GREY / SUMMERS FAMILY TREE

GREY / SUMMERS FAMILY TREE

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Introduction

The Grey-Summers family are arguably one of the largest families in comic books. Earlier family tree articles dealt with the Greys and the Summers separately however as the majority of the content overlapped it seemed redundant not to merge them. Given the scale of this family when compiling this article, we had to create some rules to make it manageable.

• Characters had to be born on Earth 616 or have lived or are currently living on Earth 616 as "major" characters.
• Alternate reality children of characters from Earth 616 were included. So for example, Katie and Scotty are included because of their significance to Earth 616's Havok. Ruby Summers is not included because she's the alternate reality daughter of the XSE timeline's Cyclops and has never interacted with “our” Cyclops.
• One appearance and no dialogue clones were excluded for space.
• Formalized adoptive relationships were included, such as the Blandings for Havok and Jonath for Adam X but more informal relationships like Kate Pryde for Rachel Summers, Forge for Nate Grey, Ch'Vayre for Stryfe etc were excluded due to space concerns.
• We excluded alternate reality versions of characters such as Corporal Summers from X-Treme and the late characters from Shadow X due to space constraints.
• We also ignored popular fan theories such Rachel's true father being Wolverine or the Phoenix Force or Gambit being a Summers, as these theories are merely apocrypha at this point in time for the Earth-616 reality.

So with all of this in mind let's get started!

The Dark Mother

The earliest known alleged relative of Jean Grey is Fiona Knoblach, otherwise known as the Dark Mother, leader of the terrorist organization/cult the Dark Sisterhood. Knoblach was born in 1680 in Virginia, the daughter of wealthy European settlers. She was one of three siblings, her brother William also a mutant (later named Clarity) and an older sister Gertrude. In 1692, Fiona was radicalized following the murder of her sister Gertrude during the Salem Witch trials. Fiona blamed all men for the death of her sister and wanted to create a matriarchy with herself as the ruler, with men as slaves. In the following years, Fiona arranged the murder of both of her parents and three (consecutive) husbands, in all cases absorbing their wealth. Her unions led to seven daughters and approximately 30,000 descendants by the modern day. She used these descendants to form a cult based around herself. While possessing seeming immortality, Fiona's key mutant gift was precognition, apparently seeing all possible futures for her own personal future. Her visions were obscured by her alleged descendants Cable and Rachel Summers, due to their ability to move throughout the timestream. Because of this obfuscation of her "sight," she decided wait centuries to make her move to take control of the United States. She had manipulated her agent and alleged descendant, Gina Anderson, into the position of Secretary of Defense and planned to assassinate all other required U.S. officials until Anderson became president by default. Her scheme, however, was foiled by her “blindspots,” Cable and Rachel Summers. Prior to her defeat, she would claim that Jean Grey was her descendant. Rachel Summers was skeptical of this connection, claiming that this was misdirection to unnerve Cable and her similarity to Jean Grey was likely the result of a cosmetic alterations and hair dye as opposed to common ancestry. Interestingly enough, the depiction of the historical Fiona had her with both red and blonde hair. [Cable (1st series) #88-95] Following her defeat and imprisonment by Cable, the Dark Mother later escaped but she died soon after as one of a number of precognitive mutants who were murdered by the Marauders on the orders of Mr. Sinister in X-Men (2nd series) #202.

Historical Grey's and the Hellfire Club

Three other “Greys” have an unclear connection to Jean and her family. In 1757, Charles Grey, a member of then fledgling British Hellfire Club, committed suicide after he believed he saw the devil. While Charles physical body died, his spirit remained in his home in the London borough of Ealing. A hundred years later, Charles observed his descendant Malkin abusing his wife, Eleanor and decided to intervene. Somehow, despite lacking a corporeal form, Charles was able to lift a knife and stab Malkin to death. Even more strangely, upon killing Malkin Charles was able to possess his body and it was instantly revived. Like his ancestor, Malkin also “survived” the loss of his body and possessed the body of a stillborn kitten. A year past and Malkin as a cat was now inseparable from his wife, however Charles aka Malkin and Eleanor's marriage was by contrast extremely strained. Despite his earlier defense of Eleanor when confronted about his apathy towards her, Charles started to beat her. Malkin the cat defended his wife and knocked a vase on the head of Charles, killing Malkin's human body again. Malkin now seeing an opportunity killed his current cat form, hoping to repossess his original body and revive it. While he was doing this, Eleanor had bludgeoned the body beyond the ability for either man to possess or revive it. The fate of both men remains unclear; they may yet remain stuck inside the house in Ealing, disembodied and trapped together for eternity. [Marvel Frontier Comics Unlimited #1, X-Men: Phoenix Force Handbook #1]. It was never stipultated if the abilities exhibited by Malkin and Charles were mutant or supernatural gifts.

Another Grey who existed between the lives of Charles and Malkin was Lady Jean Grey. Originally she “appeared” as part of illusions created by the villain Mastermind to manipulate the Phoenix, however in X-Men: Hellfire Club #2 she was confirmed as a real woman. Lady Grey, apparently a lookalike for her descendant Jean Grey, was a woman of incredible power and cruelty. Lady Grey was active in Philadelphia 1780-1781 as a member of the Hellfire Club and was seemingly a member of a high rank, likely a queen. She appeared to be unmarried as no husband was shown. Favoring the crown in the American revolution, she used her plentiful resources to manipulate and undermine the revolutionaries. Her ultimate fate has not been revealed.

All three “Greys” as per the Phoenix Force Handbook #1 are ancestors of Jean Grey. Despite the scarcity of information on the three characters, it is actually quite easy to tie all three together in a direct lineage that eventually links to Jean Grey. In 1757, Charles appeared to be a young man. Given that he claimed that Malkin was his descendant, it seems likely at this point he had fathered a child. As Lady Grey was clearly in her prime by 1781, it would fit for Charles to be her father. She likely inherited Hellfire Club membership from Charles, as transference of membership was normally hereditary. If we discount Mastermind's illusions, she had no husband so Grey was her maiden name. While it was very challenging for women to have children out of wedlock at this time, Lady Grey was hardly a conventional woman and, given her power and wealth, it is certainly possible that she could have continued the family line herself leading to Malkin, John and later Jean herself. Given that Lady Grey was also a crown loyalist, the reappearance of her line in England following the success of the American Revolution would also be logical.

