What should be retconned out of the X-Universe?

[Jiminy_Cricket]

Everything relating to Bishop post Messiah Complex would be nice

[phoenixzero23]

Bishop trying to kill a baby was despicable. Retcon it out of existence.

I thought this was already retconed. bishop has his eye and hand back, he is working with other mutant heroes and nobody mentions nobody of the stuff he did.

[FUBAR007]

-Danger

I'm indifferent to the concept of the character, but the retcon of Xavier having kept her as a slave for years has to go. That was gross character assassination of Xavier on Whedon's part.

-Vulcan

I liked his origin (being from Kate Summers's womb as she died and raised as Erik the Red's slave, not the Deadly Genesis stuff), but Brubaker made him way, way too overpowered. The character would've worked better in a dramatic sense had he been more earthbound and set up as a recurrent protagonist for Cyclops and Havok. I would've enjoyed a well-written, fair fight between him and Adam X--the evil Summers brother vs. the good son of Kate Summers & D'Ken--as well.

-Cassandra Nova

Agreed. There's a kernel of a good idea there, but she was too one-note. To be interesting, she needed more personality than just blithe nihilism and hatred of Xavier.

-Hope Summers

Agreed. I'm still convinced she was originally intended to be Jean reincarnated, but, for whatever reason, Marvel welched on the idea. Once that happened, she became superfluous.

-Maximoffs not being Magneto’s kids anymore and no longer being mutants

Agreed.

-Other mutants that we’re retconned into being Inhumans or something else (like Toro and Squirrel Girl)

I'd look at that on a case by case basis. One of the things that's always irked me about the Marvel Universe is characters who are mutants, but have nothing to do with the MU mutant experience (political, cultural, etc.) even tangentially. Such characters are only mutants because their creators didn't want to have to invent a distinct origin. The "metaphor for being a minority" aspect of being a mutant rarely if ever seems to come into play.

-Jubilee getting depowered, becoming a vampire, and adopting a baby she has no business bringing up

Agreed. The vampire thing should've been over and done with in a story arc.

-O5 coming to the present

Agreed, though I think it could've worked as a limited story arc.

-Teen Jean changing Iceman’s sexuality and personality

While having Iceman revealed to be gay is a pretty blatant retcon, Jeen didn't make him that way. I don't have a problem with Bobby being gay as long as they don't make his coming out the cure for all his flaws or the endpoint of his character development. Iceman should still be Iceman--an immature, hot-headed man-child, just one who happens to be gay.

-Both of Beast’s secondary mutations. Take him back to how he looked in the 90s.
-Beast turning into an all-out jerk
-Edgelord Cyclops
-AvX

Agreed.

-Professor X’s brain in Red Skull’s body

Agreed, though I think there's an interesting idea there about weaponizing a dead psi's brain.

-Psylocke wearing a dead Asian woman’s body

I think this works fine provided writers make no pretense that Betsy is any other way Japanese or Asian (the way Claremont and earlier writers did). She's an Englishwoman, born and raised. She should not be presented as an Asian character for the purposes of diversity or ethnic/cultural representation as that would be misleading and dishonest.

-Toad’s fire tongue (is that still around or was that just a temporary thing in the X-Men: Blue storyline?)

Not familiar with this, but it does sound stupid. Agreed.

-Wolfsbane being able to duplicate herself (same situation as above)
-Avalanche’s lobotomy and death

Agreed.

-Moira MacTaggert’s death

Disagree. Her death wasn't superfluous or cavalier, and it was adequately addressed in-story. She wasn't carelessly red-shirted. Her death mattered, and its repercussions were shown. Also, it was her creator--Claremont--that killed her off.

-Madrox’s death

Given the nature of his powers, a retcon isn't even necessary to bring him back. It's even been done before.

-Cyclops’ death

Agreed, contingent on retconning away the adultery, "Rightclops", etc.

-Changeling’s death (call me crazy, but I’d love to see 616 Kevin Sydney return as Morph)

Disagree. Just have a Kevin Sydney, Jr. show up as Morph.

-X-23 growing up and becoming the new Wolverine with a little sister- Leave her young with codename X-23.

Disagree about X-23, agree about her mini-me.

-Chuck Austen’s weird mythology about Nightcrawler and Angel

Another kernel of a good idea that was mediocrely executed.

-Deadpool becoming wacky with bathroom humor tier jokes

The humor has to be balanced with drama a la Nicieza and Kelly's runs on the character. Otherwise, it's just parody.

-Scott cheating on Jean with Emma and Jean cheating on Scott with Logan

Agreed. With prejudice. And exponential emphasis.

-Storm and T’Challa’s random annulment

Eh, IMO, they shouldn't have been married in the first place.

-Wolverine killing his illegitimate kids

Agreed. They were cipher red-shirts. Aaron should've built them up more as characters before killing them off.

-Hellfire beats being a thing

No idea what this refers to.

-Sabretooth and Havok inverting and Havok getting his face messed up

Agreed.

Though I'm sure someone downthread has probably done so already, I'll add M-Day to your list. That, even moreso than the character assassinations of the early-mid 2000s, conceptually and thematically broke the X-Men comics franchise.

