This is "Foundationed Deep," a feature where we look at particular odd/strange/interesting instances of retroactively connecting different comic book characters (for instance, Uncanny X-Men #268 retroactively established that Wolverine knew both Captain America and the Black Widow from World War II). Today, we look at how Cyclops and Jean Grey really met.

This is a funny example of how all of these things end up inspiring each other. A little while ago, I did one of these about Havok's first meeting with Mister Sinister. In that piece, I wrote about Cyclops' past with Mister Sinister when Cyclops was an orphan. There was a moment then that played into today's article. However, when I went to go write that article, I realized that the same story also demonstrated that Jean Grey and Professor X knew each other way before the X-Men began, so I figured I should write about THAT connection first, which I did. So now here we are.

Okay, as noted in the Jean Grey article, when Jean Grey seemingly meets the X-Men for the first time in X-Men #1, they are already full formed together besides her...

A few years later, we learned more about the origins of the various X-Men, as that was never really a priority in the main series, so it became something that just popped up in some back-up stories four years in.

In a back-up feature that ended in X-Men #42, we learned that Scott Summers was being hunted by a super-villain that he had inadvertently teamed up with while Scott was a runaway and needed someone to help him. Scott met Professor Charles Xavier and they stopped the bad guy together and Xavier asked Scott to become his first X-Men...

Since Xavier is also in the story I'm going to show you later, then that means he knew Scott was around but what, just waited until he was at his lowest moment before he helped out? Every retcon just makes Xavier looks more and more like a jerk.

Two issues later, in Iceman's origin story, we see Cyclops and Professor X decide to make Iceman the second X-Men...

How come that never gets mentioned? Dude was recruited officially second and unofficially third! He should bring that up all the time. "Oh yeah? You know I was the third X-Men ever?" Although, by now, I'm sure there have been twelve retcons that prove that there were seventeen different X-Men teams before this one and Xavier just didn't want to tell anyone for some reason.

In any event, X-Men #1 was the first time that Cyclops, who was with the X-Men first, met Jean Grey, who was the last of the original X-Men, right?

Not so fast!

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In Classic X-Men #42 (in a story by Chris Claremont and Mike Collins), a doctor at Scott Summers' orphanage tries to find him new parents...

Sinister couldn't have that, so he captured the doctor and brainwashed her and turned her against Scott and then had the prospective adoptive parents killed...

Super messed up, right?

Anyhow, he was all super sad and then Xavier and Jean (who had been hanging out for some time at this point) came to visit him!

Awwww...so Jean Grey gave Scott Summers the inspiration to keep going even though Mister Sinister had broken him down? Isn't that freakin' adorable!

Also, when he met Jean for real a couple of years later, he could tell her that she was literally the girl of his dreams!

Okay, that's it for this installment! If you can think of a good example of two comic book characters being retroactively connected to each other, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com and I might feature it here!