Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | Uncanny X-Men #168 (April 1983) |
Created by | Chris Claremont Paul Smith |
In-story information | |
Full name | Madelyne Jennifer "Maddie" Pryor |
Species | Human mutant (clone) |
Team affiliations | X-Men Hellfire Club Sisterhood of Mutants Dark X-Men |
Notable aliases | Madelyne Pryor-Summers Anodyne Goblin Queen Black Rook Red Queen Queen of Limbo |
Abilities |
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Madelyne Jennifer "Maddie" Pryor is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Paul Smith, the character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #168 (April 1983). Madelyne Pryor is primarily featured off-and-on as an antagonist of the X-Men.
Originally the
Publication history
Madelyne Pryor was introduced during the acclaimed 1983 Uncanny X-Men run that saw long-time writer Chris Claremont pair with artist Paul Smith for a series of issues that would see the Jean Grey look-alike marry the retired X-Men leader Scott Summers (Cyclops). She first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #168 (April 1983).[1] Multiple retcons in her publication history and that of Jean Grey have particularly complicated her biography.[2]
Madelyne's hairstyle design was modeled on that of the book's editor at the time, Louise Jones (later Louise Simonson)[3]—a design retained on the character until 1988. Claremont named the character after Steeleye Span singer Maddy Prior. Claremont had already created a character named "Maddy Pryor", a little girl that appeared very briefly in Avengers Annual #10 (1981), and has no in-story connections to the X-Men character.[4] Claremont, nonetheless, years later took an opportunity to indulge in an in-joke: in Uncanny X-Men #238 (1988), a similar child would appear as Madelyne's mental image of herself, wearing the same clothes as the little girl from The Avengers Annual #10, repeating the girl's same line of dialogue, but also singing "Gone to America", one of Steeleye Span's biggest hits.
According to Claremont, the original link between Madelyne Pryor and Jean Grey was entirely the product of Mastermind. Seeking revenge against the X-Men after Jean (as Phoenix) had driven him insane, Mastermind uses his powers of illusion to convince Scott and the others that Madelyne is Phoenix incarnate—a cosmic threat—in an attempt to have the team kill her. Mastermind's plan fails, and Madelyne and Cyclops are married shortly after.[5][6] Claremont had conceived Madelyne as a device to write Scott Summers out of the X-Men and have him retire "happily ever after" with Madelyne and their child.
The story became more complicated in 1986 when moves by the editors and other writers to reunite the original X-Men, for the new title
Asked about his intended plans for Madelyne's character, Claremont said:
The original Madelyne storyline was that, at its simplest level, she was that one in a million shot that just happened to look like Jean Grey [a.k.a. the first Phoenix]! And the relationship was summed up by the moment when Scott says: "Are you Jean?" And she punches him! That was in Uncanny X-Men #174. Because her whole desire was to be deeply loved for herself not to be loved as the evocation of her boyfriend's dead romantic lover and sweetheart.
I mean, it's a classical theme. You can go back to a whole host of 1930s films, 1940s, Hitchcock films—but it all got invalidated by the resurrection of Jean Grey in X-Factor #1. The original plotline was that Scott marries Madelyne, they have their child, they go off to Alaska, he goes to work for his grandparents, he retires from the X-Men. He's a reserve member. He's available for emergencies. He comes back on special occasions, for special fights, but he has a life. He has grown up. He has grown out of the monastery; he is in the real world now. He has a child. He has maybe more than one child. It's a metaphor for us all. We all grow up. We all move on.
Scott was going to move on. Jean was dead get on with your life. And it was close to a happy ending. They lived happily ever after, and it was to create the impression that maybe if you came back in ten years, other X-Men would have grown up and out, too. Would Kitty stay with the team forever? Would Nightcrawler? Would any of them? Because that way we could evolve them into new directions, we could bring in new characters. There would be an ongoing sense of renewal, and growth and change in a positive sense.
