Madelyne Pryor

The origin of Madelyne Pryor is tied to that of the heroine Jean Grey, originally known as Marvel Girl and later as Phoenix. Pryor was a clone of Jean Grey created by Nathaniel Essex, a master geneticist and the villain known as Mr. Sinister. Pryor was part of a larger scheme by Sinister to bring low Charles Xavier's students, the X-Men. Pryor first came to light as a pilot in Alaska. There she met, Scott Summers who was taken by Pryor's resemblence to his former teamate and girlfriend Jean Grey. Researching Pryor's past, Summers discovered that she had no past before her being discovered after a fiery plane crash, which occurred on the same night that the Phoenix entity committed suicide in the form of Jean Grey on the Moon. Despite his misgivings about Pryor's mysterious past, Summers fell in love with Pryor and married her.

The two lived in relative tranquility in Alaska for a while, even starting a family with the birth of their son Christopher Nathan. Then, Summers received a phone call from his former teammate Warren Worthington informing him that Jean Grey had been found alive. Summers left Alaska and reunited with Grey and became a member of the newly formed X-Factor. Pryor waited for Summers and upon learning of his choice to stay with Grey, disappeared taking their son with her.

Pryor next appeared in San Francisco. Her son had been kidnapped by Mr. Sinister and his agents, the Marauders, were attempting to kill her. She sought help from the X-Men and after being rescued, began to travel with them. When the team sacrificed their lives to end the threat of the Advesary, Pryor agreed to do so as well. Summers saw the tape of her apparent death and believed that she was dead. Summers and Grey were able to rescue his son from Sinister and Grey began to raise him as her own.

Meanwhile, the X-Men were resurrected by the extra-dimensional goddess Roma and Pryor along with them. While the X-Men were based out of an abandoned town in the Australian outback, Pryor began a relationship with Alex Summers, the brother of her husband. During this time, Pryor discovered that her son was alive and being raised by Grey as her son. Angered by this turn of events and by being spurned by Summers, Pryor was the perfect foil for the extra-dimensional demon N'astirh who used her anger to transform her into the Goblin Queen. As the Goblin Queen, Pryor possessed telekinetic and telepathic powers, as well as the ability to control hoards of demons. N'astirh used Pryor to aid him in corrupting the X-Men and loosing a great hoard of demons from Limbo onto Manhattan island. Pryor captured her son and threatened to kill him, to hurt Summers and to break her ties with humanity. The child was saved and Pryor took her own life in a battle with Jean Grey.

Though seemingly the end of Pryor, no part of X-Men mythos, especially those surrounding Jean Grey are that simple. Pryor was returned to life when Nate Grey, a hero known as X-Man, found his way to our world from an alternate timeline. Grey had a relationship with the Madelyne Pryor of his timeline and upon arriving here, sought her. His incredible power discovered the last remenants of Pryor and reconstructed her. The two were briefly reunited, but soon Pryor disappeared with the evil mutant Selene. The two worked with the Hellfire Club for a time and Pryor, having regained her powers, became the Black Queen of the club. Pryor left the Hellfire Club and returned to Nate Grey, but when he found out about her evil nature and gaining knowledge of Jean Grey, he rejected her. Angered that she was again rejected due to Jean Grey, Pryor attacked Nate Grey and Jean Grey. The two heroes were able to defeat her but she later returned, trying to get her son, who was now the hero Cable, to join her. Again, Jean Grey intervened and she and Cable were able to turn back her attempts.