Since you guys seem aware of loads of X-continuity, if you could go back and change something about the X-Men, what would it be?
BRUBAKER: Id have it not become popular. [Laughs] And not spawn off 18 spinoff titles. I dont know. How can you do that? How can you choose one thing from back in time? I guess I would
CAREY: Not bring Jean Grey back. Not have Jean sleeping underneath the Hudson Bay.
BRUBAKER: Yeah. I would undo the initial Jean Grey resurrection. Having her come back and be the Phoenix is fine because the Phoenix is reborn. What is that, X-Factor #1 where the Phoenix turned out not to be Jean Grey? I still refuse to acknowledge that whenever Ive written anything about Jean and Phoenix. As far as Im concerned, Jean Grey was killed on the moon [in Uncanny X-Men #137].
CAREY: Yeah.
BRUBAKER: And the Jean Grey that came back is the same Jean Grey as that one. I refuse to believe that Phoenix and Jean Grey were two separate entities.
CAREY: Yeah, it sucks.
BRUBAKER: That ruins the whole Phoenix storyline as far as Im concerned. Oh, so it wasnt really Jean Grey? Scotts just like sleeping with some weird entity that disguised herself as Jean Grey and left her in a cocoon that looks just like the one that Adam Warlock was in? If you wanted to bring Jean back, there was a million ways that you couldve done it.
CAREY: You just go crazy at that point because its like you have to unlearn two or three years of story. Its like Bobby Ewing in the shower [on the TV drama Dallas].
BRUBAKER: Ah, Bobby Ewing in the shower.
YOST: I honestly dont know what I would change. Beyond Phoenix, so much would unravel if you undid something because its all so complicated. I think thats one of the biggest problems with getting new people in.