So I've been reading through all of X-Men from the start. Not long ago I went back and re-read Avengers Annual 10 and there's one panel where a little girl completely unrelated to the plot is introduced. This is her one and only appearance in the book and it has no impact on anything. It's strange that Claremont would name her. Two years later we're introduced to Madelyne Pryor in Uncanny X-Men 168. Was this ever resolved? I just quickly scanned through her article on Wikipedia and didn't see this mentioned. I'd maybe be tempted to put it down to Claremont just having the name going around in his head for some reason, but why name a completely pointless background character in the first place?

Hope it was just the name being reused.

There's a post on the CBR site that discusses this, actually. Check it out: http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/11/20/comic-book-legends-revealed-182/

@teclo: Madelyne Pryor was the name of the lead singer in a band that Chris Claremont liked. He just liked the name and wanted to use it for a more important character....don't look into it too much.

She was a great character. Tragic how things turned out.

and besides i think people called her maddie not maddy

I see. God damn it, Chris - you should keep notes for stuff like that. Though I do still find it odd that he bothered naming that girl. Even without Pryor being a character used in X-Men later on, it felt like that little girl was going to be important in that annual somehow.

@ageofhurricane:

Yeah, blame editorial. Claremont wanted Scott and Jean to settle down and get married, then move out of the storyline. Jim Shooter wanted Jean to die, so then Claremont made up Madelyne Pryor ("it's not Jean, I swear!") to just be a normal woman that Scott marries and leaves the comic with - but then the editor, presumably Shooter again, said "No, make it so she's actually a clone of Jean!"

Actually, Maddy and Cyclops were never intended to have a happy, peaceful life together. She wasn't originally intended as a clone of Jean, though.