it’s so,,, important to me,,, that the first time jean and emma face off, scott isn’t even there. the rivalry and the tension between them has so long been reduced to “two women fighting over a man” and it’s so gross.
when jean arrives, we see her drive to fight emma comes from a. emma has been torturing ororo and has just threatened her even further, and jean’s fucking pissed and b. jean’s heard about emma’s powers, and the phoenix wants a challenge. she likes the struggle, likes showing off, likes stretching her chops. seeing what both her and emma are actually capable of.
and like!!! all of that is so much more interesting than catty drama over a man. and it makes them so much more complex as foils to see their juxtaposed worldviews and ambition than for them to be “two women scott summers has been in love with.” like, truly, why did it ever get taken there in the first place. completely smoothbrain plot line