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Quote1 I'm not my mother. I'm not Phoenix. I'm my own woman... and before I'm done... they'll wish I were the Phoenix. Quote2
Marvel Girl[src]

Rachel Summers is the daughter of the mutant heroes Cyclops and Jean Grey from a dystopic alternative future.[4] Having inherited her mother's psychic ability, she has high-level telepathic and telekinetic abilities.[16] Thanks to the power of the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix, Rachel was brought to the past, where she has been granted a second chance in life alongside the X-Men.[17] Despite initially having problems to adapt to a different version of the world she knew, Rachel was eventually integrated into the X-Men, who she regarded as family.[18]

Sharing an intimate connection with the Phoenix,[4] Rachel became a powerful player in the mutant crises dealt by the X-Men.[19] She was also a crucial influence in the creation of the mutant team called Excalibur.[11] After having many adventures in her past,[20] Rachel was thrown into another version of the future. In this world ruled by Apocalypse, Rachel became Mother Askani and founded a rebellious group to resist the tyrant and guide the destined messiah to end his rule, her own brother Cable.[21] With this timeline being erased, Rachel resurfaced in the present[22] and went on to honor Jean Grey's legacy in the X-Men by adopting her identity as Marvel Girl.[10] However, even in the relatively peaceful past, Rachel was a victim of a horrible tragedy when the Shi'ar Empire ordered the execution all members of her mother's family.[23]

For years, Rachel acted as a valuable member of the X-Men.[24][25][26][27][28] In the mutant-exclusive nation of Krakoa, Rachel enjoyed a life where she lived in harmony with the members of her family.[29] She was also part of an initiative to reform the investigative agency known as X-Factor.[30] At some point, as Askani once again, she became involved with the affairs of her long-time ally Captain Britain, and they engaged in a relationship[31] as they ventured through realities to protect the Multiverse.[32]

History

Days of Future Past[]

Rachel Anne Summers is the mutant daughter of Scott Summers and Phoenix (Jean Grey-Summers) in Earth-811, the "Days of Future Past". According to Rachel, Jean Grey from her reality mirrored the modern era Jean Grey, but when this Jean was captured by Sentinels and piloted a spacecraft back to Earth, the Phoenix Force bonded with her, instead of placing her in a cocoon and replacing her. Another notable difference was when Jean/Phoenix returned to the home of her parents and, driven by Dark Phoenix's rage, demonstrated her powers in front of them, her father realized that, as a telepath, Jean could feel the subconscious fear that her parents and sister felt in her presence and, realizing that this was causing her pain that she could not block out, chose not to cast her out, as she did in the modern era. As a result, Phoenix did not commit suicide after the Shi'ar duel of honor (as she had in the modern era). Instead, Jean married Scott and had a single child, whom they named Rachel Anne Summers.[4]

Being born from the Phoenix Force merging with Jean, Rachel inherited both her mother's potential for telepathic and telekinetic powers and the ability to tap into the limitless power of the Phoenix Force. Raised at Professor Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Rachel met and befriended fellow mutant Franklin Richards, the son of Fantastic Four members, Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman. When her powers manifested, Rachel joined the New Mutants, a younger generation of X-Men brought together to carry-on Professor Xavier's dream of a peaceful co-existence between humans and mutants.[33]

In the mainstream reality, the X-Men prevented the assassination of anti-mutant Senator Robert Kelly; however, in Rachel's timeline, Senator Kelly was killed. The assassination caused intense widespread public paranoia against mutants, and, in the next presidential election, an anti-mutant candidate won. Around this time, Rachel's mother was killed in a nuclear explosion in Pittsburg reportedly caused by the X-Men's old enemy, Mastermind. The anti-mutant outrage led to a genetic purity act, rendering the X-Men fugitives. The Mutant Registration Act further resulted in a dystopian future as the mutant hunting Sentinel robots, unleashed by the anti-mutant president's administration to contain and eliminate mutantkind, decided that the best way to do so was to take over the United States. Over the subsequent years, they killed or imprisoned virtually all known superhuman beings within North America, including Rachel's father.[34]

Hound[]

One day, while Rachel was still a child, the X-Men's base of operations, at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, was attacked and demolished by federal troops. One of the only survivors at the school was Rachel, whom the soldiers found by the side of Prof. Xavier's body. The soldiers used drugs to neutralize Rachel's developing psionic powers, before she was tortured and brainwashed in the laboratory of the sadistic Ahab. Following extensive behavior modification, Rachel became a mutant "hound", using her psionic powers to hunt down other mutants for the authorities. Rachel's superiors branded her face with a grotesque, irremovable pattern of tattoos to mark her as a Hound and forced her to wear a leash. Rachel occasionally killed mutants herself and it is known that some of those were people she loved. Rachel's grief and shame at what she was forced to do as a hound and her anguish over the deaths of her parents and friends deeply scarred her soul, leaving her bitter and intolerant toward humans who persecute mutants. During one sadistic torture session imposed on her by Ahab, the pain helped Rachel break her brainwashing, letting her rebel and attack, Ahab, permanently scarring his face.[35]

South Bronx Mutant Internment Center[]

No longer of use as a hound, Rachel was placed in the South Bronx Mutant Containment Facility, where she rejoined the surviving members of the X-Men in a plan to end the Sentinels' reign by changing history. There, Rachel befriended Wolverine, Magneto, Katherine "Kate" Pryde, and the adult Franklin, who later became her lover. Within the camp, Rachel and Franklin found a way to break their power-neutralizing collars.[34]

Changing the Past[]

Rachel used her psionic powers to exchange the consciousness and spirit of the adult X-Man Kate with that of Pryde's teenage self, as she existed at a time just before the attempt on Kelly's life. It was hoped that the adult Kate, in her younger self's body at that earlier time, could warn the X-Men about the assassination attempt, so they could stop it, thereby preventing the chain of events from occurring that led to the Sentinels' rule. However, history could not be changed in this manner and Rachel, as it turned out, actually caused Kate to exchange psyches not with her younger self in the past of her own reality, but in the mainstream reality. While Kate was sent back to take over the body of her teenaged self, the other X-Men escaped the camp, taking Kate's unconscious body with them. Kate succeeded in preventing Kelly's assassination in the mainstream reality, after which the Prydes' psyches returned to their proper times and realities. On her return, Kate found that other X-Men, except for Rachel, had all died in an attack on the Sentinels' Manhattan headquarters.[36]

