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The Weird Relationships of the X-Men — Wolverine and Jean Grey

There's always been a connection between the two but where do they stand with each other now?

Life as a member of the X-Men is always full of surprises. If the X-Men aren’t trying to save the world or their fellow mutants, they find themselves facing all sorts of strange developments in their everyday lives (usually involving time travel or death). When it comes to having a relationship, you can almost forget about having a normal one.

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Take Wolverine and Jean Grey. Jean spent most of her time with Scott Summers. When Logan came into the picture, he was immediately smitten with her and Jean seemed to have a fascination with Logan. Logan never cared if she was with Scott. He knew what his heart wanted. With the different adventures, incarnations of the team, and even Jean dying a couple times, Jean and Logan never really had a chance to figure out if there was anything between them. Logan was often busy on other adventures or in other relationships but they both held a special place in their hearts for each other. When she died a final time, that was the end of it.

Then Beast brought the young version of himself and the other original X-Men into the present. This meant a teenage Jean was now around and Wolverine was running the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Their meeting was a bit awkward with the age difference but shouldn’t it always have been awkward?

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Logan was born in the late 19th Century. That puts him around a hundred years older than Jean. Now that Old Man Logan is in the present and Jean is in college, the age gap is even bigger. We have to hope the dynamic between the two will evolve into a different state.

Logan feels responsible for the death of the X-Men in his timeline. Seeing the younger versions of them alive (in the present timeline) could be a constant reminder of what he was forced or tricked into doing. Because they are alive, perhaps he’ll overcome his reluctance to re-join the team in order to ensure they don’t face harm in other areas. Tension is high and the general public is, once again, extremely anti-mutant. Jean may be more than capable of taking care of herself but Logan may feel a grandfatherly connection and desire to look out for her.

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Jean also was reluctant to spend time with the X-Men. She wanted to spend some time away, which is why she enrolled at Empire State University. With the failed relationships with and Scott, Hank, and that jerky kid in her class (seen in EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN #2), and knowing she'll possibly end up getting killed in the future, spending time with Old Man Logan could be the distraction she needs.

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Logan needs to further heal from the horror he's likely constantly reliving. Jean can help him get passed than and continue on his path of being a great hero. In return, Logan can give Jean another purpose and reason to be part of the X-Men once again.

The main thing we should all agree on is the idea of a romance between the two should be completely off the table. Wolverine's always been super old compared to everyone else. This is an opportunity for Logan to continue what he recently started as headmaster of the Jean Grey School. He has a lot of experience and with mutants recently having become sterile and the threat of the M-Pox, the X-Men and mutants need all the help they can get. Logan can help the younger generation learn to protect themselves and live up to their full potential.

Logan has never had great luck in the romance department anyway. Many of his past loves have ended up getting killed. It's almost as if he's cursed. He can help Jean find her way back to the X-Men. While he's at it, maybe he can spend some time with X-23 as well since she was like a daughter to him. Bottom line, the debate as to whether or not there Jean and Logan should have a relationship is now settled. They are moving onto a new sort of relationship where they can help each other heal from their wounds and focus on being great members of the X-Men. Love never comes easy for the X-Men. They can learn to move beyond that.

Would you like us to look at some of the other weird relationships within the X-Men?