So I am very very confused about her diamond form. So what I know is that it grants her extreme durability, removes the need for oxygen breathing stamina and reduces the effect of emotions. But it's supposed to be telepathic invulnerability also. Then how come in Grant Morison's New X-Men Jean was able to break through. Was it just a defense and they were still on the astral field or was it just because Jean had Phoenix. Also how about Martha? How was she able to keep both Emma and Cyclops down whilst Emma was in diamond form. Also didn't Xavier and Emma extract the void from her while in diamond form?

The Void sliver is inside Cyclops right now, and knowing there's a certain anime trope associated with it and the fact that Scott is dead, it doesn't sound all that good.

It also can be easily the way how you resurrect him without it being done ridiculously. One might speculate there's also a sliver of Apoc still in there, and Phoenix. Simply, polygamy for all.

It's supposed to be pretty tough. Tanking a blast from a Celestial ((but lost an arm)), though from what I've read her diamond form like most diamonds has a flaw, its how she was shattered.

Regarding the telepathy invulnerability question, its a lot like characters saying they have telepathic shielding. People assume its binary in nature in that if you have it you are absolutely protected, and if you don't any old telepath can waltz in and play havoc. I personally think of it more like a bullet proof vest, great protection against small arms fire but higher caliber stuff or projectiles specifically designed to penetrate it will tear right though.

It can be destroyed by hair.

I think these days it's really impossible to pin down what anybody's personality or power levels are. Each writer does whatever the hell they want without regard for anything else

@sprior93: But she can punch through Black Bolt???

Ah.... the IvX fights.... There are bad fights in comics all the time I mind you, but those set a whole new record for its sheer amount of "suspension of disbelief" per capita...

@sprior93: .....the hair thing hasn't even begun to register through my head yet, and until it does Emma was so obviously carrying an uneven chunk of diamond in her pocket and.....dropped it.... But yeah her strength is like bare minimum for super strength just the telepathic "invulnerability" confuses me.

@adamtrmm: Indeed. Those fights absurdity are only tied with AvX in absurdity. My god, they were awful.

As far as invulnerability in psychic defenses go, its reliability has had a pretty good track record, failing only against some of the most powerful if I an not correct. (At least where Jean is concerned. I mean, we are talking about the woman who has an attack that no shielding can protect against. A woman who could attack a helmeted Juggernaut, the Hulk, and later with more experience, Magneto for an entire issue.)

Strong enough to take on World War Hulk's smashes. Can't get any better than that.

Emma's Diamond Form is one the most durable, able to take direct hits from Storm's lightning, Celestial, WWHulk among other threats. Her only Flaw is located between her eyes, and when struck with enough significant force (a Diamond Bullet) she shatters, aside from that she is nearly unbreakable. Her Diamond has survived hits that ripped open Colossus. That Medusa shit is so whack, no way her hair could crack Emma, Hulk even admitted he could not break her, and her hair is far from that powerful. Emma’s only limit comes from her flaw, extreme heats, & cosmic blast, & her telepathic negation.

@torzone: Wait when did Hulk admit he couldn't break her diamond form?

I think there is no telepathic immunity or resistance when it comes to jean.

Medusa's hair is said to be as strong as steal.

Emma should have not cracked.

Same as what happened in X-Men first class movie when mags stranggled her with the bed.

From what I know, Emma's Diamond Form is practically impregnable except to grade 7/7 physical or energy blasts, or to her video game weak spot. World War Hulk didn't explicitly say he couldn't break her, mostly that he didn't need to since he could pin her down indefinately. The Maestro however (an aged but more powerful version of Hulk) from Battleworld/Secret Wars implied he shattered Diamond in his time. Hulk exerts a class 100+ tonnes of strength, so an unquantifyable amount of strength is required to properly physical damage her form.

Emma's Diamond form has about 1-2 tonnes of strength, which is enough to tangle with most humanoids. Black Bolt's strength varies significantly, but in the moment where he charges Emma it would have been a significant blow - but still not enough to injure her. As for Emma being able to puncture Black Bolt, that's Blackagars speed and force used against him - effectively spearing himself on Emma's arm.

Admittedly, Medusa's hair has the benefit of being able to wrap around and squeeze, but it's still all kinds of BS that a strength rating of 3/7 or 1-2 tonnes could even damage Diamond form.

In terms of psychic defence, it's close to complete immunity. Only Psylocke's psionic knives are apparently enough to penetrate and incapacitate through Diamond form. I was also under the impression Emma's invulnerable to pain while in Diamond form, though that may have changed.

Unsurprisingly, strength and durability just comes down to the writer, how many panels they have to do it, and what outcome they're reaching for.

@gladeusex: Did Psylocke's blade ever pierce her? Also your right one minute she's taking blasts from mini celestials that sent Colossus flying across San Francisco with a hole in his chest. Her durability depends on the writer. She's never felt pain in her Diamond Form and as for strength, it's always been relatively lowish. Diamond Form I'd say is more defensive, her main power is of course telepathy.