Phoenix Force[]

Investigating why their efforts did not succeed in changing her reality, Rachel sent her astral self into that past as well, also arriving in the mainstream reality, subsequently learning Kate had crossed timestreams. While floating above New York City, in preparation for her return, Rachel's meditative astral form was found by the Phoenix Force, a powerful cosmic force that had been linked to Jean of the mainstream reality. Fascinated by Rachel, the alternate reality child of Grey and the Force itself, the Force read her mind and was impressed that Rachel had not given into despair after all she had experienced. Sending a portion of itself in the future of Rachel's reality with Rachel, the Force met Kate, after Rachel passed-out from the strain of the time travel.[35]

Kate bargained with the Force to save Rachel from the Sentinels' rule and to keep her from remembering the horrors she had experienced. The Force agreed to boost Rachel's powers, so she could physically travel back in time, not just psychically. Kate still did not give up her vain hope of altering her reality's history. Kate hypnotized Rachel into using her psionic powers to tap into the Phoenix Force and send herself back in time when Kate said the words "Dark Phoenix". Thus, Kate hoped that Rachel herself could change history. The next day, Rachel and Kate illegally entered the laboratory of Project Nimrod, which was the attempt to construct the most highly advanced Sentinel possible with the technology of that time, in the hopes of sabotaging the project. Kate planted a nuclear device, hoping to fool the regime into thinking Rachel had died, but the Nimrod prototype attacked Kate moments before the bomb detonated. Kate survived, due to phasing, but she suffered terminal radiation poisoning. Pursued by guards, Rachel and Kate locked themselves within the laboratory, whose walls were proofed against Kate's mutant power to phase through solid matter. Rachel believed herself and Kate to be trapped, but Kate said the words that caused Rachel to project herself back through time. Project Nimrod's creation, the Sentinel Nimrod, then fired on Kate and traveled back in time to find Rachel.[4][35] According to the Force in the future Rachel came from Jean never became the Phoenix and died when Mastermind detonated a nuclear device in Pittsburg and it was this event, not the assassination of Senator Kelly, that resulted in the future Rachel was born in, though why Kate said Xavier was assassinated in Washington the same day Kelly was by the Brotherhood of Mutants rather then years later at his mansion at the hands of US troops was never explained.[35]

Rachel in the Present[]

Rachel found herself physically transported, body and mind, to a time shortly before the present, but, like Kate's spirit, Rachel had traveled not to the past of her reality, but to the past of the mainstream reality. Rachel went to Prof. Xavier's mansion, but could not bring herself to stay, on realizing that she had come back to the wrong reality, and fled without identifying herself. Pursued by the psychic vampire Selene, Rachel stumbled into a nearby nightclub, where she was in the process of being thrown out by the bouncer, when the club's owner, Nicholas "Nick" Damiano intervened. Seeing her distress, Nick took Rachel back to his apartment and generously offered his assistance to her. Shortly after, while taking a bubble bath in his bathroom, Rachel sensed something was amiss when she was suddenly unable to sense his thoughts. She found him in his dining room, where he had made dinner for the two of them and was horrified to find him dead--his life-force drained from him by Selene. Rachel fought the psychic vampire, but was ultimately rescued by the timely arrival of the X-Men. After Prof. Xavier read her mind, Rachel was invited to the school. In the School for Gifted Youngsters, Rachel was tutored by Professor X and trained in the use of her powers in the Danger Room.[37]

X-Men[]

Later while out with Amara Aquilla, Rachel sensed Selene and the pair decided to attack her and were defeated, then rescued by the X-Men. Later, Rachel overheard Nightcrawler state that Jean had also died in that reality. Rachel next battled Kulan Gath with the Avengers and X-Men and after most of the heroes perished, Magik and Dr. Strange traveled back in time to before it happened, erasing the event. Rachel tagged along as the X-Men next battled Thunderbird, brother to the original Thunderbird who blamed Prof. Xavier for his death, and the Hellions to rescue Banshee. To rescue Banshee, the X-Men had to infiltrate the NORAD, North American Aerospace Defense Command, and were officially outlawed. Rachel was with the X-Men later, when they were caught on camera battling the Juggernaut and Nimrod. After siding with the Juggernaut, it appeared to the public that the X-Men were aiding a felon. Rachel then went on to rescue the Power Pack from the Morlocks and battled the Beyonder.[38]

Rachel later battled the Gladiators to rescue the New Mutants, Sunspot and Magma, from their old teammate, Karma. While fighting the Gladiators, the Beyonder brought out Magik's dark half, the Darkchylde. Illyana Rasputin teleported her friends to Limbo and attacked them, until Kitty Pryde used Illyana's Soulsword on her and returned her to her natural form.[39]

Rachel Summers (Earth-811) and Phoenix Force (Earth-616) from Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 199 0001

Rachel claims her "birthright"

Phoenix[]

Rachel was still shocked to learn of the supposed "death" of Jean in this reality and visited the home of Grey's parents while they were absent, where she found a holo-empathic crystal that was imbued with an imprint of Grey's personality. Unaware that Jean had not actually been Phoenix, Rachel refused to believe that Jean could be evil, as people claimed Phoenix was, and she decided to claim the name and power of Phoenix as her own birthright. Through her own actions, Rachel sought to redeem the name Phoenix in this reality. Rachel also believed that as the new Phoenix, she could use her power to help her fellow mutants and, thereby, atone for what she had done as a hound in her own reality. Sensing this, the Force awoke within Rachel, allowing access to its power. It was at this moment, while holding the crystal, that Rachel first manifested about her the bird-shaped aura of energy associated with the previous Phoenix. From that time on, Rachel was able to draw to a limited extent upon the vast power of the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force. The alien being known as the Beyonder once hinted that Rachel could potentially become equal in power to the previous Phoenix. Now calling herself Phoenix, Rachel joined the X-Men.[4]

