The X-Men's visitor leads to a life-changing revelation about one member of the team, and brings a confrontation with an old foe.
...except, Jean Grey is already in the Xavier Mansion, having only days before given birth to her and Scott's son, Nathan! So who is this woman who also has Jean's likeness?!
The second Jean passes out shortly after arriving, and Beast immediately starts treating her. Jean tries to probe her memories, only to find her mind blank, as if this doppleganger had only just been born yesterday. However, Beast's findings, which essentially carbon dates Jean and the doppleganger's genes, reveals that this doppleganger is actually the real Jean Grey.
If this is so, however, then who is the Jean Grey standing before them?
"Jean" refuses to believe that she is a clone and tries to entreat the others to know who she is, but not even Scott is certain. Dejected, "Jean" takes Nathan back to his room to gather her thoughts, clinging to the fact that regardless of who she may be, she is Nathan's mother — something she regards as an immutable fact.
It is then that, over the baby monitor, she is addressed by a mysterious voice — a sinister voice...
Beast's continued look into the DNA of "Jean" uncovers the truth of her origins: she had been cloned by none other than the evil supermutant Mister Sinister! "Jean" discovers this, herself, from Sinister, who created her for the purpose of giving birth to Scott Summers and Jean Grey's son for his experiments. "Jean" refuses to cooperate, but is forced to submit by Sinister's psychic influence. Under Sinister's control, "Jean" takes the title of the "Goblin Queen" and abducts Nathan.
The Xavier Mansion turns into a frightening hellscape as the Goblin Queen exerts her psionic control over it, frightening everyone — none more so than Morph, who had been subjected to Sinister's experiments first-hand and knows all too well how dangerous he is. The X-Men soon find themselves pulled into a psychic-induced hallucination of Hell. As it seems as though they will never escape this nightmare, Jean — the real Jean — comes to for long enough to pull the X-Men out of the Inferno.
The Goblin Queen confronts the X-Men and warns them to not follow her as she takes Nathan away. Magneto and Rogue return from patrol to learn of what happened. At the same time, Jean struggles to control her own powers in her amnesiac state. Magneto immediately calls for the X-Men to deal with Sinister, and is joined by Cyclops and Morph — the latter being scared of Sinister, but willing to help to ensure no one goes what they had to under the vile villain's "tender" care.
As Sinister places Nathan in a vat of a strange green liquid in the hopes of making him "invulnerable", Magneto, Cyclops, Bishop, and Morph confront the Goblin Queen in the abandoned church over Sinister's laboratory. Her psychic powers, however, prove to be more than a match for the X-Men. As it seems all hope is lost, however, Logan helps Jean come to, reminding her of the friends she has — and of the love he harbors for her. Having regained control of her power, Jean taps into the Goblin Queen's mind and reminds her of their shared past and memories. Most importantly, however, she reminds the Goblin Queen of the love she harbors for her son Nathan, a mother's pure love for her child. It is that love that ultimately helps the Goblin Queen break free of Sinister's mind control.
With the Goblin Queen's help, Cyclops drives off Mister Sinister and rescues Nathan. Unfortunately, in pulling Nathan out of Sinister's chemical vat prematurely, Cyclops may have inadvertedly doomed his son, as his body is slowly covered in painful green circuit-like growths...
Beast diagnoses Nathan's infliction as a techno-organic virus infection which Sinister had exposed him to in the hopes of making him more powerful and invincibe. Unfortunately, there is no cure at present. The only hope Nathan has is to travel with Bishop into the future, where a cure can be synthesized. Scott is beside himself with grief at the prospect of abandoning his son, but the clone Jean assures him that this is the best chance that he has, and that he won't be abandoned. Before Bishop leaves with Nathan, "Jean" implants a psychic message into Nathan's mind to assure him that, no matter what, he will always be in his parents' hearts and never far from their minds.
Afterwards, the clone, now taking the name of Madelyne Pryor, leaves the Xavier Mansion, parting on friendly terms with Jean. This leaves Scott and Jean to deal with the aftermath of Sinister's machinations...
Meanwhile, in Texas, Ororo is drowning her troubles in a bar when she is approached by a man named Forge, who introduces himself as an old friend of Professor Xavier, and offers her the chance to reclaim what she had lost...
