Although Star Wars and the X-Men are both currently published by Marvel Comics, mutants and Force users continue to live in separate universes. Nonetheless, aspects of Star Wars have touched the X-Men over the years – and may have influenced one X-Man to walk the unique path of a Grey Jedi. While it might sound strange, the mutant Kitty Pryde has shown she has a special relationship with both the light and dark sides of power.
Those who’ve followed Kitty’s career since the beginning know the young mutant has always had a fascination with Star Wars and science fiction, but as her career took off, Kitty showed both a fascination with what could be considered Marvel’s Light and Dark Sides of the Force.
From the start, Kitty showed she was a huge Star Wars fans. Early X-Men comics saw her reading Star Wars comic books (published by Marvel), and Kitty even cosplayed briefly as Darth Vader when she got to fool around with an alien clothing machine. In one amusing scene, Kitty told the X-Men she would “use the Force” to lift their Blackbird jet out of the ocean and actually seemed to telekinetically move the jet like Yoda – only for Colossus to show that he’d been dragging the jet out of the water the entire time.
Like most young Star Wars fans, Kitty probably imagined herself as a young Luke Skywalker. Later, however, she showed some unsettling qualities that would be more associated with Sith Lords. Due to the constant prejudice she received as a mutant and the losses she suffered as an X-Men, Kitty developed some anger management problems and would try to solve her problems aggressively. In her miniseries Mekanix, Kitty was placed on academic probation at her university and required to go to therapy to deal with her anger issues. While she eventually opened up to her therapist, she continued putting up defenses, admitting she had fear and anger, emotions that could lead her down a dark path.
Kitty’s dark potential was recognized by many people who sought to mold her in their image. Although she ended up going to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and serving with his X-Men, Kitty was also targeted by Emma Frost, the White Queen, who wanted Kitty for her Hellfire Club. Emma actually manipulated events to get Kitty to leave Xavier’s school and attend her institution, creating an animosity between the two that would lead to years of resentment.
Kitty also became the unwilling student of Ogun, the ninja and martial arts master who taught Wolverine. During the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine miniseries, Ogun possessed Kitty Pryde and put her through a mental training session that gave Kitty the equivalent of a lifetime of ninja skills. Kitty recovered, but her time with Ogun left its mark and she gained a darker and harder edge from that point on.
Perhaps Kitty’s darkest connection, however, is her affinity for the Soulsword. A magical weapon created by Kitty’s roommate and friend Illyana Rasputin, the Soulsword was literally crafted from Illyana’s own sword. Capable of disrupting spells and using all sorts of dark magic, the Soulsword was potentially even more dangerous than a lightsaber. When the teenage Illyana apparently erased herself from existence, the sword appeared in a stone and would not budge for anyone except Kitty Pryde, due to the bond she had with Illyana.
Despite all of these dark influences, however, Kitty was not easily corrupted. In Excalibur #13, for instance, Kitty was captured by some mystical scientists who saw her connection to the Soulsword and its arcane power. However, they also concluded, “her soul is so equivalently noble, her spirit so fiercely independent, she should be able to wield it untainted.” For her part, Kitty chose to have nothing to do with the Soulsword, showing she could resist the temptation of power.
All of this suggests that Kitty ended up adopting a code similar to a Grey Jedi. In Star Wars lore, the term “Grey Jedi” had multiple meanings and could refer to a Force-user who walked the line between the light and dark sides of the Force without surrendering to the dark side. It could also mean any unorthodox Jedi who distanced themselves from the Jedi High Council and did not always follow the Jedi Code. While Kitty was never part of a Jedi High Council (as it doesn’t exist in the Marvel Universe), she still drew from her passions and inner darkness without fully surrendering to them.
Like a Grey Jedi, Kitty had dark influences that granted her power. Her time with Ogun left her with dangerous skills associated with villainy and an affinity for shadows – hence her new name “Shadowcat.” She also had no problem using her aggressive feelings in battle and was, in fact, instructed by Wolverine who knew how to harness his inner darkness to make himself a more efficient fighter. And despite her brilliance, Kitty often resorted to brutal tactics – punching friends and regular humans whenever she felt they were in the wrong, to the point where she was diagnosed with anger management problems.
Despite all of this, Kitty never made the descent into total villainy. She fought with the X-Men, adhered to their code, and genuinely believed in working toward a better future for mutant-human relations. That said, when she disagreed with Xavier or the X-Men, she had no problem walking away and trying to establish a life outside of her usual superhero existence. Like any good Marvel character, however, even these breaks required Kitty to use her skills to aid others, which she did, showing she also worked by her own moral code.
Kitty revealed this in Excalibur #83-85 when the Soulsword finally bonded with her, manifesting in her stomach, following Illyana Rasputin’s death. Rather than wield the sword untainted, like the sorcerers predicted, the sword initially drove Kitty Pryde insane and she tried to kill her friends with it. Once she was knocked out, however, she reverted to her normal self and was horrified by her actions. Still in possession of the sword, she used it nobly this time – drawing on its magical properties to drive an evil spirit out of her friend Nightcrawler and later giving up the power of the sword completely, showing this Star Wars fan doesn’t fall to the Dark Side so easily.