After sensing Scott Summers (Cyclops) of the mainstream reality was in danger, Rachel met him and did not tell him of her true origins, while stopping a scheme of Loki's.[40][4] Later, Magneto joined the X-Men, per Prof. Xavier's request, and he, completely out of character, stopped Rachel from killing a human that shot at her, stating that she would only prove them right that mutants are murderers.[41] At this time, the Beyonder brought a young mutant, named Boom-Boom, to the mansion and the X-Men and New Mutants instinctively attacked them.[42] After showing her new uniform of the Phoenix to her teammates, upsetting Cyclops, the X-Men later traveled to Asgard to rescue Storm and the New Mutants from one of Loki's schemes and battled Fenris. After defeating Fenris, Rachel met her alternate reality, infant, half-brother, Nathan Christopher Charles Summers, and created a psi-bond with him, promising to protect him and always be there for him.[18] Rachel later took it upon herself to rid the universe of the threat of the Beyonder. After approaching him, he granted Rachel the full power that the previous Phoenix had possessed and gave her the choice to kill him or save the X-Men, after he had put them all in life-or-death situations. After saving them all, Rachel explained that knowledge and maturity must be won and deserved and left to rebuild San Francisco. Later, Rachel decided to simply destroy the entire universe and have it all start over without the Beyonder, by stealing the life force of the X-Men and Starjammers, but Storm's soul convinced her otherwise, after hearing the thoughts of every living being in existence, and Rachel returned the X-Men and Starjammers to life and the Beyonder reclaimed the power shortly thereafter. While staying with Jessica Drew, the X-Men were beaten by Freedom Force and about to be taken in, until the intervention of Officer Bree Morrell, so the X-Men returned to New York.[43][44]

Returning home, Rachel attempted to telekinetically heal her teammate, Wolverine, and opened her mind to his. However, because she no longer possessed the enhanced power the Beyonder had given her, she inadvertently worsened his condition. This, along with a great deal of hostility and animosity from the other X-Men for taking their life-forces without their consent caused Rachel to flee the Morlock tunnels in anguish. Soon after, Rachel found herself in front of the ruins of Nick Damiano's apartment, but she had found herself unable to remember his name. Frustrated by this and enraged with Selene, she decided to kill for her attack when she first arrived in the mainstream timeline and for murdering Nick. Rachel sought out Friedrich von Roehm, Selene's aide-de-camp, and used her telepathy to force him to help her gain entrance to the Hellfire Club mansion, where she assaulted and quickly overpowered Selene. Wolverine, mentally sensing Rachel's intentions, tracked her to the mansion and stabbed her in the chest to prevent her from vengefully murdering Selene. Nearing death and fleeing to heal herself, Rachel was pursued by the X-Men, the Hellfire Club, and Nimrod. While the others battled each other, Rachel was fooled by the six-armed sorceress Spiral and taken to the alternate dimension of Mojoverse, where she was held prisoner for several months.[45]

Excalibur[]

After being enslaved as a hit television show by Mojo, Rachel eventually escaped to London, where she was tracked by Warwolves. Rachel was captured by Gatecrasher and the Technet, who were hired by Saturnyne to eliminate Rachel as a threat to the entire universe. The combined efforts of Rachel, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, Meggan Puceanu, and Captain Britain resulted in their escape and the defeat of the Technet and the Warwolves. After learning that the X-Men had all died, Rachel suggested that the group stay together to continue Professor Xavier and King Arthur's dreams of equality and together they formed the British super-team Excalibur.[11]

After rescuing hostages in a nightclub, Rachel was introduced to Nigel Frobisher, who unsuccessfully attempted to ask her out. Rachel met Nigel again and, after she read his mind and realized his sleazy intentions, telekinetically pushed him away. Later, Rachel attempted to rescue Shadowcat, who was posing as Rachel, from her plan to find the remaining Warwolves, but Kitty was captured.[46] After saving people from a subway train, Rachel felt Shadowcat being skinned by the Warwolves and held her consciousness together, while tracking her to the Warwolves' hide-out. Excalibur rescued Shadowcat, who's intangibility saved her life, and placed the Warwolves on display at the zoo.[47]

The team moved into their new headquarters, Captain Britain's Braddock Lighthouse.[48] Following a trail of counterfeit money, Excalibur traveled to Murderworld and battled the Crazy Gang, to rescue Captain Britain's ex girlfriend, Courtney Ross. While battling the Crazy Gang, Rachel felt her baby brother cry-out for help, due to the Inferno and the demon, N'astirh's attempt to sacrifice him, and Excalibur's bodies were switched with members of the Crazy Gang, except Rachel who, somehow, merged with Executioner. After Kitty entered a virus into the Murderworld computers and sent Arcade into Murderworld, Kitty phased into Rachel, allowing Rachel's telepathy to reassert her control.[49]

Rachel Summers (Earth-811) and Phoenix Force (Earth-616) from Excalibur Vol 1 6 0001

Rachel sensing her brother in trouble

Sensing another distress call from her brother, due to his mother's attempt to sacrifice him, Rachel left for the Empire State Building. Upon arriving, Rachel confronted the Goblin Queen, whom she mistook for her mother. Rachel was changed by the magic of the demonic invasion, becoming a mannequin.[50] The demon Crotus, servant to N'astirh, sensed the Phoenix Force within her, and hoped to marry Rachel, in order to bind the power of the Phoenix Force to his will, but the ceremony was prevented by Nightcrawler, and Rachel returned herself to normal. Shadowcat had acquired Illyana's Soulsword and eldritch armor, and Kitty battled Meggan, now calling herself the Goblin Princess, until the Goblin Princess returned her to normal.[51]