The Greys of Annandale-on-Hudson

The Grey family line did continue and in later years their connection to the Hellfire Club seemingly dissolved as they lost their aristocrat status. In comparison to Lady Grey's opulent Philadelphia mansion, her descendant Professor John Grey and his wife Elaine lived a decidedly comfortable middle class lifestyle in suburbia in Annandale-on-Hudson in New York. In this part of the article, we are going to focus on the Grey family, excluding Jean and her heirs, effectively skipping ahead in some places. However, as most of these characters were merely mentioned and summarily killed off, this seems to be the more prudent way of addressing them.

Excluding Jean and her parents, the Grey who has appeared the most has been her sister Sara. Sara married Paul Bailey and had twins, Gailyn and Joseph “Joey.” Sara's husband Paul attended “Jean Grey's” funeral (more on that later) but aside from this he has never reappeared and either died or abandoned the family. A short time later, after Jean's apparent death, Sara started to speak out in defense of mutants publicly and disappeared. It was later revealed that she had been targeted by the alien race the Phalanx, due to her association to Jean and the X-Men, and had been killed/absorbed into their collective. (The Phalanx were not birthed on Earth until many years after Sara first disappeared, however, so she must have been kidnapped by the anti-mutant organization who only eventually engineered the Phalanx.) [X-Factor (1st series) #12, X-Men (2nd series) #36] Sara was survived by her twins, Gailyn and Joey, but they too had been kidnapped by the villainess, Nanny. Eventually, the twins were rescued by their aunt Jean and given into the custody of their grandparents. [X-Men (2nd series) #35-40] Note: There's been some speculation that Sara herself might have been a latent mutant following comments made by the Atlantean villain Attuma. However, as the Phalanx lacked the ability to absorb mutants into their collective, this theory can be considered debunked. [Bizarre Adventures #28]

The majority of the other members of the Grey Family were introduced and killed by Shi'ar in Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #467, with many of them having an unclear relationships to the main Greys. The purpose of the massacre was to wipe out the “Grey genome” to prevent a relative of Jean Grey later becoming the Phoenix. It should be noted that the below characters clearly represented only a small percentage of the characters who died in this massacre.

Siblings to John and his wife Elaine:

• Brian Grey: John's younger brother and Jean's Grey's favorite uncle. Master carpenter, little league coach, soccer dad.
• Phyllis and Roy Dennefer: Phyllis was Elaine's sister. Her husband Roy was a Vietnam veteran.

Additional children for John and Elaine:

• Roger Grey: Played the Jazz cornet and worked as a session musician.
• Julia Grey: Restaurateur and chef. It was claimed she, along with her uncle Brian, took custody of Gailyn and Joey after Sara's death/disappearance but this was contradicted by the fact that we saw the twins living with their grandparents.
• Liam Grey: He was a pastor and lover of great literature and according to Rachel Summers an excellent orator.
• N.B Rachel Summers referred to Roger, Julia, Liam and Brian as her uncles and aunt respectively. It seems more likely that the original intention was for all the males to be siblings of John or Elaine like Brian with Julia being Brian's wife as it would seem unusual for an uncle and his niece to share custody of two children. Later sources such as the X-Men Phoenix Force Handbook and Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #544 confirmed all three as the children of John and Elaine so if it this was indeed a mistake it's a much repeated mistake and is now canon.

Grandchildren of John and Elaine:

• Bekka Wallis: Bekka was a teacher and was engaged to be married. Her fiancé was also present at this gathering and presumably killed. Note: Bekka undermines the theory that Sara and Jean were intended as the only children of John and Elaine, as unlike all of the other “cousins” Rachel refers to in the story she is mentioned specifically as John's grandchild and that she took after him in her choice in occupation.

Unclear relation:

• Julian – Did not like crowds, fan of South Park and Harry Potter. According to Rachel, they had some degree of closeness as she claimed he got her into Harry Potter so he may have been a direct cousin, sibling to Bekka? X-Men Phoenix Force Handbook lists Julian as Jean's nephew.
• Mary-Margaret and Kindra – Mentioned as being around the same age as Rachel Summers (early 20s). X-Men Phoenix Force Handbook lists both girls as Jean's nieces.
• Derry Campbell – Mentioned as being a cousin from Elaine Grey's side of the family. From Texas. X-Men Phoenix Force Handbook mentions that Derry is Jean's niece but this is contradicted by the text.

Non-Blood relations:

• Fred Harriman, an in-law from John Grey’s side of the family
• Terry Maguire and his unnamed brother: Terry Maguire was present at the Grey family gathering and was intending to ask Rachel Grey on a date before he was killed. Given that Rachel was receptive to this idea, it is hoped that they weren't actually related.

John, Elaine, Gailyn and Joey were also present at this slaughter and were killed by the Shi'ar Death Commandos, leaving only Jean's line currently active. As Gailyn and Joey were mutants, it is possible they have or may be in the future be resurrected as per the Krakoan Resurrection protocols. John was 57 when he was killed, so it can be gathered that Elaine was around the same age.

We are now going to move onto the historical Summers before the two families histories converge.

