Your Unpopular/Controversial Opinions on the X-Universe

[Nicoclaws]

Wasting Sherlock Holmes being public domain to prop up Destiny and Mystique was a bad move.

So is the inability to build up the two of them without shovelling blame for their actions on to others (usually Xavier)

On the contrary, I think Mystique and Destiny have always had an agenda, and never actually blamed anyone else for their actions. They're quite unapologetic. Even for the recent retcons, I think Mystique is blaming Destiny first and then Xavier for his participation.

[Will Jones]

Not every mutant needs to be, nor should be, associated with the X-Men or be sequestered from the larger Marvel Universe because the X-Office doesn't like sharing their toys.

[Zelena]

There are only two villains whose reformations I ever bought. Rogue, who's always been more hero than villain in the public eye since she was barely a villain in publication history, and Magneto, because at least his first reformation was earned and took several years. Both characters proved themselves over and over and I think it's no coincidence that Claremont was behind both of them. Magneto's constant swaps from villainy to heroism since Claremont left ring false to me.

Agreed.

And the long litany of X-Villains who joined the team since then seemed to basically expect that a spot on the X-Men was guaranteed to them because of the earlier goodwill towards Rogue and Magneto. Expect pretty much all of these later additions did not earn their redemptions and have shown to have little to no morality. They all need to go.

It seems to me that these additions were there to show that in X-men’s dual identity of heroes and mutants, the heroic identity now is mattering less than the mutant one… To me who have zero interest in community identity and to whom actions and values matter more than who you are, it has damaged the X-men.

[whitecrown]

Agreed.


It seems to me that these additions were there to show that in X-men’s dual identity of heroes and mutants, the heroic identity now is mattering less than the mutant one… To me who have zero interest in community identity and to whom actions and values matter more than who you are, it has damaged the X-men.

This is what I'm noticing too that being a mutant trumps everything else. The storylines deal pretty much exclusively with mutant issues unlike the Claremont days when you could just as easily have the team facing Dr. Doom, Dracula, or Loki and deal with fantasy or sci-fi themes. Not only that, but even the characters like Namor and Firestar, who had pretty much zero connection to the X-Men, are now grouped in that enclave exclusively on the basis of being a mutant. Despite Namor and Firestar having much stronger ties to the FF/Avengers and New Warriors/Avengers respectively. Franklin Richards literally had to be retconned into not being a mutant to save him from being absorbed into the X-Men, because the focus isn't on heroism anymore as you said, but on one single x-gene. Characters like Longshot and Warlock, who actually were part of the X-Men family, aren't considered traditional mutants or real mutants, so they aren't given the time of day anymore.

A character like Dazzler was able to sustain an ongoing series for more than 40 issues from being a mutant but not an X-Man, since the two were not mutually exclusive back then. Just as Wanda, Pietro, and Beast could be Avengers and their mutant status didn't matter.

[marhawkman]

This is what I'm noticing too that being a mutant trumps everything else. The storylines deal pretty much exclusively with mutant issues unlike the Claremont days when you could just as easily have the team facing Dr. Doom, Dracula, or Loki and deal with fantasy or sci-fi themes. Not only that, but even the characters like Namor and Firestar, who had pretty much zero connection to the X-Men, are now grouped in that enclave exclusively on the basis of being a mutant. Despite Namor and Firestar having much stronger ties to the FF/Avengers and New Warriors/Avengers respectively. Franklin Richards literally had to be retconned into not being a mutant to save him from being absorbed into the X-Men, because the focus isn't on heroism anymore as you said, but on one single x-gene. Characters like Longshot and Warlock, who actually were part of the X-Men family, aren't considered traditional mutants or real mutants, so they aren't given the time of day anymore.

A character like Dazzler was able to sustain an ongoing series for more than 40 issues from being a mutant but not an X-Man, since the two were not mutually exclusive back then. Just as Wanda, Pietro, and Beast could be Avengers and their mutant status didn't matter.