After the demonic invasion, Rachel went to visit her brother on X-Factor's Celestial Ship, where she learned that Jean was still alive. Not wanting to alert Jean to her presence, Rachel sat on a cloud and entertained baby Nathan, then flew off before Jean could notice her.[52] After briefly returning to the School for Gifted Youngsters, Excalibur returned home to rescue W.H.O. from the Lightning Force, alternate reality Nazi versions of themselves, then negotiated the return of Dr. Moira Mactaggert. During the battle, Rachel was shocked to see there was no alternate reality version of herself in the Lightning Force.[53] Upon returning to the Lighthouse, Rachel and Kitty found that the Soulsword had appeared, embedded in bedrock. Despite using the full extent of power permitted by the Phoenix Force, Rachel was unable to remove the sword, which she surmised only Kitty could remove. At this time, a competition grew between Rachel and Kitty over the affections of W.H.O. member Alistaire Stuart, whom Kitty had developed a crush on (though he ignored this crush), while he found himself attracted to Rachel. After returning to the exchange of Dr. MacTaggert and the Highland Flyer crew with the Lightning Force Reichsrail Train, Reichsminister MacTaggart threw a nuclear grenade, and Widget teleported Excalibur and Alistaire to another dimension.[54]

Excalibur Vol 1 75

Rachel and Captain Britain exchanging places in the timestream

End of Time[]

After many adventures with Excalibur, Rachel finally managed to return to the future she had come from. While she couldn't change her past, Phoenix and her teammates were able to change the directives of all the Sentinels of the era to preserve all life, thereby ending the genocide that had prevailed for years. On the return journey, Captain Britain was lost in the timestream and it was discovered that Rachel had to exchange places with him for him to return. Phoenix sacrificed herself to exile in the timestream, to save her teammate. There, Rachel diverged into two timelines. One Rachel became stranded in the late 37th century, 100 years after Apocalypse conquered the world, and became Mother Askani, founder of the Clan Askani.[citation needed]

Cable Vol 1 85

Rachel captured by Gaunt

Gaunt, a cyborg prisoner from over two billion years in the future who was imprisoned two billion years further into the future at the end of time on the Borderline reality, located the other Rachel in the timestream and guided her to his domain, depowering her. After he enslaved Phoenix, Gaunt forced her to telepathically summon Cable, the adult version of her alternate reality half-brother Nathan Christopher, for his freedom. The Dark Sisterhood of the modern era did not want Cable to aid their enemy, the Mother Askani version of Rachel, and offered Gaunt his freedom to defeat Cable. To obey the Sisterhood and eager to face a worthy adversary, Gaunt battled Cable for Rachel's freedom. Gaunt easily outfought Cable, who only managed to land a single blow, but this blow ultimately won the fight, however, as Gaunt inadvertently absorbed Cable's more virulent form of the Techno-Organic Virus. After Phoenix distracted him, the virus completely incapacitated Gaunt with it's aggressive spread, with his systems unable to restore him for a millennium or more. Cable returned Rachel to the modern era with him. With her own timeline erased and having been abandoned by the Phoenix Force, Rachel decided to retire from the costumed adventuring life and began attending college.[55] Soon after, Rachel became embroiled in the Dark Sisterhood's attempted takeover of the United States. Rachel aided Cable in defeating the Sisterhood and their leader, Finality, after which she returned to college. Cable promised he wouldn't tell anyone she was back.[56]

Rejoining the X-Men[]

Months later, Rachel was captured by the mutant predator Elias Bogan, who used her as his pet telepath, enslaving other mutants to do his bidding. After Bogan's defeat at the hands of the X-Treme X-Men team, Rachel was freed from his telepathic control and rejoined the X-Men, taking the code name Marvel Girl to honor the memory of her mother.[57] She had also changed her last name to "Grey" becoming Rachel Grey,[10] possibly to express disapproval at her father's continued relationship with Emma Frost, though she and Emma had made a truce of sorts during one of the team's missions in Hong Kong. After House of M and Decimation, when most of the world's mutants lost their powers, the government had Sentinels instituted at the X-Mansion to protect the mutants in case any enemies used this low point to attack. Though their intentions were good this time, it reminded Rachel too much of the previous timeline when Sentinels herded mutants into concentration camps.[58]

Grey's End[]

Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 468 Textless

Rachel Summers marked with a Phoenix tattoo

Rachel spent some time with her grandparents, bonding with her grandfather. At a family reunion with all her relatives, a commando unit under the order of the Shi'ar attacked the party, killing everyone including Rachel's grandparents, in hopes of wiping out the Grey genome. Though unable to kill her, they were able to graft a death mark on her back that would allow them to find her wherever she went.

The only remaining member of the Grey family then left alive on Earth besides Rachel was Cable. Afterward, at the graves of the Grey family, Rachel vowed a terrible vengeance on the Shi'ar and was quoted as saying: "I'm not my mom. I'm not the Phoenix. I'm my own woman. And by the time I'm done...they'll wish I WERE the Phoenix."[23]

Starjammers[]

While searching for Charles Xavier, Rachel's uncle Vulcan forced her to unveil the truth about his dark past. She extracted Darwin's sentience from his body, and Vulcan flew off to exact revenge on D'Ken and the Shi'ar Empire.[59] Rachel put her own vengeful urges aside and accompanied a small team, organized by Xavier, to pursue her uncle into Shi'ar space. Word reached a secret order of the Shi'ar government, that lineage of the Phoenix Force was heading in their direction. An assassin named Korvus, himself a descendant of a former host of the Phoenix, was sent to eliminate Rachel, but when his blade touched her, a portion of its power was transferred to her. The two also shared each other's memories and the power she absorbed slowly started influencing Rachel's behavior. She created a darker and more revealing uniform, pursued a romance with Korvus, and killed her opponents freely.[60]

The X-Men met up with Rachel's grandfather Corsair and his crew, the Starjammers, and the two teams battled the Shi'ar rebels that Vulcan had aligned himself with. After Rachel witnessed Corsair seemingly killed, Lilandra sent more than half of the X-Men back to Earth. Havok, Polaris, and Rachel were left stranded in space. They joined the remaining Starjammers and led the resistance against the new Shi'ar Empire, now under the control of Vulcan and his wife Deathbird.[61]

Havok, Lorna, and the other Starjammers were imprisoned by Vulcan; Rachel, Korvus, and Lilandra remained free. Rachel was able to telepathically extract the location of the prison from Gladiator. Once there she held off Shi'ar forces and battled a Hodinn, however in the middle of the battle her Phoenix fragment abandoned her, leaving her weakened.[62]

