Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Jean Grey (Marvel Girl) were, of course, the first X-Men couple. Both characters debuted in 1963’s X-Men #1 and their relationship has been one of the key narrative strands of Marvel’s sprawling mutant soap opera franchise ever since. Like most love stories, Scott and Jean’s relationship is a tale of ups and downs, and love triangles, but because it’s a Marvel Comics story, we also get awesome powers, titanic battles, and even death and resurrection.
Years before they met in person, Jean was briefly in telepathic contact with Scott. Though Scott would eventually become the first X-Man, Professor Xavier had already begun to train young Jean Grey with her telepathic powers. She joined Xavier in his trip to Scott’s orphanage to investigate whether he was indeed a mutant. Jean made psychic contact with Scott and felt his thoughts, which Xavier found amazing, as he himself could not sense them. At this point Xavier assumed their mentalities must be operating on similar frequencies.
Not long after their first meeting, the pair developed feelings for each other; although both kept it a secret. Becoming the leader of the X-Men, Scott made the decision to give the job his full attention, and didn’t want members of his team to influence his choices. Plus he distanced himself from people due to the unstable nature of his abilities, he was always concerned that his optic beams could accidentally injure somebody.
In 1967’s The X-Men #32, Scott opened up to Jean about his difficulties with expressing emotions. Jean understood that he was trying to say that he loved her and Scott realized that she reciprocated, without either of them actually having to talk about it. From then on, Jean and Scott were almost inseparable.
Over the years Jean has had some other male X-men admirers, most notably Wolverine and even Angel, while Scott has had relationships with both Jean’s psychic rival, Emma Frost, and her clone, Madelyne Pryor. However, their biggest hurdle as a couple was not an external relationship but an internal threat. As explored in “The Dark Phoenix Saga”, Jean was consumed by a cosmic power that turned her evil, forcing her to sacrifice herself, and die a human rather than be corrupted by an unworldly force. One of the most famous X-Men storylines of all time, Jean;s heroic and tragic sacrifice has played out not just in the comics, but in the feature films (twice) and the ’90s animated series.
But death is rarely permanent in the world of serial fiction, and eventually, Jean came back, and after some hiccups, they rekindled their romance and they retook their position as the romantic rock of the X-Men.
Over the course of 30 years, Scott Summers and Jean Grey have become the heart of the X-Men, and in the world of Marvel comic books, they stand as the epitome of love.
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