Then, unfortunately, Jean was resurrected, Scott dumps his wife and kid and goes back to the old girlfriend. So it not only destroys Scott's character as a hero and as a decent human being it creates an untenable structural situation: what do we do with Madelyne and the kid? ... So ultimately the resolution was: turn her into the Goblin Queen and kill her off.[10]
Madelyne Pryor was brought back in 1995 as a supporting character in
In 2008, the 25th anniversary of the character's debut in Uncanny X-Men, Madelyne Pryor was brought back in the flagship X-Men title for the first time since the 1989 Inferno storyline.[12][13] But the following year and the 20th anniversary since Inferno, Pryor was removed completely again,[4][14] and would not be featured in another story until 2014–25 years since Inferno—in a single issue of the secondary title, X-Men (vol. 4),[15] and was also included in a flashback story by Claremont included in a 2014 X-Men 50th-anniversary one-shot titled X-Men: Gold (unrelated to a 2017 monthly also titled X-Men Gold).
Pryor was again absent for an extended time until featured in another flashback story also by Claremont, included in the one-shot X-Men: The Exterminated[16] in 2018–35 years since her debut. She was subsequently brought back as a recurring character, first in Hellions from 2020 to 2022, and then New Mutants in 2022. Immediately following this, Pryor was featured as a main character in the crossover storyline Dark Web, a combined sequel to both Inferno and a recent Spider-Man storyline, Beyond. Released from 2022 to the following year, its 2023 conclusion—the 40th anniversary of the debut of Madelyne Pryor—featured the character granted the most significant change and elevation to her status quo by Marvel since 1989.
Fictional character biography
Whirlwind romance
Madelyne Pryor was a cargo pilot in
Anodyne
Giving up the life of an adventurer proves harder for Scott than imagined. Early in Madelyne and Scott's marriage, they (along with Alpha Flight and the rest of the X-Men) are taken to an abandoned city by the Asgardian trickster-god Loki. Entirely for his own purposes, Loki bestows mystical powers on a small group of non-powered humans, including Madelyne, transforming her into a healer of virtually any injury, illness, psychological issue, or physical defect. She adopts the name "Anodyne" and cures Scott's childhood head injury, enabling him to control his optic blasts without the use of ruby-quartz lenses. She also removes Aurora's DID and Wolverine's berserker rage. When it is discovered that Loki's gifts are extremely flawed, and fatal to some, everyone assembled reject the gift. Madelyne and the other beneficiaries are reverted to their original states, as are all those who had been healed by Madelyne. During this adventure Madelyne reveals that she is pregnant.[21]
Abandonment
Going into
Although Scott tries to live a normal family life in Alaska, he often thinks of Jean Grey, and of his life with the X-Men. Maddie tries her best to make Scott happy, but her efforts seem wasted. Finally Scott receives a call from his former teammate
Alone and threatened, Madelyne calls the X-Men for help; they arrive and fight off another attack by the Marauders.
Demonic corruption and origins revealed
Monitoring news transmissions, Madelyne learns that Jean Grey is alive and with Scott. She punches the computer monitor's screen, breaking it and causing electrical feedback that renders her unconscious.
Afterwards, she keeps the existence of the original X-Men as X-Factor secret from the others, filtering only information and news showing X-Factor as an anti-mutant group. Later abducted by the
To keep his end of their bargain, N'astirh takes Madelyne to the orphanage in Nebraska where Scott had grown up, actually a front for
Broken in spirit and reduced to insanity by these revelations,[40] when N'astirh gives Nathan back to her, Madelyne willingly decides to aid the demon in the "Inferno" invasion of Earth.[38] Returning to New York City during the invasion, she confronts X-Factor.[41] When the X-Men arrive, Madelyne manipulates the teams against each other at first, and convinces Alex to join her. X-Factor and the other X-Men work together to defeat N'astirh.[42] Madelyne refuses to stop, forcing the heroes to overwhelm her. Cyclops is unable to act because, he admits, most of her accusations against him are true. He rescues his son, but Madelyne commits suicide in an attempt to telepathically take Jean with her. The Phoenix Force appears to Jean and offers to save her, but in order to survive Jean has to integrate the essence of both the Phoenix and Madelyne, gaining their memories and personalities.[43] Mr. Sinister attempts to entrap all of the X-Men and X-Factor in Madelyne's dying mind, but forced to choose between having revenge either on the X-Men or Mr. Sinister, Madelyne ejects Mr. Sinister from her mind. With her personality influencing Jean's, she then prompts the X-Men and X-Factor to attempt lethal retribution against him.[44]