In the weeks that followed, Rachel discovered that a secret order of the Shi'ar Empire was responsible for the massacre of her mother's family. She had been having nightmares about that tragic day and also ended her relationship with Korvus. When a hostile alien race calling themselves the Scy'ar Tal ("Death to the Shi'ar") destroyed a Shi'ar inhabited planet known as Feather's Edge, Vulcan called a cease fire with the Starjammers. Rachel was strongly against it and was then introduced to Chancellor Araki's bodyguards, who turned out to be the Shi'ar Death Commandos, the very assassins responsible for wiping out most of the Greys. She was restrained by Polaris, but vowed vengeance upon them.[citation needed]

Rachel assisted the unlikely team-up in preventing the Scy'ar Tal from exacting their plan of genocide. Unfortunately when Vulcan gained the upper-hand he turned the Scy'ar Tal's own weapon against them. Rachel fought Gladiator to a standstill until Korvus was struck by a converted resistance member, General Ka'ardum. She took his unconscious body and flew from the scene, just as Vulcan wiped out the entire Scy'ar Tal fleet and the area surrounding the M'kraan Crystal. While with the Starjammers, in battle with Vulcan's new guardsmen, the fragment of the "blue" Phoenix within her and Korvus' blade mysteriously left them, and the "hound" markings reappeared on Rachel's face.[citation needed]

In an agreement with the Inhumans, she along with the other Starjammers and the Guardians of the Galaxy assaulted a Shi'ar vessel in order to free Lilandra, hoping to end the conflict while restoring her to the throne. Even without her Phoenix powers she was powerful enough to entrap Gladiator in a illusion in order to keep him distracted from battle. Their gambit payed off and the group was able to free Lilandra.[citation needed]

Rachel served as Lilandra's bodyguard along with the rest of the Starjammers. On the home planet of the Shi'ar, Lilandra assumed her throne, but while making a ceremonial gesture, was killed by the possessed Darkhawk. The only person who perceived this was Rachel, since Darkhawk was shielded from the perceptions of others. After Lilandra was assassinated, Rachel fought alongside the Starjammers against the Shi'ar Guard and Araki, who had summoned the same Shi'ar commandos that killed Rachel's family and branded her with the Shi'ar death mark. Rachel used her powers to implode Black Cloak's head, saying "He was the one... He killed my family," though killing him didn't make her feel happier. She along with the rest of the Starjammers regrouped later and mourned the Shi'ar as they doubted that they would recover from the war.[citation needed]

Age of X[]

Desperate to find their way home, Rachel sent her astral form to find her father and the X-Men. She arrived just as a rogue personality of Legion used its reality-altering powers to create a new world; the Age of X. Rachel's astral form was swept up in the reality-warp and transformed into Revenant. When reality was restored to its original state, "Revenant" told Scott Summers that she was actually a mental manifestation of Rachel, who was still in deep space.[63] Scott promised her that they would return her home.[citation needed]

Five Miles South of the Universe[]

Attempting to get home, Rachel, Havok, and Polaris answered a distress call, only to find themselves trapped on Gul Damar Station caught in a rebellion against the Shi'ar by the Grad Nan Holt.

Rachel was knocked unconscious by a surprise attack by the Grad Nan Holt called Friendless, but at the same time Rogue was given a way to locate Rachel after reintegrating some of Legion's personalities, and teleported herself and a team of X-Men to Gul Damar. Rachel fought a series of psychic battles with Friendless, until she shared her power with Rogue and the two overwhelmed their opponent. Gul Damar Station was transported into the orbit of Earth, finally reuniting Rachel, Havok, and Polaris with their fellow X-Men on Utopia. Once there, Rachel confided in Rogue that she thought Korvus should return to space, as there was nothing for him on Earth. He eventually left with the Salvagers.[64]

Avengers vs. X-Men[]

Rachel Summers (Earth-811) from X-Men Vol 4 22 001

Rachel showing the Death Commandos massacre memories to D'Keth

Wishing to return to normalcy, Rachel chose to leave Utopia shortly after arriving and joined Wolverine in starting the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.[65] During the subsequent conflict between Avengers and X-Men, Rachel was contacted by Cyclops who asked her to feed the Avengers false information about the whereabouts of Hope Summers. She agreed and sent the Avengers on wild goose chases across the world. She proceeded to leave the school to join the battle on the side of her fellow mutants against the Avengers. She later helped the X-Men search for Hope, but with Hope copying her telepathic abilities, Rachel was not able to locate her. The interference of the Avengers led to the creation of the Phoenix Five, and when they began to lose control of the Phoenix, Rachel helped the Avengers and X-Men take them down.[66]

X-Women[]

After the Phoenix crisis, Rachel remained at the Jean Grey School. Rachel along with Psylocke interrogated John Sublime when he surrendered to the X-Men, during which Arkea took possession of Omega Sentinel.[67] Rachel was upset with Storm's decision to have Karima killed to stop Arkea and questioned her leadership.[68] As another Arkea sample was revealed, Rachel argued with John Sublime. There were hints of a romance blossoming between the two. Accompanying her team to Japan where they planned to kill the rest of the Arkea samples, Rachel was quickly defeated by Madelyne Pryor.[69]

While investigating what seemed like an alien invasion, the team found Rachel's aunt: The Shi'ar Deathbird. With Monet and Psylocke's combined telepathy, they found out that Deathbird had been experimented on and was pregnant.[70] During this trip in space, Rachel confronted D'Keth, the Shi'ar responsible for her family's death.[71] Tempted to let D'Keth die at their enemies' hand,[72][73] she eventually saved him, and asked by him how he could redeem himself, she showed her massacred family's memories.[73]

AXIS[]

During the battle with Red Onslaught in an attempt to save Earth. Rachel was reverted to her Hound form by Dr. Doom and Scarlet Witch's spell.[citation needed]

Spider-Man and the X-Men[]

Rachel was distrusting of Spider-Man's newly appointed position as Jean Grey School guidance counselor. Using her telepathy she sought to expose his secret identity only to lose that memory by being mind-wiped by No-Girl.[74]

Rachel Summers (Earth-811) from Civil War II X-Men Vol 1 3 001

Death of X[]