@psychichobo: An Emma and Psylocke has been largely theoretical since they've had little reason to fight. The one time they did fight was a largely telepathic fight in the Wolverine X-Men animated series (which Emma mostly won, though largely because Psylocke wasn't terribly fleshed out)

As for Diamond Form's role, it was kinda supposed to be a replacement for Colossus's durable brawler role for one of the X-Men teams, whilst minorly reducing her telepathic role while Jean was on the team. Even then, there were some moments where she could use telepathy in diamond form, but that was shortly lived. Present day, yes, she fufils both, being able to switch between them for versatility.

With her diamond form I've always been under the impression that it's invulnerable to anyone on her level or below in telepathy hence why Xavier and Jean were both able to invade her mind in diamond form but no one else. Just my theory.

@god_spawn: Well if it's power wise and not depending on skill than Sinister should've been able to telepathically take her down while in diamond form but he had to deal with Danger and Emma in a more physical way (aka like 12 cannons)

Xavier was able to penetrate Emma's Diamond form? Don't recall that instance. I know Jean has... and has often, punched through "telepathic shields. I agree that Medusa shouldn't have been able to crack Emma... tho to be fair Emma's powers were unstable after the events of the Phoenix in AvX.

@psychichobo: What has Sinister done that makes him a more powerful telepath to begin with?

@psyrix: Xavier was able to connect Scott to Emma's mind to extract the void sliver in her head, so not much for immunity on that part. And post AvX only her telepathy was broken, her diamond form was perfectly fine and she eventually regained control over her telepathy, so there was no "to be fair" about it. It was just bad writing.

She isn't able to use her telepathic powers.

@god_spawn: I always thought he had more power than Emma, sure Emma has more feats and skill but he possessed slightly more power similar to Exodus who I also thought was stronger than Emma. Skill wise I think Emma trumps Sinister but Exodus may be a 50/50.

@god_spawn: @psyrix: I'm pretty sure Diamond form prevents any psychic intrusion. Iirc, Emma had to quickly shift out of that form to let Cyclops and Xavier in, while Psylocke was on standby to mindwipe either if the void took over. Diamond form was enough to permanantly stall a sliver of the void, which only started drowning either of their minds once they were in. The only thing capable of psychically penetrating Diamond form is a psionic energy attack, something only Phoenix Jean Grey seems to be capable of.

Emma's powers weren't destabilized because of the Phoenix, but by mcguffin nanite tampering from Dark Beast. If the Phoenix was responsible in that area, Magik, Colossus and Namor would be affected, not Magneto as well.

@gladeusex: Xavier was still able to mess with her telepathically while in diamond form and his mind is stronger than hers so it makes sense still to my theory. Not saying it's fact but just throwing that out there.

And the messed up powers were because of the Phoenix. The nanites only exasperated the issue, and Magnetos went wonky due to getting hit. Stupid as it is, that's the plot point. And Magik and Colossus' powers were broken. The only one who wasn't affected was Namor but he was out of the X books at that point.

@gladeusex: @god_spawn: Oh I thought Xavier was able to penetrate diamond form to do the void thing, I didn't know she shifted out of it quickly. Also what other time did he mess with her telepathically while in diamond form? I only remember the one. Gladeusex's theory with Phoenix being able to penetrate it makes sense because it's Phoenix. Now the only question is why Martha Johannsson, a telepath not really on par with Phoenix, could get through. My theory is that I guess her defenses were still developing in that form as when she first turned a diamond in the same series she could both use her telepathy and be telepathically heard.

@gladeusex: But werent Magneto, and Magik and Collosus also destabilized? that was the reason why magik went back into the past to train with dr. strange (or something like that). And yes Emma's Diamond form is supposed to be immune to tp but Jean has gotten past it whilst Emma was in Diamond form (tho it's arguable whether or not she was actually using the phoenix or it was just visualization)... ut a common theme of Jean is that she's able to penetrate all Psychic defenses (even without the phoenix e.g. Juggernaut's helmet and Magneto's helmet)

@god_spawn: When did Xavier penetrate Emma's diamond form? And can u give the context cuz i honestly don't recall any instance of that

@psyrix: She had to physically stay in diamond form during the excorcism of the void from her, Charles provided a link to her and Scott's mind. Even if she shifted briefly, she would have had to shift back, which would have cut Xavier off with his telepathy acting as a base. That's literally all there is to it.

Quote for truth haha. I always felt there was a limit to poetic license that is gradually being ignored further and further.

I don't think she ever could. She simply doesn't have the strength nor can she generate the velocity to act as a lance unless some high tier strength guy assisted her with a fastball special. She is pretty solid though so that panel was more Black Bolt impaling himself on a stake at high velocity.

