Rachel Summers, the Telepathic, Time-Traveler

Rachel Summers is a mutant with telepathic, telekinetic, and empathic abilities, as well as the power to travel through time. She is the daughter of alternate timeline Cyclops and Jean Grey, though her parentage was not initially revealed.

She was introduced in Uncanny X-Men #141 (January 1981) as a creation of Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and John Romita, Jr. Over her time in comics, she has worked with the X-Men, X-Factor, New Mutants, Excalibur, and other teams.

Rachel originated from Earth-811, an alternate future Earth that was seen in the “Days of Future Past” storyline. In her world, Senator Kelly’s assassination prompted the approval of the Mutant Registration Act and a future where Sentinels hunted mutants. She was kidnapped by Ahab, who used drugs and hypnotherapy to turn her into a hound who would hunt for other mutants.

While performing the task, Rachel’s psychic abilities connected her to her targets, and the overload of grief broke the hold over her, and she attacked Ahab. In retaliation for what she’d done, Ahab sent Rachel to a mutant concentration camp where she became friends with prisoners like Wolverine, Magneto, Storm, Kate Pryde, and Franklin Richards.

Hoping to change their bleak, dystopian existence, Rachel sent Kate’s consciousness back into her younger self to prevent Senator Kelly’s assassination. When it did not change anything, Rachel sent her astral body back in time and found that she had unintentionally sent Kate to an alternate past. As Rachel returned to her present self, the Phoenix Force followed.

She bonded with the Phoenix Force, traveling to the timeline where Rachel had sent Kate. Rachel gained access to the Phoenix power and started working with teams like the X-Men.