This episode contains examples of:
- Adaptational Context Change:
- In the comics, Madelyne was only used by Sinister as a replacement for Jean in his plan to have Jean and Scott produce a child because Jean was seemingly dead at the time, and her false identity was as a non-mutant airplane pilot working with Scott's grandparents who happened to look exactly like Jean, rather than her and Jean being subject to a Twin Switch.
- Madelyne taking on the identity of the Goblin Queen and the mansion turning into a hellscape is the result of Mister Sinister's manipulations and Madelyne's psychic powers here, whereas in the comics the Inferno storyline involved real demons from Limbo.
- Adaptation Distillation: The episode condenses the Inferno (1988) storyline and X-Factor #65-68 into one episode.
- Adaptation Explanation Extrication:
- Where the clone Jean pulled the name "Madelyne Pryor" out from isn't explained in the episode. In the comics, Sinister gave her a name when he planted her in society because she wasn't supposed to be believed to be Jean; "Pryor" was a joke about her prior existence as part of Jean when she was a tissue sample.
- This also goes for her stated moniker "Goblin Queen", as the magical elements of Inferno were completely removed.
- In the comics, Madelyne subconsciously named her son Nathan after Mister Sinister, whose given name is Nathaniel Essex, a fact which isn't mentioned here.
- Adaptational Heroism: Once Madelyne learns the truth of her identity in the comics, she turns evil and stays evil throughout Inferno, even committing suicide in an attempt to take Jean with her, and remains an antagonistic Resenter until the events of Dark Web. Here, once Jean can free her mind, she quickly goes Mama Bear and aids in rescuing Nathan. She is the one who lets Bishop take Nathan into the future and leaves the X-Men on good terms.
- Adaptational Modesty: Goblin Queen's costume is vastly more covering than her comic counterpart's infamous Stripperiffic outfit of a Loincloth & Underboobs.
- Adaptational Mundanity: Reality turning into a demon dimension is an illusion created by Goblin Queen's psychic powers here, whereas in the comic Inferno storyline that was very much what was happening.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: In the comics, Scott married Madelyne because of her resemblance to Jean, and abandoned her and Nathan when Jean turned up alive. In this version, he believed that Madelyne was Jean, and they separate because of all the chaos in this episode, in addition to their consenting to allow Bishop to take Nathan into the future to treat his T-O virus infection. This avoids Scott coming off as a Jerkass as he did in the comics, using Madelyne as a Replacement Goldfish and walking out on his family.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: Inverted. Despite the episode's title, Madelyne Pryor's origin does not have a direct connection to Dark Phoenix in this version. In the comics, the Jean Grey clone body that Mister Sinister created had been mindless until the part of Dark Phoenix that Jean herself rejected (while sleeping in a cocoon in Hudson Bay after Phoenix took her identity) went into it, bringing Madelyne to life.
- Ambiguous Situation: For now, neither Jean or Madelyne's memories, nor scientific testing, can determine when they had been switched. The only tangible difference is that Madelyne was pregnant and Jean was not.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Jean breaks Mr. Sinister's control over the Goblin Queen via a psychic battle that travels back through their memories.
- Big Damn Heroes: Jean helps save the X-Men from Madelyne twice in this episode, and even helps the latter break free from Sinister's influence.
- Bittersweet Ending: While Nathan is saved from Sinister, due to being exposed to a Techno-Organic virus by him, Nathan has to be brought to the future by Bishop in hopes of curing him, meaning Scott might never see his son again. Madelyne also departs from the mansion but she and Jean make peace with each other. However, elsewhere Storm is approached by Forge, who offers to help get her powers back.
- Bloodier and Gorier: The episode single-handedly earns the show's TV-14 rating with more Body Horror and visible wounds than was ever shown in the original animated series.
- Body Horror:
- The humans in the Goblin Queen's illusions are nightmarish fusions of flesh. Gambit sees Rogue and Magneto's skin melt into each other. Two characters from Jubilee and Roberto's movie night emerge from the TV as Cronenberg-esque abominations; one spews out Roberto's mother's face, then opens wide to reveal his own.
