I think they are going to make it a natural evolution.
Or maybe link it to that machine Magneto used in the 1st movie cos after wolvie destroys it she acts a bit weird. like she felt something and at the beginning of x2 Scott tells jean she has been having problems with her power since liberty island.
Hmm you got a point there Kes.
When that machine was started by Rogue the white "flood" covered them all up. That could have evolved Jean into the Phoenix
Um... i think it was when cyclops was in that energy room and jean looks for him and scott sees her but not clearly and he shoots his blast thing and jean stops it.
I would add that he had recognized her before, because he attacked Jean,Magnéto & Mystique. Then Cyclops and Jean fight in this room, because Cyclops is under Stryker's control.
Jean: aaahh!!
Scott: Jean!! No! No! No!..it's alright, it's me..
Jean: Scott ?!
Scott: I'm so sorry...I can see you but I can't stop myself..I've tried, I'm sorry
Jean: Oh...I love you so much..
Scott: I love you...
Jean: Ahh...my leg
Jean and Scott: .............(silence for a while)
Jean: Scott....
Scott: .....??
Jean: Something's wrong....
In the text that I've bolded and italicized, it was clear that Scott saw Jean, and from what he said, "I can't stop myself, I've tried...I'm sorry", it just means that he recognized her. So all in all, all of you are correct.
I'd just like to say..."Hi Ev'body!!!" and now I’d like to add that, um, I like the idea of Jean becoming Phoenix through a natural evolution...it'd be waaay to hard, to long and too weird if they did the whole Shi'ar story, especially for people not accustomed to the comic book OR Cartoon (which changed the original Phoenix story too btw), So, having Jean go through a natural evolutionary period, kinda fits the movier-verse really well *I* think (after all, this is only my opinion! ~_^), also, as for the Liberty Island incident, I don't think Magneto’s machine affected Jean (LOL now watch Singer prove me wrong!), remember in the first movie when someone asks if Magneto’s machine affects mutants and i think it was Jean that said "It doesn't appear to" or something like that, it might affect Mutants, but if it did, then Toad, Sabretooth, Magneto and Mystique and all the other X-Men should have evolved by now too (maybe), I wonder if Jean was acting all wonky after Wolvie destroyed the machine because she sensed that Rogue had died...its a possibility, hopefully, we'll learn more in the third movie (which there will be because I command it! to happen lol...I’m such a nerd...) and then I’ll shut up about my theories...hmm, actually, i think I’ll just shut up now LOL
__________________
"Jean Grey no longer exists...speak only to The Phoenix!"
"Mutation. It is the key to our evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow and normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward..."
Its just an option. Maybe it only affected her for some reason
I just think its weird that she starts acting eird right after the machine is destoied and in the beginning of X2 Scott says she has been like that since Liberty island.