Jean, having inherited Madelyne's maternal feelings for Nathan Christopher, becomes his proxy mother and briefly raises him until
Reappearance
Madelyne mysteriously reappears years later as an
While searching for Nate Grey she encounters Threnody,
Antagonistic for a time after this revelation, Madelyne walks away from the Hellfire Club, turning her back on a carefully built alliance/partnership with Sebastian Shaw, and goes looking for Nate Grey. Later they are attacked by the Strikesquad: Gauntlet, a group of operatives wearing psi-shielded armor. Madelyne is buried alive by one of them but she manages to escape by teleporting. As the battle has weakened X-Man, she looks drained and withered. In no shape to continue, whatever the plans she'd had with Nate, she leaves.[51]
Red Queen
Soon after, Nate Grey is accompanied again by Madelyne alive and well. She ends up revealing herself as the Red Queen, a Jean Grey from Earth-9575, an alternate reality where she becomes a creature of violence and unquenchable desire. She seems to have taken advantage of Madelyne's fragile state and replaced her in order to worm her way into Nate's head.[4][52] She also claims to be the one who had influenced Nate into latching into Madelyne's psychic energy remnants and give it form,[53] but she is eventually killed when Nate creates a sun around her that burns her to death.[54] The exact details of how she had replaced Madelyne are left unrevealed, but since it is shown that the Red Queen could absorb the life forces of others to enhance her own power, she may have easily absorbed Madelyne's psionic body, or at least severed her consciousness’ connection to it. Cyclops and Cable would eventually encounter Madelyne within the telepathic astral plane, where she describes herself as now only a "ghost" and unable to return to the physical world.[55]
Some years later, the X-Men investigate an anti-mutant group calling itself the "
With
The Sisterhood commences a surprise raid on the X-Men's base, quickly neutralizing several of the main X-members. Recovering from the initial attacks, the X-Men force the Sisterhood (now including a brainwashed Psylocke) to retreat. But the battle was only a distraction, as the real purpose was for Madelyne to locate Jean Grey's gravesite.[61] Madelyne's own body had been cremated after her suicide,[62] so Grey's seemed the only option available to her. At Jean's grave, Madelyne attempts to repeat the ritual with her corpse. However, Cyclops had correctly guessed Madelyne's goal and had arranged for Grey's body to be replaced with another, which Madelyne only learned after it is too late. The second she binds herself to the corpse, she discorporates, as the decayed body cannot contain her vast psionic energies.[14]
Avengers Vs. X-Men
During the 2012
Lady Deathstrike's Sisterhood
Lady Deathstrike, whose consciousness had taken possession of a Colombian girl named Ana Cortes, formed an all-new Sisterhood initially comprising her, the mutant Typhoid Mary, and the exiled Asgardian Amora (the Enchantress).[66] The sentient bacteria Arkea possesses Lady Deathstrike's assistant Reiko and joins.[67] As Arkea fears being opposed by the X-Men, she wants powerhouses with the Sisterhood, so she has Enchantress use her magicks to restore Selene and makes plans to resurrect Madelyne Pryor. Ana Cortes manages to turn against Deathstrike, contact the X-Men and alert them of the Sisterhood's location, and then commit suicide in an attempt to foil Arkea's plans.[68] Arkea is able to place Deathstrike's consciousness into Reiko, and seeing an opportunity, splices Jean Grey's DNA to Ana's body, making it a fully compatible host for Madelyne Pryor. The Enchantress then uses her magicks to retrieve Pryor's consciousness and place it into the body, reviving Madelyne (in the process, seemingly reshaping Cortes' physical appearance into Pryor's), and making her flesh-and-blood again for the first time since her own suicide. When the X-Men arrive and attack, Madelyne fights and telepathically defeats the more experienced telepath Rachel Grey. Storm offers Madelyne and Selene a deal, essentially letting them go free, as the X-Men are only after Arkea at the moment. As Madelyne and the other members of the Sisterhood don't particularly care for Arkea, they desert her, allowing all of the Arkea bacteria to be destroyed. Accompanied by Selene, Madelyne declares that she would create an all new Sisterhood.[15]