Sinister Beginnings

In the year 1859, an English scientist named Nathaniel Essex employed a group of mercenaries known as the Marauders to kidnap unusual people from London’s freakish and forgotten populace. Nathaniel was obsessed with natural selection and mutation, though he possessed even more extreme views than his contemporary, Charles Darwin. His theories attracted the attention of the ancient mutant En Sabah Nur, otherwise known as Apocalypse. Intrigued as to where his ideas might lead, Apocalypse offered Essex longevity and the ability to conduct his experiments in perpetuity

As this alliance arose, the newlyweds Scott Summers and Jean Grey, who had been dispatched back in time by a member of the Askani order named Madame Sanctity, arrived on a mission to thwart the rise of Sinister. Though they failed to prevent Essex from actually becoming Mr Sinister, they did accomplish what Sanctity had originally intended. Witnessing the abilities of Scott and Jean proved all of Essex’s theories correct. As a result of Sanctity’s actions, Sinister became obsessed with the couple and their bloodlines.

Before they returned to the future, the two X-Men freed Sinister’s prisoners. Among them was a boy named Daniel. Daniel had developed mutism following the murder of his parents and, given the Victorian's cruel views on trauma/mental illness, he was considered defective. Daniel was so inspired by the young American couple that encountering them cured his mutism and he emigrated to America with a reformed member of the Marauders named Oscar. The two posed as father and son and took on the name “Summers” in honor of Scott and Jean. Unwittingly, Scott and his wife Jean had been responsible for the creation of the Summers family. [Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1-4]

Although Daniel believed he was now free of Sinister, nothing could be further from the truth. Sinister dispatched a woman named Amanda Mueller to become Daniel’s wife. Mueller falsely believed she was the first mutant that Sinister had met. Her mutant ability provided her with near immortality but her mutation only retarded the aging process and her body would eventually decay but she lacked the ability to die. By 1891, while Mueller was still in her youth, she had many pregnancies by Daniel, but she miscarried on all but one. She gained such notoriety for the volume of these miscarriages that she was dubbed the “Black Womb” by the local newspapers in New York. Eventually, Daniel grew suspicious of his wife and took their only surviving child, a unnamed boy, and departed to parts unknown. [Gambit (3rd series) #20, X-Men: Legacy (1st series) #213-214] Note: Given Marvel's sliding timeline, it is likely that the closeness of this relationship, Daniel and Mueller being Cyclops' “great-great grandparents” will increase over time.

For the better part of the following century, Amanda continued to work with Sinister and was the chief scientist on the “Black Womb project.” She also had another child named Gloria Dayne by an unknown mate in 1950. Gloria, who later went by Fontanelle was also X-Gene positive and had a telepathic ability to enter people's dreams. The full scope of her powers was never determined. She may have had some version of retarded aging like her mother but, as her depictions were inconsistent, it is hard to tell. Gloria was an on and off again ally of the X-Man, Gambit, for a period. Many years later, following Sinister’s apparent death, Amanda Mueller herself resurfaced, attempting to use Sinister’s technology to claim his powers in an attempt to rejuvenate her now very withered body. She was ultimately thwarted by the unlikely trio of Professor X, Gambit and Sebastian Shaw and fled to parts unknown. [X-Men Forever (1st series) #5, Gambit (3rd series) #20-21, X-Men: Legacy (1st series) #213-214]

The Summers Brothers

Daniel’s son went on to have a child of his own named Philip, who married a woman named Deborah. The couple had one son  named Christopher. When Christopher grew up, he joined the United States Air Force like his father, eventually advancing to the rank of major. During a routine flight down the western coast of Alaska with his pregnant wife, Katherine, and their sons, Scott and Alex, their plane encountered a Shi’ar star ship. Not wanting their presence on Earth discovered, the Shi’ar attacked the Summers’ plane. Christopher valiantly attempted to save his family but the plane was hit and caught fire. The two boys were strapped into the only remaining parachute on the plane and Katherine threw them out, hoping that they would both survive. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #156, X-Factor (1st series) #39, 115] Note: It’s not known when the Summers settled in Alaska. Given it's remoteness, this may be the location that Daniel fled with his surviving son.

Though they were presumed to have been killed in the crash, Christopher and Katherine were taken prisoner aboard the Shi’ar ship. The Shi’ar emperor, D’ken, was also onboard and took a liking to Katherine, taking her as a concubine. Christopher later broke free and saw D’ken attempting to rape his wife. He tried to save Katherine but his efforts were in vain as D’ken stabbed her and ripped her unborn baby out of her stomach. Miraculously, the baby survived and was artificially grown to maturity. Kept as a slave, the boy was named Gabriel. Unaware that the infant had survived, Christopher was again imprisoned and sent to a prison planet, believing his entire family dead. During his incarceration Christopher swore to exact revenge upon the Shi’ar for what they had done to him. With the aid of a group of other prisoners, he eventually escaped captivity. Christopher and his fellow escapees called themselves the Starjammers. As leader of the Starjammers, Christopher took the name Corsair. Corsair entered into a long term relationship with fellow Starjammer, the feline alien Hepzibah with the two being in a steady relationship for approximately twenty years. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #154, #477]

[Note: While Katherine did perish, her genetics lived on and not just in her children with Christopher. Katherine’s DNA was spliced with D’Ken’s as part of a eugenics program to create Shi’ar/human hybrids. At some point, the project was discontinued with apparently only one child surviving to adulthood, Adam-X, also called Adam Neramani. Adam was rescued by the Jonath of the Jath'Che, himself a Shi’ar/Mepthisoid hybrid. He and his fellow Jath'Che raised the boy out of sight on the peaceful farming planet of Ch'reessharaa. However, ever the warrior, Jonath did instruct the boy in combat. As Adam grew, he attracted the attention of outsiders as a potential claimant to the Shi’ar throne. In an attempt to attain the boy, the planet was assaulted and all the Jath'Che killed, including Jonath. Thanks to the training Adam had received from his protectors, he managed to flee to Earth. He briefly met his older brothers, Cyclops and Havok, before all three voluntarily opted to have the knowledge of their connection wiped from their minds by the Imperial Guard's telepath, Oracle, with the intention this would give Adam a free life. As none of the family are currently aware of this connection, Adam has taken no role in stories relating to the family. [X-Men: Legends #1-2]

Back on Earth, Mister Sinister had learned of the Summers boys’ survival and, suspecting there was more to the story than reported, arranged for the two to be brought to an orphanage in Omaha, Nebraska, which he secretly ran. Sinister quickly decided to separate the boys, believing that without the support of each other they would be more malleable. He arranged for the younger boy Alex to be adopted by the Blanding family. He chose to have Scott remain in the orphanage, as he believed Scott had the greater potential of the two boys.

