WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Marauders #19 by Gerry Duggan, Stefano Caselli, Edgar Delgado & VC's Cory Petit, on sale now.
Over the years, there have been a few different incarnations of Jean Grey. From clones like Madelyne Pryor to The Phoenix Force, which replicated her essence, Jean Grey has taken a variety of forms. Recently, Jean's most horrifying doppelganger made a comeback.
In Marauders #19, by Gerry Duggan and Stefano Caselli, the Morlocks are enlisted by Callisto and the Marauders. The Morlocks' job is to take Madripoor's Lowtown back from the Reavers, who are razing the area. Among the ranks of these Morlocks is Bliss, a mutant who looks exactly like Jean Grey. Bliss has an extendable tongue that has its own horrifying face. With the rest of the Morlocks, Bliss goes to Lowtown and helps defeat the Reavers. Using the venom from her retractable tongue, Bliss is effective in taking the Reavers down. Afterward, Bliss is seen among the rest of the Morlocks, celebrating Lowtown's transformation into "Mutietown."
Bliss is a very specific Morlock, one whose visual similarity to Jean Grey calls back to her first few appearances in Uncanny X-Men #261-263, by Chris Claremont, Marc Silvestri, Kieron Dwyer and Bill Jaaska. Bliss was introduced as part of a group of Morlocks who were under the leadership of Masque.
The Morlocks' leader used his powers to make each mutant look like a member of the X-Men. Masque reshaped Bliss' face to make her appear more like Jean Grey. Bliss and the Morlocks ambushed Jean, who was startled to see her doppelganger. Jean had recently fought Madelyne Pryor, leaving her to believe Bliss was another clone.
After the Morlocks captured Jean, Masque made Bliss appear more like Storm. When the Morlocks captured Colossus and Callisto, Bliss tried to poison Callisto with her venom. Fortunately, Forge took Bliss down and saved his fellow mutants.
Bliss later appeared in Uncanny X-Men #487, by Ed Brubaker and Salvador Larroca, revealing that she and a few other Morlocks had survived the mutant decimation. Moreover, Bliss was still working under Masque as part of a mutant supremacist movement.
This was only part of Bliss' history of trouble-making, a pattern which continued when she came to Utopia in Nation X #1 by Christopher Yost and Michele Bertilorenzi. Here, Iceman had to stop Bliss and other mutants from taking over Utopia's water supply.
Bliss was also part of a group that tried to crucify Hope Summers in Generation Hope #17, by James Asmus and Takeshi Miyazawa, as well as a prison riot in X-Men: Gold #24, by Marc Guggenheim and Thony Silas. During all of her subsequent appearances, Bliss appeared as Storm, rather than Jean Grey. At this point, however, it appears that Bliss has returned to her appearance as Jean Grey for the first time since her introduction.
Wearing Jean's old X-Factor uniform, Bliss is visually reminiscent of Jean's time on the team. This era represented a transition for Jean, returning to the world after a long period of absence from the X-Men and life in general. Jean's time on X-Factor was an adjustment, but it turned out for the best. As part of X-Factor, Jean helped reunite the original five X-Men and reignite Professor Xavier's dream of mutant/human coexistence.
During this time, most of the actual X-Men were scattered across the globe and presumed dead. Jean was a key factor in reuniting the X-Men, working with her original teammates on X-Factor as well as Muir Island X-Men like Banshee and Forge. Jean even wore a spare X-Men uniform during Bliss' introductory issues. Returning to her original appearance as X-Factor's Jean Grey, Bliss represents a very specific piece of X-Men history.
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