Krakoa
Madelyne is not seen in "the first wave" of mutant villains who accept Xavier's invitation to join him on Krakoa. However, she is referenced in Mister Sinister's Red Diamond, a gossip sheet that cryptically lists Sinister's secrets, indicating that her legacy as the Goblin Queen is far from complete.[69]
Hellions
When Mr. Sinister sent the second Hellions team of mutants to destroy his abandoned cloning farm hidden under the old Nebraska orphanage, they are surprised to find Madelyne there. In her Goblin Queen attire, Madelyne had captured and tortured Sinister's former team of killers, the Marauders, and turned them into zombie-like creatures. Madelyne commands the zombified Marauders to attack the Hellions, but captures and takes Havok prisoner, deciding to reunite with her former lover, and silences him by removing his mouth. She reveals her anger that no one cared about her return and then her seeming exclusion from Krakoa, and so plans to unleash an army of cloned Marauder zombies to attack the mutant island just to be noticed and prove her existence. Havok cuts open his mouth to speak, and impresses her by admitting that he had genuine feelings for Madelyne all along back when she and Scott were together. The Hellions thwart her plans by killing all the zombies, and Madelyne is fatally shot by John Greycrow as well. As she dies, Madelyne heals Alex's injured face and tells him that she only wanted to be acknowledged and remembered. When the team returns to Krakoa, Cyclops himself tells Havok that while the Quiet Council has decided to approve resurrection for the original Marauders, they decided not to resurrect Madelyne on the grounds that she was a clone. The decision infuriates and devastates Havok, who screams at his brother that she was a real person who did in fact exist. What Havok doesn't known is that the Council had not been able to decide whether Madelyne was a clone or her own person, so her resurrection remains undecided.[70]
Pryor's fate still weighs heavily on Havok's mind, as seen during the first Annual Hellfire Gala, when he tries to speak with Charles Xavier and Magneto about the decision.[71] Madelyne is eventually resurrected and reunited with Havok. She is seen wearing a version of the flight suit that she had originally worn with the X-Men, positioning her as “good Madelyne” again; but when she sees herself in a mirror, it reflects her Goblin Queen persona. On top of that is the suggestion that she hadn’t wanted to be resurrected at all, recognising that she’s being cast as the prize in somebody else’s story, and understandably resentful of it.[72]
The Labors of Magik
Immediately afterwards, Madelyne—back in her Goblin Queen attire—is approached by Illyana Rasputin with a proposal. Wanting to transcend her traumatic past by distancing herself from Limbo, but needing to find a new ruler for the demonic dimension, Magik—over the objections of her fellow New Mutants—offers handing over rulership of the realm to Pryor. Illyana regards Madelyne as suitable to take over due to Pryor's past connection to Limbo and because, like Magik, she too has survived painfully traumatic experiences and is still a damaged soul, as Illyana declares anyone normal and "untouched by darkness" to be ill-suited to rule Limbo. Seeing Limbo as a second chance for herself and the means to cut any ties with Krakoa and all the people (i.e. Sinister, Cyclops, Jean Grey, even Havok) who she resents for always defining her entire existence, Madelyne accepts Illyana's offer. Though only after the pair and their group found themselves forced to journey and fight together against foes trying to destroy Magik and seize her power, does the handover happen. With Rasputin's rulership of Limbo relinquished, Pryor—attired in a new outfit—is now its Queen.[73]
Dark Web
Some time after, Ben Reilly, the wayward and now-vengeful clone of Peter Parker and using the alias "Chasm", feels himself being drawn to and enters Limbo, and encounters Pryor. Feeling they have much in common as victimized and outcast clones who both believed their mutual progenitors had destroyed their lives, Madelyne and Ben form an alliance and plan to strike back.[74] As a demonstration of their teamwork, Pryor has a demon possess a mailbox and attack Spider-Man while she and Ben watch from afar.[75] Pryor later finds Eddie Brock wandering in Limbo as he seeks a way back to Earth to reunite with his son, and convinces Venom, as a "fellow monarch [and] single parent", that participating with her and Chasm will be mutually beneficial.[76] Reilly's girlfriend Janine Godbe (AKA Elizabeth Tyne) requests that she be provided the means to participate alongside Ben. As Janine has also been a mistreated and victimized woman for most of her life, Madelyne sympathizes with Janine and so transforms her into a new supervillain called "Hallows' Eve".[74]