The Blandings were quite dysfunctional when they adopted Alex. They were dealing with the death of their own son Todd, who had been killed in the a car accident and they had adopted Alex to essentially replace him. Despite this, Alex formed a very close relationship with his adoptive sister, Haley. Later, both Alex and Haley were kidnapped by the boy who had actually killed Todd in the automobile "accident." When the boy threatened to kill them and their parents, Alex manifested his mutant powers for the first time, lashing out and incinerating him. Luckily for Alex, Sinister hadn’t forgotten about him and was on hand to clean up this mess. He erased Alex and Haley’s memories of the incident and remarked that it was actually Alex who had the most potential of the Summers boys but that he had even less control than Scott. [X-Factor (1st series) # -1] [Note: The Blandings have not been referenced since their appearance in X-Factor # -1.]

Back in the orphanage, Sinister tormented Scott under a variety of guises, each an attempt at either experimentation or psychological control. [Classic X-Men #41-42] Eventually, Scott had had enough and ran away. Luckily, he was found by Professor X, who offered Scott a place in his school. Scott became Xavier’s first X-Man and, for the first time in years, he had a true home. Scott took on the identity of Cyclops and eventually met the woman who would become his future wife, telepathic and telekinetic wunderkind, Jean Grey. Jean had known Professor X since childhood, her own powers manifesting following the death of her friend. Professor X and Jean had a special bond and they had remained in touch. Jean took the name Marvel Girl when she joined the team.

Scott and Jean had many adventures with the X-Men already under their belt when Scott was reunited with Alex, who also joined the X-Men under the identity of Havok. [back-story in X-Men (1st series) #38-42, X-Men (1st series) #54-56] Around this time, the younger Gabriel's mutant powers had developed and he had accidentally killed his own mother figure, Dai'Andral. Despite the shame of this, he used his powers to escape from his Shi'ar captors and was found living in the sewers by Professor X and Moira MacTaggert. Instead of being brought to the school, Gabriel was left in the care of Moira, along with a group of other mutant children for training. Gabriel took on the identity of Vulcan as his “superhero” name and eagerly trained with Moira to become an X-Man. At a later point, Professor X introduced Gabriel to Scott. Once the Professor saw them together, he instantly knew of their connection but decided to keep this information a secret for the time being.

A short time afterwards, when all the original X-Men were imprisoned on the living island Krakoa, Professor X dispatched Gabriel and his team to rescue them. It was at this point that Xavier also revealed to Gabriel that Scott and Alex were his brothers. Gabriel’s team managed to battle their way through Krakoa and rescued Scott. Gabriel immediately told a very disorientated Scott that he was his brother. At this point, the mission turned into a complete disaster. Cyclops powers had been nullified by Krakoa so it was decided that he needed to get to the safety of the jet while Gabriel’s team went to rescue the rest of the original X-Men. The young and untested team were no match for the ferocity of the island’s attacks and soon two of Vulcan’s teammates were killed and it was believed that Vulcan had died along with them.

Scott was devastated by this and naturally blamed himself, believing that he should have stayed and protected his little brother. Professor X decided to mind-wipe Scott of his knowledge of Gabriel to help him cope with the trauma. Eventually the other X-Men were rescued, including Alex and Jean, by a team of older, more experienced mutants that Xavier recruited to save them. It would be years before Gabriel would resurface [X-Men: Deadly Genesis #6, Giant-Size X-Men #1]

Loves, Losses and Reunions

A short time later during a shuttle accident, it was believed that Jean had become the cosmic entity known as Phoenix. Afterwards Scott, Phoenix and the X-Men traveled to space to fulfil "Jean's" destiny to save the universe. During this trip, Phoenix encountered Corsair and became aware of his connection to Scott. Corsair surprisingly begged her to not tell Scott at the time, as he believed Scott had gotten on with life and didn’t need the burden of this revelation. Phoenix gave her word and promised never to tell Scott that Corsair was his father.

Eventually, the Phoenix began to be consumed by her own power and, in a bout of temporary insanity, destroyed a star system which included an inhabited world. Though Scott and the X-Men managed to help her regain her sanity, the entire affair attracted the attention of the Shi’ar, who returned to Earth to kill Phoenix, believing her a threat too severe to be left unchecked. During the ensuing skirmish between the X-Men and the Shi'ar on the Moon, realizing that she could never truly control her power, Phoenix told Scott she loved him and took her own life.

“Jean Grey’s” death wasn’t just a loss to Scott and the X-Men but also to Mister Sinister, who had spent years manipulating not only the Summers but the Greys, all in a breeding program designed to create a weapon against his old master, Apocalypse. Refusing to allow all his hard work to be undone, Mister Sinister cloned Jean Grey. He named the clone Madelyne Pyror and dispatched her with the intent of meeting and falling in love with Scott Summers. [X-Men (1st series) #137] Following “Jean's” death, Corsair also returned to Earth and finally told Scott of his true identity. This time, Corsair remained on Earth briefly, getting to know both his boys again and tried to help Scott deal with his loss of “Jean.” He also decided to take the boys on a trip to their grandparents, as they hadn’t seen them since they were children. While there, the Summers were shocked to meet Madelyne Pyror, a woman who looked identical to the deceased Phoenix. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #154, 156, 158, 168] Despite the fact that Madelyne was totally unaware of her “mission,” she managed to accomplish it in an exemplar fashion. Almost instantly after Scott and Madelyne met, they fell in love, quickly married and, in next to no time, welcomed a son into the world; a son they named him Nathan. [Uncanny X-Men # 176, 197, and 241, X-Factor (1st series) #38]

