rumor mill

Rumor: Scott Summers is not Rachel's father

Currently, there has been nothing other than vague circumstantial evidence that Scott isn't Rachel's biological father.

In Excalibur #74, Mr. Sinister examined Rachel's DNA and noted that it was an alternate Summers' line, but nothing suggested that he found that Rachel wasn't a Summers.

Claremont had been laying the foundation for a major revelation that Rachel was the product of the Phoenix Force and Jean Grey, with no actual father involved. (like in the Star Wars Prequels where the Force produced Anakin Skywalker).

This is eluded to in the Uncanny X-Men Annual #14 (Days of Future Present Part 4), when Scott and Susan Richards have been turned into Hounds by Ahab and told to find their children. Sue can easily find her son, Franklin, but Scott cannot find Ray.

Ahab says to them, "Now, since you have a special affinity to the location of your blood relations tell me where they are."

Scott replies, "Master-- I-- cannot find her!"

Ahab thinks, "That shouldn't be. He isn't lying, he genuinely doesn't know. But she's his daughter. Even her psi-talent shouldn't be able to masque her from him."


Whether Scott is or is not genetically Rachel's father, Earth-811 Scott was the man who raised Rachel as his daughter and is the person who Rachel sees as her father.

Rumor: Rachel was de-aged when she returned in X-Treme X-Men 45

Not true, at least according to Ed Brubaker (no word on what Claremont or other writers think).

Rachel Grey's juvenile behavior and some references to Kitty being older than Rachel had led some fans to believe that Rachel had been de-aged.

Current Uncanny X-Men writer Ed Brubaker was asked by about this by a fan on CBR on 9/1/06 and he replied, "I assumed that Rachel is in her early to maybe mid-20s, but that's just my view from how long she's been around."

Rumor: Bogan's telepath in X-Treme X-Men was originally going to be Psylocke

True.

Psylocke died in X-Treme X-Men #3. Claremont had intended to bring back Betsy, in her original body, by having Bogan ressurect her and using her as his pet telepat. This idea was shot down by the new "Dead is Dead" policy of Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada, to prevent writers from killing characters off and immediately bringing them back.

Claremont had other plans for Rachel when he started X-Treme. At that point, Rachel had been just brought back from the End of Time and was last seen going to college in Cable. Claremont had intended to introduce Rachel Summers, Moonstar, Forge, and Wolfsbane as new team-members in X-Treme X-Men #12, but wasn't allowed to do it. He posted on ComixFan: "That same general timeframe should also introduce Forge, Rahne Sinclair, Kitty and (maybe, just maybe)Rachel Summers to the cast."

Claremont later explained in a post on X-Fan that he wasn't allowed to use Rachel since X-Books editor Mark Powers had given control over Rachel's character to Cable writer David Tischman, who did want to use Rachel but was also prevented from using her due to editorial interference. But even after Tischman was left and the Cable solo book was canceled a short time later, Claremont was still prevented from using Rachel.

Rumor has it that Claremont also wanted to have Bogan's telepath turn out to be Jean, but that idea was also rejected, and Claremont was finally allowed to bring Rachel back.

Rumor: Tischman wanted Rachel to appear in Cable

True.

After Weinberg was fired from Cable, David Tischman was brought in to replace him, and to change the direction of Cable.

In an interview with Cinescape, Tischman said:"I think I've done some really good work on the book, and as my proposal showed (it was printed in the back of issue #100), I had stories planned for the next three years. China, Myanmar, the Askani Institute, Rachel [Summers] - there was a lot going on. But my schedule just got too tight."

Rachel wasn't going to have a major role in Tischman's Cable, but only a one issue guest appearance where she founded the Askani Institute.

Tischman's last issue of Cable issue was 104 (June 2002), and the last issue of the series was 107.