- Baby Nathan being infected with the techno-organic virus isn't a pretty sight to behold, and almost brings to mind aspects of the Phalanx from the original series (in fact, in the comics the techno-organic virus and the Phalanx are indeed directly related).
- Bottle Episode: The episode primarily takes place in and around the X-Mansion.
- Brain Bleach: Gambit's reaction to the illusion of Rogue and Magneto embracing, even without the nightmarish imagery.Gambit: Gambit can never unsee that...
- But Now I Must Go: Madelyne leaves the mansion at the end of the episode, despite Jean offering her a place to stay with the X-Men.
- Call-Back:
- The episode's title quotes what the Phoenix called herself in The Dark Phoenix Saga.
- Morph reminds everyone of Sinister using them, briefly taking their look from that time.
- Cyclops begs clone Jean to "use the powers of [her] mind" to fight Sinister's influence, which is the same thing he said to Jean in The Dark Phoenix Saga.
- Cyclops' eye-beams still have the same effect on Sinister.
- The Cameo:
- Courtesy of Morph again. Here, they first take the form of Spiral, and later that of Illyana Rasputin as Magik (in the uniform of the New Mutants) and Darkchylde.
- During the horrific visions, Bishop is taunted with a vision of Shard.
- Censor Steam: Morph is presented with an illusion of Wolverine in the gym showers, with a lot of steam to keep the scene TV-14 appropriate.
- Clone Angst: After Beast reveals to Madelyne that she is a clone of Jean Grey, she isn’t at all happy about it, as she is the mother of Cyclops' newborn son, which Sinister exploits to get her to help him. She does, however, come to terms with it at the end of the episode.
- Clones Are People, Too: Madelyne and Jean share their memories and, pregnancy aside, are effectively identical. Once the truth has been established, Madelyne takes on a new name and leaves the X-Mansion. Jean invites her to stay, but Madelyne wants to forge her identity.
- Clothing Damage: Magneto’s costume gets damaged during his fight with Madelyne.
- Combination Attack: Cyclops uses his optical beams to give Bishop's powers a massive charge.
- Composite Character:
- Sinister takes the place of Apocalypse as the one who infected Nathan with the T-O virus.
- Bishop takes the place of Sister Askani in taking baby Nathan to the future.
- Madelyne Pryor believing herself to be the real Jean Grey is taken from the original Phoenix in the comics replacing Jean and living her life, whereas comic-Maddie always had her own identity.
- Jean Grey appearing unexpectedly and amnesiac is taken from how Madelyne Pryor returned years after being killed in her Inferno storyline.
- Continuity Nod: In the flashback to when Xavier came to recruit her, young Jean is holding a toy cyclops (as in, the mythological monster). The same toy appeared in the original series episode "The Dark Phoenix Saga Part 3: The Dark Phoenix" when an adult Jean (currently possessed by the Dark Phoenix) returns to her childhood home.
- Covers Always Lie: The episode's title suggests connections with Phoenix and/or Dark Phoenix. There's none at all, except flashbacks.
- The Dreaded: The realization that the clone of Jean was created by Mister Sinister elicits a visceral Oh, Crap! reaction from Beast and (especially) Morph.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Storm is drinking alone in a Dallas bar when Forge approaches her at the end of the episode.
- Evolving Credits: As a result of Storm leaving the X-Men at the end of the previous episode, she is removed from the opening credits in this one.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: When describing Mr. Sinister to Roberto, Morph briefly morphs their face into their original appearance with noticeable shadows under their eyes, reflecting how traumatic their experience with the wicked supermutant was.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: To differentiate between real Jean and clone Jean in the episode's latter scenes when they're both at the mansion and in civilian clothes and in the same shot, the real one's hair is banded into a ponytail.
- Fan Disservice:
- Gambit's illusion has Rogue and Magneto scantily clad and in a passionate embrace, which is horror enough for Remy even without their skin melting together.
- Magneto's fight with the Goblin Queen sees the muscular Anti-Hero suffer some Clothing Damage that exposes much of his skin, but also leaves him with bloody wounds.
