X3 Flashback: When Jean was a young girl she began to move objects with her mind (and may have displayed some schizophrenic tendencies). Her parents thought she was sick, but agreed to meet with Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr from the School for Gifted Youngesters. Xavier stopped Jean from probing his mind, and Erik told her that they were mutants too, just like her. In defiance of that assertion, Jean raised at least 6 cars on the block plus a lawnmower about 10 feet into the air, before she tired and let them drop. She was accepted into Xavier's student body and began to work with Xavier on her control. Unfortunately, Xavier found that Jean was the first "Class 5" mutant, with nearly limitless potential, and the power was too much for her, resulting in the development of a purely emotional persona she called the Phoenix. To forestall a mental breakdown and the unleashing of an uncontrollable power, Xavier placed mental blocks in Jean's mind limiting her abilities. Whether Jean knew about the Phoenix was unknown even to Xavier. Eventually Jean earned her doctorate, presumably in medicine. She also fell in love with and got engaged to Cyclops, another student and became an operative of Xavier's colloquially referred to as an X-Man.
X1: When Senator Kelly proposed the Mutant Registration Act, Jean gave a presentation on mutation to the Congressional hearings regarding mutants. Wolverine's arrival caused some friction due to their mutual attraction, although she ultimately rejected his advances. Jean also functioned as the medical staff, and in that role she examined Wolverine and reported on his healing factor and adamantium bones. Though clearly a telepath, at this point Jean's powers were still developing, and she was not allowed to use Cerebro. However, when Professor X was injured due to Mystique's sabotage of the mutant-detecting device, Jean took it upon herself to fix the unit and use Cerebro herself. She managed to locate Magneto and Rogue, but nearly fried her brain. She did recover enough to go to Liberty Island to help the X-Men stop Magneto. During the battle, Jean was attacked by Toad, whom she stopped in mid-leap. However, Toad spit a glob of sticky goo at Jean, covering her face and mouth. Cyclops found her and carefully blasted the goo away. When they finally got to the Statue of Liberty's torch where Magneto's mutation machine was, all the X-Men were trapped by Magneto. However, when Wolverine freed himself and got Cyclops's visor back, Jean telekinetically held it up so Scott could blast Sabretooth. Afterwards, she combined her powers with Storm's to throw Wolverine onto the mutation machine, allowing him to destroy it.
X2: Jean's powers began flaring three months after the Liberty Island incident, mainfesting in increased range, flaming eyes and nightmares. She used these increased powers to float Nightcrawler in mid-air, and then to disable a speeding missile that had been fired at the X-Jet, though she could not stop its partner, and Magneto had to save the crashing craft. While repairing the jet, Jean also probed Nightcrawler's mind to discover the location of Stryker's base. She also turned Wolverine down after he kissed her. Later, after infiltrating Stryker's base, Jean fought off a full-force beam from Cyclops, and again her power flared, unfortunately, damaging the dam under which the base was built. When the Alkali Lake dam eventually burst, Jean saved the X-Men from the floodwaters using her vastly improved powers to repair and launch the X-Jet. She apparently perished at Alkali Lake saving the X-Jet when the waters overran her. However, a strange energy appeared in the lake shortly thereafter...
X3: Jean somehow survived, and began to telepathically contact Scott, leading him to drive up to the lake. As her calls grew louder, he blasted into the water and screamed, whereupon the lake churned and Jean shot out of the water, landing near her lover. She removed his glasses and had complete mental control of his powers, allowing her to see his eyes. She began to kiss him, and it seems that a flare of her power may have killed him. Scott's mental outcry was felt by Xavier, Wolverine and Storm, and Xavier sent the latter two to Alkali Lake, where they found a huge fog and random leaves, sticks and rocks floating around. Wolverine found Cyclops's glasses, and Storm found Jean, somehow still alive. The pair returned Jean to the Mansion.
Professor X began to work with Jean's mind, trying to re-establish the mental blocks and revealing to Logan the details of the Phoenix and what he had done to prevent it. Logan was less than satisfied by Xavier's actions and went to see Jean in the infirmary. She awoke and seemed normal, then started to come onto Logan, kissing him passionately and causing him to do so in return. However, Logan pulled away and showed her Scott's glasses, and Jean broke down, flipping between her self and the Phoenix persona. Jean asked Logan to kill her, but he hesitated and the Phoenix took over, slamming him into the wall and blowing off the doors before she escaped.
Jean was later found at her childhood home by Xavier (with Storm and Wolverine) and Magneto (accompanied by his new brotherhood). After being spoken to by Charles and Magneto, Jean was convinced that Xavier was trying to suppress her abilities. In an apparent flare of the Phoenix side of her personality, Jean raised the whole house from the ground and proceeded to vaporise Xavier (possibly using her telekinesis to pull apart every molecule in his body). She left with Magneto. Jean's mind may have tried to reassert control, and she contacted Logan, causing him to track her down in the Brotherhood's forest camp. However, Wolverine was stopped by Magneto before he could talk to Jean.
Later, during the attack on Alcatraz, Jean was not used in the battle until the very end. After Magneto was “cured” the army ground troops came up behind her and fired tens of darts, but she blocked them with a telekinetic shield. At this point she started to vaporise people in an apparent loss of control, including people in the Brotherhood. She began to levitate large parts of Alcatraz and the surrounding bay, and Wolverine ordered everyone off the island while he approached her. As Jean blasted pieces of his body away (which quickly regenerated), Logan advanced. When Phoenix asked him why he would sacrifice his life for his friends he replied “Because I love you,” which snapped Jean’s conscience back into control and Wolverine then stabbed her in the gut, killing her out of mercy.
Notes: In the comic of the first movie, and in a deleted scene, Jean used her telekinetic abilities to snatch documents away from Senator Kelly during his anti-mutant rant after her presentation. In the comic of X-Men 2, Jean didn't die at Alkali Lake..
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