Also, Karima Shapandar.... "mutant" Sentinel.... yeah we saw how that went.....

But now Mary Walker gets to be an X-Man.... Typhoid ---- Mary!!!!!

[JThree]

No, in the "From the Ashes" arc, Claremont intended Maddie to be here own person and everything else a red herring. It was his way of having Scott move on while also paying homage to his original planned ending for Jean had she lived. He really should have had Maddie look nothing like Jean once Mastermind was defeated, or preferably just wrote Scott out in a different way so he could focus on Storm. Turns out if he had been more patient, Jean was gonna be resurrected in a few years and he may have had more control over it.

That's the exact opposite of what I've learned. Wonder if we (the fans) will ever know the real truth?
==jthree

[Ra-El]

This is what I'm noticing too that being a mutant trumps everything else. The storylines deal pretty much exclusively with mutant issues unlike the Claremont days when you could just as easily have the team facing Dr. Doom, Dracula, or Loki and deal with fantasy or sci-fi themes. Not only that, but even the characters like Namor and Firestar, who had pretty much zero connection to the X-Men, are now grouped in that enclave exclusively on the basis of being a mutant. Despite Namor and Firestar having much stronger ties to the FF/Avengers and New Warriors/Avengers respectively. Franklin Richards literally had to be retconned into not being a mutant to save him from being absorbed into the X-Men, because the focus isn't on heroism anymore as you said, but on one single x-gene. Characters like Longshot and Warlock, who actually were part of the X-Men family, aren't considered traditional mutants or real mutants, so they aren't given the time of day anymore.

A character like Dazzler was able to sustain an ongoing series for more than 40 issues from being a mutant but not an X-Man, since the two were not mutually exclusive back then. Just as Wanda, Pietro, and Beast could be Avengers and their mutant status didn't matter.

Most of the time I don't agree with you, but you do have a point.

[Primal Slayer]

Not every mutant needs to be, nor should be, associated with the X-Men or be sequestered from the larger Marvel Universe because the X-Office doesn't like sharing their toys.

10000000000%

There are far too many X-Men, even Mutants in general and with that many....there are plenty that should be creating their own Super groups if they want to fight crime and save the day.

[Grunty]

10000000000%

There are far too many X-Men, even Mutants in general and with that many....there are plenty that should be creating their own Super groups if they want to fight crime and save the day.

And the same can arguably apply to the villains/super criminals aswell.

"We have a pretty good gang of freaks going on here. A half-demon, a kree, a cyborg, a mutant and a bostonian."

[marhawkman]

10000000000%

There are far too many X-Men, even Mutants in general and with that many....there are plenty that should be creating their own Super groups if they want to fight crime and save the day.

I mean... there's HUNDREDS at this point. You could have 10 20-man teams active at the same time. They have THAT many characters.

[zinderel]

Not every mutant needs to be, nor should be, associated with the X-Men or be sequestered from the larger Marvel Universe because the X-Office doesn't like sharing their toys.

Absolutely 10000% agree.

But that’s just the ghettoization of minorities being displayed. Since Claremont left, the X-Men have gotten more and more insular and exclusionary.

On the one hand, given that the 616 has the absolute WORST humans in fiction (except maybe Warhammer 40k), who can blame mutants for not trusting the people who call for, and gleefully participate in, multiple enslavements and genocides in a ten year period, every time a mutant crosses the street without looking both ways…? Especially given how often they’ve been betrayed by humans that they thought they could trust.

On the other, integration into the greater universe could help the cause, so I’m not against mutants becoming regulars in Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Avengers, etc. Not that I want them taking center stage, or anything like that, but like…I’d love to see Kingpin have to deal with Warren Worthington III and/or Sebastian Shaw on the regular, in the boardroom. I actually really like Emma Frost and Tony Stark as a couple. I’d love to see Wolverine and Shadowkat working with the street level heroes to keep the average Joe safe from criminals and ninjas and low level threats. Or a few mutant powerhouses on the Avengers. Or a few younger mutants hanging out with Franklin and Valeria in FF. Or… Or… Or…

ANYTHING but a retread of genocidal fantasies and oppression porn that got old well over a decade ago!

