So, it seems that Madelyne Pryor is back to life and looking to wreak havoc on the lives of the X-Men and Scott Summers. Good. You don't know how much that pleases me. "What does that mean?" you might be asking. Well, I'm glad you asked.
After the death of Jean Grey(her first death, during the Dark Phoenix Saga) Scott quit the X-Men, and went off to deal with the death of the first woman he truly loved. While he was traveling, he ran into a beautiful red-head named Madelyne Pryor. In many ways, she reminded Scott of Jean and the two began to date. In time, Scott proposed to Maddie and they married. Not long after, Maddie became pregnant, and gave birth to a son, Nathan Summers, the man who would become Cable.
Life was almost perfect for Scott, Maddie and Baby Nathan. The three of them moved to Alaska and Scott was practically retired from the X-Men, and had a loving wife and fledgling family. However, this is where the happy part of the story ends. Scott learns that Jean has returned to life, and in one of the real scumbag moves in comic history, ditches Maddie and baby Nathan in Alaska and goes running back to Jean. Scott, along with Jean and the other original X-Men found X-Factor, with Scott barely giving his wife and child any thought at all.
Now, I'd guess that Scott's actions must have disturbed a lot of fans, because Marvel did a 180, and began to paint Maddie as the bad guy. Suddenly, it is revealed that Maddie is the clone of Jean Grey, created by Mr. Sinister, who only needed Maddie around to produce a child with Scott. On top of this revelation, Maddie decides to sacrifice baby Nathan to demons for nearly limitless powers. This all leads to the "Inferno" crossover in the late 80's. At the conclusion, Marvel has Maddie killed off, which oh so conveniently leaves Scott to take his son and get back together with Jean.
So, problem solved. Everyone forgets that Scott ABANDONED his infant son and wife, and we get Maddie out of the way, which gives us the reunification of Scott and Jean... Now, not so fast. Maddie was never originally the clone of Jean Grey. Let's get that out in the open right away. She was a powerless, regular human being. Only after Scott abandons her is she suddenly revealed as being Jean Grey's clone and having powers, which was, I'd guess only done to make Scott seem like less of a scumbag and Maddie look like the bad guy. Maddie's only real crime was that Marvel had to get rid of her in order to reunite Scott and Jean.
This wasn't the end for Maddie, as she was resurrected by Nate Grey, who was in need of a mother figure when he first arrived on our world. Maddie served as his mother figure, until writer Terry Kavanagh took over Nate's X-Man comic. For some horrible reason, one to this day I can't comprehend, he decided to transform the relationship between Nate and Maddie from mother and son into pseudo lovers. That act tarnished both characters, and the less said about that hideous act the better... Anyway, Maddie ends up dying again during the X-Man comic series.
Now it seems Maddie is back again. I personally am hoping that the writers of Uncanny X-Men, Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction, don't go the conventional path with Maddie's return. I'd much rather see her as a woman who was truly wronged by Scott Summers and lost her child and life thanks to him. Of course, I'm pretty sure all of Scott's horrible actions towards Maddie will be forgotten and Scott will come out looking like the good guy, with Maddie just being another villain. I really and truly hope that this isn't the case. Maddie deserves much better.
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