ONE of the biggest reasons I dislike and almost DESPISE the Peter/Jean pairing isn't simply because “Scott and Jean are a better couple.”which I could give multiple reasons in favor of,but Naaaah, It's that a LOT of the fanon surrounding Peter/Jean seems to require Jean Grey to become a COMPLETLY.DIFFERENT.CHARACTER.
Look at the fanarts.
1-Put Jean in Peter's Spider-Man suit. 2-Put MJ in Peter's Spider-Man suit. 3-Change the hair a little bit, or not even that...and suddenly the visual distinction between the two becomes almost entirely superficial.
And that's exactly what bothers me,Jean is not supposed to be “the new redheaded love interest for Spider-Man.”, because She isn't MJ with telepathy NOR a premium replacement for MJ because Peter/MJ's relationship is currently (and has been)for most, an embarassement in the comics.
She isn't “the redhead who understands Peter better.” either,she literally SA'ed him in the movie(which some people got a kick of I guess) and put people he loved at risk,at the end of the movie the takeaway should be that she is at stake 0 to become actually decent,not that she is ready to get a new BOYTOY,which,previously thanks to her reckless behavior btw,LED TO HIM GETTING SHOT!
She's Jean fucking Grey.
Jean has an enormous identity and mythology COMPLETLY independent of Spider-Man. this isnt an obscure fact, people should know this even from the DISASTROUS romantic triangles with hugh jackman movies (Wolverine),cartoons,etc as a whole.
Maybe they dont,but the thing is that She's originally one of the central characters of the X-Men, a telepath and telekinetic, a Phoenix host, a mutant dealing with constant persecution and existential threats, a teacher, a leader, a mother, and someone whose life is deeply intertwined with Scott Summers and the entire history of the X-Men.
And yet, in a lot of Peter/Jean fanart,heres what happens to all of that:
-Peter saves/comforts Jean while Jean somehow completly understands Peter.
-Jean wears Peter's suit(which I can understand for fanarts whatever)
But then she just becomes Peter's superpowered redheaded girlfriend...
At some point, what exactly is left that makes this Jean Grey rather than “MJ, but she's,more dependent on someone else somehow,and a mutant”???
That's my biggest problem with the pairing.
And the Scott issue makes this even worse
Scott isn't some random ex-boyfriend who happens to be inconvenient piece to the ship.
Jean and Scott have literal decades of SHARED history. They're teammates, leaders, family, parents, and have gone through some absolutely batshit insane stuff together. Their relationship is pratically woven into the mythology of the X-MEN itself.
Remove Scott from Peter's story and obviously Peter Parker is still fundamentally Peter Parker.
Remove Scott from Jean's story and you're literally removing an enormous structural component of who Jean is.
Peter doesn't need Jean to be Spider-Man,sure, Jean also doesn't need Scott to possess an identity either, obviously, but pretending Scott can simply be REPLACED by Peter without fundamentally changing Jean's character is ridiculous.
And that's where the “MJ 2.0” feeling comes from.
Peter/Jean fanon frequently doesn't expand Peter's world by introducing him to Jean Grey's world.
It takes Jean Grey and moves her into Peter Parker's world,like any other spider man fantasy,the female characters are just add-ons to Peter,and instead of them having something that was much more understandeable as a mentorship,it became seen as unecessary romance and the actual "ideal outcome" between characters that literally have no reason to follow that path.
Instead of Peter having to enter the X-Men's world, understand mutant politics, understand Jean's responsibilities, understand her history with Scott, her family, the Phoenix, her complicated relationship with power and responsibility, etc.(Which tbh would thankfully never happen),even in scenarios with context from the comics people have Jean simply becoming another person orbiting SpiderMan.
Another thing is that this Spider man fantasy of saving her is especially bizarre.
Jean has spent decades dealing with powers that are vastly more dangerous and psychologically complicated than ANYTHING Peter could possibly “teach” her how to handle.
She doesn't need Spider-Man to rescue her from herself.
She doesn't need a man to make her powers manageable.
She DOESN'T NEED Peter to give her "purpose".
If anything, the interesting question would be what Peter would have to learn from Jean.
But that's rarely what the fanon actually focuses on.
The ship's internal logic is as complex as the critical thinking behind it:
So once again, Jean's enormous character history gets reduced to “powerful redhead who needs Spider-Man.”
Yeah, That's not Jean Grey,but she really seems like She's being cast in the MJ role.
And that's precisely why the “Jean Grey + Spider-Man suit” fanarts are so revealing.
Because when you strip away the X-Men costume, the Phoenix mythology, Scott, Rachel, Cable, the mutant experience, the X-Men, etc., what are you left with?
Another redheaded woman standing next to Spider-Man.
Jean Grey should not have to become Spider-Man's next MJ to justify her existence in his story,and frankly, I find the idea that there seem to be fans who are dissatisfied with Peter/MJ and therefore immediately start looking for another iconic redhead to slot into Peter's romantic life incredibly reductive.
Jean Grey deserves better than being somebody's MJ replacement.