Funnily enough, it turned out Mister Sinister had gone to all this trouble for nothing. Had he waited, an heir of both Cyclops and Jean Grey would have materialized for him. Rachel Summers was a refugee from the so called reality “the Days of Future Past.” On this world, both Cyclops and Jean Grey had died when Rachel was young and America had been conquered by the Sentinels. Rachel had been captured and turned into a hound by the super-villain Ahab and was forced to hunt and kill other mutants including her own uncle, Alex. [X-Men (1st series) #141-142, X-Men Unlimited (2nd series) #11] She was later placed in a concentration camp with the other surviving X-Men forming a bond with her parent's old teammate Kate Pryde. Kate's own children had been killed and she took on a maternal role with the traumatized young Rachel. Due to the efforts of Rachel's  “surrogate mother,” Kate Pryde and the Phoenix Force, Rachel eventually managed to escape to the 616 timeline. Upon arriving to this reality, Rachel was shocked to discover that her mother was “dead” and her father was married to another woman who was a doppleganger for her late mother. Rachel initially decided to keep her true identity a secret from Scott, as she found it hard to deal with his new marriage. [Excalibur (1st series) #52, New Mutants (1st series) #18] Despite this, she was instantly smitten with her new baby brother upon meeting him and said in her own words. “I’ll protect you. Whatever it takes, I’ll find a way to save you.” [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #201]

A short time after the birth of Nathan, it was discovered that Jean hadn’t died at all, but had been left in a regenerative cocoon in Jamaica Bay by the Phoenix who had impersonated her. Scott instantly left both his wife and son to reunite with her. [Avengers (1st series) #263, Fantastic Four (1st series) #286] In his absence, Madelyne and Nathan were left vulnerable, so Sinister instructed his modern Marauders to kidnap the baby and kill Madelyne, now viewing her as redundant with the reappearance of the original Jean Grey. Madelyne managed to survive, thanks to the intervention of the X-Men. Keeping close to the team, she was among their number, along with Havok, when they sacrificed their lives to stop the Adversary in Dallas. [X-Factor (1st series) #38, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #206, 215, 221-227] 

The Fires of Inferno

In reality, Havok and Madelyne had only died for an instant and were resurrected by the goddess Roma. Unaware of this and believing Madelyne dead, Scott and Jean became much closer. Seeing Scott and Jean together on television and already distraught by the loss of her child, Madelyne was highly susceptible to manipulation by two demons named Sym and N’astirh. The demons triggered Madelyne’s nascent powers and she managed to track down her son and Sinister, who revealed her true origins. Finding out she was a clone caused Madelyne to suffer a complete mental breakdown. Now totally under demonic influence and quite insane, Madelyne was responsible for an event called Inferno (see Inferno), which sought to open a portal between Earth and the demonic part of Limbo. During Inferno, Madelyne seduced Alex, attempted to kill the X-Men, Scott, Jean and even her own son but this was prevented at the cost of Madelyne’s life. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #230-243, X-Factor (1st series) #37-38]

Note: Someone who was surprisingly deeply impacted by Madelyne's death would be the creature called Xraven, a composite being created by Mr Sinister. Mr. Sinister had commissioned Kraven the Hunter to steal DNA samples of the original five X-Men a short time after the formation of the team. Despite significant resistance from the teens and Spider-Man, Kraven was successful in his task. Impressed, Sinister purchased Kraven's DNA as well and used it in addition to the original X-Men and later the symbiote Carnage to create Xraven some years later. Initially a dutiful enforcer for Mr. Sinister, he ultimately rebelled following contact with one of his genetic progenitors, Cyclops, when he used his telepathic abilities to read Cyclops mind and found out about what had happened to Madelyne. Following his revolt against his master, his survival remains unclear. [X-Men / Spider-Man #1-4]

After Inferno, despite Madelyne’s tragedy, Scott was overjoyed to be reunited his son. Jean and even her parents bonded with baby, seeing him as their own. Unfortunately, this newfound family bliss didn’t last, as Nathan was kidnapped by Apocalypse, who infected him with a techno-organic virus. His belief was that if Nathan was “fit” he could fight off the infection and Apocalypse would use him as his next host to perpetuate his own longevity. This was ironic, considering Mister Sinister’s original intention was to use Nathan as a weapon against Apocalypse. Scott and X-Factor managed to defeat Apocalypse but all hope seemed lost for Nathan until the appearance of a time traveling member of the Askani sisterhood. The woman offered to take Nathan into the future and cure him of his affliction. Seeing no choice, Scott accepted. [X-Factor (1st series) #65-68]

The Future that was

Note: The following section involves time paradoxes, which has been told from various points of view. As this article depicts the 616 Summer’s family, we will recount the story from their perspective. i.e Although the events of Cable’s childhood occur for him, naturally enough, before the X-Cutioners Song for the 616 Summers family, the X-Cutioner’s song occurred earlier and Cable’s childhood later.

Scott and Jean would soon meet Nathan again, although at the time they would be totally unaware. Having grown up in the far future, Nathan had traveled back in time and adopted the identity of Cable. Operating for years under this alias and even working together with Xavier prior to the formation of his X-Men [Cable (1st series) #45, -1], Cable initially hid his relationship to Scott Summers and Jean Grey. Cable was likewise unaware that his clone, Stryfe, had also traveled back in time to sow his chaos. Eventually, the identities of Cable and Stryfe came to light during a battle on the moon, just before Stryfe and Cable were both believed killed. See X-Cutioner’s Song.

Shortly thereafter, Scott and Jean finally married in X-Men (2nd series) #30. The couple’s honeymoon was interrupted when the minds of both were pulled through the time-stream 2000 years into the future, where they were greeted by an elderly Rachel Summers, who had inserted their minds into cloned bodies.

