Inferno brings Jean face to face with Madelyne, and the resemblance between them becomes a much uglier story than an uncomfortable coincidence. Madelyne is revealed as a clone c…

Inferno brings Jean face to face with Madelyne, and the resemblance between them becomes a much uglier story than an uncomfortable coincidence. Madelyne is revealed as a clone created by Mister Sinister, with her life tied into his plans for Scott and their child. That revelation doesn’t remove Madelyne’s experiences. She has a marriage, a son, friendships and anger over what has happened to her. Jean is confronted by someone who looks like her and whose suffering has become entangled with her own return. Neither woman chose Sinister’s part in any of it. The psychic conflict leaves Jean carrying memories associated with both Madelyne and Phoenix. That is a lot more complicated than being told what they did. The question becomes how to live with those experiences without losing her own sense of herself in them. Nathan makes the aftermath even more personal. He is Madelyne’s child, and Jean’s involvement in his life can’t be explained just by saying she looks like his mother. The adults have made a terrible mess around him, and he still needs care and protection. This is the part of Jean’s story I want to keep in view alongside the Phoenix imagery. She has her own decisions to make after everybody else has decided what she represents. She’s a founding X-Man, a friend to the other four, and a person trying to continue living after discovering how much of her life other people have rearranged.