Thanks to Jonathan Hickman's relaunch of the X-Men for the Dawn of X era, Jean Grey is poised to once again become not only of the leaders of the new mutant free world, but also one of the most powerful members of the X-Men, the Quiet Council, and the entire mutant population of Krakoa.
Jean was recently confirmed to be an omega-level mutant by Hickman during his House of X/Powers of X event, which inspired us to take a look at a few powerful moments from Jean's history that earned her that classification. As Jean has also been the cosmically-powered Phoenix, we're going to try to focus on her non-Phoneix tasks today.
10 GLOBAL TELEPATHIC COMMUNICATION
Something established early in the X-Men mythology by Professor Charles Xavier is a telepath's need for technological enhancements like Cerebro to be able to extend their powers globally, such as using Cerebro to scan the minds of mutants across the entire planet.
Jean has shown repeatedly that she is not only able to scan and read minds globally using her telepathy, she has also cast her astral form around the planet with enough power that she appeared to other people around her instead of just her intended target, essentially psychically creating herself in the minds of anyone in the immediate area that she was astrally visiting.
9 PSYCHICALLY TORTURES EMMA FROST
Jean Grey and Emma Frost have not had an easy relationship over the years, stemming from their first encounters during the Dark Phoenix Saga. While the two have been able to work together while on the X-Men as the team's most powerful telepaths, they have had quite a few psychic battles over the years.
Jean really showed her telepathic dominance following her discovery of Scott Summers/Cyclops and Emma's psychic affair. In retaliation, Jean psychically exposed Emma's most painful memories and made her relive every terrible moment so Emma would understand how much Jean was hurting.
8 BROKE THROUGH TELEPATHICALLY SHIELDED HELMETS
There are quite a few characters in the Marvel Universe who are aware of their weaknesses to telepaths and have shielded themselves from possible mental attacks. Unfortunately, Jean has proven that she is often able to get around even the most advanced, and sometimes mystical shielding.
Two of the most memorable feats were when Jean was able to use her abilities to affect Juggernaut's mind through his magical armor to teach him empathy. She has also broken through Magneto's psychically-shielded helmet a couple of times to cast telepathic illusions.
7 BROKE THROUGH XAVIER'S PSYCHIC BARRIERS
Of course, not all psychic barriers are erected by technology or magic. Telepaths are forced to erect their own mental defenses to protect themselves from other psychics, and sometimes, from their own abilities. Professor Xavier is one of the most powerful telepaths on the planet and especially skilled in psychic barriers, having trained his students to create their own even without telepathy.
When Xavier's body was taken over by his psychic twin Cassandra Nova, Jean and Emma were forced to enter Xavier's mind and fight through the many layers of his mental defenses to find the truth about Nova. While Emma was stuck fighting on the first layer, Jean shattered her way through Xavier's barriers in no time.
6 MANIFESTS A TELEPATHIC PHOENIX RAPTOR
Jean's powers, like many psionic characters, change and fluctuate as her abilities evolve and she becomes more powerful. Her time with the Phoenix Force gave her abilities a boost/unlocked her potential initially, though other events continued to alter her abilities over the years.
During Chris Claremont's return to the X-Men in the "Revolution" relaunch, Jean's abilities were split with Psylocke who gained her telekinesis, while Jean's telepathy was further expanded. Jean was now able to now manifest an unblockable telepathic Phoenix Raptor that affected things mentally and physically, making it one of her most powerful telepathic attacks.
5 PUTS EMMA FROST'S DIAMOND FORM BACK TOGETHER
It's important to note that while Jean's Omega-level classification is for her telepathic ability, she is no slouch when it comes to her telekinetic prowess. She has exhibited not only incredibly focused control with her abilities but also intense displays of raw power.
She was forced to use both during Grant Morrison's New X-Men run, which saw Jean use her abilities to fuse the shattered diamond form of Emma Frost back together using her TK and her telepathy to borrow Hank McCoy/Beast's medical knowledge.
4 TOOK OUT BINARY
The X-Men have frequently operated in space due to their connections with the Shi'ar alien empire as well as their relationship with Dr. Peter Corbeau and his Starcore station, which has reappeared recently in the pages of Hickman's HoX/PoX. On one such mission, the X-Men were working with Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel while she was the cosmically-powered Binary.
Binary's powers had grown uncontrollably and she was being used to destabilize a white hole, so Jean had to not only use her TK to fly in space among dangerously powerful cosmic energies, but she also had to use her abilities to create a shield between Binary and the star she drew her abilities from, while also using her TP to keep Carol's synapses intact in the process.
3 RIPPED APOCALYPSE APART
While not an Omega-level mutant, Apocalypse is an eternal powerhouse that has been enhanced by celestial technology to become one of the most powerful and oldest mutants on the planet. in almost all of his appearances, he is a threat that requires the full force of the X-Men (and sometimes Avengers) to take down.
During "The Twelve" storyline, Apocalypse manages to take on some of the most powerful mutants as he attempted to take over a new host body, Nate Grey/X-Man. While he was able to telepathically neutralize both Jean and Xavier early in the battle, she is later able to break through Apocalypse's mental defenses while simultaneously ripping his body apart with her TK.
2 MOLECULAR RECONSTRUCTION
Grant Morrison's New X-Men run elevated Jean to new levels of power that she exhibited in many new ways as she took over the team following Cyclops' corruption by Apocalypse. During this time she began exhibiting her own energy Raptor effect, which has often been a symbol of her higher levels of power when she was bonded with the Phoenix.
During a battle with the scientifically-enhanced U-Men, Jean uses her TK to control the food in their body to make them vomit and defecate themselves, then restructures their guns while shredding their uniforms and threatening to tear them apart molecularly until they are nothing but "screaming, traumatized atoms." Don't mess with Jean Grey.
1 REWROTE THE UNIVERSE IN THE FUTURE
Now we've purposefully left off many of her Phoenix-empowered feats because frankly, there were more than enough examples of her power without being aided by the cosmic Phoenix Force. With that being said, we still have to mention one of her biggest moments as the White Phoenix of the Crown, which revealed that Jean and the Phoenix are forever one for eternity.
When Jean wakes up in the future and sees the mess of the world that occured due to her death in New X-Men, she is able to heal the broken future by taking the universe in the palm of her hands. She then changes the direction of reality by urging Cyclops to move on from her death and stay with the X-Men, altering the future.