Lady Grey

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caption=The real Lady Grey. Art by Charlie Adlard.
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Lady Grey
real_name=
species=Human
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="X-Men: Hellfire Club" #4
creators=Ben Raab
Charlie Adlard
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
status=Deceased
alliances=Hellfire Club
previous_alliances=
aliases=
relatives=Jean Grey, Rachel Summers (descendants)
powers=

Lady Grey is a fictional character of the Marvel Universe. She is an ancestor of Jean Grey and member of the Hellfire Club during the American Revolution.

Fictional character biography

Introduced in "Uncanny X-Men" #125 (September, 1979) Lady Grey is the look-alike ancestor of X-Men member Jean Grey and a member of the Hellfire Club during the 18th century.

During this issue the villain Mastermind attempted to turn Grey (Then under the guise of the Phoenix) into the Black Queen of the modern Hellfire Club by creating the illusion that she was living in the body of an ancestor named "Lady Grey". However, whether this ancestor was a real person or a creation of Mastermind was left uncertain.

This question was finally answered in "X-Men: Hellfire Club" #2 (February, 2000), part of a mini-series on the history of the Club. This particular issue was scripted by Ben Raab and drawn by Charlie Adlard. Lady Grey was revealed to have been an influential member, possibly a Queen, of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania branch of the Club during the American Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783).

The issue begins with a flashback to 1780. Specifically, it was at the moment this woman of stature noticed a fifteen-year-old blonde girl stealing an apple and managing to escape the pursuit of an angry male. Lady Grey approached the girl to find more about her. The girl was named Elizabeth Shaw, and had emigrated from England in 1778, hoping to find a better life in the colonies. Instead she had fallen into poverty and had to resort to stealing in order to eat. She was surprised to be confronted by Grey, but delighted to be invited to her quarters in the local Hellfire Club.

In private, Lady Grey had some explanations for Elizabeth. Others may have entered the club in pursuit of mere hedonism but Grey and like-minded thinkers had entered with the ambition to gain influence on the local, national and global scene. But people of such privilege would have to recruit a protégé from time to time, someone able to share the dreams, ambitions and passions driving their mentors – individuals with "fire" in their own hearts. She asked Elizabeth what about her own ambitions. Elizabeth answered "freedom", and Lady Grey recruited her.

Six months later, Grey was one of several members to turn their attention to Major General Wallace Worthington who had managed to replace the defector Benedict Arnold in command of the forces at West Point, New York. The man was reputed to be particularly fierce in his patriotism. The Club members began to search for weaknesses to exploit in order to place Worthington under their control. Grey had the idea to play match-maker by introducing him to her young protégé. Providing Elizabeth Shaw managed to marry him, Grey would have her agent in his own household. Worthington was instantly smitten.

Within months, Wallace Worthington and Elizabeth Shaw were married. Lady Grey considered the event a personal victory. Elizabeth was ordered to seduce her husband into confiding military secrets to her, which the Hellfire Club would use to end the "pitiful" American Revolution and assure the victory of the Kingdom of Great Britain. However Worthington continued to establish a reputation for loyalty to the cause and successful administration with the aid of his fellows Captain Steven Rogers; an ancestor of Captain America and Ulysses Bloodstone; an immortal born in the late Hyborian Age.

Lady Grey finally contacted Elizabeth in December, 1781 to enquire on what was the reason of the delay. The reason was that Elizabeth had actually fallen in love with her husband and could not betray him. Grey warned her that betrayal to the Club would result in her strings to be cut. Elizabeth was still confused and let her go. Apparently, Grey decided Shaw was a lost cause. Within hours, Wallace Worthington was murdered and his house burned, leaving behind only his widow and her lost dreams of freedom.

Whatever happened to Lady Grey and Elizabeth after the murder was not revealed. But the story hints that Elizabeth may have been pregnant, and it is implied that she is an ancestor of Warren Kenneth Worthington III, Archangel of the X-Men. Elizabeth was also implied to be a distant relation to Sebastian Shaw, Black King of the modern Hellfire Club.