Brock grows impatient and uncooperative with Pryor and Chasm, leading to them regressing Brock's mind back into the primitive and savage Venom of the past.[77] Madelyne unleashes her demons into Manhattan, which Spider-Man and the X-Men battle against, while Chasm begins striking at some of Peter's friends.[78] Though the rampaging demons are just a distraction to scatter and occupy the X-Men away from their Manhattan base, at which Venom is sent to attack as an added decoy to enable Hallows' Eve to raid the base and steal a device for Pryor.[77] When Magik, Jean Grey, Havok, and Cyclops enter Limbo to confront Madelyne, they're taken prisoner. Grey eventually breaks free and battles Pryor, until Jean discovers that Maddie's plotting was all just to possess Jean's memories and experiences from the very brief time she was proxy mother to Nathan, the son that Maddie lost to Jean. Grey voluntarily shares all the memories with Pryor, also revealing that she had advocated from the start that Maddie be granted a Krakoan resurrection, finally seeming to mend her last unhealed emotional wounds and making peace between them.[79]
Pryor tries to end what she started and so approaches Chasm and Hallows' Eve with this. Having not succeeded in gaining what he wanted from his vendetta on Parker, both Chasm and Eve take Maddie's abandoning of their plotting as a betrayal and so usurp Madelyne's power as ruler of Limbo. Chasm teleports a massive tower into Manhattan and launches a massive demonic invasion. Pryor then joins with the heroes to stop him.[80]
During the climactic battle, Madelyne reasserts her rulership over the demons as Goblin Queen of Limbo and Chasm is defeated, though Hallows' Eve escapes. In the aftermath, Madelyne takes custody of Ben Reilly as her prisoner, the Limbo tower remains in place in New York as an "Embassy of Limbo", and Madelyne Pryor seems to continue to be an ally of the X-Men and Spider-Man.[81] She and Alex also rekindle their romantic relationship.[82]
Leading the Dark X-Men
During the "
Powers and abilities
As a clone of Jean Grey, Madelyne Pryor possesses mutant abilities of telepathy and telekinesis. These powers were completely dormant while she was believed to be a baseline human, but later manifested in ways that Jean's never had.
During her brief time as Anodyne, when still believed to be human, Madelyne was endowed with Asgardian magic that manifested as eldritch flames which granted her the power to heal and cure. Among her beneficial actions were fixing the childhood brain injury that prevented Cyclops from controlling his optic blasts, curing
As the Goblin Queen, demonic eldritch magic activated Pryor's long-dormant mutant powers, and also exponentially enhanced them to the point where she could warp reality, equivalent to the abilities of Proteus, within a localized area, possibly over an entire city.
After her apparent resurrection as a non-physical entity of psionic energy (similar to the
Madelyne also learned how to use her powers to
As the Red Queen, along with her usual powers, Madelyne demonstrated other abilities of a mysterious nature which she referred to as "magic", which were probably related to the eldritch magics she had previously wielded. She was shown to heal wounds, locate spirits interdimensionally, and work in conjunction with science to restore life to the dead.[59]
To prepare Madelyne to rule Limbo as its next queen,
Reception
Critical reception
David Harth of
Accolades
- In 2014, Entertainment Weekly ranked Madelyne Pryor 30th in their "Let's rank every X-Man ever" list.[84]
- In 2020, CBR.com ranked Madelyne Pryor 1st in their "X-Men: 10 Most Powerful Members of the Sisterhood of Mutants" list.[85]
- In 2022, Digital Trends ranked Madelyne Pryor 6th in their "10 most powerful X-Men villains" list.[86]
- In 2022, Screen Rant included Madelyne Pryor in their "10 Best X-Men Characters Created By Chris Claremont" list[87] and "10 New Characters We Can Hope To See In X-Men ’97" list.[88]
- In 2022, CBR.com ranked Madelyne Pryor 9th in their "10 Coolest X-Men Villains" list.[83]
Other versions
What If...?