After becoming lost in the time-stream, Rachel had emerged 2000 years in the future and it was she that had crafted the Askani movement, the cornerstone belief of which was that Rachel’s little brother would act as their messiah and defeat Apocalypse and free the people of that era. Making good on her earlier promise, it was Rachel who had dispatched the woman to the past months before in order to save baby Nathan from Apocalypse’s virus. However, Rachel having been afraid of being unable to stop Apocalypse’s virus, had also engineered a clone of Nathan to ensure that if anything happened to him that the Askani would still have a savior. [Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1, Excalibur (1st series) #75, X-Men: Phoenix 1-2]

Just as Scott and Jean had arrived into the future, the Askani compound came under attack. During the battle, Rachel was sent into a coma, one in which she would remain in for the rest of her life within this timeline. Managing to escape with both Nathan and Rachel, Scott and Jean took on the aliases Slym and Redd Dayspring respectively. For the next twelve years, Redd and Slym posed as Nathan adoptive parents.

Nathan’s clone had a far worse fate befall him, as he was taken by Apocalypse’s chief attendant Ch’Vayre when the Askani compound fell. Apocalypse named the clone Stryfe, all the while believing him to be the true son of Scott Summers and Jean Grey. Against Ch’Vayre’s objections, Apocalypse amplified his new “son’s” abilities. This, in conjunction with Apocalypse’s teaching, completely warped the young boy’s mind. It was these actions that caused the loyal Ch’Vayre to turn against his master and he and the family “Dayspring” managed to kill Apocalypse as he attempted to take possession of the adolescent Stryfe’s body. Afterwards, Ch’Vayre claimed he would raise Stryfe and attempt to undo the damage that Apocalypse had done to his mind. At this point, the now very elderly Rachel Summers died. As Jean and Scott were only to able to remain in the future through Rachel’s power, they both started to fade away, leaving the twelve year Nathan alone.[Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1-4]

As Nathan grew, he began to fall into the messiah role that Rachel had intended for him. He also met a woman named Aliya, with whom he fell in love with and married. Aliya was an ardent Askani follower and later took on the name Jenskot to honor Cable’s parents. Meanwhile, Ch’Vayre had failed in his attempts to cure Stryfe of his madness and was eventually killed by “son,” starting Stryfe on his road to becoming a homicidal dictator. His efforts to conquer the planet were opposed by Cable and Aliya. Cable and Aliya had a son named Tyler, though it has never been very clear whether Tyler was the biological or adopted son of Cable. It was hinted that perhaps Stryfe was Tyler’s father and that he may have raped Aliya. Whatever his origin, Cable took Tyler on as his own. Later, Aliya was killed by Stryfe’s forces and Tyler was kidnapped and brainwashed. After this loss, Cable traveled back in time to prevent Apocalypse from ever coming to power but was followed by Stryfe. [Askani‘Son #1-4, Cable (2nd series) #1-2] The result was the “X-Cutioners Song” conflict, which ended in a climactic battle on the moon. It wasn’t long thereafter that Cable resurfaced, revealing that he had not died after all. [Cable (1st series) #1-2]. [Note: Since Stryfe's death on the moon, he has resurfaced numerous times, often through unclear means. These are presumably either slightly or wildly divergent temporal counterparts of Stryfe, akin to Kang.]

Tyler also appeared in the past, having renamed himself Genesis and was now leading the Dark Riders, a group composed of fervent Apocalypse worshipers Tyler masterminded an attempt to kidnap the X-Man Wolverine in an overall attempt to turn him into a Horseman of Apocalypse. However, during the process, Wolverine became berserk and killed Genesis. [Wolverine (2nd series) #99-100]

Age of Apocalypse

Rachel Summers wasn’t the only members of Summers family to enter Earth-616 from another reality. Nate Grey was the genetically engineered son of Prelate Scott Summers and the former X-Man Jean Grey in the harsh reality known as the Age of Apocalypse. He was created by Mister Sinister, who had actually been the adoptive father of “Prelate Scott Summers” in this world. Nate managed to escape from Sinister and was found by the renegade mutant Forge, who raised the boy as his own, training him for his eventual battle with Apocalypse. Mister Sinister later tracked down Nate and killed Forge. Incensed, Nathan fought Sinister off and falsely believed he had killed him. Wanting to stop all the death and suffering, Nate decided to seek out Apocalypse in an attempt to kill him, briefly meeting his biological parents along the way. During the final battle between Magneto’s X-Men and Apocalypse’s forces, Nate was accidentally transported to Earth-616. [X-Man #-1 and 1-4, X-Men: Omega # 1]

Upon his arrival on Earth 616, Nate’s need for a mother figure and his omega level mutant abilities resurrected the long-dead Madelyne Pryor. Nate and Madelyne had a ying and yang relationship for months; while one was strong the other would be weak etc. Additionally, their relationship grew much closer and had significant incestual undertones. At some unknown point, Madelyne was replaced and killed by an alternate Jean Grey called the Red Queen, whom Nate eventually managed to defeat. A short time after this, Nate himself seemingly died when he was forced to bond with the Earth itself to stop it from being destroyed. [X-Man #67-70 and 75] A version of Madelyne Pryor later resurfaced calling herself the Red Queen. She appeared to lack a corporeal body and her main scheme involved an attempted possession/resurrection of Jean Grey's dead body. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #501-511] This version of Madelyne Pryor was later corporeally restored in the body of Ana Cortes as part of the Sisterhood, died again, and was resurrected on Krakoa. [X-Men (4th series) #12, Hellions #1-4, 18]

Nate managed to resurrect himself during the Dark X-Men series and later was responsible for the Age of X-Man event in which he created a pocket reality using the energies of the Life Seed trapping many X-Men. Following the conclusion of this event, he appeared to living in a pocket dimension by himself. [Dark X-Men #1-5]

It’s possible that Nate may have had a child with on again off again love interest Threnody. Threnody was a powerful mutant herself with life energy draining abilities. Threnody did have a baby but the father was never revealed. The child, whose gender and name were also never revealed, was born deformed and seemingly ravenous for life energy. Threnody managed to sate the child's hunger for some time but the infant was eventually killed by Deadpool when Threnody attempted to steal the life energy of an unborn fetus, hoping that it's new life energy could cure her baby's affliction. Threnody's opted not to retaliate against Deadpool and left to parts unknown after the baby's death. [Deadpool Assassin #2-6]

