Illyana Rasputin: Magik Appreciation 2019

[mugiwara]

I agree with all that actually. Roberto would actually be a good choice, since Illyana could use someone more extrovert, but before the whole thing in Rosenberg's mini, Karma would be a good choice too. The problem with Illyana is that it would be hard to see her dating someone outside the relatively small group of people she gets along well, since she doesn't let all that many people get close.

That's why she needs a break from the X-Books. (That, and the fact that they suck for anybody who wasn't an official X-Man before 1990)
She needs to expand her universe, either in a solo or in a team book. Bendis had the right idea when he made her Strange's apprentice. It gave her some connections outside of the mutant world.

[Andru]

To me, until proven otherwise, Illyana is asexual and does not identify as straight/gay/etc...

However, I have no issues with other's interpretations or fantasies about her sexual identity.

[Omega Alpha]

That's why she needs a break from the X-Books. (That, and the fact that they suck for anybody who wasn't an official X-Man before 1990)
She needs to expand her universe, either in a solo or in a team book. Bendis had the right idea when she made her Strange's apprentice. It gave her some connections outside of the mutant world.

With our Lord and Savior Jonathan the First of His Name coming, it's actually potentially a great time to be in the X-books for the first time in a long time (until July, it's better to stay out of them, though; see how Cyclops was characterized in Champions and compare to Uncanny, for example).

That said, one of the things I liked about Illyana's progression under Gillen and Bendis was, besides the fact it made her evolve and an essential part of the team, was that it gave her relationships outside that Kitty-Piotr-NM group: they weren't friends exactly, but she and Emma got along well enough, and she and Cyke became friends and had each other's back, and you could see either of them bringing Illyana to another team with her being an important part of it.

Sadly, Rosenberg decided to ignore everything in the last 25 years not written by him in Uncanny, so Illyana is just another X-woman now, and in lower pole of influence and importance, and after DoX, I don't see Illyana wanting to work with Emma again.

[mugiwara]

To me, until proven otherwise, Illyana is asexual and does not identify as straight/gay/etc....

Asexual sure seems to be the road they have picked since her resurrection. Not sure if they'll ever confirm it, but that would be refreshing in books ridden with romantic drama.

[Tycon]

Asexuality isn't a substitute for being gay or straight or bi or etc, it just means there is an absence of sexual attraction.

If she's just a friend of Kitty, sure. However, if Illyana secretly in love with her and consciously or subconsciously resenting Piotr, then it's very hard to not see disturbing overtones. Of course the whole thing with Juggernaut was crazy in itself, but if you add "sister resenting brother because her love prefers him" it gains a whole new level of creepiness.

And yes, even if Kitty didn't really want to marry Colossus, it's still very creepy if Illyana talked her down and it's in love with her. Imagine if Jean did walk away from marrying Scott at the last minute because of a "pep talk" by Logan (or even Warren)? It certainly wouldn't be believable he did without self-interest, and would make him look like a dick.

Plus, there's the more practical aspect that it could lead someone to bring Colossus and Kitty together again just to explore a love triangle with Illyana, ugh.

And again, some people seem to assume every female relationship with Claremont was between two lesbians. Are both Illyana and Rachel supposed to be in love with Kitty, making her the biggest lesbian magnet in the history of comics (even more with Karma apparently had a crush on her later on, although I didn't read Mechanix to know for sure)?

Some people think Dani and Rahne were in love too, despite the fact both have been firmly established as straight, but there's certainly more evidence of that than Illyana being in love with Kitty, and also nothing in Magik's characterization or interactions with Kitty since she came back that indicates romantic feelings. Reminds me of that writer from that article about Rahne's death that not only thinks all that, but that Logan is an allegory for a trans man for some reason.

If or when the writers decide to have Illyana being romantically interested in someone, I'd prefer if that someone that doesn't open a whole can of worms.

Once again, I don't know why it's 'creepy' that Illyana did that. Maybe if she blurted it out to spite Piotr and intentionally break them up, but Kitty was pulling teeth.




What manipulation is Magik doing that she is being forced to voice her discomfort at the two marrying each other? If that were to happen in Jean's case, wouldn't it be on her that she let Warren or Logan's words hit hard enough that she breaks away from the person she loved for years? Illyana clearly regrets even having to bring it up, and she beat herself up over it for the remainder of X-Men Piss. That scene seemed less like a 'pep talk' and more of Kitty's confirmation bias in looking for any reason to doubt her feelings over Colossus.

[Omega Alpha]

It can easily be read as such, even because the actual argument "that should already happened by now" doesn't really make that much sense, since Kitty is what, 21 or 22? T

The AV Club reviewer about the issue (and also Batman's non-marriage with Catwoman) mentioning that by the view that Illyana was secretly in love with Kitty, the whole thing comes like she's sabotaging her brother's wedding (actual quote: Piotr’s sister, Illyana, plays a big part in this, planting seeds of doubt in Kitty’s head the night before her wedding. Given the queer readings of Kitty and Illyana’s relationship, this scene can be interpreted as Illyana sabotaging the wedding so Piotr doesn’t get what she wants. Marvel will probably never run with this idea, but there’s certainly space in the narrative for that interpretation, which explains why Illyana would sabotage her brother’s wedding. Link

Anyway, I hate they used Illyana for this- could easily have been Storm or Nightcrawler, for example.

[244]

I think I have a definitive answer concerning Illyana's sexual orientation: it depends on the writer.

[Snoop Dogg]

20th Century X-Writer: "Well, it might cause some controversy if we had characters come out as gay, so I'll code it, society's not ready!"

Bendis: "Well, I think I've found the *truth with this, and I'll get tons of hate for it, but let's just confirm it!"