In one
On Earth-9250, most mutants in the city of Manhattan are vampires ruled by Wolverine. Madelyne was not infected, but became the Goblyn Queen and planned on releasing a demon army to wipe out the vampire mutants and dominate the world. Madelyne made contact with the lord of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu, who became her ally. However, the vampiric Marvel Girl (Jean Grey) bonded with the Phoenix Force, became Dark Phoenix, and killed Madelyne and Dormammu.[90]
Another reality saw Madelyne Pryor as a member of an "X-Men" team formed by Mr. Sinister alongside Cyclops (Scott Summers), Havok (Alex Summers), and
Mutant X
In the alternate reality known as the
Codename: X-Men
A team of mutants forced against their will to serve in the government's Weapon-X program to hunt and neutralize all other mutants, this group includes a female telepath codenamed "Goblin Queen". Although she appears that she could be either Madelyne Pryor or Jean Grey, her real name is not revealed anywhere in the story, and no discernible reason is given for her codename.[95]
Marvel Mangaverse
In the Marvel Mangaverse title Legacy of Fire, Madelyne Pryor was reinvented as Madelyne Pyre, a powerful sorceress and possessor of the Phoenix Sword, who was training her sister Jena to be her successor.[96]
X-Men: The End
Madelyne Pryor plays an important role in X-Men: The End, Chris Claremont's limited series about an alternate future. In the story, Madelyne — through circumstances left unexplained — makes a surprise return. Mysteriously joined with the X-Men's alien enemies (the Skrulls and the Shi'ar), Madelyne affected a disguise to infiltrate the X-Men, planting herself near Cyclops for the rest of the series. Still seeking revenge against her former husband, Madelyne wavered however and protected him instead, after eavesdropping on Scott expressing remorse for everything that happened to her, and even implied that he genuinely loved her after all. Cyclops later admitted to having recognized her at some point, and an understanding and peace was finally reached between them, for the sake of aiding their son Cable in battle. When Cable's effort leaves him dying, a grief-stricken Madelyne is accepted back with the X-Men again. After Cyclops and Jean Grey are also killed, Madelyne cryptically reveals that, since the very beginning, she was always both Madelyne Pryor and a crucial portion of Jean Grey herself (and even hinted to being the Dark Phoenix), explaining that she was the part of Jean that truly and completely loved Scott, and that was why Jean and Scott's marriage failed. Madelyne then sacrifices herself by turning into energy and fusing with Jean Grey, who is once again resurrected. Jean is able to use her power to its fullest again, which allows her and all the dead X-Men to merge with the Phoenix and transcend to a new level of existence. In the story's final panel, Madelyne's image is present next to Cyclops' among the X-Men who died heroically.[97]
X-Men Forever
In Claremont's series set in an alternate universe from canon, X-Men Forever, Pryor does not appear though is mentioned a number of times, as the setting is some years after her death. While nearly every significant X-Men storyline and event from the comics before 1991 is referenced during the series, no mentions are made about Inferno or the Goblin Queen, implying that these did not happen here. And while Sinister and his clonings are present, there is also no mention of Madelyne ever being a clone of Jean Grey, implying that this was also not the case here. Except for it happening after her son was born, exactly when and how Pryor died went unrevealed in the series.[98]
Secret Wars (2015)
Warzones: Inferno
When
Doom had made Pryor the ruling Baroness of the Domain of Limbo at first, until the X-Men entrapped the demonic invasion within Manhattan and war broke out between Madelyne and Illyana, leading to Cyclops being appointed Limbo's Baron.
Epilogue
Doom himself acknowledged Pryor's re-ascendence to Baroness. Pryor then became one of four Barons (among the others, an alternate version of Sinister) Doom chose as his "Generals" and ordered to field their armies to crush an uprising against the God Emperor.[104] The Goblin Queen followed Doom's wishes, until betrayed and then beaten-down by Sinister and Captain Marvel.[105]
All-New, All-Different Marvel
Following the events of the
Madelyne has since been training the time-displaced Hank on how to hone his mystical capabilities. While training him, she travels across the multiverse collecting supernatural X-Men from alternate realities and promised to give them what they wanted if they help her. Madelyne then has Hank cast a ritual that summons her and her new team of supernatural X-Men, calling them her "Hex Men", and ambushes Magneto's team of X-Men in
