Synopsis & Review by Cihndar:
Synopsis: The heroes plead with the Goblin Queen to release the child. Scott offers his own life to her, but she wants them all dead. Just as she summoned demons from Dr. and Mrs. Grey, Madelyne pulls them from the building. The heroes bump into each other as the battle begins and they begin to fight amongst the teams again. Storm call the X-Factor mutant hunters. She fights Scott and he tries to explain that Hodge twisted the media coverage, but that was months ago. Madelyne recounts of how Storm and Cyclops fought back in Uncanny 201. Subconsciously her powers intervened in that fight so Scott would be humiliated and not rejoin the X-Men. Cyclops finally gets Storm to listen and she realizes that Madelyne controlled the X-Men's knowledge of the outside world. Cyclops tries to blast Madelyne, but Dr. Grey blocks the blast.

Madelyne tempts Dazzler and Longshot and they take down Warren. The Goblin Queen seduces Warren, twisting him into her Dark Angel. As Cyclops blasts Madelyne, he admits that most of what she says about him is true.

Havok blasts Scott off his feet, Storm blows Longshot and Dazzler, and Warren regains enough control over himself to strike the rope that is holding Jean. The team members fight as do Alex and Scott. As Scott carry Alex away from falling rubble Havok strikes him in the head. Goblin Queen grabs Nathan as Jean rises to her feet. A barrier goes up around them and their battle of will begins. As they fight, Madelyne tells Jean about Sinister and what happened to her.

The X-Men try to take down the barrier. While Scott and Alex fight, Warren's wings nail Havok with darts. Havok falls, and Warren flies and catches Havok. As Jean and Madelyne fight we find out that the Phoenix is inside Madelyne and that is how she remembers parts of Jean's past. It seems after its death on the moon, the Phoenix returned to the hibernating Jean. She rejected it, so it went into her exact genetic copy.

The team needs to work together to destroy the field. Havok is still angry with Scott, but Wolverine talks with him. Logan says that Madelyne's not herself anymore and needs to be stopped.

Madelyne tells Jean of all Sinister did to bring her and Scott together. Jean tells Madelyne that Scott left her to find Madelyne, but by then the world believed the X-Men dead. Madelyne tells Jean of how Sinister hired her for a cargo job in order to lure her and Nathan into a trap. She survived using her new powers and then turned to the X-Men.

Psylocke calls to Longshot because the team needs his luck. Longshot says he can't, he knows his soul has been corrupted. She convinces Longshot by asking him to do it for the innocent baby. He throws a knife and the teams blast where the blade hit.

Madelyne senses that both teams are against her. She feels that people always want to take what's hers. Jean says that a part of her has always been in Madelyne, and offers to help her adjust to her new life. The Goblin Queen, however, won't listen. The field bursts and the X-Men charge. The Goblin Queen throws up Nathan and blasts. Scott dives to catch his son. The Goblin Queen is furious and tries one last, desperate attempt to kill them all. The teams work together to fend off her onslaught. Madelyne begins to die and grabs Jean telepathically in order to drag her down too. The Phoenix pulls free from the Goblin Queen and returns to Jean the part taken from her. To survive Jean merges with the Phoenix.

The demons vanish and all returns to normal. As Scott holds his child, blames himself for Madelyne's death. He admits he only married her because she was so much like Jean, but as time went on he began to see that the essence of Jean was never there. Jean says it wasn't Scott's fault and that Sinister built Madelyne's life upon lies.

Jean reunites with her parents who remember everything that happened. Longshot and Alex both want to be left alone. Warren ponders the darkness in his life, but Beast says he's not a Dark Angel, he's an Archangel. Dazzler notes that even though the city has turned back to the way it was, the X-Men haven't. Havok is still angry with Scott for all that happened. Jean states that their enemy is Sinister.

Review: Okay, by now I'm tired of them fighting. It would have been better if they cut all the bickering. Still, Storm realizing that Madelyne controlled all their information was good. I was also glad to hear that Madelyne telepathically intervened with the fight between Cyclops and Storm in Uncanny 201. It always bothered me that someone as resourceful as Cyclops couldn't manage to beat Storm when she had no powers.

Okay, I obviously did not reread this one before I wrote my review for Uncanny 241. It was the Phoenix that gave Madelyne Jean's memories, not the cloning as Sinister speculated. Of course pretty common knowledge that the Goblin Queen had the Phoenix, still it was first revealed in this issue (though it was hinted before that), so it gets points for that. And while we're on the subject of novelties: the first usage of Warren's new code name, Archangel.

All and all, the wounds of Inferno are not easily healed. Longshot is insecure because of his corruption, there is distance between Alex and Scott, and Scott has to cope with the guilt of all that happened. I don't really know what happens after Inferno, so I don't know if the X-Men deal with their personal darkness. Since their costumes didn't revert back at the end of this issue, I assume the evil is still there, deep down.