After the death of Cyclops from the Terrigen Mist, Rachel left the X-Men to travel to London and did everything in her power to stay away from the X-Men while mourning the deaths of the mutants dying from the Terrigen Mists. She was encountered by Magneto who convinced her to help his team after he showed her how little people cared about the deaths of the mutants and to save the future of mutantkind.[75] Thus, she helped Magneto assault New Attilan to kidnap Ulysses Cain because Magneto feared his predictions would be used negatively by the Inhumans against mutantkind. They decided to leave Ulysses in peace after he showed Magneto a possible future where mutants kill each other, and Rachel decided to leave soon after because Magneto proved to be too untrustworthy a leader.[76]

IVX[]

During the war between Inhumans and X-Men, numerous Inhuman civilians were trapped in Limbo, the X-Men's then-current base of operations. When many of them turned out dead, Rachel helped Sabretooth find the Inhuman civilians to protect them. Unbeknownst to Rachel, the murderer was among the X-Men's ranks, as M was being secretly possessed by her brother Emplate.[77]

Kurt Wagner (Earth-616) and Rachel Summers (Earth-811) from X-Men Gold Vol 2 7 001

Rachel confronting Kurt about his feelings that she felt during her blackout

ResurrXion[]

In the aftermath of the war, Rachel was asked to rejoin the X-Men, assuming the identity of Prestige due to Kitty's request,[5] in an attempt to help Rachel move on from her past. When the X-Men confronted a Sentinel named Alpha which was vulnerable to psychic attacks, Prestige attacked it, though the backlash knocked her into a blackout. As her friends continued fighting Alpha to no avail, Rachel found herself confronted with apparitions of Franklin Richards, Jean Grey, Cyclops and even her past self, which helped Rachel realize she was afraid of tapping into her full potential. Prestige assumed the risks of embracing the purest expression of her power, and woke up. She attacked Alpha again, successfully neutralizing it this time. In the wake of the battle, Rachel discovered she had reached a further state of awareness.[78] During her blackout it was revealed she felt Nightcrawler's feelings for her and confronted him about this. They then became a couple.[79]

Rachel's boost in powers caused her to experience flashbacks of her days as a hound.[80] While fending off an attack from Negative Zone aliens, Prestige was gravely hurt and slip into a coma.[81] While comatose, Rachel's hound marks resurfaced.[82] She eventually woke up, and complemented her physical changes with a new costume that resembled the one she wore as a hound.[80] Not long afterwards, the supervillain Mesmero revealed himself to Rachel as the cause of her changes, since he had been probing her mind progressively for months. In order to defeat the X-Men, Mesmero forced Rachel into a cognitive recreation of the future where she hunted down mutants;[83] however, the time-displaced Cyclops managed to break Mesmero's influence.[83]

When Jean Grey was resurrected by the Phoenix Force in a pocket dimension and rescued by the X-Men, the first place she visited was the Xavier Institute in Central Park, and Rachel was waiting there for her. The reunited mother and daughter flew in the sky together, before being joined by X-23 and visiting New Attilan. That night, Rachel was psychically ambushed by Cassandra Nova who took control of her to use as a weapon against Jean.[84]

Cassandra Nova later reactivated her control over Rachel, after Jean Grey led an assault that destroyed her sentinites.[85] Under Cassandra Nova's psychic control, Rachel battled Jean on Genosha, but held back by resisting Cassandra Nova. When Cassandra Nova turned on Rachel, Jean made a deal with Cassandra Nova to release Rachel. Rachel departed only at Jean's urging, and after punching Cassandra Nova.[86]

Extermination[]

Ahab managed to return to the present day and converted most of the X-Men into Hounds with the help of brainwashed mutant twins, Maxime and Manon. Rachel was one of the the X-Men that was brainwashed into defeating the X-Men.[87] After a time-displaced Cable and the time-displaced X-Men time-travelled to the twins' past to find a way to defeat them and divert their future, Rachel was freed from Ahab's influence, yet remained a Hound, and subsequently left the X-Men.[88] She was later captured by a younger Stryfe, who sought to use her to lure the Clan Askani to their deaths, before ultimately being freed by her alternate self, Mother Askani.[89][90] After being set free, Rachel telepathically battled Stryfe and emerged victorious. She was about to kill him when the time-displaced Cable talked her out of it, claiming that Stryfe's mind had to be wiped of all of the previous encounters to keep the timeline intact. After this was done, Rachel travelled back to the past with Cable and the rest of X-Force.[91]

Dawn of X[]

Rachel Summers (Earth-811) from X-Factor Vol 4 2 002
Rachel embraced her citizenship of Krakoa, living in the Summer House on the blue area of the moon and serving as a member of the X-Men[92] and X-Factor Investigations.[93]

Attributes

Power Grid[108]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Some Training:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Virtually Unlimited:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Multiple Types:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Virtually Indestructible:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Warp:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Superhuman:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Normal

Powers

Excalibur Vol 1 1 Back Cover

Rachel with Phoenix Force

Rachel is a mutant and the daughter of the Phoenix. Rachel inherited enormous psionic powers from her mother and has limited control over her powerful telepathy and telekinesis. Marvel Girl has developed an electric blue Phoenix emblem energy signature, which appears over her left eye whenever she uses her powers. According to Jat Vor-Thrul, Rachel measures a 9-Tau-9 on the Kiatna Psi-Scale. She is one of the most powerful psychics in the entire Marvel Universe. Not only does this imply that there is a measurable scale for beings of her impressive power, but that people with such power are considered valuable, as the Salvagers seemingly took her for profit.[94] After blacking out while fighting the Sentinel Alpha, Rachel tapped into her full potential.[78] In her own words, the dial had been cranked on all of her senses.[80]

