Quote Originally Posted by Sundowhn View Post
Okay, the story remains to be seen, but I see some purpose in this.

As far as marketing goes, over the past few years, Marvel has launched multiple solos. Aside from Magneto (I'm lumping him into semi-bad guy territory for the purpose of this comparison) Laura, Nightcrawler and Jeen solos have sold the strongest, in that order, with all the others hitting in the mid-teens. (If Gambit gets thrown in later, his sales were about on par with Nightcrawler's, I believe.) In short, they have at least moderate appeal just on their own. Laura took over the Wolverine title, but even sales for X-23 were good and Nightcrawler sold without any of the strong supporting cast that his previous solo had. For that matter, before Uncanny, Namor was a solo act, was he not?

Second, they've taken three popular characters, each one from a different generation of fans. Jean is old school, Nightcrawler is ANAD era, and Laura is the younger generation. (Again, if Gambit is eventually added, that'll throw in 90's readers.) That's a smart move, and the first of its kind. It acknowledges the fan base going back to the beginning.

Third, they're hitting movie fans, potentially. Jean and Nightcrawler were in Apocalypse opposite one another, and are cast together in the new Phoenix movie. Laura is the next movie Wolverine, by the ending of the last movie.

If Marvel is smart, those three will be the core of the team, and writers will slowly develop the relative unknowns of the cast and the one new character, for readers. (That's basically what happened with the original Excalibur run. Captain Britain, Nightcrawler and Kitty had some weight, whereas Rachel and Megan were lesser known supporting.) If they aren't so smart, they'll go the route of Gold and former Uncanny, where everyone but the lead is supporting, and the book will probably tank pretty quick.



From a story standpoint, they've been careful to not put in either of Jean's major love interests, (yet). She'll start off being defined entirely for herself, not as the woman in a love triangle, used to develop two other characters. However, we do have Laura, so it'll be interesting to see how she and Jean play off of one another. Same with Nightcrawler and Laura, given that, arguably, the original Wolverine was closest or had the strongest ties to Jean and Kurt. I expect Laura to be pretty pivotal in this.
I think it's deliberate that Jean has not been close to any of the cast before. Those stories have already been told.

Jean and Kurt have some common ground. They've both been dubbed as the "heart" of the X-Men, and both were killed off and their deaths used to develop other characters. They're both back from the dead and learning to deal with it -- Kurt without a soul, and who knows what's in store for Jean. It may be along similar lines as far as her paying a hefty price for her return.

So yeah, I see some method to the perceived madness.
Sorry but I'm pretty sure Taylor just picked the characters he wanted. Paniccia said on Twitter he was surprised by the team too but the story convinced him.