The X-Men are no strangers to tragedy, as they have dealt with hatred and persecution for most of their lives as mutants in the Marvel universe. Although some members of the team like Jean Grey have had to overcome a few more personal tragedies than their teammates.
However, one of Jean Grey's greatest strengths is the ability to get back up stronger than ever after getting knocked down, which has enabled her to prevent just as many tragedies as she's suffered over the years – making her a great and powerful leader of both the X-Men and the developing mutant society of Krakoa.
10 Suffered: Traumatic Death of Her Childhood Friend Activated Her Mutant Abilities
When Jean was just a child, she was playing with her friend Annie when a bad frisbee toss led to a car accident that resulted in her death. This triggered Jean's mutant abilities as she telepathically connected with Annie as she died.
Jean fell into a coma for months as her mind relived the psychic trauma of the incident until Professor Xavier was able to help her heal. However, due to the extreme potential of her powers and her lack of control, he was forced to place mental blocks on her omega-level telepathy until she was old enough to control it better.
9 Prevented: Saved A Street Full Of People From A Crashing Ambulance
Jean Grey moved to Xavier's school shortly after and began training her abilities alongside the first class of X-Men, but she still struggled with her telekinesis due to her own subconscious fears of her power that led to her lack of confidence.
However, while she was taking a day off in the city, a crashing ambulance barreled down a street packed with civilians, forcing Jean to tap into her telekinetic abilities and save those in danger above the truck before stopping it within inches of herself, showcasing her future potential and power in her earliest days.
8 Suffered: Lost Her Sister Sara To The Phalanx
The Phalanx was a group of mutant-hating humans who used the transmode virus carried by Warlock and his alien race to assimilate other humans in their quest to exterminate mutants, though they were ultimately stopped by a core group of X-Men that included Jean Grey.
A long-running plotline involving the disappearance of Jean Grey's sister Sara grey-Bailey and her husband was randomly resolved when the Phalanx revealed that they had previously assimilated Sara to Jean's teammates. The tragedy was a bit lost in the poor handling of the dangling thread, but the Grey family was at least allowed to finally grieve.
7 Prevented: Stopped Madelyne Pryor's Demonic Sacrifice In Inferno
Mister Sinister created a clone of Jean Grey after her death/replacement by the Phoenix Force named Madelyne Pryor in order to pair her with Scott Summers/Cyclops and create a powerful mutant child, who would grow up to become the mutant known as Cable.
After Grey returned and Cyclops abandoned his family, Pryor made a deal with dark demons to become the Goblin Queen and attempted to sacrifice her child & other mutant infants in order to raise hell on Earth during Inferno. Jean entered into a final battle with Madelyne Pryor that resulted in her death and saved the world from a deadly demon invasion.
6 Suffered: Killed With A Magnetic Pulse By Xorn/Magneto
Jean Grey received a major power upgrade in the pages of Grant Morrison and Phil Jimenez's New X-Men. Her power levels increased and she reestablished her connection to the Phoenix Force after narrowly surviving death aboard a burning Asteroid M.
She returned to Earth to stop Magneto/Xorn's devastation of New York City, but he unleashed a concentrated EMP pulse on her that overloaded her body with a planetary-scaled stroke, resulting in Jean's longest-lasting death in her comic history.
5 Prevented: Altered Reality To Change The X-Men's Dark Future
Unfortunately, the death of Jean Grey at the hands of Magneto/Xorn led to a dark dystopian future ruled over by a Sublime-controlled Beast who spread his influence across the globe, threatening to end both humanity and mutantkind.
When Jean Grey is reborn in the White Hot Room of the Phoenix in the far future, she discovers that her death led to Cyclops leaving the X-Men and the eventual dark future. Jean used her powerful abilities as the White Phoenix of the Crown to rewrite reality by pushing Cyclops to move on in the past and stay with the X-Men while finding new love with Emma Frost.
4 Suffered: Repeatedly And Prematurely Resurrected By The Phoenix
The Shi'ar were inextricably connected to Jean Grey due to her relationship with the Phoenix. They feared the Phoenix due to its destructive cosmic power, which led them to attempt to kill it after bringing it back prematurely. This led the desperate and weakened Phoenix Force to seek out and resurrect Jean Grey, even though she wasn't yet ready for her inevitable rebirth.
Jean Grey was able to gain control and begged Wolverine to kill her, which he did repeatedly as the Phoenix Force continued to bring her back to life. Ultimately Jean was able to take control of the cosmic power and returned to the White Hot Room that restored the hosts of the Phoenix.
3 Prevented: Helped Stop Apocalypse From Taking Over London
Cyclops and Phoenix had a few adventures across time that were connected to Apocalypse's eternal battle for mutant superiority, stretching into the far future where Cyclops' son Cable was raised as a warrior – as well as to the past of Victorian England. The Further Adventures of Cyclops And Phoenix saw the couple sent to the past to ensure events leading to Cable's birth.
However, that also resulted in the creation of Mister Sinister and Apocalypse's first attempt to create his "Age of Apocalypse" by killing the British royals and taking over London before unleashing a plague on humanity. Sinister turned the plague on Apocalypse and weakened him, which allowed Cyclops and Jean Grey to combine their energies and stop Apocalypse's takeover.
2 Suffered: The Shi'Ar Completely Exterminated Her Family
The Shi'ar still lived in fear of the Phoenix Force, its connection to Jean Grey, and the potential of anyone with her genome that could potentially bond with the Phoenix, so they sent a deadly team known as the Death Commandos to Earth. During a Grey family reunion that was held to introduce Rachel Summers to her human family members, the Death Commandos arrived.
They quickly and horribly murdered every member of the Grey Family while also marking survivor Rachel with a deathbrand to track her in the future. While Jean Grey wasn't alive when her family was exterminated and the brunt of the trauma was held by her daughter Rachel Summers, Jean was left with a great deal of mourning upon her return.
1 Prevented: Killed The Poison Queen And Stopped Their Invasion
The original five members of the X-Men were brought from the past to the present during Brian Michael Bendis' All-New X-Men era, which put a young Jean Grey and her original allies into exciting new situations alongside the modern-day X-Men. The original five found themselves caught up with Venom in a multiversal invasion from the creatures known as the Poisons.
They began infecting heroes with symbiotes that allowed them to consume and take them over, which included Jean Grey. However, Jean was able to resist their control and used the hive mind of the Poison Queen to eliminate the Poisons while also manifesting herself a new body.
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