X-Men’s Jean Grey Just Pulled a Luke Skywalker

One of Marvel’s original X-Men, Jean Grey, just pulled a play out of the playbook of Luke Skywalker from Star Wars.

SPOILERS for X-Men Red #9 by Tom Taylor, Roge Antonio, and Rain Beredo follow.

Luke Skywalker made his return to the Star Wars saga in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Luke played a key role in saving the Resistance from complete annihilation by standing alone against Kylo Ren and the First Order while Leia and her followers made their escape. He even faced his former apprentice in solo lightsaber combat.

Kylo Ren was enraged when he learned that all this was done without Luke even being on the same planet. Instead, the Jedi master used the Force to project a version of himself onto the planet Crait while his physical body was still on the planet Ahch-To.

Meanwhile, in the Marvel Universe, Jean Grey is back and leading her own team of X-Men as they fight for her modern interpretation of Charles Xavier’s dream.

Cassandra Nova, Xavier’s twisted twin sister, has been standing in Jean’s way the entire time, sowing hatred and rage towards mutants among humankind. What’s worse is that Cassandra is as powerful a telepath as her brother was and has used those gifts to force other mutants like Forge to work for her.

More recently, Cassandra Nova decided to pit psychic against psychic. Rather than face Jean Grey herself, Cassandra Nova took control of the mind of Prestige, aka Rachel Grey, Jean Grey’s daughter from the “Days of Future Past” timeline. Against her teammate’s protests, Jean agreed to face Rachel.

Jean gains the upper hand in the fight. When Cassandra realizes that Rachel is resisting her controls, Nova begins punishing Prestige. Jean strikes a deal. She agrees to let Cassandra take her best shot at her so long as she lets Rachel go first. Jean promises she will not move to dodge or deflect the blow. Cassandra agrees and, with a single move, seems to obliterate Jean Grey.

Cassandra is startled then to hear Jean’s voice in her mind. Jean explains that she kept her end of the bargain. She didn’t move. She simply wasn’t where Cassandra thought she was.

Jean used the power of Cerebro to amplify her own psychic gifts, allowing her to psychically project herself across miles to face Rachel and Cassandra.

While the ploy is pretty similar to the one pulled off by Luke in The Last Jedi, the outcome is different. Jean lives and is ready to battle Cassandra Nova for real with the X-Men behind her. Luke, having used the last of his life’s energy, died on Ahch-To, and we now know exactly what killed him.

What do you think of Jean Grey’s Luke Skywalker move? Let us know in the comments!

X-Men Red #9 is on sale now.