Jean Grey Doesn't Need The Phoenix To Accomplish Her Greatest Feats
This article contains spoilers for X-Men: Hellfire Gala #1.
The X-Men's Jean Grey doesn't need the Phoenix Force to perform her greatest feats. There's a sense in which Jean Grey's powers have always been a subject of intense debate among X-Men readers. In part that's because she's been subject to a surprising number of retcons; Jonathan Hickman's House of X #1 treated her as an Omega level telepath but not telekinetic, for example, although recent comics seem to have rowed back on that and made Jean an Omega level telekinetic as well.
It's also because the precise relationship between Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force has never really been determined. That relationship is so intimate that it's sometimes difficult to say for certain where Jean Grey ends and the Phoenix Force begins; the upcoming Judgment Day event will apparently resolve the tension once and for all, clearing this up at last. When bound to the Phoenix, Jean has displayed telekinetic powers on an unprecedented level, even rearranging the molecules of her costume at will. One of Phoenix's most impressive feats was a moment of passion in which she held Cyclops' optic blasts back, allowing her to safely remove his glasses and look into his eyes. For Cyclops — a man who had rarely been able to take his glasses off since puberty — this was a joyous moment of true intimacy.
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Surprisingly, X-Men: Hellfire Gala #1 by Gerry Duggan, Kris Anka, Russell Dauterman, Matteo Lolli, and C.F. Villa, confirms Jean Grey no longer needs the Phoenix Force to accomplish that particular feat. The issue shows another moment of intimacy between Cyclops and Phoenix, husband and wife, in which Jean removes Cyclops'
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