Fall of X: Dark X-Men
While trapped in the depths of Limbo, the Goblin Queen lost all human aspects and became completely demonic.[110] The anti-mutant organization Orchis later found her in a forgotten corner of that realm and held her captive alongside her Bamf Dragon.[111] While first used as one of Orchis' test subjects on an experimental method of deactivating the mutant X-gene, she nevertheless began working for Orchis, using her knowledge of dark arts to corrupt Archangel.[110] She then assisted Orchis' invasion into 616-Madelyne Pryor's Limbo Embassy. While Pryor's Dark X-Men eliminated the Orchis invaders, the demonic Goblin Queen worked to tempt 616-Madelyne to join alongside her in destroying the world due to their similar histories of betrayals and suffering. 616-Pryor refused and killed her demonic counterpart (and afterward also made the Bamf Dragon her pet).[112]
Spider-Geddon
During the Spider-Geddon event, an unseen "Goblin Queen" is mentioned by her minions, Green Goblin, Hobgoblin, Demogoblin, and Jack O'Lantern when they attempt to kill Gwen Stacy but are driven away by the "Spiders-Man". It's unrevealed if this Goblin-Queen is Madelyne Pryor or someone different.[113]
X-Men: The Exterminated
A story by Claremont again, included as an addition with the main story in The Exterminated one-shot, appears as if to be a flashback from just after Cyclops and Storm's leadership duel and his moving back to Alaska with Pryor. Circumstances shown here lead to Scott and Madelyne happily reconciling (before the discovery and return of Jean Grey). This and other differences from canon seem to place this story in the setting of Claremont's X-Men Forever universe.[16]
X-Men: Grand Design
A limited series that does an abridged and condensed retelling of four decades of X-Men related canon from the 1960s debut onward, Pryor's introduction and early storylines are included but substantially rewritten in the second half of the title's "Second Genesis" chapter. Pryor debuts and participates in stories which originally featured Lee Forrester, who is entirely excluded in this retelling (but is name-dropped later in the series' final panel[114]). When Pryor and Cyclops meet and begin their relationship, she is not a pilot in Alaska but is still described as surviving a plane crash in the past, and Mastermind's actions on Pryor never happen at all in this telling before she and Cyclops marry.[115]
Pryor's history continues in the first half of the "X-Tinction" chapter that follows, starting with the birth of Nathan/Cable and the marriage's disintegration, to concluding at her death during Inferno. While the encounter with Loki with her moment as Anodyne and her later abduction by Genosha are excluded, all the rest of her story with the X-Men is here. Pryor is emphasized as the victim in everything, not culpable for Inferno nor intending to harm her son. And her death is presented as more accidental instead of suicide.[116]
Jean Grey (2023)
As Jean Grey drifts between life and death after her assassination during Orchis' attack on the Hellfire Gala, she ponders what if she had made different decisions at critical chapters in her history -- including Inferno and towards Madelyne Pryor. The Phoenix Force shows Grey one alternate history in which if Grey took different actions during Inferno, Pryor's rage and hatred would only have increased, leading her to gaining exponentially greater powers and then destroying the world. After rejecting this and other alternate scenarios shown to her, Jean accepts all her actions and history as it was -- and also now fully accepting Madelyne's creation and existence as blessings instead of a curse, and that Maddie was legitimately Scott's wife and Nathan Christopher's biological mother.[117]
In other media
- Madelyne Pryor / Goblin Queen appears in X-Men '97, voiced by Jennifer Hale.[118]
- Madelyne Pryor / Black Rook appears in X-Men: Battle of the Atom.
- Madelyne Pryor / Goblin Queen appears as a playable character in Marvel Strike Force.[119]
- Madelyne Pryor / Goblin Queen appears as a playable character in Marvel: Future Fight.
References
- ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
- ^ Harn, Darby (2022-09-29). "10 Most Controversial Marvel Comic Retcons". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
- Fantagraphics Books, Inc.p5, 108.
- ^ a b c X-Men: Phoenix Force Handbook (released July 2010)
- ^ a b Uncanny X-Men #174
- ^ a b Uncanny X-Men #175
- ^ "Superheroes Behaving Badly IV: Cyclops (Jan 2000)". Fortunecity.com. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
- ^ Scans Daily (2009-04-15). "scans_daily | Entries tagged with char: goblyn queen/madelyne pryor". Scans-daily.dreamwidth.org. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
- ISBN 978-1465455505.
