It still happened in the 616-verse. And it wasn't the end of his run. The end of the Morrison run was the future, post-apocalypse scenario that had the inspiration for the Rover sentinel in this episode.
I know. I mentioned in my review that Rover came from Morrison's run, even if the episode did remind me of "Doom's Word Is Law" from FF:WGH, also written by Craig Kyle, which basically had the same plot, that only was a comedy like the rest of the show was, and W&TXM is serious.
The love for Jean is only a by-product of the love he had for Rose because Jean reminds him of Rose.
Wolverine has never really been a legitimate love rival for Jean. Also, prove to me that Wolverine in this show would truly be OK with the idea if he actually had to face it? You can't. Because it hasn't come to pass.
While Rose in ORIGINS helped iron out Wolverine's connection to sensitive red-heads, I always thought his love for Jean was genuine. They had chemistry and the impression I usually got was that if not for Cyclops, Jean likely would have dated him. As it was, she often was attracted to Wolverine and in later years would seemingly look for any excuse during a "we're about to die" sort of battle to make out with him. In a few alternate realities, including AGE OF APOCALYPSE, Jean Grey hooked up with Wolverine. While I do appreciate the role that Rose had in Logan's very early life, I never just thought that Logan only wanted Jean just 'cause in the comics. Otherwise, the whole triangle the three of them had would have been dull after a while. It was because Logan's feelings in the comics were legitimate that it lasted so long.
Now in this cartoon itself? No, I agree Logan may not have been a legitimate love rival, although he was clearly attracted and interested, and while Jean wasn't romantically interested, the biker did at least spark her curiosity.
You do have a point that Wolverine has not faced "Dark Phoenix Jean" in this show yet and he may be unable to actually kill her. It is true he may have simply been better at holding his emotions than Cyclops in that sequence (which is again astonishing, such a cool and collected Logan), or at least be able to tell Xavier he would be willing to do so from afar without actually having faced it yet. For all we know Logan could hesitate.
You do have to concede, at the very least, that Logan hasn't actively mourned Jean's loss on camera, though. Granted, none of the other X-Men besides Scott have seemed to, either.
This is different. Jean could be the start of basically the end of the world and there wasn't that same perspective in the Dark Phoenix saga.
The Dark Phoenix Saga was about her being a menace to the entire universe. Which I guess seems bigger than the planet itself and harder to wrap one's head around, but if anything that was a bigger perspective.
Look at how the X-men comics have recently addressed Xavier and the rift that now exists between himself and Cyclops. Xavier has done wrong. Xavier's not this perfectly infallible dude either he's made a lot of mistakes.
Oh, I know Xavier has made mistakes, not even including Juggernaut, Magneto, and Legion. Rather than just tell his students he needed to be left alone for a few months to plan for an alien invasion, Xavier was perfectly happy with having Changeling impersonate him and then having most of his X-Men (besides Jean) believe him to be dead, funeral and all. Then there's the whole business with Vulcan.
My only problem is that I think in recent years, as the "creepy cult leader" version from Ult. XM from Mark Millar became popular around 2002-2003, more writers in the 616 universe started attaching more "dark secrets" to Xavier's past, and more questionable actions. The biggest problem with that tactic is that if you blur the line between Xavier and Magneto too much, if you have Xavier seem no better than Magneto, then there really is no point to his X-Men, and that is a tough line to straddle. How can you follow the ideals of a man who is a complete fraud?
I won't say WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN's Xavier is at that level yet, but he is quite a bit cold and callous. He isn't nearly the passive empath of other animated versions. Wolverine seems to be the only person he seems to be actively trying to understand and help emotionally, and even that could be seen as him backing his horse to save the future. Future Xavier at the very least seems to care more about accomplishing the mission than on making sure everyone is hunky dorey, and while it may be shrewd, it also can be seen as cold.
The episode worked because the writers made Rover sympathetic and likable, and he was a bag of bolts.