- Morph walks in on Wolverine taking a shower and jokingly offers to help him with some hard to reach places. Wolverine then reveals himself to be Mister Sinister in disguise, terrifying Morph.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Zig-zagged. When the X-Men meet up, Wolverine asks what the heck is going on. However, Morph tells him that they’re in Hell.
- Harmful to Minors: Nate is abducted by Mister Sinister to be infected with a techno-organic virus so that he can be strong enough to survive Sinister's experiments. Although Nate is rescued by the X-Men, he's forced to be separated from his parents so Bishop can take him to the future to find a cure for the virus.
- Ironic Nursery Tune: Mister Sinister escapes the X-Men after he’s defeated while reciting “Ladybird”, symbolizing how Nathan has still been infected with the techno-organic virus despite the heroes’ efforts to save him.
- Kick the Dog: Before disappearing, a smiling Sinister utters the lyrics to the nursery rhyme “Ladybird” to taunt Cyclops and Madelyne about Nathan's impending fate.
- Love Redeems: The Goblin Queen's love for Nathan causes her to reform, and help Scott save their son.
- More Deadly Than the Male: Goblin Queen curb-stomps Magneto by herself. She even gloats that, despite both fighters having superior mental control over their surroundings, her powers aren't limited to metals.
- Mythology Gag:
- The Evolving Credits for this episode feature a shot where Roberto runs from an anti-mutant mob, before being cornered by a chain link fence. This directly mirrors Jubilee's cut in the original intro, reflecting him inheriting Jubilee's former Naïve Newcomer role.
- Another clip in the opening credits shows Gambit holding Rogue in a dip during a basketball game. The image is inspired by a similar scene in X-Men (Vol.2) #4, with Wolverine in place of Scott and Rogue giving Gambit an Indirect Kiss instead of punching him in the face.
- During the conflict, Morph briefly takes the form of Magik with her Soulsword and then also her Darkchylde form, which were important parts of Inferno (1988).
- Sinister's taunt at "Jean" quotes from the comic when Madelyne confronted Sinister for the first time:Sinister: Most refer to me as Mr. Sinister. But you may call me Father.
- In Gambit's illusion, Rogue and Magneto look very similiar (particularly Rogue's scant clothing) to their depiction in the Savage Land arc in Uncanny X-Men, where the first seeds of romantic overtones were laid between the two.
- The wedding photo Goblin Queen destroys is based off of the cover of X-Men (Vol. 2) #30.
- The Goblin Queen seated on a throne-like chair is a frequent comics-cover image.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By freeing Nathan from Sinister's lab, Cyclops interrupts the baby's exposure to the Techno-Organic virus that was intended to make him invincible; the interruption just leaves Nathan infected with a strain of the virus that Beast can't cure.
- Oh, Crap!: Beast has this reaction when he recognizes Mr. Sinister's signature work as part of the clone's makeup.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: Morph’s reaction to meeting Mr. Sinister again.
- Parental Abandonment: Discussed. The only way to save Nathan from the Techno-Organic Virus is for Bishop to take him away to the future, where he can be treated. Scott is beside himself with grief at the prospect of abandoning his son like he had been by his own father, and while he ultimately consents to allow Bishop to take Nathan under his care, it leaves him emotionally broken. Madelyne makes certain to assure Nathan, via a telepathic message, that he was not abandoned, and his parents always had him on their minds and in their hearts.
- The Power of Love:
- Wolverine's love for Jean helps her break through her Power Incontinence.
- Madelyne's love for Nathan allows Jean to break Sinister's control over Madelyne.
- Pragmatic Adaptation:
- In the comics, Madelyne is seemingly a non-mutant Identical Stranger to Jean whom Scott falls in love with after Jean's death. However, Scott abandons her and Nathan after Jean turns up alive, and Madelyne is later revealed as a clone created by Sinister. Madelyne goes mad from the revelation, making a deal with demons from the Limbo dimension. In this series, Madelyne is portrayed as a clone who believes she is Jean, because she has her memories and full control over her powers, thus greatly simplifying the story.