- ^ Tegneserier: An interview with Chris Claremont Archived 2008-02-23 at the Wayback Machine, seriejournalen.dk
- ^ X-Man#5-6 (July - August 1995)
- ^ a b Uncanny X-Men #499 (August 2008)
- ^ a b Uncanny X-Men #503 (December 2008)
- ^ a b Uncanny X-Men #511 (August 2009)
- ^ a b X-Men (vol. 4) #12 (March 2014)
- ^ a b X-Men: The Exterminated (2018)
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #168 (April 1983)
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #170 (June 1983)
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- ^ Uncanny X-Men #200
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- ^ X-Factor #1
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- ^ Uncanny X-Men #240 (January 1989)
- ^ a b c Uncanny X-Men #241 (February 1989)
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #221
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- ^ X-Factor #37 (February 1989)
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- ^ Uncanny X-Men #243 (April 1989)
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- ^ X-Man #7-30 (September 1995-September 1997)
- ^ X-Man Annual '96
- ^ Cable (vol. 2) #44 & #50
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- ^ X-Man #25 (March 1997)
- ^ X-Man #38-52 (May 1998-June 1999)
- ^ X-Man #67 (September 2000)
- ^ X-Man #68
- ^ X-Man #70
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- ^ Uncanny X-Men #501 (October 2008)
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- ^ X-Men (vol. 4) #10 (January 2014)
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- ^ Powers of X #4
- ^ Hellions (vol. 2) #1-4
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- ^ Hellions (vol. 2) #18
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- ^ a b Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #14.
- ^ Free Comic Book Day 2022: Spider-Man/Venom #1.
- ^ Venom (vol. 5) #13.
- ^ a b Venom (vol. 5) #14.
- ^ Dark Web #1.
- ^ Dark Web: X-Men #1-3.
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- ^ Dark Web: Finale #1.
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- ^ a b Harth, David (2022-09-19). "10 Coolest X-Men Villains". CBR. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
- ^ June 09, Darren Franich Updated; EDT, 2022 at 12:31 PM. "Let's rank every X-Man ever". EW.com. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Allan, Scoot (2020-09-14). "X-Men: 10 Most Powerful Members of the Sisterhood of Mutants, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
- ^ "10 most powerful X-Men villains, ranked". Digital Trends. 2022-11-09. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
- ^ Chachowski, Richard (2022-03-05). "The 10 Best X-Men Characters Created By Chris Claremont, Ranked". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
- ^ Prom, Bradley (2022-08-31). "10 New Characters We Can Hope To See In X-Men '97". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
- ^ What If...? (vol. 2) #6 (November 1989)
- ^ What If...? (vol. 2) #37 (May 1992)
- ^ What If...? (vol. 2) #74 (July 1995)
- ^ Mutant X #1 (October 1998)
- ^ Mutant X #4-12, Mutant X '99
- ^ Mutant X #32 (June 2001)
- ^ Marvel Comics: X-Men (2000)
- ^ X-Men: Phoenix - Legacy of Fire (2003)
- ^ X-Men: The End (January 2005- August 2006)
- ^ X-Men Forever (2009-10) and X-Men Forever 2 (2010-11)
- ^ Secret Wars: Inferno #1
- ^ Secret Wars: Inferno #2
- ^ Secret Wars (2015) #2
- ^ Secret Wars: Inferno #2-4
- ^ Secret Wars: Inferno #5
- ^ Secret Wars (2015) #6
- ^ Secret Wars (2015) #7
- ^ All-New X-Men (vol. 2) #12
- ^ All-New X-Men (vol. 2) #15
- ^ All-New X-Men (vol. 2) #16
- ^ X-Men Blue #10-12
- ^ a b Fall of X: Dark X-Men #2 (September 2023)
- ^ Fall of X: Dark X-Men #1 (August 2023)
- ^ Fall of X: Dark X-Men #4-5 (November-December 2023)
- ^ Spider-Geddon: Vault of Spiders #2 (2018)
- ^ X-Men: Grand Design - X-Tinction #2 (2019)
- ^ X-Men: Grand Design - Second Genesis #2 (2018)
- ^ X-Men: Grand Design - X-Tinction #1 (2019)
- ^ Jean Grey (vol. 2) #1-4 (August-November 2023)
- ^ "Madelyne Pryor Voice - X-Men '97 (TV Show)". behindthevoiceactors.com. Retrieved 2024-03-28. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ Timberlake, Rebecca (2022-07-11). "10 Best Characters In Marvel Strike Force". TheGamer. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
External links
- About Madelyne Pryor in Women Write About Comics
- ComicVine.com: Madelyne Pryor
- UncannyXmen.net Spotlight on Madelyne Pryor
- Madelyne Pryor in Fanlore Wiki
- Madelyne Pryor on Marvel Database, a Marvel Comics wiki