For over 25 years, intentionally or not, the constant apocalyptic event grind from Marvel has mainly worked to show that there is no good reason ANY mutant - or hero, for that matter - should trust any human, ever.

That’s why Krakoa, for all of its flaws, was a breath of fresh air. For an all-too-brief time, the oppressed minority was on top and didn’t give two shits what their oppressors thought…until the oppressors managed to destroy it.

Again.

I had hoped that the era coming out of the Fall would see greater reintegration into the universe, with Krakoa still a nation, but HEAVILY changed by the events of Judgement Day, Sins of Sinister, and the Fall and realizing it needs to work with humanity, not above or against it. And a chastened humanity who has FINALLY taken a long, hard look at where the road to genocide leads, and who is FINALLY willing to try to work with mutantkind for the future of ALL of humanity, mutant or not. To paraphrase Magneto in X-Men ‘97, we all have to share the same Earth, regardless of our race, gender, religion or genetic status.

Aspirational fiction, in other words.

Instead, it’s just looking like the 616 is gonna revert to catering to a certain very loud subset of cishet white male fans over all others, and returning to a status quo of recycled stories of trauma porn and the ghetto life of a desperate minority that cannot seem to escape the threat of extinction brought on by the willful ignorance, cultivated fear and hate, and gleefully selfish choices of their parents’ and grandparents’ generations…

While that might sound eerily familiar if you pay attention to the real world, I guess who needs hope or aspirational fiction in times like we’re living through, right? Gotta have our fiction be as bleak and hopeless and awful - sorry, ‘grounded in reality’ - as our real lives, or people won’t buy these stories of brightly colored costumes with laser hands hitting each other…

[Primal Slayer]

I mean... there's HUNDREDS at this point. You could have 10 20-man teams active at the same time. They have THAT many characters.

They're practically Pokémon. Just when you think you caught them all! A new 150 show up.

[Psygrey]

The best way to solve this is by pushing them further then the MU , put 2 on defenders, 1-3 on the avengers , have Gentle be a mainstay in Black Panther. Magik can be in that one magic supernatural team I forgot the name of , Pixie can be Dr.Stranges associate etc.

[Havok83]

10000000000%

There are far too many X-Men, even Mutants in general and with that many....there are plenty that should be creating their own Super groups if they want to fight crime and save the day.

Most mutants want to just live their lives, not fight crime and save the day

[Hakka84]

Most mutants want to just live their lives, not fight crime and save the day

Not sure how that works in real life, and I don't want it for it to become a mutant ghetto or what, but I think it would make sense that mutants who didn't want to be part of the X-Men started to take house in a specific district/city and grew their own small community as "normal" people who happen to have mutation but don't wanna use it (or the mutation doesn't even give any "usable" power). I mean. A couple of mutants find a nice apartment in a block. Some time later another mutant they have known (in Krakoa, at the school) is looking for an apartment to relocate and they call this couple for suggestions. "Oh, the apartment under ours is vacant, it's a nice neighbourhood!", and before they know it, the whole building is occupied by mutants who want to go by their lives and watch together a movie in someone's appartament on Saturday night.

Either a district in a big city or a (what's the name? suburban?) bunch of one-family houses in a quiet town with small garden on the back.

(Mutants also have some very rich people in their mists who could buy whole buildings/areas and rent the apartments for decent, affordable rents. Or take some area that has been neglected, fix things and turn it from criminal/dangerous area to a nice neighbour)

I seem to recall it happened with some specific communities (queer?) in some cities but might be wrong.
I know nothing about how things works in NY or USA, so take this with a grain of salt.