- Bishop's background had already been combined with the Days of Future Past storyline from the comics. This episode also establishes that he was the one who took baby Nate Summers to the future where he became Cable. Therefore, it combines and condenses the X-Men's three most well-known Bad Future storylines.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Sinister only wants Nathan to be more durable so the child can survive the (doubtlessly horrific) experiments Sinister has planned; while he's upset to have his plans foiled, his smirking taunts prove that he doesn't care about Nathan's welfare in the slightest.
- Put on a Bus:
- Bishop takes baby Nathan into the future to find a treatment for the Techno-Organic Virus. This episode also establishes that Bishop wasn't in the 1990's by choice and had been trying to return to his own time. While it's a Foregone Conclusion that Nathan will eventually return as Cable, when or if Bishop will return to the X-Men remains to be seen.
- Madelyne decides to leave the X-Mansion and find her path in life.
- Red Herring: When Jean taps into the mind of the visitor bearing her likeness, it seems to be a blank slate, indicating that she's a copycat. However, Beast's tests on their DNA indicate that the visitor's genetic structure is older, revealing her to be the real Jean Grey, and Nathan's mother as a clone.
- Ship Tease: Rogue and Magneto have a lot of time in the Danger Room reserved together, which only fuels Gambit's paranoia about their relationship.
- Shout-Out:
- Beast compares the nightmarish illusions induced by the Goblin Queen to Dante's Inferno. Doubles as a Mythology Gag to Inferno (1988). He also quotes Lewis Carroll while grappling with one of the illusory demons.
- Some of the nightmarish illusions are images like from Japanese horror films and animes, and David Cronenberg's films.
- The demonic Sentinel illusion resembles and sounds quite a bit like Surtur from Thor: Ragnarok.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Both Sinister and Pryor were killed in the original storyline (not that this stopped them from returning in future comics) but here, both people survive the episode.
- Stealth Pun: Storm visits a bar called Tequila Mockingbird.
- The Stinger: In the episode's finale scene, Forge approaches Storm and offers to find a way to restore her powers.
- "Take That!" Kiss: Goblin Queen immobilizes Cyclops with her powers, then embraces and kisses him with her bloodied lips just after he eye-beamed her on the mouth hard enough to let out a blood splatter. He's immediately apologetic, but her face looks unhurt except for blood dribbling on the lips.
- Tomato in the Mirror: The Jean Grey we've been following since the X-Men '97 premiere (and possibly much earlier than that) is revealed to be a clone created by Mister Sinister. No one is more shocked than the clone herself.
- Trauma Button:
- Morph's stress level shoots right up when they realize that Sinister is involved, though they manage to fight through it to help the X-Men save Madelyne and Nathan.
- Cyclops being forced to send Nathan into the future triggers his Parental Abandonment issues.
- Troll: Morph notes the many times Rogue and Magneto have the Danger Room reserved which they and Wolverine joke about while enjoying Gambit's obvious discomfort.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Mister Sinister backs into the shadows while Cyclops and Madelyne are focused on Nathan's condition. When Madelyne looks again, Sinister is gone without a trace.
- Virus-Victim Symptoms: Nathan's infection with the Techno-Organic Virus is accompanied by green circuit-like Tron Lines appearing over his skin.
- Wham Episode: With Nathan being infected with a virus by Sinister, he is brought to the future by Bishop in hopes of getting treatment for him.
- Wham Line:
- Beast reveals that the Jean Grey who turned up in the previous episode is the "real" one.
- Forge shows up at a bar that Storm and reveals that he can help her get powers back.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: During the attack on Sinister's headquarters, Morph gets brainwashed by the Goblin Queen and attacks Bishop. It's not shown what became of those two between Madelyne regaining control of herself and everyone returned to the X-Mansion later.
- Women Are Wiser: Madelyne is the one who has the idea to send Nathan with Bishop to the future to be cured. And between her and Scott, she takes losing their newborn child this way with more grace than he does.
- The Worf Effect: Magneto, despite being one of the most powerful mutants in existence in this continuity, is quickly shown to be ineffectual towards Madelyne's powers. To sell the stakes, he's graphically slashed by thousands of glass shards, hopelessly defending himself from her psychic influence until he's broken and beaten on the ground. Goblin Queen demonstrates the potential of what Jean Grey could really do if without self-restraint and fueled by rage, instead of fainting again and again.