To answer the OP. Are you looking for qualitative or quantitative limits? I have no idea how much her diamond form can stand but it is pretty strong. It's main characteristic flaw is that it fails immediately because it's so brittle so it's either the form withstands whatever she's being hit with completely and she's unscathed, or it yields and breaks catastrophically like when she took a blow from a celestial and lost an arm. No in-betweens.

What is lucky for her though is that, much like Piotr, Emma's diamond form doesn't have organic limitations like respiration, infection etc so depite not having a healing factor she can be knitted back together with some standard high-level, sci-fi tech as long as she doesn't revert to human form.

For the record, the same Celestial drone which blast "ripped Colossus open" didn't directly hit Emma, and still she got her arm cut off.

@god_spawn: i don't think xavier is powerful enough to penetrate her mind when she is in diamond form

Her mental defenses are absolute. The moment with Martha was only because some of the traits of her diamond form hadn't been established yet. Same with the moment with Jean, who affected her telepathically, although she had the Phoenix at the time. The diamond form was very new at that point. Since then, it's defenses have become more well established. Even Jean cannot use telepathy on her diamond form. This can be confirmed since in All New X-men 30, Jean says that if she telepathically blasted Emma, Emma would just turn diamond and Jean would end up hurting herself.

Also Hulk at one of his angriest points was unable to crack or break her at all. She technically had part of her diamond form cracked against Medusa in Inhumans vs X-men, but I disregard that moment because everyone's power levels were at least a little off during IvX. In addition, the writer of IvX (Charles Soule) tweeted saying he didn't care about continuity so long as it told the story he wanted. And that shows in his writing very clearly as many characters made odd moves (such as Psylocke announcing her attack against Medusa saying "I have a sword," which was not only bad dialogue but also really odd for a ninja).

Emma's taken everything from multiple hits from Hulk to jet crashes to missiles to a telekinetic blast from Jean (the same blast sent Guardian of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard flying back) without a scratch. She's unable to feel pain, has no need to breathe, eat, or drink, and doesn't age. The form also is able to handle extreme temperatures anywhere from -390 degrees Fahrenheit to approximately 9000 degrees Fahrenheit. She has one weakness: a small flaw in her diamond form located between her upper nose and lower forehead. If something hits this spot with sufficient force, her entire body shatters. She will not die though, as it's been shown that even when her diamond body falls apart, Emma will live on as a being of pure psychic energy. Someone then has to repair her body and she'll be fine afterwards.

There have been 3 times when her diamond form has been broken, once using the flawed point, and two without. The time using her flawed point was when her daughter Esme shot her flaw point with a gun. Emma's entire body shattered until Jean telekinetically repaired Emma's body on a molecular level. The other 2 times Emma's body have been shattered didn't involve the flaw point. The first was when the Dreaming Celestial fired a blast at Emma. She took the first blast just fine. The second blast broke off her arm. Despite the fact that it broke her arm, it's still a very impressive feat, as a blast from the Dreaming Celestial also put a massive hole through Colossus (who also had Juggernaut's powers at the time) and sent him flying across the city. The 3rd time she broke, it was when Thor got angry and smashed her into pieces in Avengers vs X-men. However, since she had the Phoenix Force and therefore had telekinesis at the time, she telekinetically made the broken diamond shards shoot through his body and then remade herself. Both times when she has been broken without her flaw point, it has been by godly/cosmic beings.

It should be noted though, that while her defenses are incredibly powerful in diamond form, it also makes her unable to use her own telepathy. Her super strength in diamond form, while much stronger than the average human, isn't anywhere near as strong as Hulk, Namor, Juggernaut, Colossus, etc. Because of this, Emma constantly has to decide whether to be a powerful telepathic offense or a powerful diamond defense. She can't do both at the same time.

@whitequeen666:Emma’s diamond form is not absolute in its mental defense. Let’s go over why:

1) “Even Jean cannot use telepathy on her diamond form. This can be confirmed since in All New X-men 30, Jean says that if she telepathically blasted Emma, Emma would just turn diamond and Jean would end up hurting herself.”

Except in that same issue, teen Jean is using her telepathy on Emma in diamond form in her fit of anger. Jean is very well-known to underestimating just how much power she has until she actually test her abilities. And before you say it was an error, the dialogue presents it to the contrary with Emma telling Jean to hit her, which would not work if she were in diamond form.

2) “Same with the moment with Jean, who affected her telepathically, although she had the Phoenix at the time. The diamond form was very new at that point”

Debatable, but not a big deal. Also, issue 39 was not the only instance Jean was reading Emma’s thoughts in her diamond form.

3) Again, we also have Xavier as an example of someone piercing Emma’s Diamond form telepathically, which insinuates further that if the telepath is powerful enough, they can pierce Emma’s Diamond form.

@pyrofn: The first scan doesn't say that Jean can't attack her telepathically, Jean simply didn't want to enter Emma Frost's mind.

@star_rasputin: I never said that. The comment before me did, if you did not see the quotations.

My answer comes after the quote.

medusa