[Geek Mangacomic]

Lots of retcons in Grand Design so far.
And not one of them are negative.
It’s amazing.

[Sapfiryt]

Nothing.
Everything looks good. This is the story of the X-Men and like IRL it can be good or bad.

[lurkerforyears]

you retcon the last 17 years of X-Men comics away and you are left with the Post-Onslaught Maggot-Marrow age X-Men comics, which were the low point of the x-men until Bendis brought back the O5 and we had the terrigen mist plotline.

X-Men comics from Morrison until Avengers vs X-Men (I am counting Gillen's Uncanny, PAD's X-Factor, Carey's Legacy, Remender's Uncanny X-force, as the last great xmen books), had their best period in quality after the long Claremont run.

[Anduinel]

X-Men: Gold. The whole thing.

[Darth Phoenix]

many I agree with one I would add is Tempo being part of Legion

and MY guilty pleasure Northstar's marriage.

[davetvs]

The teen 05, Rachel Summers, Bishop, and any other "I'm in the wrong timeline" character + vampire Jubilee + Mplate

[butterflykyss]

X-Men: Gold. The whole thing.

I agree with this message 100%

[Offbeat]

Guggenheim.

[FUBAR007]

Dark Beast creating the Morlocks. Luckily I don't recall this idea being referenced again after the initial mention

If memory serves, I don't think this was ever explicitly stated, just heavily implied. All that was explicit was that he'd experimented on them.

Regardless, his involvement provided an explanation for why Sinister sent the Marauders to wipe them out beyond just "for the evulz".

[FUBAR007]

Romulus and everything involving him.

Agreed.

The Weapon X program actually being the "Weapon Plus" program.

Disagree. The basic concept is sound, and I think the linkage back to the Super Soldier Program that created Captain America adds some extra dimension to the idea. All the John Sublime stuff, though? That needs to go.

Nightcrawler being part demon.

Agreed. The fix is simple enough, though: just have Azazel be a mutant.

The fact that there was an X-team between the originals and the Giant Sized and that Cyclops had a brother that was a member.

Agreed.

Apocalypse being a pawn of the Celestials and occasionally needing new bodies.

Broadly agreed though a certain of Celestial involvement makes sense given that he hijacked one of their monitoring devices (i.e. Ship).

Other heroes tolerating and even liking Deadpool. Deadpool was a sadistic killer and still is, even though he likes to be called a hero. People should be friendlier to the Punisher than they are to this guy.

Agreed.

The Phoenix. I'm not saying they need to get rid of it, but they need to sit down and figure what it is, WHO is is, and what it can do, and what it's backstory is. That stuff all seems to change every appearance.

At this point, I think they should give it to a new host, send them off into space, and establish the character as one of Marvel's cosmic heroes. Marvel can't seem to let it lie so just draw a clear line under the past--no more new origins, no more retcons--and move forward.

Likewise, Toad. is he smart? is he stupid? fat? Thin? What powers does he even have?

Agreed.

Also most of the retconns about Emma Frost's past need to be be unretconed.

Provided you're referring to the flashback series revealing her to be a nice girl damaged by life who just wants to be loved, I agree. I much preferred Emma as a ruthless, but high-functioning sociopath.

[Dementia5]

Jubilee getting depowered, becoming a vampire

Well, if Mark Paniccia’s Twitter Feed is to be believed, prepare for imminent retconning.

[Celestial]

-Danger
-Vulcan
-Cassandra Nova
-Hope Summers
-Maximoffs not being Magneto’s kids anymore and no longer being mutants
-Other mutants that we’re retconned into being Inhumans or something else (like Toro and Squirrel Girl)
-Jubilee getting depowered, becoming a vampire, and adopting a baby she has no business bringing up
-O5 coming to the present
-Teen Jean changing Iceman’s sexuality and personality
-Both of Beast’s secondary mutations. Take him back to how he looked in the 90s.
-Beast turning into an all-out jerk
-Edgelord Cyclops
-AvX
-Professor X’s brain in Red Skull’s body
-Psylocke wearing a dead Asian woman’s body
-Toad’s fire tongue (is that still around or was that just a temporary thing in the X-Men: Blue storyline?)
-Wolfsbane being able to duplicate herself (same situation as above)
-Avalanche’s lobotomy and death
-Moira MacTaggert’s death
-Madrox’s death
-Cyclops’ death
-Changeling’s death (call me crazy, but I’d love to see 616 Kevin Sydney return as Morph)
-X-23 growing up and becoming the new Wolverine with a little sister- Leave her young with codename X-23.
-Chuck Austen’s weird mythology about Nightcrawler and Angel
-Deadpool becoming wacky with bathroom humor tier jokes
-Scott cheating on Jean with Emma and Jean cheating on Scott with Logan
-Storm and T’Challa’s random annulment
-Wolverine killing his illegitimate kids
-Hellfire beats being a thing
-Sabretooth and Havok inverting and Havok getting his face messed up

I can't believe I agree with everything on this list.
If also like to add Dazzlers immortality. I'm not sure if that's still a thing.