transformation of Hank, and he joined the Avengers after quitting his job.
When the first X-Men team were held hostage by the mutant island Krakoa, Xavier was forced to recruit a new team of X-Men to save them. After Krakoa, the first team of X-Men decided to quit. Only Cyclops stayed behind as he felt he had no other purpose in life than the X-Men.
Even so, Scott still found time to spend with Jean, but it did not last. One Christmas they were captured by Sentinels and brought to a space station. There, Jean transformed into Phoenix to save her fellow X-Men. The Phoenix helped save the Shi’ar from a tyrant emperor and put Lilandra on the throne. But the Phoenix eventually got led to the dark side, leading to cosmic destruction and her fateful death.
At Jean’s funeral, Lilandra presents Jean’s family with a “holempathic matrix crystal” as a sensory memory of Jean. Scott declares that he is leaving the X-Men for some peace and time, away from the X-Men. Reluctantly, Xavier honours Scott’s wish.
But with every end is a new beginning, and the X-Men welcomes a new addition to the family: Kitty Pryde.
Previous: Uncanny X-Men (Vol 1) #137
(Classic X-Men #44 is a reprint of Uncanny X-Men (Vol 1) #138.)