Hyperstorm, The Great Dictator

Another visitor with far less altruistic motivations was Hyperstorm. Hyperstorm’s real name was Jonathan Reed Richards and he was the son of an alternate Rachel Summers and Franklin Richards from a reality similar to the “Days of the Future Past.” Using his immense powers, Hyperstorm conquered his planet and all known space within his home reality. Still unsatisfied, Hyperstorm became fixated with the stories about his grandparents in the Fantastic Four and decided to travel back in time to Earth-616’s past and “test” them in their youth. After a number of manipulations, the Fantastic Four came up with a way to defeat Hyperstorm. The four recovered Galactus, who at the time was trapped within a dimensional void. Galactus instantly saw the powerful Hyperstorm as a “food source” and attempted to feed on him. However, Hyperstorm and Galactus fought and both became trapped within the dimensional void. As Galactus has since reappeared, there is a chance Hyperstorm survived this but his fate is currently unknown. [Fantastic Four (1st series) #406]

Mutant X

Although Earth-616 seems to get a lot of traffic when it comes to the Summers family, on occasion members of the 616 Summers have “vacationed” on other worlds too. While attempting to prevent his teammate Greystone from operating a faulty time machine, Havok was sent to Earth-1298 otherwise known as the Mutant-X reality. [X-Factor (1st series) #149 / Mutant X #1] During his time trapped within his counterpart’s body, Havok couldn’t believe how different this world was from his native one, particularly regarding his family.

On this world, Alex led the mutant team the Six with his “wife” Madelyne Pryor. The two also had a son named Scotty. Soon after Alex’s arrival, Madelyne’s persona was usurped by the evil Goblyn Force and Alex and Scotty were forced to fight her and, for a time, Madelyne was lost. After this incident, Alex and Scotty bonded and Scotty started to refer to Alex as his father, even though he knew he wasn’t his “real” parent. Alex’s stay in this world wasn’t too lengthy, however. The Goblyn Force resurfaced shortly after its initial defeat and Alex managed to defeat it, freeing Madelyne and reuniting her with her son. [Mutant X #1-32, Mutant X Annual 2000-2001] After this battle, Havok resurfaced on Earth 616 with no recollection of his time or the relationships he formed on the Mutant X world. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #411-413] It was revealed that Havok's Mutant X counterpart had been trapped in Earth-616's Havok's body. Eventually the “evil” Havok managed to assume control of his counterpart's body but was defeated by the combined efforts of the X-Men and the Exiles and his essence was eventually dissipated by the Time broker.

Emperor Vulcan

Alex’s return wouldn’t be the only reunion Scott would soon enjoy. Due to the events of the Twelve story line, the Askani future was diverged into two. This created a “second” Rachel Summers. The “new” Rachel emerging at a different point in the time-stream, young again with next to no recollection of the Askani timeline. She was soon found by her brother Cable. [Cable (2nd series) #84-86] Rachel wasn’t long back in Earth-616 before another tragedy would befall the Summers family. Her mother, Jean, was killed by a rampaging Magneto-impostor named Xorn. [New X-Men (1st series) #150] [Note: Earlier claims that the Askani timeline were erased have been debunked. This was confirmed in X-Force (5th series) #9 when Rachel Summers was taken to the Askani timeline and while there she met herself or rather Mother Askani. Mother Askani's physical body had died but she remained as an astral entity. She claimed she endured as her people still lived, however it is more likely that her mutant powers to send her consciousness through time allowed her mind to exist without a body.

After the death of her mother, Rachel returned to the X-Men. Rachel’s return to the X-Men couldn’t have come at a better time, as they would soon need her power. A very angry Gabriel Summers was awoken by energies unleashed by M-day. Now rejuvenated to godlike levels by the energies, he attacked the X-Men, blaming them for his “death.” This shocked both Scott and Alex, as neither was aware of him due to Professor X’s meddling. After battling the X-Men, Vulcan decided to fly to Shi’ar space to take his revenge on Emperor D’Ken for all the suffering he had caused him. A team of X-Men decided to pursue him, including Havok and Rachel.

The X-Men met up with the Corsair and the Starjammers and told Corsair of his youngest son. Corsair couldn’t believe that his youngest son had survived and hoped he could reach him. Meanwhile, Vulcan had cut a bloody swath through Shi’ar space before being defeated and imprisoned by the Imperial Guard. Eventually freeing himself, he met Deathbird, who convinced him to use his powers to heal the mind of her brother, D’ken, the man who had murdered Vulcan’s mother. Soon after, D’ken foolishly offered Vulcan his elder sister's hand in marriage and to make him an heir to the Shi’ar throne, which Vulcan accepted. Immediately after his marriage to Deathbird, Vulcan killed D’Ken and assumed the Shi’ar throne. The X-Men and the Starjammers arrived and Corsair attempted to reason with his son, only to be killed by Vulcan himself. As Vulcan began conquering numerous worlds in the name of his new empire, Havok and Rachel decided to remain in Shi’ar space, viewing Vulcan as irredeemable and vowed to kill him. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #479-486, X-Men: Emperor Vulcan #1-4]

Havok and Rachel, along with their allies the Starjammers and Lilandra, continued to plot against Vulcan but to no avail. During a battle between Deathbird and Lilandra, Deathbird was stabbed in the spine, rendering her comatose. [X-Men: Emperor Vulcan, X-Men: Kingbreaker 1-4] Vulcan became even more irrational after his wife’s injury and, in his madness, attacked the Inhumans, who had recently conquered the Kree. The Inhumans proved to be better tacticians than Vulcan and the Shi'ar Empire was soon in ruins. [War of Kings #1-5] At the height of the conflict, Vulcan faced the Inhuman king Blackbolt in one-on-one and both appeared to perish. After Vulcan's apparent death, Havok and Rachel returned to earth. [War of Kings #6] Vulcan's wife Deathbird was later revealed to be pregnant, however no child has ever been seen so it is unclear if she gave birth or miscarried. As we have seen that Shi'ar lay eggs, she may have laid an egg and is waiting for it to hatch. [X-Men (4th series) #18-22, Spider-Man and the X-Men #4-5, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #344]

