Goblin Queen

Name: Madelyne Pryor
Group: Sisterhood of Mutants, Hellfire Club
1st Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #240
(September, 1988)

"Surprise. It appears your devices have limits. And I don't."
—Goblin Queen

Madelyne always bore a striking resemblance to the (then) presumed deceased Jean Grey. Numerous individuals mistook her for Jean reborn. To make matters more suspicious, Madelyne's mind was closed to Professor X and she was the sole survivor of a mysterious plane crash, which occurred at the exact moment the Dark Phoenix committed suicide on the Moon, or so she thought.

In reality, she was a clone of Jean created by Mister Sinister. Mr. Sinister found that a union between the X-Men, Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Jean Grey (Marvel Girl), would produce a powerful mutant. Sinister hoped he could control such a mutant and use it to defeat Apocalypse.

At the time, Jean, actually the Phoenix, was acting recklessly, so Sinister created a clone of her. Sinister's plot was to produce a child from the union of Madelyne and Scott, whom he believed would become a genetically superior mutant. To Sinister's disappointment, Madelyne had no life and did not develop any mutant abilities at puberty as he had hoped. Sinister left Madelyne in her incubation tube as a failed experiment.

It was at the moment of the Dark Phoenix's death that a spark of the Phoenix Force was accidentally bestowed on Madelyne's body and renewed Sinister's interest. After Dark Phoenix died on the moon, the Phoenix sought to return the "borrowed" portion of Jean's soul to her body which was in suspended animation. Jean instinctively rejected the Phoenix and it wandered the globe, lost. Eventually, it became attracted to Madelyne, since she was an exact genetic clone of Jean. The Phoenix Force searched for the next best thing, giving a spark of itself to Madelyne, granting her a life force and some of Jean's memories.