Every 21st Century X-Writer Except Bendis: *teeth chattering* "It's too r-r-risky to confirm the generally known diverse sexualities of less-popular characters that will get less hate and require less corporate hoops to jump through in this intolerant decade... the 2010's! The positive PR the X-Men, myself, and Marvel will get... t-t-terrifying!"

*Listen to a podcast with Bendis and drink every time he uses the word truth as a substitute for "story," "idea," or "vision."

[Omega Alpha]

20th Century X-Writer: "Well, it might cause some controversy if we had characters come out as gay, so I'll code it, society's not ready!"

Bendis: "Well, I think I've found the *truth with this, and I'll get tons of hate for it, but let's just confirm it!"

Every 21st Century X-Writer Except Bendis: *teeth chattering* "It's too r-r-risky to confirm the generally known diverse sexualities of less-popular characters that will get less hate and require less corporate hoops to jump through in this intolerant decade... the 2010's! The positive PR the X-Men, myself, and Marvel will get... t-t-terrifying!"

*Listen to a podcast with Bendis and drink every time he uses the word truth as a substitute for "story," "idea," or "vision."

The problem is that literally pretty much every teenage female written by Claremont (plus Storm) has been hinted and/or simply seen by part of the audience as a possible lesbian, so at one point it's less about hinting and coding and more about Claremont just being melodramatic in his writing leading to people see stuff that isn't there and/or having Claremont having a bunch of sex fetishes about bisexual/lesbian women leaking to his page. The alternative is that really Rahne, Dani, Shan, Illyana, Kitty, Rachel, Ororo, etc, all, without exception, being lesbians, and unless something in the X-gene causes that, what are the actual odds? Never mind Claremont himself wrote many of them in love with men.

[Andru]

Asexuality isn't a substitute for being gay or straight or bi or etc, it just means there is an absence of sexual attraction.

Right, which is why I also included she does not identify as straight/gay/etc...

[G0RM]

To me, until proven otherwise, Illyana is asexual and does not identify as straight/gay/etc...

However, I have no issues with other's interpretations or fantasies about her sexual identity.

There is also the over-arching curse of Illyana, namely that she is fated to cause the death of everyone she cares about (Cat, Old Woman Storm, Piotr 3! times!, even Sapna), that repressing any feelings she has might be a necessity by repeated trauma, asexual like Karma post pirates.

So unless Illyana dates Quentin Quire & tears him apart like a she-bear does the baby goat, she can't really become involved with anyone she actually likes...

Well, maybe Death Gods like Leah...

[G0RM]

What do people think about Magik in War of the Realms?


Spoilers:

The demon hoards of Limbo would have come in handy, but maybe she got bored of "Let Magik Do Everything" during the IvX Era, and decided to play Damsel in Distress instead.

There are also interesting threads in WotR regarding Rahne's willingness to die by trans-panic...

[Magik]

But if she turns to be lesbian like in some reader's headcannon, I sure hope she will never, ever be with Shadowcat. She already spends too much time stuck with big sister Kitty and big brother Piotr.
She needs to be free from those characters.
Karma wouldn't be a great choice, considering how she manipulated her during Well's New Mutants. Somebody outside the X-books, maybe more on the mystic (good) side. Like Bloodstone or Kushala.

3 words: Leah of Hel

Well, maybe Death Gods like Leah...

Yup, she could be the better option here.

Look guys, I don't really care if Magik is lesbian, asexual, straight or bi (I love the whole Leyana thing, I can't deny it) but I just want a good storyline for her on comic books and this is not happening right now...that is my real concern. I know that Illyana is a secondary character for a lot of X-Men writers but I wish that she wasn't it for once.

[Fokken]

Context ASIDE, can we all just take a moment to MARVEL at Yana's WIND SWEPT LOCKS on that rooftop?!


#BLESSED

[pandafarmer]

Look guys, I don't really care if Magik is lesbian, asexual, straight or bi (I love the whole Leyana thing, I can't deny it) but I just want a good storyline for her on comic books and this is not happening right now...that is my real concern. I know that Illyana is a secondary character for a lot of X-Men writers but I wish that she wasn't it for once.

Honestly though for a b-list X-Man she certainly has seen her share of juicy plot points since resurrection. Her resurrection basically gave Pixie motivations and established her power level to those who were raised on 90's X-Books. During Second Coming they basically gave her storyline it's own book followed by the San Fran years she was a key member of the team and her storyline acted as motivation for Pitor while the rest of the New Mutants cavorted without her in a poorly written set of storylines. Then she was "one of the five" in AvsX and even bested Black Widow in the "VS" books. Bendis pushed her into an interesting direction in his Uncanny (for the first half of his run anyway) and addressed some of her ongoing issues within Limbo and gave us some of the best "Kitty/Yana" interactions in years. Then she joins Storm's team as an interesting plot device (bringing the X-mansion to Limbo and Sapna's weird storyline) and remained active into AvsI. Then Secret Warriors and Dead Souls took her out of X-book rotation for the most part but at least gave her character some development outside of "B-List" background character that she would have had without those books. Now we have Uncanny, which love or hate... she's got some of the best battle scenes and treated as a respected member of the group by Logan/Scott.

So yeah, she's secondary, but it's obvious the writers love to work with her since it's a beautiful mix of tragedy and violence the reader loves. When it comes to other secondary characters I can't think of any that have been given more juicy bits than she has. Frankly I'm shocked she hasn't been upped to Psylock levels of exposure but I'm guessing that has more to do with fanboy sex appeal than character in most cases. As sexy as they DO make Yana at times, most of her fans are there because of her "damaged goods" storyline over "hotpants and swords." I think.