Cable and the Messiah Baby

Back on Earth, when the first mutant child since M-Day was born, various parties and interests did their best to procure or eliminate the baby girl. Ultimately, the one successful was Cable, who believed her to be the messiah-like child told in the history books from his timeline. Sanctioned by Cyclops to do so, Cable took the girl to the future, in an effort to raise her there until she was old enough to protect herself. Despite being under hot pursuit by the renegade X-Man, Bishop, Cable managed to find some respite in a future reality dubbed “New Liberty.” In this reality, Cable met a human woman named Hope and married her. When the little girl, still unnamed, was about four or five years old, the settlement was attacked and Cable and his family fled. Though they eventually found another settlement, they were met with hostility and, during the ensuing fight, Hope was killed. As Hope had had such an impact on both their lives, Cable finally named the little girl, choosing “Hope” in her adoptive mother’s honor. [Cable (2nd series) #1-10]

Cable and Hope spent years on the run, jumping through time, all the while bonding and becoming a true father and daughter. When Hope finally grew old enough, the two returned to the present day in Cable (2nd series) #24. Upon their arrival, Hope and Cable were targeted by Bastion’s forces. Having prepared for their return, Bastion created a time portal and dispatched Nimrods from a future to kill Hope and wipe out the mutant race. In an attempt to save Hope, Cable journeyed yet again to the future along with X-Force. The team were successful in preventing further Nimrods from venturing into the past but, in order to travel back to the present day, Cable was forced to sacrifice himself to save X-Force. [X-Force (3rd series) #28] Hope was grief stricken at the loss of the only family she'd ever known and decided to seek out her biological family in Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age, eventually discovering that her mother was a firefighter named Louise Spalding. Louise had died in the initial conflict to to claim Hope. Hope did meet her grandmother at Louise's grand site but decided to keep her identity a secret. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #526] Cable eventually returned only to be inexplicably killed by his younger self, who had deemed him a failure for his refusal to force the time displaced original X-Men back to their own time period which had resulted in the creation of an apocalyptic timeline. After succeeding in his mission, “Kid Cable” remained in the present and was accepted into his counterpart's place in the family. Shortly after his arrival, “Kid Cable” also resurrected his late father Cyclops, who had recently been killed by the release of the Terrigen Mists. [Extermination #1-5, Death of X #1-4] Kid Cable would later arrange the resurrection of his older self on Krakoa, then return to his future in order to close the temporal loop of his own existence in the present. [Cable (4th series #10-12]

Major X

Despite his death in present day, the older version of Cable endured in the reality of Major X. Major X came from seemingly an alternate future that was contained within a pocket dimension called the X-Istence. The world was created as a safe haven by a being called the X-Ential in the aftermath of the “mutant wars” and was inhabited by mutants and Atlanteans. On this world, Cable had a son with Storm and named him after Cable's uncle Alexander. According to Major X, Storm died when he was quite young. He may have had siblings as he later mentioned brothers and sisters but from the context he may have meant “brothers in arms.” Alexander was part of the security force of this society. When the X-Ential was kidnapped by a rogue Atlanteans faction and taken to the past destabilizing their world, Alexander pursued them back to the past in the hopes of saving his present. While the mission was successful and the X-Ential was saved, Major X remained opted to remain in the past. Major X seemed to follow in his mother's footsteps and had the ability to absorb and generate lightning. [Major X #1-6]

Krakoan Era

In one of the most surprising turn of events for the Grey-Summers family, most of the principal family members are currently alive with Scott, Jean and Corsair, all resurrected from their most recent respective deaths and Gabriel revealed to have never died in the first place. [Extermination #5, Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey #1-5, Cyclops (3rd series) #3, X-Men (5th series) #1-4]

The whole family now lives on the Moon together, alongside brother Alex and “children” Rachel and Nathan. Jean and Scott's teammate Wolverine also lives with the family with the three having adjoining rooms implying they may be practicing some form of polyamory. For the first time in years, the family appears to be operating, as well, a family going on missions and apparently vacations together. Despite this seeming good turn of events, obvious problems are on the horizon. Gabriel appears to be in some sort of induced amnesiac state and it is only a matter of time before he becomes unstable again. Likewise, Alex is currently very unwell.

During a brief stint in the Avengers, he began a relationship with Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp. In a now defunct alternate reality dubbed Planet X, the two lived as husband and wife and had a daughter named Katie. This reality was created due to the Apocalypse's twins manipulating events to destroy the planet and rob the opportunity to conquer it from their “father” Kang. Just before the Earth had been destroyed, they had kidnapped all of the mutants by transporting them to their spaceship (Janet had stowed away) and brought them to a new world hidden from Kang. Eventually, Kang did find this reality and kidnapped Katie to force Havok and Wasp to ally him with him, promising to return Katie to them once they had reset reality. Projecting their consciousnesses back in time, they were able to defeat the Apocalypse Twins prior to the destruction of the Earth. Kang unsurprisingly rescinded his offer and in the aftermath Havok and Janet lost their daughter. [Uncanny Avengers (1st series) #18-21] Already somewhat unstable following this trauma, Alex's mental health was further damaged during the Axis event. During a spell gone awry, Havok was one of a number of heroes and villains who had their moralities inverted. While the effects of the spell waned over time, it ended his relationship with Janet and he has been erratic ever since. [Avengers & X-Men: Axis #1-9] Due to his new violent tendencies, Havok was placed on Mr. Sinister's Hellions squad and was further traumatized during that team's disasterously short reign. [Hellions #1-18]

Regardless of any current troubles or what trials await them in several futures, the Grey-Summers with their ability to cheat death and increase their numbers exponentially can only go from strength to strength.