  • Empathy: Rachel is able to sense, interpret, and manipulate the emotions, sensations, and feelings of other sentient beings on varying degrees.[73][80][83]
  • Telepathy: Rachel has been stated to possess virtually unlimited telepathic potential, similarly to her mother Jean Grey. She can read, control, and manipulate thought processes on near planetary scales, as well as project her thoughts into the minds of other sentient beings within a vast, potentially limitless radius. After fully recognizing her true potential, she started reaching new levels of telepathic power, capable of interacting and perceiving minds from thousands of miles away with ease. Storm once stated that Rachel's telepathy had grown to such an extent to the point in which "her psionic powers radiated off of her, to the extent in which others could feel her powerful presence within their minds". [83] From years of training and telepathic tutelage, she has demonstrated the following specialized uses:
    • Telepathic Cloak: Can mask her presence from being detected by others. Her abilities can at times go undetected or be counteracted by other more powerful telepaths depending on their level of skill in using their own psi abilities. She can extend these defenses to others around her as well.[citation needed]
    • Trauma Healing: The ability to heal mental trauma through "psychic surgery", the power to stimulate or deaden the pain and pleasure centers in a person's brain.[citation needed]
    • Mind Control: Ability to control the minds of others upon mere concentration.[citation needed]
    • Psionic Shield: Ability to erect a psychic shield for protection of herself and of others minds.[citation needed]
    • Mind Transferal: The ability to transfer both her mind and powers into other host bodies should her own physical body somehow be destroyed.[citation needed]
    • Neural Jumpstart: The ability to increase the speed of synapses in the brain, allowing her to increase another's powers to incredible levels, with a temporary effect.[citation needed]
    • Telepathic Illusions: Ability to create illusions to make herself seem to be invisible, look like someone else, or make others experience events that are not truly happening.[citation needed]
    • Mental Paralysis: Ability to induce temporary mental or physical paralysis.[citation needed]
    • Mental Amnesia: Can erase any awareness of particular memories or cause total amnesia.[citation needed]
    • Psionic Blasts: She can project psionic force bolts which have no physical effects but which can affect a victim's mind so as to cause the victim pain or unconsciousness and turning someone brain-dead.[citation needed]
    • Astral Projection: Can project her astral form from her body onto astral planes or the physical planes. In the physical plane she can only travel in astral form over short distances. In the Astral Plane, she can mentally create psionic objects and manipulate the aspects of her environment. She can communicate with others astrally through her own will, or through contact with the thoughts and memories of others.[citation needed]
    • Mental Detection: Can sense the presence of another superhuman mutant within a small but as yet undefined radius of herself by perceiving the distinctive mental radiations emitted by such a being.[citation needed]
    • Psychometry: Rachel can use her telepathy to read the past from objects, people, and environments.[91]
  • Telekinesis: Rachel is a high-level telekinetic, meaning she has immense telekinetic powers. She can use her psychokinesis to levitate, propel, and manipulate objects at her will, create incredibly durable force-fields, and project destructive concussive blasts of telekinetic energy. She can even perceive and manipulate matter and energy, quite possibly on a subatomic level. Her telekinetic skill and aptitude is of such magnitude that she can easily affect and control molecules and particles, allowing her to fully control matter and energy for a variety of effects and purposes, including but not limited to:
    • Intuitive Aptitude: Can disassemble complex devices explosively (separating every last component, such as screws, nuts, circuit boards, etc.) and, just as quickly, easily assemble complex devices. This also has enabled her to even attain awareness and control over objects as small as individual electrons in an atom. For instance, Rachel could detect if a seal was hermetic or not by checking for the presence of penetrating oxygen molecules. Can even detect and discern individual oxygen molecules, and determine the atomic weight of molecules by the amount of atoms present.[citation needed]
    • Matter Alteration: As Marvel Girl, has shown the ability to alter molecular and subatomic structures and the ability to alter molecular valances, or even rewrite her own genome.[95] Rachel has also been able to create a micro black hole.[96]
    • Force Field: Ability to create protective force shields that can deflect even the most powerful of attacks (even filter bacteria from the air, withstand Jovian atmospheric pressures, and even repel nuclear weapon attacks). The upper limits of this ability remain unknown. Rachel has also displayed such control over the fields as to shape them precisely, even to conform very closely to her body's form. There does not appear to be any correlation between field strength and the thickness of the telekinetic fields.[citation needed]
    • Telekinetic Weapons: Quite similar to Captain Britain and Kid Omega, Rachel has demonstrated the ability to manifest her psychokinetic powers as psionic weapons and constructs, including but not limited to a telekinetic sword, axe,[97] and even a a telekinetic hammer powerful enough to knock Thor off his feet.[66]
    • Concussive Blasts: Can project telekinetic energies as powerful blasts beams directed from her brain that could apparently affect matter with concussive force.[citation needed]
    • Telekinetically Enhanced Condition: Rachel is capable of telekinetically enhancing her physical abilities to superhuman levels.[citation needed]
    • Flight: By levitating herself, she can "fly" for very long distances and at supersonic rate.[citation needed]
  • Time Manipulation: Rachel has displayed the ability to manipulate the timestream for a variety of purposes, and effects such as freely sending minds or physically traveling through time[98], traveling into other dimensions, and shielding herself and others from changes in the timeline. She can also use her temporal powers to pull Phoenix Fire from the multiverse powerful enough to destroy a Fury.
    • Chronoskimming: Rachel can send the awareness/consciousness/soul of herself or others to the past or future versions of herself, or possibly their ancestors/descendants.[98] She can also use this ability to observe timeline, but needs to use her psychometry in conjunction to "anchor" herself to particular events and people instead of sifting through entire timeline.[93][99]
    • Chrono-Shield: The unconscious emanation of a fourth dimensional pulse which creates a "chrono-shield" protecting her from changes in the timeline.[citation needed]
      • Multiversal Anomaly: Rachel has no alternate versions in other timelines. Other offspring of Scott Summers and Jean Grey named "Rachel Summers" in the multiverse are not variants of this Rachel.[100] Her uniqueness makes Rachel an unusually stable time traveler.[2]
    • Dimensional Travel: Her chronokinetic abilities also allows Rachel to directly observe and travel to alternate realities.[101]

Abilities

  • Hand-to-Hand Combat: Rachel Summers has trained with Nightcrawler in hand-to-hand combat and furtherly trained by replicating Shadowcat's fighting moves.[102]
  • Lock-Picking: She learned lock-picking skills from Storm.
  • Mechanical Aptitude: Rachel has some experience in vehicular repair and the use of advanced weaponry and technology.
  • Swordsmanship: Rachel has displayed great skill with swords, being able to wield two at a time and throw them with great precision.[102]

Weaknesses

Even with the powers of the Phoenix, magic and magical objects prove to be an enigma for Rachel's powers. When the Soulsword appeared near the Excalibur lighthouse headquarters seeking Kitty Pryde to become its new wielder, Rachel attempted to remove it from the bedrock it had embedded itself into in order to alleviate her friend's apprehension. Despite using the full extent of power permitted by the Phoenix Force, Rachel was unable to remove the sword which she surmised only Kitty Pryde could remove. This could be the reason why Rachel has not telekinetically removed the Shi'ar deathmark on her back, although Nightcrawler theorized that this was only because Rachel didn't wish to remove it.

