Illyana Rasputin: Magik Appreciation 2019

[lucius121]

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I mean a lot of people like to pretend this never happened, but so far the only relationship Magik has ever been in was with a girl.

[Omega Alpha]

so was having 100% straight people but that's what you're advocating

It's much more likely to have a team with 100% straight people than the opposite. Mind you, the NM already are not (with Karma), and I have nothing against Illyana being lesbian or bi. My issues are people treating this as a fact, and specially the idea that she's in love with Kitty, which is HORRIBLE for the character.

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I mean a lot of people like to pretend this never happened, but so far the only relationship Magik has ever been in was with a girl.

In Secret Wars? It was an alternate reality, although it was pretty cool, even if, as pointed out, it was really fanservice (although considering the nature of the event, I really don't mind; there was the perfect place for this kind of thing).

The question is what either being gay or being in a relationship would add to Illyana as a character. I honestly don't think her being gay would add anything. She's an abuse victim who has gone on to abuse others, namely Pixie and Colossus. She's trying to change and treat people better, but she knows how easy it is to slip up and revert to old habits. That alone would make her terrified of getting into any sort of relationship. She could be afraid of being abused again or of being the abuser. Add to that the idea of parenthood, where she might not know if the demonic traits or connection to Limbo can be passed on or if dark forces may come for her child, either for the child's potential or to get at her. There's a lot of story potential there, and if done right I can see it doing for Illyana what becoming a mother and marrying Luke Cage did for Jessica Jones. Making her a lesbian in my opinion doesn't effect the idea of being in a relationship so much, but it does put the kibosh on the child aspect while also not adding anything to the abuse aspect.

Potential ideas for love interests: Since she represents the demonic having her date an angelic figure has a built-in opposites attract appeal. I did something like that in the Age of Marvels fanfic universe by giving her a boyfriend who was a young Lumen Sage from the Bayonetta series. That sort of relationship can also have the built-in drama of opposition from an entire faction. Not sure what angelic factions there are in Marvel though.

Another idea is for her to look for someone who can provide a sense of normalcy she's never known. This is what I think appeals to people who ship Illyana with Doug Ramsey, as he is the most normal person she knows. I could have easily seen 80s Illyana in a relationship with Doug, especially with her over-protectiveness towards him, but since Bendis had her give that 'there is no normal' speech I don't see it anymore.

These are ideas that would either further develop her as a character or naturally create drama and story. To me the Leah/Illyana thing we saw in Secret Wars did neither and did nothing other than depict 2 badass women kicking ass. There's nothing wrong with it, but it served no purpose to the characters or the story other than fanservice. A canon 616 lesbian relationship can be more meaningful than that, but I feel there's just more potential for her character with a heterosexual relationship that leaves open the door for a biological child.

You gave a more thoughtful post than most people, so well done. But Illyana being bi, not straight nor a lesbian, gives both the chance of her having a child (though I don't think it's a good idea for her in the near future, at least) and/or having a better chance of having a future romantic partner (because, really, how many lesbian and bi women are out there in the MU that Illyana could conceivably date?) while adding more representation and a chance of a same-sex relationship, if that's what writers want (as long as it's not with Kitty, ugh).

[spirit2011]

The question is what either being gay or being in a relationship would add to Illyana as a character. I honestly don't think her being gay would add anything. She's an abuse victim who has gone on to abuse others, namely Pixie and Colossus. She's trying to change and treat people better, but she knows how easy it is to slip up and revert to old habits. That alone would make her terrified of getting into any sort of relationship. She could be afraid of being abused again or of being the abuser. Add to that the idea of parenthood, where she might not know if the demonic traits or connection to Limbo can be passed on or if dark forces may come for her child, either for the child's potential or to get at her. There's a lot of story potential there, and if done right I can see it doing for Illyana what becoming a mother and marrying Luke Cage did for Jessica Jones. Making her a lesbian in my opinion doesn't effect the idea of being in a relationship so much, but it does put the kibosh on the child aspect while also not adding anything to the abuse aspect.

Potential ideas for love interests: Since she represents the demonic having her date an angelic figure has a built-in opposites attract appeal. I did something like that in the Age of Marvels fanfic universe by giving her a boyfriend who was a young Lumen Sage from the Bayonetta series. That sort of relationship can also have the built-in drama of opposition from an entire faction. Not sure what angelic factions there are in Marvel though.

Another idea is for her to look for someone who can provide a sense of normalcy she's never known. This is what I think appeals to people who ship Illyana with Doug Ramsey, as he is the most normal person she knows. I could have easily seen 80s Illyana in a relationship with Doug, especially with her over-protectiveness towards him, but since Bendis had her give that 'there is no normal' speech I don't see it anymore.

These are ideas that would either further develop her as a character or naturally create drama and story. To me the Leah/Illyana thing we saw in Secret Wars did neither and did nothing other than depict 2 badass women kicking ass. There's nothing wrong with it, but it served no purpose to the characters or the story other than fanservice. A canon 616 lesbian relationship can be more meaningful than that, but I feel there's just more potential for her character with a heterosexual relationship that leaves open the door for a biological child.

This is very heteronormative, we saw Wanda having babies from a robot for gods sake

[Omega Alpha]

This is very heteronormative, we saw Wanda having babies from a robot for gods sake

And how well did that turned out?

Though of course there are other ways.

[spirit2011]

And how well did that turned out?

Though of course there are other ways.

Wiccan is a very well know character

They were- in the 80's, Shooter said "there are no gay characters at Marvel". Plus, they had the comics code.

Comics code continued well into 2000s.

I'll ignore the obvious trolling that is your specialty and seemingly reason of being and point to the logical fact that the number of straight people is a lot higher than the number of gay people, and having a 100% gay/bi rate for teenage women (and only for women, because gay men don't exist) under the same team without them being specifically assembled for this is non-sense, not to mention would add a very uncomfortable subtext (this straight guy who was in his 30's at the time writing a team entirely composed of teenage lesbians who can barely hide their feelings for one another? I'm sure there's nothing creepy about it).

Yes, gays are minority. but it doesn't stop gays forming their own groups. Claremont didn't write everyone as being gay, Jean was written as straight and other women too.
But also this is fiction, mutants doesn't exist. If people want to point out impossible things on the comics, being gay ith emost believable thing

[Omega Alpha]

Wiccan is a very well know character

I mean it ended with Wanda going crazy, twice, including in Disassembled.

[G0RM]

For the Love of Evil, "The New Mutants" release date has been delayed yet again, with more refilming to be done, 2020 now, originally April 2018...

I've never heard of anything like this before...
Why did it have to happen to Our Lady of Darkness?
Hasn't she suffered enough?

[Andru]

For the Love of Evil, "The New Mutants" release date has been delayed yet again, with more refilming to be done, 2020 now, originally April 2018...

I've never heard of anything like this before...
Why did it have to happen to Our Lady of Darkness?
Hasn't she suffered enough?

At this point I have already come to terms with the fact I will never see this movie. IF it is ever released in my lifetime, I will consider it a blessing and enjoy every second of it.

[Magik]

For the Love of Evil, "The New Mutants" release date has been delayed yet again, with more refilming to be done, 2020 now, originally April 2018...

I've never heard of anything like this before...
Why did it have to happen to Our Lady of Darkness?
Hasn't she suffered enough?

What a nightmare!

[pandafarmer]

Honestly just sounds like the delays are mostly due to actor's not being able to make schedules work. I think that the talk about adding new characters and reshooting 50% of the film are well overblown. Masie and Anna are filming things well into the fall and they are keeping all the original behind the scenes folks. If Disney really wanted to redo the film, they wouldn't have bothered bringing on the original director etc.

[Snoop Dogg]

The entire movie is an illusion cast by Belasco.

[spirit2011]

Honestly just sounds like the delays are mostly due to actor's not being able to make schedules work. I think that the talk about adding new characters and reshooting 50% of the film are well overblown. Masie and Anna are filming things well into the fall and they are keeping all the original behind the scenes folks. If Disney really wanted to redo the film, they wouldn't have bothered bringing on the original director etc.

Redo or add more characters would be meaningless.

if New Mutants tested well, they could just release it without reshoots

[H-E-D]

From the sounds of it, the delays are in large part because they still haven't gotten around to doing the reshoots they've been planning to do this whole time. It's going to be a nightmare for the people in charge of scene-to-scene, shot-to-shot continuity.

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I mean a lot of people like to pretend this never happened, but so far the only relationship Magik has ever been in was with a girl.

I thought it was a great part of Siege. Was it fan service? Sure. That doesn't discount it. I think it'd be interesting to see an Earth-616 take on this. Presumably it would have to involve some sort of time travel to when Leah was still Leah, because Magik / Hela might seem a little...

[MosSuperman]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvI4N8oF...d=5qrwepf49nj0

[pandafarmer]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvI4N8oF...d=5qrwepf49nj0

This is super cool. I love Instagram for finding stuff like this. The #illyannarasputin hashtag usually has some fun stuff.