Paraphernalia

Transportation

Flight and X-Men Blackbird; formerly Starjammer

Notes

  • There are some glaring inconsistencies in Rachel's history. For example in "Days of Future Past", Kate clearly states that Professor Xavier was assassinated with Senator Kelly, but when Rachel went back in time, she clearly remembers Professor Xavier being killed by the U.S. Army years later, along with Nightcrawler,[103] who in fact escaped the massacre to be killed by her later.[104] And in Excalibur #21, she states that Professor X was killed by Hellfire Club soldiers.
  • She apparently could not remove the death mark now grafted onto her back, but Nightcrawler theorized that this was only because Rachel didn't wish to remove it.[105]
  • Rachel was given the "Omega" classification back when she was Phoenix.[13] Her exclusion in Krakoa's list of Omega-level mutants seemingly suggests she is not one without the Phoenix Force.[106]

Trivia

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. X-Men: Phoenix Force Handbook #1
  2. 2.0 2.1 Knights of X #4
  3. Amazing X-Men (Vol. 2) #11
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Uncanny X-Men #199
  5. 5.0 5.1 X-Men: Gold (Vol. 2) #1
  6. 6.0 6.1 X-Men Annual #14
  7. Uncanny X-Men #473
  8. Uncanny X-Men #189
  9. Excalibur #4
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Uncanny X-Men #444
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Excalibur Special Edition #1
  12. 12.0 12.1 Uncanny X-Men #452
  13. 13.0 13.1 Uncanny X-Men #208
  14. X-Factor (Vol. 4) #7
  15. X-Factor (Vol. 4) #8
  16. Uncanny X-Men #141
  17. Uncanny X-Men #184
  18. 18.0 18.1 Uncanny X-Men #201
  19. Uncanny X-Men #203
  20. Excalibur #75
  21. Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix
  22. Cable #84
  23. 23.0 23.1 Uncanny X-Men #466468
  24. Uncanny X-Men #444486
  25. X-Men: Kingbreaker
  26. Wolverine and the X-Men
  27. X-Men (Vol. 4)
  28. X-Men: Gold (Vol. 2)
  29. X-Men (Vol. 5) #12
  30. X-Factor (Vol. 4)
  31. Knights of X
  32. Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain
  33. New Mutants Annual #6
  34. 34.0 34.1 X-Men #141
  35. 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 Excalibur #52
  36. Uncanny X-Men #142
  37. Uncanny X-Men #184188
  38. Uncanny X-Men #189196
  39. New Mutants #2931
  40. X-Men Annual #9
  41. Uncanny X-Men #200
  42. Secret Wars II #5
  43. Uncanny X-Men #202203
  44. Secret Wars II #89
  45. Uncanny X-Men #207209
  46. Excalibur #1
  47. Excalibur #2
  48. Excalibur #3
  49. Excalibur #45
  50. Excalibur #6
  51. Excalibur #7
  52. Excalibur #8
  53. Excalibur #10
  54. Excalibur #11
  55. Cable #8586
  56. Cable #9295
  57. X-Treme X-Men #2223
  58. Uncanny X-Men #469470
  59. X-Men: Deadly Genesis #6
  60. Uncanny X-Men #475485
  61. Uncanny X-Men #485486
  62. X-Men: Kingbreaker #14
  63. X-Men: Legacy #248
  64. X-Men: Legacy #253260
  65. X-Men: Regenesis #1
  66. 66.0 66.1 Avengers vs. X-Men #312
  67. X-Men (Vol. 4) #1
  68. X-Men (Vol. 4) #4
  69. X-Men (Vol. 4) #12
  70. X-Men (Vol. 4) #18
  71. X-Men (Vol. 4) #19
  72. X-Men (Vol. 4) #20
  73. 73.0 73.1 73.2 X-Men (Vol. 4) #22
  74. Spider-Man and the X-Men #15
  75. Civil War II: X-Men #3
  76. Civil War II: X-Men #4
  77. Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 4) #17
  78. 78.0 78.1 X-Men: Gold (Vol. 2) #6
  79. X-Men: Gold (Vol. 2) #7
  80. 80.0 80.1 80.2 80.3 X-Men: Gold (Vol. 2) #21
  81. X-Men: Gold (Vol. 2) #16
  82. X-Men: Gold (Vol. 2) #17
  83. 83.0 83.1 83.2 83.3 X-Men: Gold (Vol. 2) #31
  84. X-Men: Red Annual #1
  85. X-Men: Red #8
  86. X-Men: Red #9
  87. Extermination #3
  88. Extermination #5
  89. X-Force (Vol. 5) #6
  90. X-Force (Vol. 5) #9
  91. 91.0 91.1 X-Force (Vol. 5) #10
  92. X-Men (Vol. 5) #1
  93. 93.0 93.1 X-Factor (Vol. 4) #1
  94. X-Men: Legacy #254
  95. Uncanny X-Men #457459
  96. Uncanny X-Men #447
  97. Avengers vs. X-Men #112
  98. 98.0 98.1 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: X-Men 2004 #1
  99. X-Men: The Trial of Magneto #3
  100. Uncanny X-Men #462
  101. Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #12
  102. 102.0 102.1 Excalibur #17
  103. Uncanny X-Men #188
  104. 104.0 104.1 Excalibur #35
  105. Uncanny X-Men #469
  106. House of X #1
  107. Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #1
  108. X-Men: Phoenix Force Handbook Vol 1 1
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